The Death Cure

Overall Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

Appropriate for: Ages 13+

Genre: Young Adult Post-Apocalyptic Sci-Fi

Length: 336 pages

Year of Publication: 2011

(This book is a sequel to The Maze Runner and The Scorch Trials.)

It’s been twenty-five days. Twenty-five days alone in a white cell in the headquarters of WICKED. Thomas is alone—separated from his friends, the rest of the Gladers. They had survived the Scorch Trials, and their promised reward was supposed to be a cure for the Flare, the deadly disease that ravages a world half destroyed by sun flares. Before the Scorch Trials, Thomas and his friends had been told that they were all already infected by the Flare and that the cure would be given to those who survived the trek across the burning desert land known as the Scorch. But it had just been another one of the organization WICKED’s lies. There had been no cure at the end for Thomas or his friends. For Thomas, there was only his white-walled cell and three weeks alone with his own thoughts. Where his friends are—he has no way of knowing.

On day twenty-six of his solitary confinement, however, the door of Thomas’ cell opens. The man who had spoken to the Gladers before the Scorch Trials enters and tells Thomas something he doesn’t quite expect: Thomas is immune to the Flare, and he always has been. In fact, most of the other Gladers and girls from Group B are immune too. The Maze, the Scorch… it was all an experiment. It was a test performed to see how brains of people immune to the Flare react to certain variables. The goal was to find a cure for the Flare.

But every experiment needs a control group. Some of the Gladers aren’t immune. Some of them are already on their way to succumbing to the Flare—on their way to becoming Cranks. And WICKED still hasn’t found a cure.

Which of Thomas’ friends aren’t immune? And is WICKED finished messing with their brains? What more do they want with the Gladers? Can Thomas trust WICKED? Can Thomas even trust his friends? Thomas is let out of his cell and soon reunites with his friends. No more maze. No more Scorch. They must face the real world now. The Trials may be over, but Thomas’ real test is just beginning.

This third and final book in James Dashner’s Maze Runner series is yet another suspenseful and action-packed novel about the teen-aged character Thomas as he struggles for survival in the post-apocalyptic world. This time, Dashner follows Thomas and his friends as they experience the world outside of the maze and the Scorch and as they make decisions that may affect the future of the entire human race.

Although Dashner’s main focus is—yet again—on suspense, action, and intrigue, he does touch on some important life questions. The characters must determine whether an honorable end justifies the unethical means used to reach that end. They must decide if it is right to put the few at risk in order to save the many—if it is okay to endanger some people for the greater good—if it is moral to treat people like lab rats. Thomas and the other Gladers also face the question of what makes someone human. According to Dashner, the characters who have been infected by the Flare disease slowly lose their humanity until they are no longer human. Although this and other assertions in the book are contradictory to the biblical worldview, they still give readers the chance to think over important questions related to morality and human worth. They also encourage Christians to look to the Bible for the answers to these tough questions and to remember that it is the image of God in all of us—not our sanity, not our compassion—that makes us human. Although the questions brought up in this book are important for even young people to consider, the issues presented could likely serve to just confuse teen readers who blunder through this book without guidance. Therefore, teens should not read this book without either an active mind, a Bible, or guidance from an parent or spiritual leader.

The writing style is easy to read, but the philosophical questions mentioned above combined with the overall subject matter of the book make Dashner’s third Maze Runner book inappropriate for younger readers. Teens are best suited to handle the content of The Death Cure, but parents of teens should still be aware of a few content issues in this novel.

As in the previous two Maze Runner books, the characters enjoy spouting certain offensive words and phrases. The Gladers continue to glean many of the expletives from their own made-up vocabulary, but the count of widely known cuss words used by the characters continues to rise in this book. God’s name is also misused about three times. In addition to some disappointing vocabulary, Thomas and the Gladers continue to speak with a disrespectful undertone of sarcasm to pretty much everyone—even their friends. They can be especially rude to adults, most of whom are the “bad guys” in the story. To top it off, the book includes a smattering of crude humor to complement the offensive language and disrespectful bantering.

