The Book Thief- A Read I Couldn't Put Down

I spent most of my Saturday and Sunday finishing up the last 250 pages of The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. I wasn't going to post so soon, but it was a good book I had to write a bit about it.

The novel is about a girl name Liesel who is being cared for by foster parents in Germany during World War II. A few month’s after the girl’s arrival they take a young Jew in and hide him in the basement. The girl develops a special bond with all of them. “Papa” is a gentle and patient man who teaches her the alphabet and how to read. She discovers that “Mama” has a soft side, and even with her tendency to swear so much, she is motherly. The young Jew becomes a very close friend and someone she cares deeply about. Everyday she gives him a weather report, and every Thursday a discarded newspaper with a sometimes blank crossword puzzle. When he got very ill and fell into a deep sleep for over two weeks, she brought him gifts from the outside every day (they are extremely poor, so the gifts would be trinkets and things she’d find discarded on the ground). The bond they share is due to what they have in common: they wake up almost every night from nightmares—nightmares of the family they lost. Through him Liesel learns that words are powerful and they can help to heal or to hurt. 

The girl also has a close friend who is her age and a neighbor, a boy named Rudy, and they spend most of the time together, from playing soccer to stealing food. Rudy is in love with Liesel and throughout the book he keeps asking for a kiss, and Liesel never gives it to him, though she begins to want one.

Liesel is “The Book Thief” as she stole her first book just before being taken in by her foster parents. After she learns to read and finishes that book she then steals another one from the Nazi book-burning that was created in celebration of Hitler's birthday. Then she begins stealing from the Mayor’s wife’s library.

It was an incredible read, and what made it a little more interesting is that it is written from Death’s point of view. Death is recounting this story, and yes in the story we encounter the souls that Death takes.

If anyone enjoys reading Historical Fiction that takes place in Nazi Germany during World War II, please read this. If you aren’t too much into Historical Fiction but enjoy reading a story that will make you teary eyed, then please read this. If you want to read a book but can’t think of what book to read, please read this. If you want to find out what happens to the young Jew, or if Liesel ever gives Rudy a kiss, please read this.

I'll leave this with a quote from the book:

"The consequences of this is that I'm always finding humans at their best and worst. I see their ugly and their beauty, and I wonder how the same thing can be both."

Does anyone else enjoy reading historical fiction novels?