The Book Thief | Markus Zusak | Book Review

“Like most misery, it started with apparent happiness.” 

― Markus Zusak, The Book Thief

The Book Thief is about a young girl, Liesel, growing up in Germany during World War II. Liesel is living with foster parents, Hans and Rosa. Throughout the story, Liesel steals many books. At first, she doesn't even know how to read, but she knows that the book is important. Hans notices and teaches her how to make sense of the letters. 

Hans and Rosa are not Jewish, but they do not agree with the Nazi regime and privately fight against it by hiding a Jewish boy, Max, in their basement. Their anti-Nazi sentiments remain a secret until one day Hans helps a Jew who is struggling to keep up with the group as they're being marched to a concentration camp. In response, the soldiers whip both Hans and the man he helped. 

Hans is worried that this incident will draw suspicion to his family and that Max is no longer safe in his basement, so he sends him away. After Max leaves, Liesel is given a book he made her, 'The Word Shaker,' which he wrote about their friendship and a promise that they will be reunited. Hans is then drafted into the German army where he ends up breaking his leg and is sent home to recuperate. 

Unfortunately, Max was not able to escape the Nazis, and Liesel sees him being marched through town one day on his way to the concentration camp. As the war continues, Liesel is given a blank notebook to write her story in. She names it 'The Book Thief.' 

One day her neighbourhood is bombed, and Hans, Rosa, and her friend Rudy are all killed. In the rubble, Liesel leaves her book behind. After the war ends and the Jews are freed, Max goes back to find Liesel, and they are happily reunited. The book ends with Liesel moving to Australia, having a family, and living at a ripe old age. 

The plot of the book was amazing and to me portrayed another level of seeing what it was like in the war at that time. There isn’t much I can say about it as it just all felt so real and I kinda feel bad for saying the plot was good then when in fact this crap was happening and it was beyond shitty. 

The Broken Girls | Simone St. James | Book Review

“Books were her salvation. As a child, she’d had a shelf of childhood favorites that she loved enough to read over and over again. But after, during the hospital stay and the long voyage and the cold days in Idlewild’s dreary hallways, books became more than mere stories. They were her lifeline, the pages as essential to her as breathing.” 

― Simone St. James, The Broken Girls

In a rural town in Vermont in 1950, four roommates bond as they try to survive Idlewild Hall, a boarding school for girls no one wants. They scare themselves with the story of Mary Hand, whose dead baby could be buried in the garden where nothing grows.

In 2014, Idlewild Hall has been abandoned for decades. But when a mysterious benefactor buys the compound, journalist Fiona Sheridan is intrigued. Twenty years ago, Fiona’s sister Deb was murdered, her body dumped in the road outside the old school. Even though Deb’s boyfriend was tried and convicted, Fiona always had her doubts. Could the history of the school…and doomed Mary Hand…have anything to do with her sister’s death?

The novel unfolds along two timelines: 1950, in which roommates Katie, Roberta, Sonia, and CeCe try to cope with their creepy school, and 2014, as Fiona digs deep into the school’s mysteries. The 1950 timeline features chapters from each girl’s point of view, which gets confusing at times. Fiona is aided by her journalist father as well as her boyfriend, Jamie, a cop about ten years younger than she is whose father was the police chief when Deb was murdered.

It’s an engrossing read, and moves along at a fast clip. There are several mysteries to be solved: Was there really a Mary Hand, and does she haunt Idlewild? Did one of the roommates really run away? Who really killed Deb? Who is the mysterious wealthy widow who has bought Idlewild, and what are her plans for the property?

St. James has does an exemplary job with setting as well. The rural Vermont town where the story takes place feels as abandoned as the school, but it’s a claustrophobic place where residents close ranks at the first sign of trouble.

The novel works well but for the ending. Not to give too much away, but mystery readers expect separate threads to tie together, and St. James does not deliver that experience. Still, the characters and setting engaging enough that while the ending is disappointing, the journey to get there is worthwhile.

Must Love Books | Shauna Robinson | Book Review

In Must Love Books, Nora’s life is not going how she planned. She’s always loved books, and publishing seemed like the perfect job. Now, five years in, she’s still just an undervalued assistant stuck doing more administrative work than actual book-related work. When a new wave of budget cuts hurts Nora’s already low salary, she takes a freelance position with a competing publishing house in order to make ends meet. It’s not ideal, and weighs heavily on Nora, but at least she can pay her rent. Then she gets to know author Andrew Santos. He might be the one to turn everything around if she plays her cards right. But Nora wasn’t counting on falling for Andrew in the process, and the person she thought might save her could just be the one to send her tumbling over the edge.

In the process of trying to figure out her life, many of Nora’s thoughts do get dark. If thoughts and discussions about ending one’s life are triggering for you as a reader, please be cautious when reading this book. While some of the people closest to Nora are happy, sunshine characters, I can’t even call Nora a grumpy character; she’s too far gone for even that. Nora is all the hardest parts of Millennial culture (career dissatisfaction, financial insecurity, mental imbalances) all rolled into one, and Must Love Books is her journey to not only face her problems head on, but also find ways to make her life worth living again on her terms.

I have to applaud author Shauna Robinson for including such wonderful social commentary in this book, and not shying away from any of it. Our main character, Nora, is biracial and Robinson effortlessly brings Nora’s experiences into the conversation multiple times. I was really glad to see several discussions on the lack of representation in the publishing industry, both from Nora (who is half Black) and her romantic interest Andrew (who is Filipino).

With closed door romance, Must Love Books was able to really focus on Nora and her journey. While Nora’s job was the catalyst for that journey, so much factored into her story and watching it all play out on the page was at times both heartbreaking and beautiful to read. Must Love Books might not be for anyone looking for a light, quick read. But if you’re looking for a heartfelt story about overcoming, I highly recommend Nora’s journey in Must Love Books.