On the boy-girl side of things, there’s a bit of romance, but nothing overdone or inappropriate. Two of the characters hug and hold hands occasionally. They also kiss each other a few times—mostly on the cheek. That is pretty much the extent of the romance.  

As in the previous two books, the violence and overall intensity of the book is the main cause for this book’s PG-13 feel. To name a few of the violent and intense moments, characters are knocked out, threatened at gunpoint, and shot at. Others are electrocuted by futuristic weapons created for the purpose of stunning enemies. After being hit, the characters are overtaken by spasms as they lay helpless on the ground. One character’s leg is grazed by a bullet. A main character has a bad habit of regularly instigating fistfights with people he disagrees with. Another character shoots someone in the head and later throws a knife into an enemy’s neck. People are crushed by falling debris. Near the middle of the book, WICKED takes over a character’s control of his body and makes him attack his own friends with a knife against his will. The book also contains some talk of brain operations to remove chips inserted there by WICKED. The most disturbing elements of the story are the Cranks. The Death Cure features the creepy, zombie-like characters from The Scorch Trials—including descriptions of their not-so-hygienic bodies and of some disturbing encounters between them and uninfected characters. At one point, a bunch of Cranks swarm a car and try to get at the people inside by tearing away the windows with their bare hands. One very likeable character succumbs to the Flare and becomes a Crank himself. In addition, the huge, slimy, and dangerous “Griever” creatures from the first book return for a final intense fight. In all, the violence is at a level similar to the previous book, The Scorch Trials, if not a little higher. The death toll, however, has certainly gone up from the last book.

The Death Cure is another fun, exciting, and intense sci-fi action book—a must-read for adults and teens who have read and enjoyed the previous two Maze Runner books. Although the author doesn’t adequately answer every question raised by the previous books, The Death Cure brings a somewhat satisfactory ending to Thomas’ story. Even while the story is pretty unrealistic (as with most futuristic movies and books), the book still presents some interesting questions about right and wrong that are especially pertinent to today’s world. To those of you who have not read the previous two books, however, I would suggest skipping the series altogether and waiting for the movies. To me, reading the books was pretty much just like watching a movie. There’s not much to the stories beyond the plot and action, so you could save a lot of time—but still have a similar experience—by just watching the movies that are almost certainly going to be released within the next half decade.

Into the Storm

(This review can also be found at http://www.christiananswers.net/spotlight/movies/2014/intothestorm2014.html.)

Overall Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

MPAA Rating: PG-13 for sequences of intense destruction and peril, and language including some sexual references

Appropriate for: Ages 13+

Genre: Action Disaster Thriller

Length: 89 minutes

Year of Release: 2014

On graduation day for the high school in the town of Silverton, Oklahoma, everyone’s future is looking bright, and it’s the job of two brothers, Donnie and Trey, to capture that optimism. Their dad, Greg (Richard Armitage), is the vice principal of the high school, and he has assigned them to gather footage for a video time-capsule. The two high-schoolers have spent a lot of time with their video cameras over the past several days—interviewing people around the town, asking them to look ahead twenty-five years into the future and share their thoughts on what the years ahead will bring. Now, on graduation day, their last job is to capture the ceremony on camera. To the two boys, it seems like that ceremony is all their dad cares about. Donnie is sick of his father’s perpetually high expectations for everything he does, and he feels like all he ever gets from his dad is criticism. When Donnie gets a chance to help the girl of his dreams with a video report that she is making, he skips the ceremony and leaves his brother alone to take care of recording the graduation. Unfortunately, however, it turns out that Donnie picked a bad day to wander off without his dad knowing.

Meanwhile, storm chasers Pete (Matt Walsh) and Allison (Sarah Wayne Callies) and their team are busy with their video cameras too, hoping to document America’s next big storm. Pete’s lifelong dream has been to capture up-close and personal footage of an epic tornado, and he’s ready to make that dream happen. It’s that time of year for tornadoes, and he’s got all the gear—but it just doesn’t seem like he has the right team for the job. The weather analyst, Allison, seems to lack the instincts necessary for chasing storms. She’s brought them to the town of Silverton, but the forecast predicts that only thunderstorms will disrupt the high school’s graduation ceremony. When the hail comes and the winds start to get fierce, though, Pete’s hopes start to rise. He might finally get his dream storm after all.

