The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Review from Amazon
From The Washington Post's Book World/washingtonpost.com
Death, it turns out, is not proud. The narrator of The Book Thief is many things -- sardonic, wry, darkly humorous, compassionate -- but not especially proud. As author Marcus Zusak channels him, Death -- who doesn't carry a scythe but gets a kick out of the idea -- is as afraid of humans as humans are of him.

Knopf is blitz-marketing this 550-page book set in Nazi Germany as a young-adult novel, though it was published in the author's native Australia for grown-ups. (Zusak, 30, has written several books for kids, including the award-winning I Am the Messenger.) The book's length, subject matter and approach might give early teen readers pause, but those who can get beyond the rather confusing first pages will find an absorbing and searing narrative.

Death meets the book thief, a 9-year-old girl named Liesel Meminger, when he comes to take her little brother, and she becomes an enduring force in his life, despite his efforts to resist her. "I traveled the globe . . . handing souls to the conveyor belt of eternity," Death writes. "I warned myself that I should keep a good distance from the burial of Liesel Meminger's brother. I did not heed my advice." As Death lingers at the burial, he watches the girl, who can't yet read, steal a gravedigger's instruction manual. Thus Liesel is touched first by Death, then by words, as if she knows she'll need their comfort during the hardships ahead.

And there are plenty to come. Liesel's father has already been carted off for being a communist and soon her mother disappears, too, leaving her in the care of foster parents: the accordion-playing, silver-eyed Hans Hubermann and his wife, Rosa, who has a face like "creased-up cardboard." Liesel's new family lives on the unfortunately named Himmel (Heaven) Street, in a small town on the outskirts of Munich populated by vivid characters: from the blond-haired boy who relates to Jesse Owens to the mayor's wife who hides from despair in her library. They are, for the most part, foul-spoken but good-hearted folks, some of whom have the strength to stand up to the Nazis in small but telling ways.

Stolen books form the spine of the story. Though Liesel's foster father realizes the subject matter isn't ideal, he uses "The Grave Digger's Handbook" to teach her to read. "If I die anytime soon, you make sure they bury me right," he tells her, and she solemnly agrees. Reading opens new worlds to her; soon she is looking for other material for distraction. She rescues a book from a pile being burned by the Nazis, then begins stealing more books from the mayor's wife. After a Jewish fist-fighter hides behind a copy of Mein Kampf as he makes his way to the relative safety of the Hubermanns' basement, he then literally whitewashes the pages to create his own book for Liesel, which sustains her through her darkest times. Other books come in handy as diversions during bombing raids or hedges against grief. And it is the book she is writing herself that, ultimately, will save Liesel's life.

Death recounts all this mostly dispassionately -- you can tell he almost hates to be involved. His language is spare but evocative, and he's fond of emphasizing points with bold type and centered pronouncements, just to make sure you get them (how almost endearing that is, that Death feels a need to emphasize anything). "A NICE THOUGHT," Death will suddenly announce, or "A KEY WORD." He's also full of deft descriptions: "Pimples were gathered in peer groups on his face."

Death, like Liesel, has a way with words. And he recognizes them not only for the good they can do, but for the evil as well. What would Hitler have been, after all, without words? As this book reminds us, what would any of us be?

Reviewed by Elizabeth Chang

Tortilla Curtain by T. C. Boyle

Amazon Review By historyfuzz (San Jose, California)

Mr. Boyle's book attempts to raise discussion over the immigration debate in a creative and effective manner. With the introduction of four main characters in very different circumstances, he vividly develops their individual personalities, feelings, pains and desires through a series of challenges that ultimately depict the unavoidable reality: that they are each deeply affected by the actions of the others. Boyle attempts to get readers to take a fresh look at the aging, yet unresolved debate over illegal immigration in the Southwest. By developing his characters and their exploits so thoroughly, Mr. Boyle firmly places the reader into each character's shoes, and makes it a little easier to see some of the unspoken realities of this issue; not the least of which are the human struggles and the unavoidable ethical dilemas that cannot be resolved by taking one extreme position or the other. The obvious question is whether Boyle has created fair characterizations without resorting to the gratuitous use of shallow stereotypes.

