Author Markus Zusak
Country Germany
Genre Historical Fiction
Publication Date 2006
Pages 550
This is a book I simply adored. It's one of those books that keep you up late into the night to be finished and then leave you with a huge sense of emptiness the next day. I am amazed at Markus' brilliance at weaving together a story around a much explored topic (Nazi Germany) with such ease and beauty. This book has been a treat like none other.
This is the story of a 9 year old girl, Leisel who comes to live with her foster parents in Nazi Germany. Against the backdrop of all that was happening in Nazi Germany in the 1940s, Markus tells the story of Leisel and how she becomes a book thief since she finds solace in the written word. The story is mostly built through the eyes of this naive girl who is smart and observant and starts connecting many dots very early in life to decipher what really is happening in Germany.
Very uniquely, the narrator of the book is Death. Given the war and the mass exterminations happening in Germany and all around, the imagery of Death as the narrator gives both a grave dimension and a certain amount of humor to the book ( Death claims that she has a hard job and gets no vacation and so on).
Throughout the story, Markus builds the connection that Leisel feels with her books. Starting from a sense of pride in learning to read and write to an absolute need to possess books to rendering solace to others (in shelters) by reading to them, Lesiel grows and matures with her books. And both literally (she was writing in her basement when air raids kill all her friends and family) and figuratively, Leisel survives those years because of her books!
Hans Hubberman (Leisel's foster father) is another strong character in the book. He plays an immense role in Leisel's life (by teaching her to read, staying up with her through the nightmares etc) and is a conscientious man keen to do the right thing. Having been saved by a Jew during the war, he can never forget the favour and in return, he paints to remove anti Jew slurs from outside their houses, gets whipped on the street for handing over bread to a starving Jew, hides a Jew in his basement and so on. Hans is a reflection of how hard it was for people like him to be themselves and survive in a Hitler led Germany.
Through the character of Max, a Jew who hides in Leisel's basement; Markus illustrates the Jewish side of Nazi Germany: a life of desperation and injustice.
Markus's story brilliantly builds upon several themes: darkness (through the narrator and the war, air raids etc); desperation (through Max and other Jews who live during that time); the love of words (Leisel) and being conscientious and scared at the same time (Hans).
This is a story that is both deep and light; it's both real and fiction. Like I said, it's simply adorable. Huge respect for Markus!
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