The drenching rain brings an abrupt end to the graduation ceremony, and the storm begins. As deadly tornadoes ravage the town, Donnie, Greg, Pete, and Allison and the rest of the storm’s victims learn to rethink their own priorities as they realize that there is much more to life than personal success and satisfaction.

Into the Storm has some great things to say about self-sacrifice, priorities in life, and the importance of living every day like it’s your last. This movie reminds us that we should not bank our happiness on personal success or on passing pleasures but that we should look for joy in the things that we tend to take for granted. Instead of perpetually hoping for something better in the future and pouting through our “unfair” or “boring” lives, we should be thankful for the lives we do have, the family we have been given, and the love we don’t always deserve. At the end of the movie, one previously cocky, crude high schooler says, “It only matters that I’m alive. I’m just thankful that I’m alive.” Other characters assert after the storm that “being together is all that matters” and that people should “take life one day at a time.” Although the world certainly needs to hear these messages, none of the hope and happiness that these characters show in the aftermath of the tornadoes’ destruction quite makes sense without Jesus Christ in the picture. In the final scenes of the movie, we hear the words, “Our faith will carry us through.” But the faith they’re talking about is not faith in God. It is faith in the human race. According to the biblical worldview, such faith is useless. No one can find true hope in life without Jesus, who sacrificed himself for the sins of the world so that those who put their faith in him might have eternal life. Although this movie doesn’t give the world the answers that it needs, it still brings up important questions about hope and purpose in life. It offers viewers the perfect opportunity to explore these themes. It reminds Christians of their true source of hope—the real Savior of the world.

On the other hand, however, this movie is a perfect illustration of why Hollywood is having one of its worst summers ever. The filmmakers had the not-so-brilliant idea of making the footage appear as if it were taken from the video cameras of the characters themselves. While this was probably intended to give the movie a more intimate feel, it only succeeds in making it seem more unrealistic and unprofessional. With that, some weak acting, and a simple and somewhat predictable plot, the only substantial accomplishment of Into the Storm is its series of impressive CGI tornadoes and the destruction that they bring.

And the destruction is certainly substantial. An entire town is leveled by the end of the movie, and several buildings are shown being torn up in the midst of the actual storm. Trees, cars, and houses are picked up and tossed about by the massive tornadoes, and a number of characters are carried off and killed by the violent winds of the storm. One minor character is pulled up into a flaming tornado that was ignited in a nearby gas leak. Two characters nearly drown, several are hit by debris, and others barely evade falling trees and power lines. Although the blood is limited to a few scratches and cuts, the intense moments in this film are enough to make it too much for young kids.

The movie also earns its PG-13 rating with a disappointing amount of foul language. In an hour and a half, they managed to fit in about two dozen uses of the word “s***,” and one to five uses each of the expletives “h***,” “a**,” “son of a b****,” “d**n,” “p***ed,” “sucked,” and “screwed.” The Lord’s name is taken in vain quite frequently, and there are also a few inappropriate references to parts of the body. A fair amount of the profanity comes from a group of thrill-seekers who are shown either drinking beers or being drunk during most of the movie.

On the boy-girl side of things, there are no explicit sexual scenes and only one scene with kissing: in the opening scene of the movie, two teenagers are briefly shown making out in the back of a car. However, there are still some objectionable references that parents should be aware of. Donnie has a crush on a pretty girl at his high school, and his brother accuses him of staring at her picture in the yearbook. Trey shows Donnie a shot of one of the high school teacher’s cleavage that he got while interviewing her for their video time-capsule. When Donnie goes off to talk to his crush, Trey tells him to “get some skin on camera” to show him later. During one of the boys’ interviews with a high school basketball player, the jock says that, in twenty-five years, he’ll be married to a “super smokin’ hot cheerleader wife” and mentions that he’ll “bang her up good.”  

