The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

There is something to be said about authors who write books from a child's perspective. I am not sure that I could ever be capable of such a feat as it is very hard to remember how a child thinks (even if I am a teacher). Markus Zusak not only can embrace the inner child but he can do it as a little girl. I love reading books about the nostalgia of childhood and even about those hard times that we all went through (no matter what decade we all lived through).

Although essentially the book is told by death (yes you read correctly) by death (or the grim reaper as I pictured it in my head) it follows death just before and during World War II. As most of us know during that devastating time death was very busy and he came across our protagonist (Liesel) a couple of times. Death first meets Liesel just after her brother dies and that is when Liesel finds a copy of her first book about grave digging and steals it. She is then sent to foster care and we find out that Liesel cannot read. Liesel's foster father teachers her how to read and she then develops a love for reading.

Liesel's life during the war is somewhat placid. She plays with the neighborhood kids and she helps her foster mother with her job of doing the laundry. Liesel's job is the deliver the laundry. Liselel develops a relationship with the mayors wife and is amazed by her library. Liesel starts stealing books and although the mayors wife knows she dosn't mind but Liesel feels very guilty. During a Nazi book burning Liesel even steals a book.

Her foster parents hide a Jew in their basement. The Jew, Max Vandenburg , becomes very friendly with Liesel and she learns to respect and admire him.

The story continues (I will not spoil the ending for you), however my favorite line that I have ever read in a book comes from death when he says: "I am haunted by humans."

I was speaking to my friend Greg the other night and he had a good point about authors. he said that they [authors] are either great story tellers or great writers. I believe Markus Zusak is both. The book Thief is a wonderful yet very simple story about childhood innocence, life, death, and right vs. wrong or good vs. evil and even redemption. I recommend this book to anyone who is willing to invest time into a story and to people who have an open mind as Zusak writes in very short stanzas (that took a while for me to get used to).

Overall I give this book a 7 out of 10

There are some great lines and quotes from the book, some more memorable ones that I highlighted are:

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

"I witness the ones that are left behind, crumbled among the jigsaw puzzles of realization, despair, and surprise. They have punctured hearts. They have beaten lungs"

"I wanted to explain that I am constantly overestimating and underestimating the human race - that rarely do I even simply estimate it. I wanted to ask her how the same thing could be so ugly and so glorious, and its words and stories so damning and brilliant...I AM HAUNTED BY HUMANS."