The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

At my library, The Book Thief is constantly checked out. Now I know why. This text is worth a reread someday. If you think you’ve read every version of WWII there is to be told, I ask: have you seen it from Death’s perspective? Have you seen from a German’s point of view? Zusak takes on the challenge to present Nazi Germany from within and to show the challenges for those opposed to the Fuhrer. The story is narrated by Death, who tells us about Liesel, a young German girl with a passion for books, her family and friends. As the story unfolds, Liesel understands the power of words and how the Third Reich uses them to break apart her family and everything she loves.

Zusak’s writing style is enjoyable. He gives Death a unique voice and personality. Death is constantly breaking the narrative with short facts and asides about characters, events or his personal observations. These interruptions are a fun part of the narrative and keep the story interesting. I enjoyed how many chapters begin with a teaser, a fact or future event yet to unfold, that Death uses to get us interested in how the story will play out. Here’s an example of what I’m talking about:

Of course, I’m being rude. I’m spoiling the ending, not only of the entire book, but of this particular piece of it. I have given you two events in advance, because I don’t have much interest in building mystery. It’s the machinations that wheel us there that aggravate, perplex, interest, and astound me. (Zusak 243)

What an interesting commentary on story-telling – from Death. Normally, I do not like narrators that directly address the reader. It is often tacky and takes me out of the story. But Zusak caries it off beautifully because, I think, Death has such a real presence in the plot and his voice is so real. And moments as the one quoted remind us that this story is already over and he is telling us this in retrospect, which allows him some authority to talk to us about it. Zusak uses nonstandard English, meaning incomplete sentences and “sporadic” punctuation. I don’t count myself among the “grammar police” (notice my many “mistakes”) but I think it is hard to pull nonstandard English off and make the book strong and the reading experience fluid (thinking of Cormac McCarthy who is brilliant at doing this). Zusak does a fine job but some incompletes did throw me off a couple times. Overall though, it worked, especially as Death’s voice. No one talks in complete sentences all the time and it made him seem real. I also enjoyed the spatial aspect of the text – how some lines stand alone and other pieces are centered. It made for an interesting reading experience.

This book is dehydrating. Literally. I cried practically nonstop through the last fifty pages. Prior to that, I didn’t cry at all. It just all happened so fast, the ending that is. I couldn’t put the book down. This is a thick novel, with plenty of time to develop the characters, yet it never became stagnate. The Book Thief is definitely one worth reading.
Publisher: Knopf, 2006     Recommended Age: 14 and up (the reading and content is pretty heavy for younger readers)
Rating: 5 Stars                   Pages: 552               Source: IC Public Library

Maus: A Survivor's Tale: And Here My Troubles Began by Art Spiegelman

Another great graphic novel! Maus II picks up where book one left off. Art, the graphic novelist, is still recording conversations with his father. Vladek Spiegelman begins his story again, entering the gates of Auschwitz to endure unimaginable terrors. The novel opens with Art’s misgivings about drawing Vladek’s experience during WWII and about the man he became after the war. Art admits feeling presumptuous and feels the weight of his project. Perhaps more than the first novel, Maus II highlights Art’s conflicted feelings for Vladek. He feels deep respect for his father but struggles to love the miserly and racist man his father is. Moments of such honesty keep readers from idolizing Vladek but to respect his story, to learn what we can from it and to understand each person has his or her own history. And from our personal histories we construct our world view. I think that is one lesson (even though the novelist says he intended no “message”) I get out of reading Maus. Art finds it difficult to be around his father and I think he wants to know Vladek’s story so badly because he desires to understand Vladek’s history, to know the whole person who is his father. Vladek and his wife survive the war but are forever altered.

Maus I/II is a wonderful text to introduce young people to WWII/ the holocaust. It is honest about war cruelties but is not gory. There is some swearing and a few naked mice but nothing graphic or sexual. My recommended age is 13 only because I feel kids much younger may not appreciate the relationship between Art, a grown man, and his elderly father. But don’t let the YA tag fool you. Adults can appreciate Maus as much as young people. It's not strictly a children's story by any stretch. Highly recommended!
Publisher: Pantheon Books, 1991 Recommended Age: 13 and up
Source: IC Public Library              Pages: 136
Rating: 5 Stars

Maus: A Survivor's Tale: My Father Bleed's History by Art Spiegelman

Maus (pronounced mouse) is a graphic novel that is easily in my top twenty if not my top ten favorite books. This is not simply a comic book about super heroes. Maus is a true story of love and survival during the Holocaust. The narrative shifts between the present and past while the graphic novelist interviews his father about living in Poland during World War Two. It is a riches to rags story as Spiegelman, Sr. loses all his worldly possessions while dodging the Gestapo for as long as possible. Wars may end but their devastating effects are felt for several generations. The narrative structure allows the reader to see how an entire family, born and unborn, are affected by the persistence of and memory of war. World War Two shaped many lives directly and indirectly as seen in the relationships in the Spiegelman family, especially between father and son.

The graphic part of this novel is genius. Spiegelman chose to portray Jews as mice, Germans (presumably all Nazis) as cats and the Polish as pigs. Apparently, the popular German nickname of Poles was pigs, hence their depiction as such in the novel. The mice motif, depicting Jew as victims hiding in holes in the walls, is challenged by the narrative as we see them, not just as victims but as individuals actively fighting for survival. The way people looked was hugely important, race even more so. Imagine people trying desperately to not “look Jewish” and in the novel trying not to look like a mouse. The symbolism of the animals enhances the feeling of isolation as well as camaraderie in the novel. The art allows for body language to become a visible part of the reading experience which allows emotions to come through in a way that words often fail to capture.

Maus was a big surprise. I didn’t expect this kind of experience from a graphic novel. This is my favorite WWII text for sure followed by The Hiding Place and then Last Man Out. Oddly they are all nonfiction which is something I usually don’t get into. But it makes sense that true stories are the most touching and inspiring. I could go on but if you read it for yourself you’ll understand why I like it.
Publisher: Random House, 1986 (originally, 1973) Recommended Age: 13 and up
Source: IC Public Library                                        Pages: 159
Rating: 5 Stars