Overall, I would not consider this movie worthy of a visit to the movie theater. I cannot recommend Into the Storm for young or sensitive viewers due to the profanity, sexual references, and destruction. However, for teens and adults who don’t mind intense action and who appreciate movies like the 1996 film Twister, this movie might be worth renting for a couple bucks. Despite the occasional cheesiness, the movie may even present families with an opportunity to discuss some important spiritual topics.

The Scorch Trials

Overall Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

Appropriate for: Ages 13+

Genre: Young Adult Post-Apocalyptic Sci-Fi

Length: 368 pages

Year of Publication: 2010

(This book is a sequel to The Maze Runner.)

The maze was all a part of an experiment. Led by the organization WICKED, the “Maze Trials” were used by WICKED to study the reactions, brain waves, and thoughts of the Gladers as a way to find a cure to the Flare—a disease that ravages a world nearly destroyed by sun flares. But Thomas and the Gladers—they survived the maze. They were rescued from WICKED. They are safe. It just all seems too good to be true.

The morning after escaping the maze and being rescued from WICKED, Thomas and the twenty other surviving Gladers discover that it was all too good to be true. Their world starts to fall apart all over again. They wake up to a mass of crazy, zombie-like people who call themselves “Cranks” swarming at the dormitory windows. The dead bodies of the people who had rescued them from WICKED are hanging from the ceiling of the dorm’s common room. Only a short time later, both the Cranks and the dead bodies suddenly and inexplicably disappear without a trace. To top it all off, the only girl Glader, Teresa, is missing. In her dorm room is a teenage boy named Aris who claims to have also escaped from a maze and to have never heard of Teresa before. What’s going on? Has the world gone mad?

Soon, a mysterious man arrives and explains to the Gladers that the maze and their subsequent “rescue” were the first of many “trials” or “tests” to aid WICKED’s study of their brain functions in order to find a cure for the Flare. This highly contagious disease reduces people to animals, making them heartless and violent, and the man tells the Gladers that all of them are already infected with the virus—although the symptoms will not start appearing for a while yet. The next experiment needed to discover a cure is called the “Scorch Trials.” Thomas and the Gladers are transported to a desert-like area of the world. Their task is to cross one hundred miles of the treacherous land in two weeks. In return, WICKED promises them their lives and a cure for the Flare. Between them and their goal lies miles of burning sun and sand, confusion, betrayal, and a city filled with heartless, violent Cranks. Thomas and his friends continue their struggle for survival—now more dangerous than it ever was in the maze.

James Dashner’s sequel to The Maze Runner is another page-turning post-apocalyptic novel that is big on action, thrill, and danger but low on character and plot development and valuable themes. Although The Scorch Trials does not quite match its prequel in originality, it surpasses The Maze Runner in suspense and excitement. With this extra dose of suspense and excitement comes more language, violence, and gruesome descriptions.

As in the previous book, the Gladers continue to be well-versed in insults, often speaking to other characters in a very disrespectful manner, and they also continue to frequently utilize their own made-up cuss words. Unfortunately, the use of common expletives seems to go up a notch from the previous book. God’s name is also used in vain a number of times.

Even if the language is not actually much more offensive than the previous book, the violence and gruesome descriptions in The Scorch Trials certainly bring the PG-13 content in James Dashner’s novels to a new level. Since the new characters have left the controlled environment of the maze and are now in the “real world,” they must face the dangers and horrors of post-apocalyptic earth—including a new disease. Humans infected by the Flare disease slowly lose all compassion and become more and more brutal and violent as the disease eats away at their brains. This leads to a number of frightening and disturbing characters who play a big role in most of the more scary scenes. Dashner’s descriptions of these “Cranks” resemble the description of zombies. Some Cranks who have completely lost their minds talk about eating the body parts of other humans and also attack some of the main characters. In addition to this new element of the zombie-like creatures, Dashner introduces several other innovations to add to the excitement of the novel, such as a strange substance that encircles a victim’s head and decapitates the body and an oven-like desert that scorches its visitors. Among other things, a character is shot, several are struck by lightning, characters are drugged against their will, others are threatened at gun- and screwdriver-point, and another character stabs an enemy in the chest with a knife. Needless to say, the blood and gore of this second book make it even more scary than the previous book.