While many may feel diferently, I believe that his representations of each character (while at times redundant) were accurate. Hailing from California myself and having been frequently and directly affected by issues raised in this book throughout my own life, I don't feel that Mr. Boyle relied on unrealistic generalizations. In fact, it was apparent to me that Mr. Boyle must have had some personal experiences (or engaged in some extensive research)to have provided the details and descriptions appearing in the book. Since my family originates from both sides of the border, I can confortably say that one would have to be hyper-sensative to be offended by any characterizations in the book.

My primary concern with the book rests with the ending. Without providing any details, I must say that Mr. Boyle owes me either another chapter or a new edition with an ending that measures up to the rest of the book. In the end, I was actually left speculating that my copy was missing some pages. To Mr. Boyle's credit, the reader is drawn closer, into an intimate relationship with each character. Chapter after chapter I became completely invested in the story. As the book builds, one cannot help but hope for some resolve, not necessarily in the immigration debate, but of the personal struggles of the characters who almost seem to deserve it after all the trials they've undergone throughout the book. This sense of satisfaction never comes. And while Mr. Boyle's ending message is thoughtful and profound, the ending's simplicity overshadows its intended impact. Throughout this book, Mr. Boyle effectively avoids opining directly on the topic (or possible solutions) of illegal immigration and chooses to allow the reader the opportunity to form their own conclusions by personally experiencing it through each character's eyes. The author clearly wanted to be consistent by choosing such a safe path to an ending, but it is shallow and abrupt, and lacking the creativity found throughout the book. I suppose if closure is not a prerequisite in your choice of a novel, this book is a great read. The journey is gripping. But if a thoughtful and creative ending is important, it might not be a good investment of time if you end up experiencing the same disappointment I did. Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
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Our Iceberg is Melting: Changing and Succeeding Under Any Conditions by John Kotter

John Kotter (of Harvard Business School fame) tells the "tale of a colony of Antarctic penguins facing danger-inspired, perhaps, by today's real-life global warming crisis (or, perhaps, by March of the Penguins' box office). Under the leadership of one particularly astute bird, a small team of penguins with varied personalities and leadership skills implement a thoughtful plan for coaxing the other birds in their colony through a time of necessary but wrenching change. The logic of Kotter's fictional framework is wobbly at times-his characters live and act very much like real penguins except that one carries a briefcase and another ("the Professor") cites articles from scholarly journals-and the whimsical tone will not be to everyone's taste. However, this light, quick read should fulfill its intended purpose: to serve as a springboard for group discussions about corporate culture, group dynamics and the challenges of change." from Amazon.com:

The Dybbuk by S. Ansky

Book Description from Amazon.com:

In The Dybbuk, a drama of mystical passion and demonic possession, S. Ansky (1863-1920) brings together the saga of his own youthful rebellion against religious authority, his abiding faith in the power of the simple folk, his utopian struggle for equality, and his newfound commitment to the Jewish people. Anksy had just returned from an epoch-making ethnographic expedition through the Yiddish heartland of Eastern Europe, and what he found in the towns and townlets of the Ukraine was a religious civilization that mediated the living and the dead, the strong and the weak, the natural and the supernatural.

In his introduction to this volume, David G. Roskies reveals that Ansky's return to Mother Russia was accompanied by a profound renegotiation with his hasidic heritage, the Yiddish language, and the Jewish historical imagination. The book also contains little-known works of autobiographical and fantastical prose fiction, as well as an excerpt from The Destruction of Galacia, Ansky's four-volume chronicle of the Eastern Front in the First World War.

Satan in Goray by Issac Bashevis Singer

Amazon.com review by Mark D Burgh "Music, Writing, Art, Film, Hist... (Fort Smith, AR United States) - See all my reviews

Consider that I.B. Singer wrote Satan in Goray at the age of 26 or so, and the impressiveness of this work becomes all the more clear. Few people of that age, or any age could evoke an historical era with such force or create a fractured narrative of such power. The world of religious conflict, superstition, and messianiac hysteria is Singer's main interest, subjects he would pursue for the rest of his life. Satan in Goray is a strong beginning, a prophetic book (written in the early 1930's) of a trapped people on the edge of a disaster.
The book takes place as the Jews of Gory attempt to recover from the Chelmelnicki massacres of the 1640's (the worst disaster for the Jews between the Crusades and the Holocaust). The Jews of Poland believe that, as Christian would say, the End Times are here, and expect the messiah to arrive. Shabbati Shevi appears on the scene, claiming to be the messiah. Many Jews fall under his sway, but the Rabbi of Goray resists and this further wracks the town. As these political and social disasters are played out, a young orphan, Rechele, who is insane, becomes the center of interest of the town, as she is unmarried. When a holy man, Itche Mates, arrives in Goray, he marries the unfortuate Rechele, who proceeds to be posessed by Satan and do things that make Linda Blair in the Excorsist look amateur.

