The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Picked as a rank outsider dark-horse not least because it had nothing to do with our stated aims of either classics or science fiction, the next book you will be reading is The Book Thief by Markus Zusak.

According to our good friends at wikipedia, Markus Zusak is the son of an Austrian father (who was a house painter) and a German mother. The Book Thief is his fifth work of fiction.

In an interview for the Sydney Morning Herald, Zusak said that when he was growing up he heard stories about Nazi Germany, the bombing of Munich, and Jews being marched through the small German town his mother lived in. These stories inspired him to write The Book Thief.

Apparently he was inspired to write after reading such works at Hemingway’s The Old Man & The Sea, which is more than can be said for you guys [as far as I know].

Although the American publisher of The Book Thief has marketed the nearly 600-page book set in Nazi Germany as a young-adult novel, it was originally intended and published in Zusak’s native Australia specifically for adults.

The author currently lives in right here in Sydney, with his wife and daughter. He enjoys surfing and watching movies in his spare time – so he must be alright.

It is timely that we read the book now as a full length feature film of The Book Thief is set for release at some point in 2010 – so now we can all go see it and smugly announce afterward that the book was of course much better.

To whet your appetites for what, given its length, is not an insubstantial book, semiliterati has kindly sourced some background materials for your perusal.

Below is a 29 minute video of the mild-mannered Markus Zusak speaking about The Book Thief at the salubrious Southerland Library in 2007. In the video he talks about the vital importance of small detail in engendering belief in fiction, and the critical role of failure in forming a finely written book. It also serves as a slightly scary reminder of just how big a 550 page book can look.

http://www.mattswan.com/books/audio/The-Book-Thief-by-Markus-Zusak.flv

If you feel like adopting someone else’s well-read views as your own there is a fairly comprehensive review of the Book Thief by Elizabeth Chang of The Washington Post that is still available to read on Amazon.com.

There is a written interview with Markus Zusak on the corner of the Random House website that they have kindly kept aside for our man, though you may want to brace yourself as the site is not easy on the eyes. The site also contains a couple of extracts from the book so you’ve something to read while you’re waiting for your fishpond.com.au order to arrive.

Some purchasing options if you don’t feel like popping down your local bookshop:

Fishpond :

Hardcover, 24hr shipping: $30.97
Paperback, 8-12 days shipping: $17.05
Audio CD, 6-12 days shipping: $44.29

BetterWorld Books:

Paperback, 10-12 shipping, US$10.98

Amazon Books:

Paperback, 18-32 days shipping: US$9.40

Dymocks Books:

Paperback, 1-6 weeks shipping: $23.95

Booktopia (check the ads on the right – there’s usually a link)

Paperback, 3-5 days shipping : $17.49

The Book Thief Reading Notes:

Some themes to look out for and consider as you make your way through the book:

1. The effect of using Death as a narrator
2. The significance & use of colour
3. Literature & the power of words – in the world of this book
4. Guilt
5. Friendship
6. Man versus Society
7. The Beauty and Brutality of Humanity

I’ll be posting more such ponderances in the comments here as I make my way through the book and around the web.

Get your reading glasses on gentlemen!

   

Tagged as: Australian authors, Author Interviews, book review, fiction, historical fiction, Markus Suzak, Next Book