Review: Local volunteer discusses ‘The Book Thief’

It’s narrated by Death, takes place during the darkest days of the Third Reich, was originally marketed as a novel for young adults, and is more than 500 pages long.

Despite all these unpromising characteristics, The Book Thief, by the Australian author Markus Zusak, has achieved world-wide success amongst all ages since it was published three years ago, and is the 2010 selection for Read Together Palm Beach County.

The announcement of the Read Together selection was made this morning outside the West Palm Beach library.

The Book Thief is the story of Liesel, a 9-year-old girl who steals books, even though she hasn’t yet learned to read. Books release her from the daily trials of life in Germany in the late 1930s. Death, having first taken her brother, watches as she learns to read. Zusak’s great theatrical triumph lies in creating a Death who’s slightly afraid of the people whose souls he collects.

Copies of The Book Thief will be widely available in bookstores and libraries throughout the county. Read Together Palm Beach County runs from March 26 to April 30.

Here’s today’s announcement:

Zuzak talks about the book in an interview with Amazon.com:

The other four finalists were:

On The Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford, about a Japanese-American family during WWII;

The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien, about the men of Alpha Company during the Vietnam War;

Run by Ann Patchett, a novel about a prominent Boston family, a tragic accident and the lengths people go to in protecting their own;

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows, about letters exchanged during the German occupation of the island of Guernsey in the English Channel.