THE BOOK THIEF by Markus Zusak

(NOVEL)

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (Alfred A. Knopf, 2007).

Reviewed by Lisa Proehl

The Book Thief is set in Nazi Germany, and explores Liesel Meminger’s relationship with a Jewish man, Max, who hides in the basement of her home during part of World War ll. As their friendship deepens, he shares his life story through a series of sketches.

This is a beautifully written story, interestingly narrated by Death, which adds to the depth of the novel. The story reveals the brutality and horror of the war, while at the same time expressing the beauty of words, art, literature, and friendship. Liesel learns the great value of knowing how to read, and of having a voice. She also believes that words are what hold the country under the power of Hitler and the Nazi party. She sees literature as being partly responsible for the upheaval, but also as her escape from it. Words can cause destruction and peace. So can humans.

How do these two sides of humanity coexist? As Death reveals at the end of the novel, “I am haunted by humans.”

I couldn’t put this book down; I highly recommend it.


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© 2011

THE SPINAL PERCEPTION by Joshua S. Porter

(NOVEL)

The Spinal Cord Perception by Joshua S. Porter (Aardvark Global Publishing. 2006).

Reviewed by Kevin A. Penrod, Jr.

This is a book that I have read numerous times and have never gotten tired of. It’s excellently written. It is a novel made up of interweaving stories from the narrator’s past experiences. David Rivers, a substitute teacher, loses his teaching license after an incident in an elementary school when he brings a monster to class. The monster, the Llapasllaly, traumatizes the students. David then moves to California where he starts suffering from hallucinations involving a co-worker turning into a giant lizard, a giant talking fly, and more. After an accident occurs, he moves back to Georgia and gets his teaching license back. The Llapasllaly returns and his life is forever changed. This is the debut novel from Josh Porter who is also known by his stage name for the band Showbread, Josh Dies. It is an amazing dark and tragic love story with a great message hidden in its pages. Every word paints a picture of what is happening to this character. The novel is overflowing with imagination and genius in every chapter. The author had great insight on everything he wrote about in this novel. Due to some very graphic content, I wouldn’t recommend it to younger readers. But I highly recommend it to everyone else.


If you wish to  comment on this or the previous review, click on "comments" below the review. If you have trouble with that link, you may send comments to Webberfbs (at) gmail (dot) com (substitute @ for "at" and . for "dot" and don't leave spaces).

© 2011

THE RETURN OF THE NATIVE by Thomas Hardy

NOVEL (CLASSIC)

The Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy (New York: Signet Classics, 1999). First published in installments in the magazine, Belgravia, in 1878.

Narrated by Patrick Tull (Recorded Books, 2002).

Reviewed by Wilda Morris

Regretting that I did not take any literature courses in college, I decided a couple of years ago to attempt to remedy that mistake. From time to time, I either read a classic novel, or listen to a recording of one. Recently, I selected the Recorded Books edition of The Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy.

In this novel, set at Egdon Heath, Hardy engages many issues, including desire (and failure) to escape the impact of social conventions; illicit relationships; social class; failure to learn from experience; the danger of acting on false assumptions; good intentions leading to negative consequences; guilt; damage done by an over-controlling parent; the high cost of waiting too long to seek reconciliation; and the perils of falling in love with false expectations of the other, rather than with the real person.

The story circles primarily around four young adults. They are:

*          The fickle Damon Wildeve;

*          Clym Yoebright who returns from Paris planning to settle down in his native area and start a school, so as to improve the lives of its people;

*          Thomasin Yeobright, a gentle and conventional woman; a cousin of Clym, who was raised by Clym’s mother (who would like to see Thomasin and Clem marry); and

*          Eustacia Vye, a beautiful and somewhat exotic young woman who is living with her grandfather; she hates the heath. Some of her neighbors believe she is a witch.

As a love story, The Return of the Native is complex, involving two very different kinds of women, and three very different men. Eustacia comments (page 200), that “many a man’s love has become a curse to him.” In the plots and subplots of this dark book, romantic love and attempts to find life partners seem to curse both the men and women. The games the young people play to attract mates, as well as the well-intentioned but sometimes ill-conceived interventions of the “supporting cast” (Diggeoy Venn, the reddleman and Mrs. Yoebright, in particular), leads to two mismatches and various levels of disaster to most of the characters.

I recommend this forerunner to the modern psychological novel.

© 2011.

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