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Wednesday, 5 November 2008

Markus Zusak - The Book Thief

Review by showhost 6th November 2008:
Winter,1939, Nazi Germany. Leisel Meminger, 9yrs old, was on a train with her mother & brother. Their mother, branded a “Kommunist” by the Nazis and unable to afford the care of her children, was taking them to a foster home in Munich. Leisels brother is very sick, he is coughing and Death stops to visit - he collects a soul, leaving only two to continue the journey. Leisel & her mother carry him off the train and bury him in the unknown town. One of the gravediggers dropped his book in the snow. A little black book entitled 'The Gravediggers Handbook'. Leisel picked it up and put it in her pocket. She couldn't read but the words (written or spoken) mesmirise her. At this point Leisel becomes known as the book thief.
Liesel’s mother leaves her with her foster parents, Hans & Rosa Hubermann, in the hope they will feed and educate Liesel.
The story, is narrated by death. It follows Liesels life in Munich leading up to & during the bombing, the Hitler movement and the treatment of the Jews. It tracks her relationship with her foster parents, especially Hans, who teaches her to read and earns the little money he has from painting and playing the accordion. Liesel has a different relationship with the stern, disciplinarian Rosa her fostermother, who ekes out money by doing peoples laundry. One of her customers is the mayor and during Liesels job of collecting and delivering this laundry one day, she takes a book from their vast library. The second book theft.
Liesel makes one very special friend, Rudy Steiner, who is obsessed with the black athlete Jesse Owens and Liesel. All Rudy wants is a kiss off Liesel but he never gets one, while he is alive.
Liesel & her foster family's life change when they hide a Jew in their basement. Liesel begins to read to him and he sketches stories using whitewashed pages from a copy of Mein Kampf to draw on. They live the rest of the war in fear of being found out.
What makes this book so different is the fact that it is narrated by death. It is classed as a 'young adult' book. The characters, once you get into the book, are warm and real and once you get halfway into the book events start to become absorbing. The author deals with the parading and whipping of the Jews through the streets, the differences between the committed Nazi and the ones, like Hans, who live in fear of reprisals for not following Hitlers words, with such insight.
If I hadn't been told to read this book for our book group meeting, I would have given up after 10 pages. I have to admit to flicking through some of the 'monotonous' pages.
It reminds me of the Diary of Anne Frank, though told from a third person perpective by Death (aka the Grim Reaper) himself.

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