The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Wow and wow again!

Markus Zusak takes us to places where we would rather not go and which we would rather not see.

He uses words and images in such a way that we are looking at horror and not feeling that sense of despair which usually accompanies such pictures. For the first part of the book at least!

Our narrator, Death, oversees the life of Liesl Meminger when all around her Germany, and the world, is spiralling out of control and into World War II. He assumes a benevolent persona towards Liesl and in her, sees a strength and integrity which somehow fascinates him. From the death of her brother and her delivery by her mother to the foster family, the Hubermanns, right through her adolescence until her death as an old lady on the other side of the world, he follows her and to a certain extent protects her.

We assume that we are hearing Death speaking and telling her story and it is not until at least halfway through the book that we discover that the words are Liesl’s and not his. He is reading her book – her life as written by her each night in the basement of 33 Himmel Street.

Liesl is a survivor and is smart enough to know that she must learn “words” and how to use them if she is to progress and survive in the world. Her parents, who really play a very small part in her life, were devastatingly poor and therefore unable to ensure that she has an education. She does not even know how to speak her native tongue. She is so fortunate in her placement with the Hubermanns. Hans loves her unreservedly and even though Rosa has a foul mouth and an abrasive manner, she, in her own way nurtures the girl. The Hubermanns are simple, honest and very brave as evidenced by their protection of the Jew, Max Vandenburg, for almost two years.

Liesl blossoms with them and takes her place in the local school pretty much on her own terms. She discovers books as the result of a find in the cemetery where her little brother is buried and determines to acquire more, by whatever means possible. Hence the title of the book.

Liesl becomes a thief – mainly of books – and with the implicit connivance of Ilse Hermann, one of her foster mother’s washing clients and also the wife of the Mayor of the town of Molching where they live. Ilse has a library of about a thousand books, and while she is defeated by the death of her son, obviously decides that Liesl is a worthy recipient of her treasures, her books.

We follow Liesl and her friend, Rudy Schneider on their various adventures and their gradual involvement in the progress of the war and how they are inevitably sucked up into the vortex of terror and destruction which is totally beyond their control. It is during one telling chapter that Death seems to despair totally of his mission when he describes how he has to scoop up the souls of the people “taking showers” in what we know were the concentration camps of the Nazis. He tries to alleviate the suffering of some of the inmates in so far as he takes their souls before they hit the bottom of their last leap. He tries to hide his face from it all. Unsuccessfully.

Molching is hit by the “tin can” planes and most of the residents of Himmel Street are killed in one horrible night of bombing. Liesl is the only one to survive and in the course of her grief stricken wandering, her black book, her diary, her story, is lost and finally tossed in amongst the waste from where our narrator rescues it.

“The Book Thief” is written in a way which is so different from any other book I have read that it took a little while to come to terms with the style. Initially I found it disconcerting, then became intrigued and finally, was totally hooked.

This book should be on the bookshelves of each and every home. Not only as a cautionary tale of the horrors of war and man’s inhumanity to man, but because it contains some of the most wonderful word pictures I have ever read. It would be easy to be seduced by the way in which Markus Zusak uses words. There is no need to sit with a dictionary by your side – the words are those which we use each and every day and their use in such a way makes them even more powerful.

Review by Elizabeth Cooke from the Montag Book Club

A Dog’s Heart (aka Heart of a Dog)

The only reason that Mikhail Bulgakov was not liquidated by Joseph Stalin is that he wrote a play, Days of the Turbins (based on his novel White Guards), that Stalin happened to enjoy immensely. It is said that Stalin saw the play on at least seven occasions. While you read “A Dog’s Heart” (written in 1925, but not published in Russia until 1987) you will be astounded by the fact that upon the discovery of his typed manuscript by the OGPU, Bulgakov was not tortured in the Lubyanka, put in a train headed for the gulag archipelago, and then “eliminated”. This is because the tale is a biting, and blatant, satire of the Soviet Union in the1920’s, exposing the absurdities of a social experiment going horribly wrong. Set in crowded Moscow, the story begins with one of Russia’s greatest scientists, Philipp Philoppovich Preobrazhensky, taking in a stray dog. However, the motive is not an altruistic sense of concern for welfare of the dog, but rather a desire to conduct a radical experiment.
Into the dog are transplanted the testicles and pituitary gland of a recently deceased human (who turns out to have been a criminal). The dog then begins a gradual transformation until eventually it is recognisably “human” – it walks on two legs, is capable of speech, has human-like facial features and is given a new name: Sharikov. Soon Sharikov unleashes his terrible “personality” upon the Scientist’s household in particular and the city of Moscow in general. It can be read on many levels – as a comment on the futility of attempting to artificially bring socialism to “backward” Russia; as a cautionary morality tale; as a wonderful piece of science-fiction writing; or simply as a hilarious short story about a drinking, swearing, womanising human/dog hybrid. Whatever your take, you are sure to be delighted by Bulgakov, one of the greatest, and oft neglected, writers of the twentieth century.

