Comments on: Book Club: The Book Thief

By: Fiona Veitch Smith

Fiona Veitch Smith — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 13:35:35 +0000

LOL! I have a tendency to type Foina …

Thanks for engaging so positively in this discussion Kimberly. I do hope your book club enjoy the book as much as I and many other people do. Yes poor, poor Rudy. It reminds us to grasp hold of life to the full lest what we love may be taken away. But it’s a hard lesson to learn for someone as young as Liesel.

I’ve been unable to continue setting new titles for the Book Club on The Crafty Writer, as I only do this in my spare time. For the last year ’spare’ time has been very spare indeed!

Looking forward to meeting your other members.

Fiona

By: Kimberly

Kimberly — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 13:24:34 +0000

Misspelled my own name – what a terrible typo!

By: Kimbely

Kimbely — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 13:20:34 +0000

At the beginning of the month, I had the assignment of choosing the next read for the book club I belong too. No easy task, I assure you, as the members of my club read so much more than I do and have previously read and discussed most books that I could come up with…enter the Book Thief. My 15 year old son has been trying to get me to read this novel for over a year now. He convinced my mother to give it a try and she loved it! The Book Thief will be the first YA book my club will read and I think they will be pleasantly surprised. Another first, The Crafty Writer. While searching the net for some interesting discussion question, I stumbled across your wonderful site. I have copied and pasted your net location and sent it to my club members. Thank you for the discussion questions.
As I am only half way through the book – I plan to complete it today – I will only comment on one query from your board. I can say that I am disappointed each time Death gives something away. However, this style has helped build up my emotions as I read. For instance, knowing when and how Rudy will receive his kiss from Liesel makes all his attempts to obtain one much more meaningful and terribly sad instead of simply comical. I now keep wondering the regret that Liesel might feel at not having kissed him sooner, of having denied him this simple request and pleasure

By: Fiona Veitch Smith

Fiona Veitch Smith — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 10:28:08 +0000

Hi Sarah, good to hear from an ‘intended reader!’. And well done on reading it in 24 hours. Now you’ve got time to go back and work through it more carefully. Good luck with the analysis. I don’t remember having to write 120 page anythings when I was 14. Poor you.

The tension in the book, I believe, was retained because of us wondering how the inevitable was going to be achieved. In a crime novel this would be the ‘how dunnit’ rather than the ‘who dunnit’. This is where we’re going to end up, announces Zusak, but I’m still going to surprise you on the journey. And of course there was the Max sub-plot.

By: Sarah

Sarah — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 19:20:52 +0000

Hi, I’m 14 and I finished this book in one day…. one full day, 24 hrs. Yeah and I had to sleep all of the next day. But anyway, I really liked it alot, though I couldn’t understand what kept the tension in the book even though the ending was given away. And I thought Death was pretty cool. His little inputs were funny and made the book even more unique. The only bummer is that I have to do a 120 page analysis on it and finish by the end of this month.

By: Writers in conversation at The Crafty Writer

Writers in conversation at The Crafty Writer — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 19:52:59 +0000

[...] an email conversation between Markus Zusak, whose book The Book Thief was recently featured in our Book Club, and non-fiction history writer Susan Campbell Bartoletti, author of Hitler Youth. It makes [...]

By: Fiona Veitch Smith

Fiona Veitch Smith — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 11:01:19 +0000

Hi Sue, good to hear from someone who didn’t like it! Yes, having Death flash forward all the time and spoil the end was a big gamble for the author. With you, it obviously didn’t pay off. The next book, An Interpretation of Murder, keeps the end hidden until the end!

By: Sue B

Sue B — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 10:53:07 +0000

Hi Fiona despite the many people who love this book I have found it a bit of a struggle. It is not really my cup of tea.

Some bits were really enjoyable and I found myself racing along only to be pulled up by the intrusive and unbelievable comments of the character Death. I found the character Death especially annoying when he casually gave bits of the future plot away.

It did tackle an interesting subject as I have to confess I was previously unaware of the book burnings.

By: Fiona

Fiona — Wed, 21 May 2008 10:48:18 +0000

Hi Karen, glad you could join us. Poor you having to read Da Vinci Code after that!!!!!!! I hope you can join us on the next book club – The Interpretation of Murder.

By: Karen Hall

Karen Hall — Tue, 20 May 2008 10:22:42 +0000

I came across the book reviews by chance after looking elsewhere on your blog but was attracted by The Book Thief. I read this about a year ago when I was working at Borders and it left a huge impression on me. The next book I read seemed like total tripe in comparison (but then again it was the Da Vinci Code!). Book Thief I liked so much that when Borders were selling it at half price I bought 2 so that I had one copy for myself and one to loan to people.