The Book Thief - Movie Review

The Book Thief  - book by Markus Zusak

This book was published in 2005, and won quite a few awards as a novel for teens.  As is almost always the case, this book is better than the movie - or so I am told - and based on my reading of the online summary, I think it probably is better.   I tried to read the book - twice - but I didn't because I just couldn't get into it.  The book is narrated by Death.  I'm not sure if that is what turned me off or not.  I know a few people who loved the book.  I also know others who couldn't get into it, like me.  So....  

I watched the movie by the same title which was released in 2013.  I loved the movie, and I can highly recommend it!

The movie is set in a small town in Germany in the late 30s and early 40s, as the Nazis are ramping up their anti-Jewish activity.  The main character is a young girl named Liesel Meminger who is taken in by a middle-aged couple as what we might call today a foster child.  Her mother has left the country because she is a communist, so Liesel and her brother are being sent to live with this family - only the brother dies en-route.  At his burial, Liesel picks up a book dropped by the graveside and keeps it with her even though she can't read it.  

At the home of her new family, the father, played by Geoffrey Rush, warms to her very quickly and is very nice to her, while the mother, played by Emily Watson is very cold and distant, at least at first.  Liesel starts attending the community school, and it is quickly obvious that she can't read which makes her the laughing stock of many of her classmates.  She is befriended by a young neighbor boy named Rudy who becomes her love interest.  

Early on in her stay with the Hubermann family, another young man comes to stay with them.  This man is Jewish and asks them to hide him.  His father had been a good friend of Hans Hubermann.  Liesel and the Jewish man Max become good friends.  When he is sick, she reads to him to help him keep his brain active.  

The title derives from the fact that when Liesel can't yet read, she is fascinated with books and steals a couple because they are so unique to her.  Between what she learns at school and what Father Hubermann teaches her, she is quickly able to read and then becomes obsessed with reading everything she can get her hands on.  

While the tragedies of WWII do figure into the plot of the movie, I will say there is at least a partially happy ending, so the movie is not unending tragedy.  This is not another tragic "Holocaust" movie.  I recommend it to everyone!  It has action, romance, suspense, history - what more could a good movie have!

Happy movie viewing, and thanks for reading!

:)Amy