Unlike the previous book, The Scorch Trials has a bit of boy-girl content that is also cause for caution. Although there is nothing sexually explicit, a couple scenes contain kissing, and, in one scene, Thomas dances with a girl in a shady, bar-like place filled with people who are all partying to loud music. Dashner describes the two dancing with “their bodies pressed tightly together, clasping each other.” It’s not exactly a romantic scene, and that’s about as steamy as it gets, but it still something for parents to keep an eye out for.

In all, the second book of Dashner’s Maze Runner series is a quick, exciting, and easy read but contains enough objectionable content to make it out of the question for children and pre-teens. This book is not one to be avoided altogether, but parents of teens who are interested in this series should not hesitate to guide their children through the issues in the book as well as the occasional valuable lesson it presents. Although the book is not big on valuable themes, Dashner still promotes ideas such as perseverance and working as a team. The book can also spark some profitable discussions on what makes someone human—what gives people their humanity. Both Dashner’s protagonists and antagonists are fighting for the good of the human race, yet they have different views of what exactly “the good” is. The characters also present interesting views on the sanctity of human life. Parents should guide their teens through these issues, teaching them to not simply accept the concepts presented in books but to examine them from a Christian worldview. As a discussion-starter, this book does have its value. On the other hand, however, it might be a good call for potential audiences to simply wait for the movie and spend their time reading something more nutritious.

Transformers: Age of Extinction

(This review can also be found at http://christiananswers.net/spotlight/movies/2014/transformers2014.html.) 

Overall Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action, language and brief innuendo
Appropriate for: Ages 13+
Genre: Sci-Fi Action Adventure
Length: 165 minutes
Year of Release: 2014

In retaliation for the destruction of Chicago shown in the third Transformers film, the United States government is searching for all Transformers—even their former allies, the Autobots—in an attempt to eliminate them and end “the age of Transformers.” Or so they say. The government’s true purpose is actually more complicated than that. Harold Attinger, a prominent government official, is working with a technology firm to experiment with the latest discoveries in science in hopes of creating a powerful robotic army. For some devious reason, they are especially keen on finding the leader of the Autobots—Optimus Prime. Somehow, finding him will be the key to future success with their new scientific advancements.

Meanwhile, down in Texas, scrap dealer, robotic engineer, and inventor Cade Yeagar (Mark Wahlberg) is broke. His daughter (Nicola Peltz) is getting ready to graduate from high school, and she is desperate for college funds. When Cade finds an old, broken-down truck, he brings it back to his workshop and tinkers with it overnight, hoping to sell it and make enough money to solve some of his financial problems. By the morning, however, he has determined that the trashed truck is actually a Transformer. Soon, the injured Transformer awakens, revealing himself to be the Autobot Optimus Prime. Cade promises to help the shape-shifter with his repairs, hoping to learn something about the creature’s incredible technology that will help him with future inventions. But when CIA operatives show up on Cade’s property and demand to know the location of the Autobot, things start to get messy for Cade and his daughter. They become fugitives, running with the hunted Optimus Prime from a government that appears to have a goal much more complicated than merely exterminating Transformers.

An exciting summer action flick, Transformers 4 returns viewers to a universe where giant, robot-like aliens walk the earth. The movie examines the struggles and blessings of father-daughter relationships, depicts the virtue of sacrificing one’s own life for a friend, and introduces some interesting perspectives on human nature and existence that could potentially spark profitable discussions.

One especially pertinent topic of discussion is found in one of Optimus Prime’s final lines. He states something to the effect that people can find within themselves the answer to the questions “Who am I?” and “Why am I here?” From a biblical perspective, Optimus Prime’s statement reflects the truth that God has set eternity in the hearts of men—as Solomon says in Ecclesiastes 3:11. Humans are ever searching for answers to questions of eternal significance. They are concerned about more than just everyday life and humdrum existence. They long for true meaning and purpose—for a life that that has a lasting effect on history. Optimus Prime’s statement, however, falls utterly short of the truth that humans can never give themselves meaning. Alone, they cannot discover their true purpose. As the rest of Ecclesiastes 3:11 says, “[N]o one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” Alone, humans cannot understand eternity. God alone holds eternity in his hands, and he and his infallible word alone can ever answer the questions of who we are and why we are here.

