Welcome to The Book Corner, a biweekly book review by a member of our fantastic Bromley High School community.
For this week, we have a contribution from Aarika in Year 9. Aarika loves reading and often has music playing in the background at the same time to create a sense of atmosphere. Her favourite quote is from the novel ‘Wonder’ by R. J. Palacio: ‘You can’t blend in when you’re born to stand out’.
‘The Book Thief’ by Markus Zusak
‘Extraordinary’ is one of the many words I could use to describe this book. The Book Thief is a story of a girl who lost her family during WWII and moved to another village with a foster family.
This book took a deep dive into the emotions, thoughts and actions of Liesel Meminger; it really showed how spectacular a human being is and how the things they do have a great impact on them. I particularly loved the aspect of a ’found’ family. Liesel lost her family at the beginning of the novel, and the story follows her fitting into a new place and finding something that interests her: Books. It may be just me, but the central role books play in this novel really stood out to me. Books symbolise the love she has for learning new things and experiencing new worlds.
The fact that the character of Death narrates the book is very peculiar and unlike anything I have read before. It provides an outsider perspective on how human beings think and react. It explains how a person is seen from a being that does not fully understand the concept of being human. I found this very interesting because we all take our humanity for granted, and the nature of being human is not something we often question or examine in depth.
All-in-all, this is a heart-wrenching and beautiful book that will evoke powerful emotions – I highly recommend it!
