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A review by richardrbecker
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
5.0
Liesel Meminger is an 'ideal' foster child in war-torn Molching (outside Munich), with perhaps exception to her predilection to steal books (and the occasional apple). She is adopted on the verge of adolescence during World War II, shortly after he father is taken away for being a Communist and her brother dies in her arms on a train.
Her first theft takes place shortly after her brother's death — a copy of The Gravedigger's Handbook that is accidentally left behind at his grave. She can't read the book, but the words inside are enough to capture her interest. She sees, even before she can read, that there is a mystery and power to words.
Her poor foster parents are Hans and Rosa Hubermann. Hans is a World War I veteran who is sympathetic to the plight and unfair treatment of Jews. He hides the son, Max, of his best friend in the basement of their house. Max's father scarified himself to save Hans in the first war. Rosa is a sharp-tongued and often abrasive foster mother.
The novel is reads a historical coming of age story set in Nazi Germany and invests considerable time exploring what can or cannot be done — painting some Germans as fanatics but others as victims along with the rest of the world. But what makes it stand out are author Zusak exploration of the power of words, the love and relationship people forge in dire circumstances, and the ever-present probability of mortality. After all, the narrator of this story is Death and the machine make him busy.
This is one of those books that everyone should read. It's often unsettling and life-affirming at the same time, both a triumph and tragedy as the characters in The Book Thief find personal redemption while marching toward fate — which is almost always into the waiting arms of the narrator. The writing of the book was inspired by two real-life events shared with him by his parents. One was the bombing of Munich. The other was a boy who was whipped for giving a Jewish prisoner bread. While both inspirations are dramatic, it's the daily life of Germans trying to get by in their occupied country that really resonates as it challenges us to imagine what we might do.
This was my second reading of the book. This time I read it with my daughter who is about the same age as Liesel Meminger. I also gave her the context of one of her own grandmothers trying to survive Hitler's war. May we never face such a thing again.
Her first theft takes place shortly after her brother's death — a copy of The Gravedigger's Handbook that is accidentally left behind at his grave. She can't read the book, but the words inside are enough to capture her interest. She sees, even before she can read, that there is a mystery and power to words.
Her poor foster parents are Hans and Rosa Hubermann. Hans is a World War I veteran who is sympathetic to the plight and unfair treatment of Jews. He hides the son, Max, of his best friend in the basement of their house. Max's father scarified himself to save Hans in the first war. Rosa is a sharp-tongued and often abrasive foster mother.
The novel is reads a historical coming of age story set in Nazi Germany and invests considerable time exploring what can or cannot be done — painting some Germans as fanatics but others as victims along with the rest of the world. But what makes it stand out are author Zusak exploration of the power of words, the love and relationship people forge in dire circumstances, and the ever-present probability of mortality. After all, the narrator of this story is Death and the machine make him busy.
This is one of those books that everyone should read. It's often unsettling and life-affirming at the same time, both a triumph and tragedy as the characters in The Book Thief find personal redemption while marching toward fate — which is almost always into the waiting arms of the narrator. The writing of the book was inspired by two real-life events shared with him by his parents. One was the bombing of Munich. The other was a boy who was whipped for giving a Jewish prisoner bread. While both inspirations are dramatic, it's the daily life of Germans trying to get by in their occupied country that really resonates as it challenges us to imagine what we might do.
This was my second reading of the book. This time I read it with my daughter who is about the same age as Liesel Meminger. I also gave her the context of one of her own grandmothers trying to survive Hitler's war. May we never face such a thing again.