The novel itself has some problems; it's birth as a serial leaves it episodic. One has the sense of threads stopping and starting without reason, and there really is not what could be called a plot. However, Singer's rich language, his pinpoint descriptions of people, places, and religious factions are stunning. Reading his work is an education.

Satan in Goray is a look into the hearts of Polish Jews right before World War II. The sense of helpless claustrophobia is appalling, the whiff of death overwhelming here. Satan was not just in Goray, and Singer knew it.

Almost French: Love and a new life in Paris

I hate it when a good read is over. And I hated for this story to end. This story "explains" so many things that I observed this summer is Paris. For example, my blog (http: maryannlaun.blogspot.com) recalls:

August 10th, Thursday night
It is now 1am and I am just trying to catch up with my journal. Yesterday, Mary called H & M and took them" "to task" for treating Amy so poorly and for ignoring me when I said (in French) that my daughter was on the third floor in the dressing room when they closed the store. Can you imagine my chagrin when they pulled that garage door barrier down and here I was on the street with Amy missing! Anyway, when we returned today, a fellow named Alex helped Amy find what she wanted and we were on our way. Although Amy felt embarrassed about the whole incident, she was glad to get the things she liked!

From Sarah Turnbull's memoire, she recounts how she, an Australian journalist, throws all caution to the wind and moves to Paris after meeting a Frenchman while on assignment in Bucharest. This books is less about her relationship than it is an observation of what it is like to live as an expatriate. It is funny, charming, and self-effacing. I laughed out loud so many times when she was discussing her Parisian life. Recommended!

Lost in Translation: A life in a new language by Eva Hoffman

Review from Amazon.com:

Enlightening description of immigration and languages, December 16, 2006
Reviewer: Daniel Waisberg (Kadima, Israel) - See all my reviews

I started reading this wonderful book 6 months before I left Brazil towards Israel. After finishing the first Part (Paradise) I just could not keep on reading, and I abandoned the book for a while. After I landed in Israel I re-took the book and was delighted again with the realness of it. A thought occurred to me that the reading was so descriptive of the immigration sentiment that I just could not understand it before immigrating myself.

The book helped me to understand and to organize the infinite sensations that come with the leaving/arriving to another country. How the language affects the way we think and act, how sadness and happiness are mingled into one strange feeling, how we cope and forget without noticing, and how we urge to succeed and prove that we can be part of the new country.

In addition, the book also brought to me new feelings and curiosities about my grandparents, whom also escaped from Poland and Russia in the late 40's. Hoffman describes so well how the old traditions and languages influenced the new live of those who left their country because of prejudice and persecution!

One passage that I am specially fond of: "No, I'm no patriot, nor was I ever allowed to be. And yet, the country of my childhood lives within me with a primacy that is a form of love. (...) All it has given me is the world, but that is enough. It has fed me language, perceptions, sounds, the human kind. It has given me the colors and the furrows of reality, my first loves. The absoluteness of those loves can never be recaptured: no geometry of the landscape, no haze in the air, will live in us as intensely as the landscapes that we saw as the first, and to which we gave ourselves wholly, without reservations." It reminds me of Wordsworth when he writes about Tintern Abbey.

A wonderful life-changing book.

Kaaterskill Falls by Allegra Goodman

review from Amazon.com:
Endearing story with warm, thoughtful characters, November 12, 1999
Reviewer: A reader
Congratulations or more aptly "Yashe Koach" (a popular Jewish term for "A job well done.") on Kaaterskill Falls. At first, I was drawn to the novel because it centers around a distinctive Ultra Orthodox Jewish community (i.e., the Washington Heights Kirshners.) Ironically, however, I ended the book deeply touched by the universal themes it so poignantly dramatized: e.g., those of father and son, as in the case of the Rav and Jeremy; those of brother to brother, as in the case of Jeremy and Isaiah; and, those of generation to generation, as in the case of Andras and his young wife, Nina. All three of the main characters are richly layered and likeable people. I was particularly taken by Elizabeth, a homemaker longing to create something of her own outside of the home. I applauded her spunkiness and was saddened by her feelings of entrapment. We see the world through the unique eyes of the three main characters: Elizabeth, Andras and the Rav. We are privy to their internal tug of wars. And while their struggles touch on universal themes, the individuals themselves are not stereotypes. In fact, they often take us by surprise; for example, the dogmatic Rav reminisces about German secular culture. At its core, Kaaterskill Falls is about character development. If you're looking for fast action and complex plot lines, look somewhere else.

