Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ

12/26/13:
I just finished re-reading The Book Thief, and I am even more amazed by it than I was when I read it five years ago. It's gone onto my Top 5 list. Please read it if you haven't, and recommend it to others. It also should be on more schools' high school reading lists, for so many reasons.

How can I add to its praise? It's one of those rare books where you savor each sentence for its perfection. Ostensibly written by 'Death,' the book has a unique (and totally apropos) point-of-view. And yet it's a warm and loving description of survival, triumph and love during a horrific time - the Allied bombings of Germany in the later years of World War II.

One major reason for my favor is hard to describe, but here goes: Mr. Zusak has a way of frequently changing the perspective of the writing, such that the reader is made to see anew. It's as if the author frequently is saying, "Look here. No really, I mean it - LOOK here!" He does it just enough to jar your sensibilities into re-awareness. For example, Mr. Zusak will interject a set of drawings, or a narrator's 'aside,' or a short list relevant to the current story, or a dictionary definition - and you are brought out of any lulled stupor into a ring of shining light. And that light is shining onto the utter darkness of a terrible time.

So, we have a beautiful creation of horror. Amazing. I haven't seen the film version, and this is one of those books that almost make you not want to see it - how could a book that affects you so deeply ever be translated to a film screen? I'll probably see it, but it'll be with one foot dragging behind me, reticent to step into the theater with both feet.