Bridge of Clay

Situating a novel in Nazi Germany is difficult because even from the start, everything is turned up to 11. It's hard to do anything subtle at that volume. And as if that's not hard enough, have the narrator be Death. I mean, I get it. You want to pull the camera way back so all the horribleness can be tolerable, and from the cosmic standpoint of death (the fate of all humans, not the narrator) 11 is pushed back down to something manageable so we have something to work with.

The thing is, now you're stuck with this personification, which may work in some poems but just ends up looking silly in this novel. Luckily, Mr. Death keeps out of the way for long stretches at a time so you can forget about that silliness and relate to the story, which is touching. People love this book because there are so many affecting passages. To answer the question often asked about this book, yes, I teared up several times reading this.

Depicting the German people as not all evil but themselves victims creates a paradoxical tension. How do we root for the Allies winning the war by destroying the lives of the characters we have been identifying with? The same tension exists as well in having Liesel's step mother be both abusive and loving.

And we readers understand the power of words to save us from the everyday cruelties of simply being alive, so we're happy to celebrate Liesel's experiences both being protected by words and using words to protect others. We know firsthand how "the same thing could be so ugly and so glorious, and its words and stories so damning and brilliant.”

I know I should overlook this book's flaws and just swim in the emotions, but it's often overwritten and sentimental and, yes, silly, so with all it has going for it, I can't give it more than three stars and change.

Zusak got me to enjoy reading about two things that normally leave me cold - coming of age stories and the Holocaust. For the former, I'm just not usually interested in reading about 12 year old girls figuring out life. For the latter, I think the horrific, undeniably evil acts performed during the Holocaust can make it too easy to manipulate the reader's emotions.

But Zusak pulls it off, mostly through some amazing writing. I am not sure why this is categorized as a "Young Adult" novel, as it is full of big themes and awful, wonderful, acts. And every page had its share of lyrical passages that were just too numerous for me to keep writing down.

The Book Thief is about Liesel Meminger, an foster child living in a suburb of Munich during the World War 2. Death is very busy, but finds time to tell the story (yes, it is written from Death's point of view!) of Liesel, who manages to acquire reading material in this time of book burnings and mass hysteria. When a Jewish man comes to hide in their cellar, she shares her reading with him, as well as fellow bomb shelter people, while she tries to get through her tween years, stealing apples, avoiding Rudy Steiner's advances, and trying to stay out of trouble.

I know it doesn't sound very exciting, but I find it impossible to do the book, and the writing, justice. Just check out the Quotes from the book here. It took a bit to get into it, trying to figure out the writing style and the third person perspective from Death. And there are some wild typographical exercises too. But it all rolls along in breathtaking fashion. An amazing read and one I highly recommend.