Let's Talk about: The Centaur in the Garden by Moacyr Scliar

I read this second title in the Let's about it: Jewish literature series while I was on the plane coming home from Europe. I love reading in an airplane...Somehow the drone of the engines block out all other noises and you can really get lost in a book. No other distractions, places to go, or things to do...

In this work, Moacyn Scliar addresses the issue of Jewish identity and feeling lost between two worlds. Guedali finds himself born as a centaur, half man, half horse. Scliar uses magical realism to tell this allegorical tale of what it felt like to be Jewish in Brazil. The reader gets lost in the adventures of Guedali: he is born to a family who supports him in spite of his freakishness appearance yet keeps him hidden from others. Guedali becomes learned through correspondence courses where he studies extensively on all subjects, but none more than on the reasons why he was born a centaur. He admits that "Life without challenges isn't worth living (2), and he states that "there are man unknown things inside me, many secrets. Isn't it time to open the floodgates, to let the torrents flow." (4) He feels insecure and is afraid of standing up...Which leaves the reader wondering if he is insecure with his identity. He feel alone. He recalls as a child, alone in his crate "...there must have been the notion of conflict between hardness and softness, between the brutal and the delicate, between the equine and the human...." (25)

Guedali has many experiences as a centaur: he is circumcised and becomes part of the Jewish community, yet he still sounds outside of the circle: he is hidden from onlookers and when his sister marries. He is loved by his family but always hidden from the curious eyes of others. He finally decides to leave "It pained me to leave my family. But I couldn't go on this way, a prisoner in my room, gradually becoming a toothless old centaur with white hair, and finally dying without even having tried to escape my destiny." (55) He longs to be happy...

He joins a circus and thus begins the exploration of his sexual identity. He is discovered as a true centaur and in the face of that reality, runs away again to Argentina. He finds refuge on a ranch sleeps, only to be awakened by the sound of horses running. It is another centaur...

The book progresses with his relationship with Tita and the reader is drawn into the story of their longing to be freed from who they are. Guedali seems ambivalent about his identity even as he faces his surgical transition into full manhood: "I thought of many other things that night, both sad and happy. The final result, however, was neither sadness nor happiness, despair nor joy, crying nor laughter, nothing. The final result was sleep--a thick, powerful heavy sleep tat engulfed my being like quicksand, hooves, legs, tail, mouth, eyes, everything." (87)

Guedali never becomes fully human and his relationships with his friends and his wife suffers. His depression is clear: "Time passes, we stop loving each other and start asking ourselves what life is for. For nothing it seems. Every afternoon when I close the office, I think: 'One more day gone, this day won't be back to bother me'" (125) He longs to become a centaur again.

He returns home and has so many questions for his father. "I wanted to hear. I wanted to find out things. Had Guedali the centaur boy been happy? Happier than the biped Guedali, or less happy? If less happy, than more happy), then why my uncontrollable itch to Gallup, why the incessant search for something that I couldn't even identify? If happier (or less unhappy), what should I do to reverse the acceleration of my misery, or regain my lost happiness? And what might be the secret of centaurs' happiness..." (180)

This chapter chronicles godlike struggle with his identity as he wonders "What is the meaning of existence...Why are we in the world? Is there a God, Guedali?" He longs for contact with the earth in a way he cannot deny. He longs to pray again and feels the need "for wisdom and consolation of religion." (183) He stays apart and realizes the must face his demons that torment him: "Not without first finding out who I was: a crippled centaur, deprived of his equine body? A human being trying to liberate himself from his fantasies." (188)

This novel addresses the complex world of being Jewish in a strange land and the reader lurks in the background watching and waiting, not unlike the fluttering wings of the winged horse who beckons Guedali to take flight.

