I am somewhere in between absolutely loving this book (Markus Zusak's The Book Thief), and not really being sure exactly how I feel about it. I did really like it, don't get me wrong. Zusak seems to have quite a talent with playing with reader's emotional heart strings, though. Forty pages from the end of the book, I was sitting on the bus reading it trying to decide whether to just close the book and not finish it, or to persevere no matter how bleak it all felt. I won't go into the plot really as no doubt you have already heard all about it--WWII story set in a small town outside Munich, narrated by "Death" himself, mostly about a young girl called Leisel--the book thief. It started out a tad bit slow for me, and there were some lulls in the story, so it felt a bit bumpy at times. Of course this might have been due to my needing to get it back to the library before the due date (which was yesterday), so I probably was trying to read it faster than I should have. It's a good story, and it is creatively told and I cared about the characters. But at times it is hard reading, and considering the time, place and subject matter surely you'll understand why. Death was occasionally kind and would give the reader glimpses of what was to come, but really it never actually softened the blow once it smacked you in the face when the time came. I was a little surprised that this is a YA book, but then why should this be sugar coated for teens reading it. It happened and it was awful and people need to remember it. I did make it through the last 40 pages...sad or happy ending? If you are curious enough to know, I better not give anything away, so you will just have to read the book for yourself.
That's enough of books filled with this type of turmoil (for the moment anyway), I said to myself last night. So what did I promptly do? Yes, I picked up Peter Ho Davies's The Welsh Girl. Round two of WWII reads I guess. I have only read the first few pages--mostly out of curiosity as I do want to read this next (looks good, sounds good, and I am looking forward to reading it!). I thought maybe it would be good to squeeze a nice, happy (even if predictable, predictability is sometimes good in my book) book first before the end of the month. For me comfort reads=Clare Chambers. However I have it on good advice that if I like Clare Chambers I will love Barbara Trapido. So I have started in earnest, Brother of the More Famous Jack. I think I am going to like it. It feels like a Clare Chambers novel, but sort of different. This one is sort of literary (not that Clare Chambers isn't, but I mean there is talk of literature and books in the book, which is very appealing to me right now). So I guess I will be giving a little space between me and the book thief, and let that story swim around in my head a little bit, maybe move it off to one side, and think about it all later. Until then I have a date with a Barbara Trapido novel!