The Book Thief

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

1939-1943. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier.

Liesel, a nine-year-old girl, is living with a foster family on Himmel Street. 

She is an orphan. She never knew her father, her mother disappears after delivering her to her new foster parents, and her younger brother died on the train to Molching where the foster parents live. Liesel steals books. This is her story and the story of the inhabitants of her street when the bombs begin to fall.

When Liesel arrives, she suddenly has a new Mama and Papa. 

When Liesel arrives, she can't read and is made fun of in school.

 She realizes how powerless she is without words, and so Hans, 'Papa', teaches her how to read during midnight lessons in the basement, reading from the book Liesel took from her brother's burial: The Grave Digger's Handbook. Haunted every night by nightmares of her brother's death, Liesel and her Papa set themselves the challenge of reading the book. But this book is not just about Liesels passion for words, it is a book about a child living a life of soccer in the street, friends and stolen pleasures.

But it’s also the story of the Death, who narrates the story. Death pockets Liesel's notebook she wrote about these years after she leaves it and carries it with him.

He becomes a character you come to respect and even feel sorry for by the end. 

The narration puts an odd perspective on the story and 

by Deaths sarcastic comments he creates a distance to the war, so the story never seems to be morbid. 

Markus Zusak uses words to paint emotions, he creates a landscape by descriptions and characters who are filled with life.

This is a book about the power of words. Markus Zusak knows how to use it.

(Picture via Pinterest)