By The Book Thief
The first thing that strikes your head before reading a book is, ‘Is it any good?’ What makes a book good and what makes it bad?
‘The Book Thief’ is a brilliant young adult novel written by Australian writer Markus Zusack. We all know that death is inevitable and people often wonder about a time when a dark hooded figure will suck the very soul from their body. No, not dementors! I mean death. This whole story is narrated by Death himself. However, the Death we’re talking about is not cunning as we often hear; he’s rather sympathetic and amiable.
Despite the fact that Death narrates the whole story, the novel isn’t a depressing monologue of how people die. It is a story of a young girl called Liesel Meminger who has had many close encounters with death but has always escaped from its clutches by the nick of time.
Everything about this book is full of innocence a girl with big eyes and wonder can muster. The story is set during the time of the Second World War in Nazi Germany. Liesel is forced to leave her communist mother alone to live with her foster parents Rosa and Hans Huberman. She slowly adjusts in her new home in Munich with the help of her new best friend Rudy Steiner. The writer explores the psychology of children during the time of war, violence and poverty detailing on how no one really wins in wars. All it does is help death collect souls of different colors and now even death feels sorry for the inhumanity suffered by humans. Ironic, isn’t it? The heroine of our story is mesmerized by books and words and is often tempted to steal them. While the Nazis would burn Jewish books as an action to purify the German language and literature, Liesel would hide the burning books inside her clothes to read them later. She tries to understand the difference between good books and bad books. Are all the books written by Jews bad or are the books considered sacred bad too? She slowly finds her peace with books and stories become her salvation.
The book thief is a tragic, beautiful and very influential book. I have to say it is a must-read for everyone. Some might argue about the length of the book but I assure you each page is worth turning over. You will constantly think about this book with each passing moment!
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