The Book Thief
Knopf Books for Young Readers
ISBN 9781862302914
eISBN 9780307433848
ASIN B000XUBFE2
Where to start; I have had a copy of this book for a while. So long in fact it was hard to find the edition I had on Goodreads. I have three teenagers at home they are currently between 15 and 19, the youngest is currently reading it, in school, and I am pretty sure I picked it up 4 or 5 years ago when the oldest also read it in school. I read a bit when I first got it but it fell off my radar. This year my youngest asked me to read it so she could bounce ideas off me as she was reading. She has done this often and I love the interactions. So I dug back in. Now, I do try and read a volume about the Holocaust every year, most are non-fiction, but occasionally they are. I can state I do not really enjoy this reading but believe it is important.
While reading this for the first third I was sort of ‘meh’. The second third I had mixed feelings, but the end it made 5/5 stars which means ‘favourite or important reads’. My daughter has not caught up to me by the time of writing this review but took comfort in the fact that I appreciated the ending.
This is a very moving story on many levels. I struggled with the swearing specifically the Lord’s name or Jesus, Mary and Joseph. When I fact checked this I found that it was historically accurate, but still troubling. The description states:
“When Death has a story to tell, you listen.
It is 1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier, and will become busier still.
Liesel Meminger is a foster girl living outside of Munich, who scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she encounters something she can’t resist–books. With the help of her accordion-playing foster father, she learns to read and shares her stolen books with her neighbors during bombing raids as well as with the Jewish man hidden in her basement.
In superbly crafted writing that burns with intensity, award-winning author Markus Zusak, author of I Am the Messenger, has given us one of the most enduring stories of our time.”
The narrator being Death reminded me a lot of Pier’s Anthony’s Incarnations of Immortality Series specifically On a Pale Horse. And death being very droll, and funny and he often changed the mood by his observations and side notes, sort of breaking the fourth wall much like Deadpool. I cannot help but wonder about other tales featuring this incarnation of Death in Korea, Vietnam, Rwanda … But maybe we would need Death and the Devil side by side for some of those events after this story. But I am getting off track.
This is a most powerful story. It is the story of Liesel, their unexpected house guess, and the friends, family and people of her community as the war progresses. It is a story about love of words and books, and maybe finding life, but also a story of hating words because they give definition to what hurts and harms us. It is a story about addiction to reading, and after reading to writing. It is a story of loss on so many levels.
If you are struggling while reading this, keep with it. It is worth it. I am writing this a week after finishing and still find it coming to mind often. And I might even give the film a try. But I can state that the book will stay with me for a long time, and even though that is not comfortable it is good. As such I can recommend this book.
Books by Markus Zusak:
Bridge of Clay
I Am The Messenger
The Happy Prince and Other Stories
Three Wild Dogs
When Dogs Cry
…
Wolfe Brothers Series:
Underdog
Fighting Ruben Wolfe
Getting the Girl
…
Underdogs Omnibus Edition 1-3
…
Contributed to:
I Met a Martian, and Other Stories
Love Hurts
The Book That Made Me
The Gifts of Reading
The Two Good Cook Book
This is Push
…
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