REVIEW: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

TITLE: The Book Thief

AUTHOR: Markus Zusak

PUBLISHED: December 2007

GENRE: Fiction, YA, historical fiction,

SETTING: Germany

WHERE I GOT IT: ebook borrow from the library

ABOUT: The book follows a young girl named Liesel Meminger as she struggles with life in Nazi Germany during WWII. It is told through the eyes of Death, who first ran into her standing over the grave of her brother. He is intrigued by her and witness's her stealing her first book. Death follows Liesel and watches her as she struggles to find her own place during a horrible time in the world's history.

EXPECTATIONS: I really had no expectations before I started reading it. I knew that it was a popular book that many seemed to really like so I thought it was time to finally read it for myself.

WHAT I LIKED: I liked the unexpected and unusual narrator of the novel, that being Death. Often throughout the book I kept wondering why Markus Zusak decided to tell it this way because to me without all the Death bits the story would have held it's own rather nicely. I think the story was told beautifully.

WHAT I HATED: I didn't like some of the descriptions Death used sometimes. I notice it more at the beginning though. Some of them left me scratching my head trying to figure out what he meant by them. I wish that I would have jotted a few down before I returned the book so I could have given a few examples. After I got deeper into the book, however, they either never jumped out at me or there weren't anymore.

HOW IT ENDED: Did I like the ending? Yes and No. The ending was pretty sad, not that it was too much of a shock since Death at one point tells us that it wasn't going to end well. It's funny though that even though when he spoiled the ending to his own story and then backtracked to the events leading up to the end I kept hoping that it would end differently, that maybe Death was actually wrong. The ending was sad but at the same time it wasn't. I don't want to give away the ending so I will just leave it at that.

FINAL THOUGHTS: I thought this book was excellent. I loved the narrative and I loved listening to Death tell us about Liesel and her life. I thought it was well written. Another book I could not put down.

MY RATING: 4 out of 5 stars.  

REVIEW: Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay

TITLE: Darkly Dreaming Dexter

AUTHOR: Jeff Lindsay

PUBLISHED: September 2006

GENRE: Fiction, Serial Killer, Suspense,

SERIES: Dexter #1

SETTING: Miami, Florida

WHERE I GOT IT: ebook borrow from the library

ABOUT BLURB: Dexter Morgan isn't what he seems. By day he works for the Miami Police Department as a blood splatter analyst, by night he is a killer. Except he only hunts and kills other serial killers. When the Miami Police start to track a serial killer Dexter takes notice but can he beat them to him and serve his own justice?

EXPECTATIONS: I had really high hopes for this book considering I LOVE the TV show. I watched all the seasons on Netflix again recently but since Netflix doesn't have the newest season yet I decided to try reading the series since I am starting to go through Dexter withdrawal.

CHARACTERS: It's really hard to judge the characters on how they appear in the book because I watched the show first. When I was reading this I pictured the actors from the show, their mannerisms and how they interpreted the character and that is how I saw the characters when I read it. That sort of sucks because I can't form my own opinion of the characters myself. Although I think if I had read the books first, then watched the show I still would probably picture the actors in their respective roles if I reread the books again anyways. It happened with the Sookie Stackhouse and Harry potter series as well.

Of course I found Dexter to be interesting considering what he does in the dark of night. I think Deb is my favourite in the show and in the books I can see some of what I love about her. But to me I feel like all characters fell flat for me. What I love about them from the show is there but it feels like it only scratches the surface of their personalities. Then again this is only the first book in the series so hopefully it will get better.

PLOT: I am going to have to say that I liked the plot better in the TV show but that might be because it was more flushed out then it was in the book. But that makes sense right, the show is 12 episodes long and if you just followed the book that probably would make for one boring and even shorter TV season. I still found the book interesting though because I really didn't know exactly what was going to happen or should I say how they were going to get to the conclusion since it does differ greatly from the show. That in itself was kind of nice since it almost feels like I am getting more information on Dexter and his world.

PACING: I found the pacing of the book to be odd. I found Dexter's character interesting enough but for some reason I feel like the story line was a bit too disjointed for my liking.

WHAT MADE ME THINK: Dexter is one of those characters you hate to love because after all he is a killer. His situation is one of those grey areas in life. Sure maybe all those people he murders deserve it for what they have done but does murder justify murder? I don't really think there is a clear answer to that question.

WHAT I LIKED: I really liked the concept of the book. I haven't read another story that has a main character quite like Dexter.

WHAT I HATED: I hated that by watching the show first it has ruined the book for me. Sure I still liked the idea and the setting but I was not able to form my own opinion on what the characters looked like since I couldn't get the actors from the show out of my mind. That really doesn't have anything to do with the way Jeff Lindsay wrote the book however.

FINAL THOUGHTS: I thought the book was okay. I found it to be a quick read and it does differ from the TV show that it was still interesting to read. However, I didn't love the book either. I will continue to read the series though to see if they get better.

RATING: 2 out of 5 stars