Review by Michael Scutti

A dog's heart: A monstrous story. Fiction, Mikhail Bulgakov

Orwell’s Victory

Since Orwell's death in 1950 his legacy has become twisted and contradictory. People of all political persuasions have either attempted to 'win' him for their side or to 'expose' him as a charlatan. Was Orwell a homophobe? Why was his attitude towards women so negative? Was he a (shudder) Trotskyist? And what about "The List"? These questions and more are examined, and indeed answered, as Hitchens masterfully navigates the reader through the maze of (mis)interpretations of Orwell's considerable literary output. The book is clearly and logically constructed, with chapters on "Orwell and the Left", "Orwell and the Right", "Orwell and the Feminists" and so on. Hitchens maintains that while Orwell was by no means infallible, he possessed the entirely honourable quality of constantly evaluating his own beliefs and prejudices. What emerges is a picture of a remarkably honest, perceptive and consistent man in a world displaying precisely the opposite qualities.

Review by Michael Scutti

Orwell’s Victory, by Christopher Hitchens 823.912 ORW

Oliver Sacks

I find Oliver Sack's books so wonderful I couldn't choose just one to review. Oliver Sacks is a neurologist who was born in England and has lived in New York since the 1960s. You may have seen the film Awakenings (616.832 SAC)which is about him. The book and the film are available at the library. In The man who mistook his wife for a hat(616.8 SAC) and An anthropologist on Mars(616.832 SAC) Dr Sacks presents in a warm and personal way, case histories of people struggling to live with conditions such as Tourette's Syndrome, autism, phantom limb syndrome and epilepsy. He investigates the world of the deaf in Seeing voices(362.42 OLI) and the colourblind in The island of the colourblind(616.8 SAC). He writes from the perspective of a doctor in Migraine, but he has also written as a patient in A leg to stand on(617.584092 SAC). He has even written a memoir of his youth called Uncle Tungsten: Memories of a chemical boyhood(617.584092 SAC). He writes about the truly fascinating human brain in an engaging and easy to understand way.

The Girl with the Broken Wing

This book by Heather Dyer is such a delightful read. Spend some time reading this book to your children, it will be time well spent! It is the story of Hilary, an angel, who 'breaks' her wing trying to land on James and Amanda's roof. She has so much fun with the twins that she decides to stay. She eats chocolate, goes on a picnic and even goes to school while James and Amanda try to keep her wings hidden.

The girl with the broken wing by Heather Dyer. Available in junior fiction.

The curious incident of the dog in the night-time

This book won the Book Trust Teenage Fiction Award but, like all good books for young people, it is a great read for adults as well.It is the story of fifteen year old Christopher who has Asperger's Syndrome which is a form of autism. He finds a neighbour's dog lying dead on the lawn and sets about solving the mystery of who killed it but ends up finding out a lot more. It is a fascinating glimpse inside the head of someone who is brilliant at maths and science but who just doesn't understand humans. A moving and fabulously quirky book! Available from the youth fiction section under the stairs.

Small Island

This book has won a number of awards and is a fascinating read. During World War II soldiers from British colonies fought for Britain but when they came to live there were given a very cold welcome. Set mainly in 1948 we see a slice of life in England during a very difficult time of transition.

The story is told alternately by a Jamaican man who fought in the war and has now come to live in England, his proud and haughty wife, an English woman who married to escape her dull farm life and her awkward, cold husband. Their lives collide in a tale of relationships, racism, hope and dashed expectations.

Small Island can be found in the Wagga adult fiction section under Levy.