Unofficial Book Review: The Book Thief

Recently I listened to The Book Thief on audio book.

Audio books are fantastic because I can listen to them in the car, when I'm cleaning house and when I cook. Thanks to my library in Ennis, TX, I can check out audio books and download them from way over here in little 'ole Penang.

I've wanted to read The Book Thief for a long time so I put myself on the waiting list for the audio book at the library. (Any librarians out there who can tell me why there are only two copies of the audio book download? How come you can't have unlimited downloads?) At any rate, I've been on the list for months and two weeks ago I got my long-awaited email. I had three days to download it and two weeks to listen to it.

I do a lot of carting kids to school, cooking (not a lot of cleaning, I'm just gonna be real about that one), but I don't do a audio book's amount of it within a two-week period...apparently. By Thursday of the second week, I could tell I was not gonna finish it, but I was SOOOOOO close. Then I discovered the little feature on my ipad that let's me hear the reading at 1X, 1.25X, 1.5X or 2X the speed. Cool! I upped it to 1.25X and listened a little. Then up a little more...a little more...I heard the last hour's worth in 30 minutes. It was not relaxing, but at least I finished the book.

I have not seen the movie and don't know if I will. I did, however, really enjoy the book. This is my unprofessional review, not necessarily my recommendation.

What I loved about The Book Thief:

1. I loved the descriptions. I love words and I love it when they are cleverly put together. Markus Zusak is a great describer. He uses sounds to describe sights, textures to describe sounds, sights to describe tastes, etc. Not what I would expect, and it was delightful.

2. I enjoyed a creative narrator. Original idea!

3. I prefer to learn things from great stories rather than bland textbooks :) This was a great story and I learned new things about the time period.

What I did not love about The Book Thief:

1. Well, the subject was hard, of course.

2. I did not like the bad language, but was grateful that much of it was in German so I didn't catch it!

If you love a great story, creative writing, and historical fiction, you just may enjoy The Book Thief too!