I had heard that a film release was due, but I am surprised it has come around so quickly! I thoroughly loved the book, and I don’t tend to read a lot of general fiction / more literary stuff but this one truly blew me away.
The premise is a simple one – a young girl named Liesel Memminger is sent to live with adoptive parents in a quiet Munich suburb after her father dies and her mother is sent to Dachau concentration camp. It seems her parents were Marxists, one group whose genocide in Nazi Germany is largely brushed over but around 250,000 Socialists and Marxists were sent to the gas chambers for their political affiliation (remember that next time you hear somebody say that Hitler was a lefty).
Anyway… on the journey, her brother dies and after the funeral the gravedigger leaves behind a copy of The Gravediggers Handbook. So begins her new life in Munich with a new family and one where she makes a habit of saving books from various bonfires.
My review of the book is here.
Haven’t read the book, but Mathair and I are definitely going to the theater to see the movie. Having read the book yourself, do you suggest I read the book beforehand or afterwards?
It is a rare thing for me indeed to prefer a film to the book they are based on. A few exceptions Lord of the Rings (go on, call me a philistine), Jaws, Shawshank Redemption, Bladerunner, The Shining.
My only concern about this is how much active participation Death will have. Will he be merely be the narrator or will we see him on screen as we do in the book, scooping up the souls of the dead as they die? On one hand it might – for those who are not familiar with the book – detract from Liesel’s story. On the other, if that isn’t the case then fans of the book might feel the some of the story is being lost.
I’ll come back and discuss once I have seen it :)
To answer your question, I will always recommend reading the book first.