I finally finished the audio book of The Book Thief. This book is over six hundred pages and so I chose to listen. I cannot praise the author Marcus Zusak and narrator Allan Corduner highly enough. It is narrated by Death. Yes, Death. And yes, I found this fascinating! Because of these narrations listening to this book was made infinitely more enjoyable. This was a bold move for a young adult novel. Admittedly its a bold topic for a young adult novel and Zusak accomplishes it gorgeously. Next step was to watch the film.
The movie was beautifully cast and I was immensely pleased to see Himmel Street (German for Heaven) come to life along with Liesel, Rudy, Max, Mama and Papa who remain treasured friends. They changed the title of the second book Liesel purloined maybe to make it more recognizable to a wider audience; as an author I think that would rankle. I’ll let you know if indeed it does when they make a movie out of my book! If you’re not going to read the book then the movie is absolutely worth the watch. If you want the full experience of The Book Thief’s story? Then I recommend you listen. Death’s reminiscing is quite haunting.