Seventh Meeting: The Book Thief

The impossible happened. Not every single person at book club absolutely loved The Book Thief. The audacity! I know, I know-- this is what makes a book club great. There are a variety of points of view and opinions and you get challenged to read books that you would not normally choose or appreciate. And all of that crap. But I was so unbelievable moved and touched by this wonderful book (see my gushing review, 2 posts ago) that I was literally shocked that all members of Eat, Drink, and Be Literary did not agree.

This is not to say that people hated the book or anything. Of the seven participants present, one loved it (yours truly), three liked it, one only finished half, and two disliked it. This breakdown is fairly typical  of the meetings, but I am still surprised.

The meeting was good, though I will admit I was defensive about the novel. I feel like it is such a gem that I could barely tolerate negativity. We spent a long time talking about the role of death as the narrator, and how the book would be different from a different point of view. We also compared this novel to others revolved around the Holocaust or WWII, and who the intended audience of the book really was. It is being marketed as a book for young adults, but the club generally agreed that it was more for "real" adults... whatever that means.

Despite not hearing rave reviews when we went around the circle, I am still confident and comfortable in saying that this book will forever touch my heart, and is very safely one of my favorite novels ever.

One thing we all agreed on was the food. We decided to have a Jewish themed meal. Challah, noodle kugel, this delicious carrot onion dish (not sure the name) and apple latkes (my contribution) were all a big hit.