BOOK REVIEW: The Book Thief

"I am haunted by humans"

Sometimes you read a book that really sticks with you once you've finished it. I pretty often fall in love with novels which is the reason I started this blog in the first place. To expose those who are interested to some of my favorites that I have found in this literary awakening of mine.

The Book Thief has definitely found a place amongst my favorites.

This story follows the life of a young girl, Liesel, who is sent to live with a foster family, Hans and Rosa Hubermann, in a small town in Germany. The time: the years preceeding and during World War II.

At a young age, she has already began to see the greatest tragedies in life, including losing ones she loves.

She bonds with Hans, her foster father, who attempts to help her transition into this new life. They bond over a desire to learn to read and write and in the late midnight hours of night, work to help each other.
The family, who is poor, is doing everything necessary to ensure their survival as quality of life becomes harder and more difficult as the war continues.

"She was the book thief without the words. Trust me though the words were on the way, and when they arrived, Liesel would hold them in her hands like clouds, and she would ring them out like rain"

And then they come to the center of it all when they assist a young man named Max, a jew, a possible victim of Hitler and his Nazi party.

As I really believe that everyone should read this novel I refuse to give away anymore to the plot.

The most interesting attribute of this story is the narration. The story is narrated from the perspective of Death. I enjoyed that it was not only from a 3rd party perspective, but a 3rd party that is able to see all. During this time, death was constantly consuming the world, especially within Europe. It seemed appropriate that it would be death that would explain Liesel's story.

What I found most intriguing was that death was so interested in this one little girl. He follows her through all these years as she faced hardship after hardship, and was so fascinated by her actions.

Some may wonder about the title and it is exactly as it sounds. The little girl is the book thief. She began innocuously stealing a book that was laying in the snow on her voyage to her foster parents. And in her obsession to learn to read and write she begins stealing books that she finds at random. In her world of tragic circumstances it is the words that she is able to not only fall in love with, but also rely on. And in this it makes sense. When she steals books that are considered banned by the Nazi army and burned, she is stealing back her freedom to know all and not be forced into the Nazi party propaganda. It is the words that allow her to have her own voice, her own choice, and to make her own decisions. Stealing these books allow her control over a life where she has had no control. She has watched those she loved be tormented and punished for a multitude of different reasons. And now she has been given the power of words and will use it to the best of her ability. In the end, it is what saves her.

It is everything that she has faced that has given her the strength and courage to use these words she was taught through the most precious articles she owned: her books.

"I have hated words and I have loved them, and I hope that I have made them right"