Hello book lovers, your friend Sara here! I love how you are all pouring in your write ups on your favourite books.
I am excited to take this a step further and share reviews from my friends of books that were later adapted into movies.
Book Vs Movie! What do you think it will be? Most popular writings will get published in an ebook!!
Today’s review of an international bestseller that was translated into 63 languages, The Book Thief is by 13 year old Palak Chowdhury from Vadodara.
Palak, like all young adults likes to feed on her imagination through the world of books. Her love for reading started from a young age and has never given her time to get bored. Her interest is wide, football and table tennis player, playing the guitar. But most of all she enjoys her world of solitude with books, music, movies and herself!
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Title- The Book Thief
Author- Markus Zusak
Originally published: 2005
There are two kinds of people- those who watch a movie and the other who stubbornly refuse to watch a movie until they have read the book. But there are times when you would rather just watch a two-hour film, than patiently read a book which would take more or less a week to finish.
This review lists the difference between the historic novel ‘The Book Thief’ and its Oscar-nominated movie.
The Book Thief is an international bestselling book written by Australian author Markus Zusak and had sold over 16 million copies worldwide. And the movie has won and been nominated for multiple awards like the Baftas, Oscars, and Golden Globes.
To give you a brief background on this story, it is set in the fictional city of Molching, Germany, during the brutal World War 2 and is narrated by none other than ‘Death’ himself. He describes the story of a young girl named Leisel Meminger who is adopted by the Huberman’s after tragically losing her real family. The story focuses on many topics, one being her love for books, which starts off by her stealing a book the day his brother passed away, her relationship with Hanz Huberman, who taught her how to read, and her friendship with her best friend Rudy. Later on in the story, the family takes in Max Vanderburg, a Jewish man, and hides him in their basement as a debt Hanz Hunberman owed to a man who saved his life. He subtly describes the injustice the jews faced in that era and how backwards everything was back then.
The writing in the novel is elegant, philosophical and riveting. Its poetic tone enhances the tone of the story and will keep you thinking long after you have finished reading. It will without doubt leave a long-lasting impact on you.
Now to come to the movie, it is certainly not entirely like the book, but again, movies hardly ever are. The film was released in 2014, directed by Brian Percival, and casts Sophie Nelisse, Geoffrey Rush, Ben Schneider and Emily Watson as the main characters. Their acting was remarkable and brought the essence of the book character all round.
The one thing that stands out in this entire film has to be its setting. They have managed to create the perfect scenery for nearly every scene so that it feels as if they’re genuinely a part of the World War Two era. Of course, movies are never exactly like the book, however, this one feels very true to Zusak’s extraordinary vision. It is just as gripping, and the acting is also wonderful.
Despite all these upsides, there is one major drawback- the lack of any philosophical and analytical comprehensions, that were a vital part in the book. And how swiftly the scenes of the movie seemed to proceed, although this is unavoidable considering they have to capture a 584 pages long book in a 90-minute long movie.
The simplicity of the movie in the start, seemed tedious at first but the director triumphantly keeps the viewers engrossed later on.
Overall, this movie has turned out to be better than expected and will easily earn a 3.5 out of 5. Personally, this will never be even close to being as good as the book but is entertaining enough for when you are too tired to read an entire book.
