The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

The Book Thief

by Markus Zusak

"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.

Reviewed by clementine on

3 of 5 stars

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I first read this book almost ten years ago, in the summer of 2009, when I was fifteen. I had never before had such an intense emotional reaction to a book; I locked myself in the bathroom and cried for a good half hour after finishing it. I've been meaning to re-read it for years and years now, and I think the primary reason I've put it off is that I wasn't sure if I could possibly enjoy it as much as I did then.

Well, no, I definitely didn't. The narrative framing was not quite as seamless, and I couldn't help but feel that some of the emotion comes simply out of obligation. Who wouldn't cry at a book about the Holocaust, the devastation of war, the traumas children must bear? It's not that the emotion isn't real, it's that it felt, at times, forced out of me.

There is lots to enjoy here, though. The tenderness of the relationships between Liesel and her foster parents, Liesel and Rudy, Liesel and Max, is genuinely touching. Liesel herself is a great character: damaged and vulnerable but with such a delightful spark. The depiction of childhood feels natural and authentic. The idea of books as unifiers has, of course, been done (meta-literature reinforcing the importance of literature is surely a self-serving theme many have explored), but it has a special significance in the context of Nazi Germany, and especially in the life of a young girl with few means. The everydayness of the characters is a huge strength of the novel: these characters live in Germany, which we know to be "the bad side", but they are just capable of kindness and empathy as everyone else. The war devastates everyone, forcing them to make terrible decisions, to do the best with what they have. Part of me wished that this novel had been slightly less apolitical (for example, the Hubermanns taking in Max is framed as simply an accident rather than a decision borne of a developed political consciousness), but I guess it's not that sort of story. I just have a fierce desire for literature that takes a strong political stand, especially in this nightmarish day and age.

So - I still like this book, but at nearly twenty-five I'm more clearly able to see its pretensions and considerable triteness even while enjoying certain aspects of it. It's hard for me to rate it accurately because I do have such an attachment to it from several teenage years in which I referred to it as my favourite book.

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  • Started reading
  • 22 May, 2019: Finished reading
  • 22 May, 2019: Reviewed