Let's Talk About: Out of Egypt by Andre Aciman

Our first book in the Let's Talk about it: Jewish Literature discussion series (http://tinyurl.com/7qdm7)

Aciman's memoir captures the memories and perspectives of a young Jewish boy growing up in Egypt. This colorful family, who moved to Alexandria in 1905 long before the narrator was born, is a family like so many others...multi-dimensional characters, grandmothers whose love is unmistaking, and a bond between them all that is universal. This was a difficult book to get involved in...in fact, I had to do a "family tree" to keep track of the generations and the various aunts and uncles.
But the tale becomes a tale I could strongly identify with my Irish ancestors...

The book opens with a quote from Great Uncle Villi: "Siamo o non siamo," Are we or aren't we?" and so the family moves through generations struggling to find a place in the world to call home. The narrator is Andre who uses the memoir to record family stories of genrations of his family as they move from one place to another. As they struggle, Uncle Vili repeats his question, "Are we or aren't we" and, as the narrator observes "It was his way of whistling in the dark, of shrugging off defeat, of picking up the pieces and calling it a victory." (ch.1)

The family's saga takes the reader through good times as well as bad...the family rubs shoulders with the king of Egypt, sells Italian cars, rice, sugar cane, and dabbles in other industries. The wealth comes and go as the family faces the realities of wars and economic depressions.

I found the story of this Jewish family interesting and one I could relate to coming from a large Irish family. So many of the relationships and his recollections of his experience as a displaced member of this family seemed universal.

When Andre recalls his memories of conversations with his family, the disconnectedness they felt as they wandered outside of their homeland was clear: "Even today,...I cross the street on the slant, I always sit in the side rows at concert halls, I am a citizen of two countires but I live in neither, and I never look people in the eye." "I'm honest with no one, though I've never lied. I've given far less than I've taken, although I'm always left with nothing. I don't even think I Know who I am, I know myself the way I might know my neighbor from across the street. When I am here, I long to be there; when I wa there, I longed to be here." (p. 85)

The Jewishness of his recollections are interesting. He provides lavish descriptions of food and celebrations, yet no words of going to the Temple or worship. Often he seems embarrassed by his Jewishness and longs for conformity. His recollections are those not unlike a child who is embarrassed by his mother, his background and his heritage. There is no question that he is privileged yet he lacks the pride in the things his family provides for him in Alexandria.

At the end of the memoir, he sits as the beach, he finally knows: "And suddenly I knew, as I touched the damp, grainy surface of the seawall, that I would always remember this night, that in years to come I would remember sitting here, swept with confused longing as I listened to the water lapping the giants boulders beneath the promenade... I wanted to come come back tomorrow night, and thenight after, and the one after that as well, sensing that what made leaving so fiercely painfull was the knowledge that there would never be another night like this, that I would never eat soggy cakes along the coast road in the evening, not this year or any other year, nor feel the baffling, sudden beauty of that moment, when, if only for an instant, I had caught myself longing for a city I never knew I loved..." (p.339)

Between Two Worlds: Stories of Estrangement and Homecoming? One that many generations and nationalities can relate to...

Let's talk about it: Jewish Literature

The Pasadena City College Shatford Library is sponsoring a discussion to address human issues of estrangement and homecoming through the works of Jewish authors, thanks to a grant of $1,500 from the American Library Association (ALA).
The grant is part of the ALA's Let's Talk About It program and will underwrite a five-part series on the theme, "Between Two Worlds: Stories of Estrangement and Homecoming," one of four themes exploring Jewish literature and culture as part of the ALA initiative.

"Our theme really does speak to our multicultural community," said Mary Ann Laun, PCC assistant dean of Library Services and grant writer for the Let's Talk About It grant. "It explores what it means to belong, feelings of estrangement, as well as efforts toward assimilation to a different environment and culture."

Local scholar, Dr. Peter A. Brier, will lead the discussions on five works of Jewish fiction. The lectures and discussions are also expected to foster strong continuing interest in Jewish fiction, as well as nonfiction. The Shatford Library is one of four in California to receive this grant. Sixty libraries will participate nationally in this fourth round of grants. Grant funds will support training for project staff, program materials, and an honorarium for the participating scholar.

For more information and to be placed on a mailing list for this series, call 626) 585-7833 or visit the website at www.paccd.cc.ca.us/library/letstalk.htm.