The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Hi. I'm back.

I've just finished reading "The Book Thief" by Markus Zusak, and I thought I'd review it. I'm looking to do quite a few book reviews in the future, so hopefully I'm not too bad at it!

Firstly, my copy has a beautiful cover: it's made to look like old parchment, and has a picture of a little girl dancing with Death. The story is set in war-time Nazi Germany, and follows the story of a little girl named Liesel and the people who live on her street in a town just outside Munich. It is narrated by Death (the Grim Reaper, if you will), and documents his(?) relationship with her. Liesel is a member of German society, which I found very interesting as the only other books that I've read that have been set in Nazi Germany were written from the point of view of a Jew, or an otherwise 'inferior' person in the eyes of the Nazis. She lives with two foster parents, as her mother and father were taken away to a concentration camp. Liesel does not know this, but the only thing she knows about her absent father is that he was labelled "Kommunist" by the Nazis. It takes her a long time to figure out the meaning of this label, but when she does, she is accepting of it. She is told to behave well, as she has brown eyes, which wasn't consistent with Hitler's "Aryan" dream. However, she grows close to her foster father, as he teaches her to read and write - this is why she steals books. Her first book was found on the ground at her younger brother's funeral, and together she and 'Papa' work their way through "The Grave Digger's Handbook". She gradually steals more and more books, eventually forming a friendship with the Mayor (Bürgermeister)'s wife through her passion with words. When her foster father faces a time of great peril, she stands by him and helps him keep his secret about the 'Fist-Fighting Jew' in return for him not telling anyone about her thievery.

I really enjoyed this book because it was so emotional. I particularly liked the use of German words peppered through the text, as I have a personal interest in languages, and I have just begun to learn German myself, but I'm not sure when I'll need to use "Saumensch" or "Saukerl" in one of my classes!! (Look them up!) I'm also really interested in history so I found the cultural elements of the setting interesting. It was beautifully written and very moving. I would heartily recommend it to anyone :)

The video that introduced me to this book
The Book Thief on Amazon
The Book Thief at The Book Depository