Although this movie has its moments, it is mostly just an overwhelming sequence of collisions, explosions, and destruction. The violence certainly earns this film its PG-13 rating. The battles between the Autobots and other Transformers can be intense at times, involving a great deal of collateral damage that frequently consists of the destruction of cities and the death of humans. While most of the violence happens between the Transformer characters, the human characters in this movie also see a good deal of action. They are involved in a few car and spaceship chases, a couple characters are violently attacked and threatened with guns, and there is a good deal of shooting. One character is killed in the fire-blast of a Transformer, and viewers see a shot of his dead body, petrified and burnt with his bones exposed. There are also a couple instances of intense hand-to-hand combat. In all of the action, however, the blood and gore is actually pretty minimal.

Besides the violence, the film also contains a good deal of foul language and name calling. The Lord’s name is also taken in vain several times. Although there are no sex scenes and no nudity, there is a smattering of sexual innuendo and a disgracefully large number of under-dressed young women. Several men look lustfully at a number of different young ladies, referring to them as “hot.” One character tells another that he finds a certain woman “very attractive” and later tries to kiss her. The daughter of the main character has a boyfriend against her father’s wishes and hides the fact from her father. The girl and her boyfriend are seen cuddling and later kissing. Although it is later mentioned that the boyfriend snuck into the girl’s house one night in the past, nothing further is mentioned or shown.

In general, the relationships between most of the human characters start out pretty messed-up. The father is initially depicted as rather irresponsible and disconnected from his daughter. The daughter is disobedient and rebellious, and her boyfriend is frequently disrespectful to her father. I did not appreciate this inclusion of yet another stereotypical 21st-century family with a rebellious teenage daughter and an irresponsible father. However, the characters’ relationships are reconciled by the end of the movie, and the three characters begin to show each other love and respect. I still wish, though, that viewers could be reminded that a family doesn’t need to go through a Transformer battle and an end-of-the-world experience in order to have that kind of reconciliation.

Fans of the previous Transformers films will likely enjoy this summer flick. With some impressive CGI and exciting battles, this movie may just satisfy your desire to see some epic action and sweet cars. Although the profanity and innuendo was offensive, Transformers 4 still is a better alternative to other, much more explicit movies. If you are not a Transformers fan, however, I would suggest skipping this movie. Again, it has its moments, but the two hours and forty minutes of collisions, explosions, and destruction can really drown out any sense of plot, character development, or valuable faith themes.

The Book Thief

Overall Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

Appropriate for: Ages 13+

Genre: Historical Fiction

Length: 550 pages

Year of Publication: 2005

In this historical fiction novel by Markus Zusak, our narrator is Death, and he needs a vacation. He needs distraction. It’s not because of the number of souls that he must carry away, however. It’s because of all the humans those souls leave behind: the survivors. This book is about one of those survivors, a person Death calls “an expert at being left behind.” To start off the tale, Death recalls that he saw this survivor three times. He calls her “the book thief.”

The book thief’s name is Liesel Meminger, and her story begins when she is nine years old, on a train with her mother and brother. They are in Nazi Germany, and it is January 1939. Her mother is bringing her two children to a street named after heaven to live with foster parents, who will hopefully be better able to feed and educate the boy and girl. However, Death sees the book thief for the first time on that train as he takes the soul of Liesel’s little brother. Liesel steals her first book in the graveyard where her brother is buried. She alone is delivered to her foster parents, and her new life on Himmel Street begins.

Death recounts the following five or six years of her life, describing both the beauty and ugliness of the young girl’s life in the messed-up world. Through the experiences that define this part of her life—reading with her loving foster father, thieving with her loyal friend and neighbor Rudy, caring for the spirited Jew hiding in their basement—Liesel begins to see the power and value of words and to recognize their demanding presence in the world. Books and words begin to mean everything to her—and so do the relationships that she develops with her parents, her neighbors, and others whose lives converge with hers.

