Book 3: The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak

 The Book Thief was the most heart-wrenching piece of fiction I’ve read in awhile (nonfiction- The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls).  It’s one of those novels packed with so much emotion and unforgettable moments that I simply don’t think I can collect all my thoughts and properly review it, and fear I’ll instead slip into a long, detailed book summary and spoil the story. Simply put, in my opinion this story is a must-read, and I’ll try to touch briefly on why without spoiling things.

                The Book Thief in set in Nazi Germany between 1939 and 1943, and follows the story of a young German girl named Liesel Meminger.  The book is narrated by the omniscient Death, who is portrayed not as a greedy, hateful creature, but as a curious observer of the human race with a “circular heart”.  The perspective was a bit strange at first, as Death would frequently spoil the end of the story before the beginning, but the perspective worked in drawing me in to the present of the story, while placing the burden of the future forbiddingly on the horizon.  Also, after having read books set from a Jewish perspective during the Holocaust, it was interesting to see Germany “from the other side”,  in a manner of speaking, and see the reluctance, confusion and sorrow of the Germans as they watched former friends be hunted, gathered and marched away to concentration camps.

                Death first encounters Liesel as an eleven-year-old girl traveling on a train with her mother and younger brother- and Death has come to collect her brother. Despite the busyness of his job during this time, Death looks back on Liesel, watching as she steals her first book in an effort to always remember her brother. Liesel is poor, uneducated and unaware that she has stolen The Grave Digger’s Handbook.

                Abandoned by her mother, Liesel is taken in by Hans and Rosa Hubermann, an older German couple living on poverty-stricken Himmel Street in the fictional town of Molching, Germany. The author does a spectacular job of painting very real, tangible foster parents- Rosa is a loud, brash woman with a good heart but rough exterior who calls Liesel Saumensch (female swine, I believe it means). Hans is a kind-hearted painter and accordion player who develops a special bond with Liesel; he teaches her the alphabet, words, and eventually to read, sits watch over her nightmares, and turns a blind eye to her book stealing.

                Shortly after meeting Hans, it should come as no surprise to readers that Hans Hubermann is perhaps the only German on Himmel Street to soon be hiding a Jew in his basement. Max Vandenburg is the son of a deceased German soldier who had saved Hans’ life in WWI, and thus Hans agrees to shelter the Jew. Max hides with the family for two years (Death spoils this early on), and in that period develops a strong friendship with Hans and Rosa, but particularly Liesel, due to their shared love of words and frequent nightmares. I’ll stop there.

                The book takes a dark turn, as can only be expected when set in Germany during WWII. There is the Hitler Youth, fist fights, dying Jews being marched through the streets, recruits, air raids, bomb shelters, loss, love and sorrow. The story of Liesel Meminger is almost a world within a world for awhile, and you feel somewhat obligated to cheer along with her at each new word recognition, book acquisition, soccer game, midnight meeting and book reading. Yet the narrator does not allow you to forget the effects of the outside world marching steadily closer, determined to eliminate all happiness. It’s a somber, very real story, and powerful- definitely a read that will keep you thinking about it for days after.

                (There is so much more to this story than what I have just written. Just read it. It’s worth the time.)

Book 2: Insurgent, #2 in the Divergent Trilogy by Veronica Roth

I really wanted to like Insurgent, the second book of the Divergent trilogy by Veronica Roth. But I didn’t. It was terrible.

I had misgivings about the first book, and now I wish I had stopped reading there. I certainly have no desire to tackle the third after hearing reviews. Roth had a fantastic opportunity with this series, but something happened after book 1, Divergent. Perhaps she tried to publish too quickly or condense too much, but the overall impression I had of Insurgent was a plot line with multiple levels, but no ladders.

Every concern I had after reading Divergent was realized with this second installment. The timeline was out of control; so many things happened so quickly. I don’t even want to go there. It’s a mess. The spatial layout of the book is terrible- characters jump from faction to faction in the blink of an eye, and yet days pass while they wait for someone to attack from the next faction over. I wish Roth had drawn a map. In one scene the characters literally walk downstairs in their safe haven and are attacked. Five minutes later it’s all over and everything’s just great, except they’ve all been injected by a simulation that could cause them to revolt and kill themselves or others at any moment, but no big deal, right? It’s time for them to eat cake. (sarcasm)

In all seriousness, it just kept getting worse. At one point our protagonist is under a simulation and is tricked into announcing the attack date to Evil Lady. But no worries, because apparently only the reader noticed the obvious slip! Characters come and go as convenient, allegiances change every other page, and the sixteen-year-olds are given incredible responsibility and power while their elders eat cake, apparently.

