The Book Thief by Markus Zuzak is one of my favourite books and I must admit I was not really happy when the plans came out to make it into a movie.
In short, Death is looking at a very busy period ahead of him in early 1939 when he is introduced to Liesl who picks up a book at the graveside of her little brother. Not able to read though she carries it around like a treasure (what is exactly what a book is). She ends up with a foster family and her foster father learns her to read. Whit the war going on Liesl finds her books in very special ways and the stories help her trough that rough period.
I loved the Death as narrator of this book and had a hard time imagining him in a movie. Especially as he never really becomes a character but is important.
The book left me with a lot of feelings. The feeling of loss and happiness, anger and sadness. The coming of age of both Liesl and Rudi and the way they were dealing with life during the war. I read the book multiple times and every time it leaves me emotional.
I really loved the movie. The movie opens with Death describing his first encounter with Liesl. I was really happy to see Death and how he was portrayed. The sense that something is there but you cannot grasp it. The first scene made that very clear.
The developments in the story show some of the bigger events from the book. Small situations are left out to save some time. The important friendship between Liesl and Max gets enough attention though and her love for books is shown too. The characters stayed true to the ones in the book for me. Though Death was there he was not the main character as he was in the book which makes sense being the most difficult to portray.
The emotions, though rushed at times, are coming back in the movie. I especially like the effects where the whole surrounding is grey and dusty and either Rudi or Liesl looks very colourful wearing read or green jumping out from their surroundings.
I feel the movie stayed close to the book and though the Liesl in the movie was not really the Liesl I imagined while reading I was not disturbed by the visual that was given by the movie. I was however at points annoyed with the accent. If you want to stay away from the book but still discuss this story with other people the movie will give you a solid base. But do remember that Death is the most important character in the book not Liesl.
3 reacties
Write reactiesI LOVED this book! And I like that you have a different cover. I read this with some honors students for a summer reading assignment one year and we did a study of book covers. This book has so many of them from country to country. My favorite cover is the UK's and I bought it from Amazon UK instead for my personal shelf!
ReplyI agree, it's hard to get a good grip on a Death as a narrator in the movie. And Death in this book is my favorite narrator of most anything I've read.
This is absolutely one of my favorite books and I was nervous about going to see the movie. I found it moving and well done but--gosh, it's just so hard to live up to such an amazing read!
ReplyI couldn't figure out how they would handle death, but I was pleased at how it came out in the end.
As you know I have given this book a try a few years ago and didn't like the writing style. What I should have done was push through a few more chapters, because in hindsight, I would have loved it!
ReplyHowever, I went to see the movie in the cinema and I loved it. When I got home I immediately started reading the book. Knowing the story, it was easy to get through the book. Not normally how I would do things, of course :)
I loved the book. I really did! A lot more than the movie, but I must agree, the movie stayed true to the book as much as it possibly could. I'm glad I gave the book another try and it's now amongst my favourites!
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