This book creatively examines themes such as the power of words and the mysterious nature of humans—creatures who often tend toward hatred and malice, yet can also be strong, good, and loving. It also illustrates the implications of a worldview that lacks the biblical understanding of God. Zusak presents God as distant, silent, and careless of human history. The very modern view of existence that the book presents makes it perfect material for discussion and analysis. Parents of teens who read this book should take the time to discuss the implications of the book’s worldview and the Christian understanding of God’s involvement in history. Parents may also wish to discuss human nature and the real cause of sin and death.

Although I have seen this book classified as a “children’s book,” I cannot recommend The Book Thief to children under thirteen. Even though the reading level is not difficult, the subject matter is best suited to mature individuals. My main reason for not recommending this book to young readers is because of the disappointingly large amount of foul language and misuses of the Lord’s name that it contains. Reading a book is generally a much more intimate experience than watching a movie, making the issue of language even more significant than it is in movies. When you’re reading, all of the words are loud and clear in your head.

The other aspect of this book that earns it a PG-13 rating is its nitty-grittiness. The descriptions of death and dying are not for the sensitive reader, and the accounts of the Second World War’s horrors make this book an unviable option for children. Among other things, the author describes a few fistfights, the aftermath of a plane crash, the bombing of a neighborhood, a young boy being forced to strip naked for a medical examination, and Jews being brought to a concentration camp. Although less of an issue, there is also some content involving alcohol and smoking. Due to these elements, I think that even young teens should ideally read this book with a parent—if at all.

To more mature readers, however, I recommend this book as an interesting and thought-provoking read. The style is innovative and the topics are very pertinent. This book is certainly a work of modern literary art. If you are looking for an enjoyable, sweet, exciting, or suspenseful read, however, I would not recommend this book. Although it is enjoyable, sweet, exciting, and suspenseful at times, it did not grip my attention or my heart until the bitter-sweet ending.

I decided to read this book after seeing the 2013 film adaptation. While I thoroughly enjoyed the movie (see my review), I did not enjoy the book very much at all. I was actually quite shocked by my own reaction. After all, the flavor of the book is very similar to that of the movie, and, although some events are altered and the story is significantly truncated in the film, the basic plot is the same. However, the character of Liesel in the book seemed totally different from the sweet, innocent, curious character I met in the movie. The novel revealed that her motives for stealing books were actually somewhat spiteful. In the movie, she seemed to steal the books out of curiosity and a desire to read them—not out of a desire to vent her anger. This made it harder for me to enjoy the read.

When I started reading the book, I was expecting it to be sad and traumatizing—like the movie was. But it was even worse. In addition to being sad and traumatizing, it was also filled with a sense of despair and fatalism that I hadn’t noticed in the movie. This was partially due to the author’s style of writing—something you don’t get to experience while watching a film. Zusak wrote The Book Thief in a way that is very non-traditional, repeatedly using short, one-sentence-long paragraphs and a plethora of sentence fragments—elements that are popular in contemporary writing. He matched these choppy paragraphs and sentences with a choppy plot, allowing the narrator to reveal many major developments before the narration reaches that point in the chronology of the story. While I can handle some foreshadowing, I didn’t enjoy being constantly reminded who was going to die at the end of the book. The perpetual foreshadowing made the tone too despairing for my taste—even though I knew what would happen since I had already seen the movie—and the author made Death address the book’s future events in a rather heartless manner. Although the narrator does seem remorseful and sensitive at times, he often discusses the death of characters so matter-of-factly that the fatalism even manages to kill any sense of sadness. There is only despair. Five and a half hundred pages take a while to read, and that’s a long time to be depressed about something that doesn’t even happen until the end of the book. It’s especially hard when the plot leading up to that event is not even overly engaging.  

This book is certainly a work of art. But, for every work of art, there’s always some people who just don’t appreciate the artist’s work. For this book, I guess I’m one of those people.