Yesterday I borrowed a book from the library. It was a book that one of the book clubs I belong to was/had read(ing) and was going to discuss soon. I haven't attended this particular book club in a while, so I thought I'd check out the book and try to join up again.
The book is called "The Book Thief" by Marus Zusak. It's about 550 pages long, and was in the "Young Adult" section of the library, although I wouldn't have placed it there. (The subject material was pretty hard to read.) I finished it just a few minutes ago. (I think it took me about 8 hours total...I read too fast for my own good sometimes!)
It's the story of a young girl growing up during in Munich, Germany during WWII. She is orphaned at the age of 9 because her parents were Communists. She was sent to live with a foster family in Munich. The book details her life with the family--an older couple with two grown children. Along the way they hide a Jewish man, she becomes friends with a mischievous boy, and she steals books.
As you would imagine, the story is hard to read--full of tragedy and loss during this awful period in human history. The book is narrated by Death, which puts an interesting perspective on things. It allows the story to be told matter-of-factly, as you would imagine Death would tell it. Even so, you can visualize exactly what is taking place and you can feel what each character is feeling.
As I was reading, especially the rather tragic ending, I couldn't help but think about what a terrible thing war is. I am not a peace-loving hippie, and I understand that sometimes war is necessary, especially when you're trying to stop a total lunatic like Hitler, but it doesn't stop me from feeling sick inside about all of the loss. The German people (well, many of them) blindly followed Hitler, believing him to be the "ultimate leader." I wonder how many of them knew what was really going on (not many, I'm sure), and how many were sickened when they found out. They lost so much in the name of prosperity and the "forward thinking" of one man.
Are we so blind that we wouldn't recognize the same thing if it was happening under our noses? I hope that we have learned enough from the lessons of the past to know better, but sometimes I feel like we could be headed for a similar fate. We are told to pray for our leaders, and I know that's the best we can do.
I'm still thinking on this, and may add more later, but that's all for now...
The book is called "The Book Thief" by Marus Zusak. It's about 550 pages long, and was in the "Young Adult" section of the library, although I wouldn't have placed it there. (The subject material was pretty hard to read.) I finished it just a few minutes ago. (I think it took me about 8 hours total...I read too fast for my own good sometimes!)
It's the story of a young girl growing up during in Munich, Germany during WWII. She is orphaned at the age of 9 because her parents were Communists. She was sent to live with a foster family in Munich. The book details her life with the family--an older couple with two grown children. Along the way they hide a Jewish man, she becomes friends with a mischievous boy, and she steals books.
As you would imagine, the story is hard to read--full of tragedy and loss during this awful period in human history. The book is narrated by Death, which puts an interesting perspective on things. It allows the story to be told matter-of-factly, as you would imagine Death would tell it. Even so, you can visualize exactly what is taking place and you can feel what each character is feeling.
As I was reading, especially the rather tragic ending, I couldn't help but think about what a terrible thing war is. I am not a peace-loving hippie, and I understand that sometimes war is necessary, especially when you're trying to stop a total lunatic like Hitler, but it doesn't stop me from feeling sick inside about all of the loss. The German people (well, many of them) blindly followed Hitler, believing him to be the "ultimate leader." I wonder how many of them knew what was really going on (not many, I'm sure), and how many were sickened when they found out. They lost so much in the name of prosperity and the "forward thinking" of one man.
Are we so blind that we wouldn't recognize the same thing if it was happening under our noses? I hope that we have learned enough from the lessons of the past to know better, but sometimes I feel like we could be headed for a similar fate. We are told to pray for our leaders, and I know that's the best we can do.
I'm still thinking on this, and may add more later, but that's all for now...
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