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Tag Archives: political

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The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (2006) – BR00152 (2019) – ๐Ÿธ๐Ÿธ๐Ÿธ๐Ÿธโšช

The PolyBlog
April 2 2019

Plot or Premise

A young girl uses stolen books to distract herself from the reality of living in Nazi Germany in WWII while hiding a Jewish man in her basement.

What I Liked

It is incredibly difficult to know how to review this book. The second half moves along at a much quicker pace and with much higher stakes. The book is narrated by Death / Grim Reaper, and the chapter headings give glimpses of what is to come. There are some red herrings near the end, implying one ending while leading to another, but overall it is pretty solid. The characters are lively, the girl is outstanding, and there are glimpses of her family that offer rare moments of joy and love. And it moved me to tears at the end.

What I Didn’t Like

It is hard to accept the implied message that “most Germans were good / nice”, it was just the Nazis that were bad people. And even the storyline written by the Jewish man in the basement is that it is all because of the Fuhrer, that Hitler is the only truly evil one. There are parts of it that read like almost an apology for Nazism rather than a sense of accountability for the nation’s deeds. The extra materials at the end tell how the author was inspired by his grandparents’ accounts of the ordinariness (in some ways) of the war in Germany for Germans – something that happened around them, or to them, not committed by them. In terms of the writing, the first half is a bit slow and dull, and the constant foreshadowing is repetitive and annoying at the start, less so at the end. The caricature of the mother is ridiculous; she only becomes human near the end. Finally, and this is a bit of a spoiler, the story ends rather abruptly, leaving out a huge opportunity to tell some more story. I know this book is aimed at teens and is hugely popular, but I would not wants someone relying on this book as their only source of history.

The Bottom Line

Solid read, not sure about the message.

Posted in Book Reviews | Tagged Amazon.ca, Amazon.com, B&N, biography, book review, borrowed, Chapters, children, epic, fiction, Good Reads, Google, historical, history, Kobo, Library Thing, literary, Nook, novel, OPL, paperback, political, PolyWogg, prose, Reading Challenge, stand-alone, used, Young Adult | Leave a reply

Rethinking Canadian Aid by Edited by Stephen Brown, Molly den Heyer and David R. Black (2015) – BR00191 (2015) – ๐Ÿธ๐Ÿธโšชโšชโšช

The PolyBlog
March 9 2015

The academic analysis of recent Canadian international development assistance is long on political economy and light on “realities on the ground”.

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Posted in Book Reviews | Tagged Amazon.ca, book review, Chapters, e-book, Good Reads, Google, government, Kobo, new, non-fiction, Nook, OPL, political, PolyWogg, prose, reference, RRE, stand-alone, textbook | Leave a reply

The Black Shore by Greg Cox (1997) – BR00011 (2001) – ๐Ÿธ๐Ÿธ๐Ÿธโšชโšช

The PolyBlog
February 18 2001

Janeway and her crew are in desperate need of shoreleaveโ€ฆand they receive an invitation from an uncharted planet to visit and enjoy the paradise nature of the lands. All is not necessarily as it seems, including the citizens’ treatment of their pets, the Neffaler, which seem surprisingly intelligent, almost sentient.

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Posted in Book Reviews | Tagged action, Amazon.ca, Amazon.com, B&N, book review, fiction, Good Reads, Google, Kobo, library, Library Thing, mystery, Nook, novel, paperback, political, PolyWogg, prose, sci-fi, science, series, ST:VOY, stand-alone, Star Trek | Leave a reply

By the Rivers of Babylon by Nelson DeMille (1978) – BR00014 (2001) – ๐Ÿธ๐Ÿธ๐Ÿธ๐Ÿธ๐Ÿธ

The PolyBlog
February 18 2001

Peace in the Middle East is almost assured and two concordes fly to New York with delegates for final negotiations. Terrorists try to derail the peace conference by planting bombs on board and taking the passengers hostage. After one plane is destroyed, killing all on board, the second plane is forced to land near Babylon. At the last minute, the hostages manage to escape to the top of a small hill from which they attempt to defend against the terrorists through several days of sorties, knowing that the military probably doesn’t know where they are and therefore can’t swoop in and rescue them.

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Posted in Book Reviews | Tagged action, adventure, Amazon.ca, Amazon.com, B&N, book review, Chapters, espionage, fiction, Good Reads, Google, hardcover, international, Kobo, library, Library Thing, military, Nook, novel, political, PolyWogg, prose, religion, stand-alone, suspense, thriller | Leave a reply

The House on Mulberry Street by Maan Meyers (1996) – BR00012 (2001) – ๐Ÿธ๐Ÿธ๐Ÿธ๐Ÿธ๐Ÿธ

The PolyBlog
February 18 2001

Esther Breslau is a Jewish immigrant who has found a job working as a photographer in the graft-filled world of 1895 Manhattan. John Tonnerman is an honest cop, a rare commodity on a police-force filled with those on the take and in a city where your innocence depends on the size of your pocketbook. Esther takes a picture during a riot and the thugs notice and come after her. A reporter she has been working with has the plates but the thugs worry about what he knows and take matters into their own hands to silence him forever. John and Esther try to figure it all out.

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Posted in Book Reviews | Tagged action, Amazon.ca, Amazon.com, B&N, crime, detective, fiction, Good Reads, historical, history, Library Thing, mystery, novel, paperback, police, political, PolyWogg, prose, series, sleuth, Tonneman, used | Leave a reply

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