This novel is about a girl living with a foster mother and father in Germany during Hitler's regime. The girl, Liesel Meminger, is "the book thief". This story is told from the point of death, which makes it quite interesting and unique. The novel begins with Liesel's mother taking Liesel and her brother to live with foster parents Hans and Rosa Hubermann in a small town in Germany, as she can no longer provide a good life for them. Her brother dies during the journey, and this is death's first encounter with Liesel and how it begins to follow her. At her brother's funeral, Liesel steals The Grave Digger's Handbook, which has fallen in the snow after a gravedigger drops it. Liesel cannot read, but the book becomes her prized possesion.
Liesel's foster parents, the Hubermanns, treat her well. Rosa often insults Liesel by calling her a saumensch, or dirty pig, but deep down this is Rosa's way of showing affection. I say that this is a fine way of making the ones you love feel special. The nice Hans teaches Liesel how to read The Gravedigger's Handbook. This starts her love for reading and writing. Liesel also befriends the other children of Himmel Street, and she spends a lot of time with Rudy Steiner, who is in love with her and is also her best friend. She continues stealing books from various places, but mainly the library of Ilsa Hermann, the mayor's wife, whom she met through her mother washing there clothes and Liesel having to deliver the washing. She also steals once from a Nazi book burning. Her foster family helps a Jewish man named Max Vandenburg, because his father saved Hans' life during World War I, and Hans promised that he would do any one thing for him. Liesel grows a strong bond with Max, and so does her family. One day the Nazis are marching the depleted Jews around in a parade like fashion, and Hans joins them and gives bread as an offering. As punishment he is sent to World War 2 and Max leaves so they are not in danger of him being found.
Liesel begins to write her own book, The Book Thief, as the story of her life. One day, Himmwl Street is bombed. The alarm is not sounded, so everyone dies except for Liesel who was working one her book in the basement. She is distaught and drops the book, which death picks up. She goes to live with the Hermanns (the mayor and his wife) and when Alex Steiner (Rudy's father, drafted into war) returns, she works in his tailor shop. In 1945, Max Vandenburg walks into the shop, and he and Liesel are reunited.
At the end of the book, Death tells us of Liesel's death in Sydney. He finishes the story up with one final statement: "I am haunted by humans.".
Though not "life-changing" as the New York Times stated on the cover, the book was very good, and as a stoic reader, it is a rare book that saddens or delights me as this one did. It starts out with great sadness when Liesel's brother dies, and that sets the tone for the rest of the book, save a few momemts. When Himmel Street is bombed I could feel a sense of nausea appear in my stomach. At that point I got angry with the book for making Liesel endure so much loss. The only good thing about them was that these sad moments made the happy ones so much happier.
One of the things that sets this book apart is the imaginative use of language - poetic at times. You get stopped short and have to read bits out loud because they are so amazing. He writes with such a unique and clever style. Here are a couple of my favorite quotes from the book:
"The secret sat in her mouth. It made itself comfortable. It crossed its legs."-Death's narraration, Liesel keeping a secret
"Sometimes I imagined how everything looked above those clouds, knowing without question that the sun was blond, and the endless atmosphere was a giant blue eye."-Death carrying souls from the gas chamber in Auschwitz, Death imagines the the sky beyond the rain clouds that cover the death camp.
"Blood leaked from her nose and licked at her lips. Her eyes had blackened. Cuts had opened up and a series of wounds were rising to the surface of her skin. All from words. From Liesel's words."-Death's narration, Liesel explodes at Ilsa Hermann in a letter, for firing her mother from washing her clothes so that her and her husband's(the mayor) image gets better with the german people, calling her pathetic and telling her to get over the death of her son.
Overall this book was a tremendous read that was emotionally moving and splendidly narrated.
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