"It's just a small story, really, about among other things: a girl, some words, an accordionist, a Jewish fist fighter, and quite a lot of thievery ..." Narrated in the all-knowing matter-of-fact voice of Death, witnessing the story of the citizens of Himmel Street: When nine-year-old Liesel arrives outside the boxlike house of her new foster parents, she refuses to get out of the car. Liesel has been separated from her parents - 'Kommunists' - for ever, and at the burial of her little brother, she steals a gravedigger's instruction manual which she can't read. It is the beginning of her illustrious career. In the care of the Hubermans, Liesel befriends blond-haired Rudy Steiner, her neighbour obsessed with Jesse Owens. She also befriends the mayor's wife, who hides from despair in her library. Together Liesel and Rudy steal books - from Nazi book burning piles, from the mayor's library, from the richer people of Molching. In time, the family hide a Jewish boxer, Max, who reads with Liesel in the basement. By 1943, the Allied bombs are falling, and the sirens begin to wail. Liesel shares out her books in the air-raid shelters.
But one day in the life of Himmel street, the wail of the sirens comes too late ...A life-changing tale of the cruel twists of fate and the coincidences on which all our lives hinge, this is also a joyous look at the power of book to nourish the soul. Its uplifting ending will make all readers weep.
Oh, did I cry at the end of this one. I might not be able to write a coherent review at the moment; that ending just reduced me to a pile of snotty tissues. Let's be honest. Zusak's writing and style really swelled to something gorgeous then. He really took time to make it pretty dang perfect.
The last half really kept me glued to the pages, but I wish the first had the same immediacy. I found the book a little hard to get into--I think, maybe, until Max made his entrance. It almost seems to me that everything that came before him was backstory that I wish had been abbreviated somewhat.
I did really enjoy Death the Narrator and his little inputs, surprisingly. It's not something I'd usually fall for, but I think, especially towards the end, the narrator really made sense to me. It made such an impact that would've been lost without it.
I also have to mention that I absolutely adored Rudy Steiner (though not the bit with the blackface; I think the book could've done without that, to be quite honest . . . ). The way Zusak connected his every action to something that happened later in the book was brilliant, albeit heartbreaking. Even mentioning what happens to him early on didn't lessen the pain when his scenes finally occurred in the end.
Anyway, I can't really write more than that at the moment. I'm still frustrated and blubbering.
