• THE BOOK THIEF
• by Markus Zusak
• [rated by PBS readers as #14]
• 550 Pages

I picked several titles and the Book Thief was one of them. It was also one of the four titles that I already owned, so I went over to pick it up and start reading a bit to see if it felt right.

The lyrical writing pulled me in and wouldn’t let me stop.

Apparently, the Book Thief is next. Seems like 550 pages that I will be glad I read.

But, then again, I’ve been wrong before!

100 PAGES IN –

I’m sure people argue where creativity originates and/or comes from – and they will for as long as someone has a hunch and picks up a paintbrush.

My own feeling, though I’m certain it is less widely held than other theories, is that all creativity is channeled.

Doesn’t mean you have nothing to do with it. Just means it isn’t all coming from you.

For example, do you really buy that the Sistine Chapel was painted by one guy upside down with no help? Nah, I contend. It was him plus a confluence of spiritual help. In my view, that is the only way to see it.

Then there are the creators who do very good work until one day, they happen upon making something great. Truly great. Like all great art, it takes what the artist has and sends it up into a high weather pattern that becomes bigger than seemed possible. No artist who it has happened to, that has created something genius, can explain that. You might outwardly defend that it was all you, but you know better.

You know, before you fall asleep, that this one project of yours? It was different. It was kissed into a cosmic hyperdrive that came through you but blew up into something much bigger and almost left you happily behind.

I haven’t read anything else by Markus Zusak, the author of The Book Thief. I’m sure they are all good. One of the fun things about this booklist, though, is that it contains so many examples of a particular writer’s liftoff into hyperdrive, creating something beyond what they knew how to create.

From the first words of The Book Thief, you can feel this liftoff sensation. This story of a young girl growing up with foster parents in Nazi Germany. The story is told by someone who has met up with the young girl more than once and becomes fascinated with her – Death. You heard me.

It is the most fantastically out there story and voicing that is at the same time, completely realized. I imagine that one version of this is what Sci Fi fans live for – a completely alien but fully realized world to step into as you read. This language and writing lift from terra firma into transcendent storytelling and never do you waver for an instant floating in this unknown but fully realized world.

At 100 pages in, I am not even 1/5 of the way through it and yet, I’m on the unknown ride.

Don’t misunderstand – there is nothing airy fairy about this writing. Each scene is exquisitely detailed and very much in the present. What you don’t know is where it is leading. No idea.

Right now, it feels like an exquisite desert for me and I am taking it in in small tastes, 20 – 40 pages at a time. Yet some of the reviewers said “edge of your seat for the last 200 pages” type things and I don’t have any sense of how we will get there.

This is a lovely follow up to Harry Potter, the World’s quickest book to read. Harry’s magical gentleness was a great precursor to magic and gentle storytelling of a whole different ilk.

Book Thief is a quietly beautiful experience.

1/17/21

Finished it. Wow.

I reread the last line from my last entry and that remained true. Reading it was a quietly beautiful experience. But it was also a really difficult read. It spoke of a girl in Nazi Germany, attempting to hold onto life and its precious moments, even as they slowly slipped away from her.

It is a book filled with death. Perhaps the reason the narrator is Death. Which is an amazing idea to keep alive for over 500 pages.

I assume that I will have more to say on this after I’ve slept on it. But for now, I’m not going to lie to you. I have two truths about this.

1) I’ve just read a masterpiece and

2) I can’t wait to get it out of my head.

1/17/21

After a sleep and a busy day, I am once again reflecting on The Book Thief.

The late Roger Ebert, my idol when it came to discussing movies, said something to the effect of nothing done with excellence is ever depressing. I remember agreeing with him, at least with regards to film. For instance, watching Schindler’s List, a film most would regard as depressing and hard to watch, I was floating from the sheer mastery in visual storytelling.

Ah, but here’s the difference. Two differences, actually. And they are both fairly darned significant.

One – Schindler’s List tells an incredible story, resulting in an incredibly beautiful ending, filled with hope.

Two – Schindler’s List took up three hours of my life.

With The Book Thief, you have mastery in writing and exquisite storytelling. I will always remember these characters. I find no fault with this amazing book.

However, it took a month of my time, rather than three hours. And the story is ultimately and relentlessly depressing.

So, about the master stroke of Death telling the story?

At the beginning, that choice seems incredibly inspired. By the end, you realize that there was no one left to tell the story!

And yes, while it is certainly true that hope often dies and death is inevitable… Jesus! Do I want to spend a month in that reality? Whee-oh!

I’m past 60 years old. Life was always short but feels more like that now. I’m privileged to have visited this author’s immense talent. But I’m sure glad I don’t live there.

Don’t know who I could recommend this to. To study great writing, sure. But I like everyone in my life too much to suggest they spend a month in this reality. So stamp my passport. I’ve been here. And now I’m out of here!

To pick the next book, I didn’t go through my usual picking routine. Well, I started with that. But I picked four titles that were all a bit depressing and involved kids and I just shook my head. I needed something that veered completely away from the last one. At least, one with some laughs and people staying alive!

So I just started picking titles out of the box. The fourth one I got made me laugh. It was the title that I thought least deserved to be on this list. And why? Probably fairly poorly written, salacious more than anything and from what I’ve heard, not that good.

Suddenly I thought, what better time to stick this one in than now? No matter what I think of it, it is the furthest point I could go from the last one.

Stay tuned!