Spoilers: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

  Bookish Reviews

The Book Thief

by Markus Zusak

“One stole books, the other stole the skies.”

Attention anyone reading this book: get your tissues ready.

The Book Thief is an eerie tale of a young girl in Munich, Germany, during World War II. Liesel Meminger is adopted by Hans and Frau Hubermann, an eclectic couple with many skeletons in their closet. 

Spoiler: one of those skeletons is Jewish.

The book is narrated by an interesting character: Death. Death himself has taken a particular interest in this young girl, and decides to follow her (and apparently record her whereabouts.) Their first encounter is on a train. Liesel’s younger brother starts coughing horrendously before passing away. Liesel and her mother bury his body in, what I assume, is a graveyard of the nearest town. The gravedigger drops his copy of The Gravedigger’s Handbook in the snow, which catches young Liesel’s attention. Take note that she cannot read yet. Although she hasn’t the faintest idea the contents of the book, she takes it, marking her first theft.

Later on, upon arriving in Munich, Liesel becomes acquainted with a young boy in the neighbourhood by the name of Rudy. He instantly falls for the new girl, and is always asking her for a kiss. “How about a kiss, Saumensch?” 

Spoiler: Rudy dies.

Although I would adore to give you a synopsis of each chapter, I will give you an overview of the rest of the book before stating my opinions. The book follows Liesel as she learns to read with the help of her new Papa, beats the hell out of a bully, and steals books from a fire and from the mayor’s wife. Not to mention hiding a Jew, Max, in her basement, which was a horrendous felony then. This Jew ends up becoming her best friend.

The end is the depressing part. Liesel is down in the basement, writing, when she falls asleep. No one heard the bomb siren. When the now-teenage girl awoke, her house had crumbled around her. Some people rescued her from the rubble, but her family and friends were not so lucky. The Hubermanns had both been killed in their beds, as did most of the neighbourhood. Including Rudy Steiner and his mother and siblings. If only Rudy had been alive to feel Liesel’s sad lips on his longing ones. 

Note: Max was at a labour camp and Rudy’s father was away at war. 

Spoiler: both live.

Opinion time. The Book Thief is easily my third favourite book. From beginning to end, every moment is captivating. There is something remarkably eerie about Death being the narrator, and about him following this young girl. It shows what most of Germany was like during the war, those who supported Hitler. Most things we read are from a standpoint of people opposing him, because we know how horrendous that all was. However, there were quite a sum who supported him. This was the first I had heard of Hitler Youth, and also taught me some fantastic new insults (Saumensch and Saukerl.) Warning: this is not a bit of light reading. If you enjoy a captivating story of war, I highly suggest this. If you are searching for a good book and are not sensitive to the aforementioned material, I highly suggest this.

Overall, I give The Book Thief by Markus Zusak a solid Hermione/100. (That means it’s a damn good book.)

 

Signing off.

-Ashley Gishen