Roth continually carves out “moments” for her lovebirds, which are conveniently timed and never interrupted or questioned, even while imprisoned.  It’s both completely unrealistic and a relief, and perhaps the redeeming quality that makes this trilogy so loved by readers. They want to see a happily ever after, but when the circumstances surrounding many of these “moments” is just not practical, they lose effect.

I wanted to love this book. I want to love this world. Unfortunately I am a literal reader, which essentially means the book has to make sense- the plot line, timeline, geography, circumstances, interactions, etc. And it doesn’t. Don’t even get me started about the plot holes with the Factionless (double the size, weapon training, and the government never expected rebellion?!), or the enormous failure of the “big” revelation at the end.

However, I will say Roth does manage to stitch some worthwhile messages into the scraps of this story. Tris, the protagonist, deals with the repercussions of decisions made in Divergent, and this subplot is believable. Other subplots- few and far between- are also laced through the story with believability, but I don’t want to spoil them…even though Insurgent has already ruined Divergent for me.  I’d recommend stopping while you’re ahead.

Book 1: Divergent (Book 1 of the Divergent Trilogy), by Veronica Roth

This book is appropriately named, because I have divergent thoughts on it. It’s fantastic. It’s frustrating. But mostly fantastic.

First of all, I loved it. I was already two weeks into my challenge with no more than a page of anything read when I opened it up last night and read the entire book in one sitting. Veronica Roth tells a very engaging tale of a dystopian world made up of five factions, each intended to uphold a particular trait: Abnegation (selflessness), Amity (peaceful), Candor (honesty), Dauntless (brave) and Erudite (knowledgeable).  The story opens with our protagonist approaching her decision day, where she must choose to either remain with her faction or choose a new one, thus being separated from her family forever. As the saying in this world goes, “faction before family”.

-As I don’t intend to include spoilers for this review, I’ll just generalize my conflicting thoughts about the rest of the story as a whole-

I felt like I had picked up the Hunger Games. Divergent was very similar and yet very different. The story was extremely fast-paced, making it both hard to put down and somewhat difficult to get my bearings. The characters developed at a rapid pace; the timeline of the entire book is probably a month or less. For the most part this is okay, causing only occasionally hiccoughs in reading, but there are certain moments where it feels like the story jumps from point D to Y (interpret that as, jumping the story significantly but not all the way forward, fairly unrealistically and only somewhat excusably).

Additionally, I wasn’t sure what to make of the main character, Tris. I find it ridiculous that she and the other initiates are supposedly sixteen, when contrasted with the expectations placed upon them to determine their faction for life and pass the initiation tests. On the flip side, it creates a powerful message about the repercussions of the decisions one makes.  The accelerated timeline becomes an issue here, because those formally initiated into the faction after training/testing are immediately sent to their lifelong occupations…and they’re still only sixteen. Perhaps sixteen-year-olds are different in the dystopian future.

I enjoyed the perspective of the protagonist, but at times she turned into a flat character with overdone love misunderstandings and love triangles. HOWEVER, on the other hand, these situations were resolved quickly, and did not consume much time in the book. Roth followed the expected storyline, but she did not linger on it. And in all honesty, I loved watching this romance develop in such a positive way.

The character development and plot line were just strange. Perhaps the character development was appropriate for such a fast paced story, and since the initiates had chosen the faction they felt they belonged to, they quickly adapted to who they felt they really were. It just happened very, very quickly. Ditto for the plot line. It was a relief to see a story not drawn out with frequent mishaps, interrupted conversations and misunderstandings, but don’t get me wrong: Divergent had them. Yet Roth utilized them reasonably well, and the overall impression was different. I thought Tris was both the stupidest, most ignorant person alive and brilliant in a unique way.

Despite the issues I had with this book, I do plan on reading the next two books immediately. I’m caught up in the world, and while I question things about it, I am unable to predict where Veronica Roth will take her readers next, and that’s got me hooked…but I admit I am crossing my fingers, hoping she doesn’t miss the mark.

Also, I’ve NEVER been more excited to see a book come to the theaters (March 21!). Mostly because of one character, but I’ll not spoil any more than that! 😉