Book 11

I finished reading my last Goodreads pick last week, The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak. An interesting book, although I was a little surprised to find it labeled as a Teen book, I figured the nonlinear style, along with the WWII subject matter, wouldn't find much of an audience there. But I'm hardly an expert in YA lit, so what do I know.

I was a little hesitant when I got into the book because of the nonlinear narrative. A lot of the time these type of things pull me out of the story. Or it comes across as a wink at the reader, the author's way of saying, "See what I did there?" But this worked well. It gave the book more of a conversational tone so that the format didn't get in the way of the story, but enhanced it.

The book did start slow. I don't know if this was a function of the nonlinear narrative, or if I just struggled with it at first. It felt like a large chunk of the first half was all introduction. Having said that, I did find myself getting caught up in the characters' various stories in the second half, and thought the pacing moved along nicely.

I also enjoyed the point of view here. I don't mean Death as a narrator, although that seemed appropriate for a WWII setting. Most WWII books I've read, or movies I've seen, at least recently, have Holocaust victims as the point of view characters, which certainly imparts the terrors of war. But using a civilian, a young German girl, as the main character made it fresh for me. That may not be the best phrase for a war story, but it gave me a different perspective. And it still let me feel the individual's suffering in a country at war.

So this wrapped up my recommendations experiment. The three books my friends rated 5 stars, I rated 4 stars each on Goodreads. Worthy recommendations, and I don't need to worry about these friends' literary tastes. My worry now is my to-read list will grow beyond control as I watch what they read.