The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak

 

 

“It’s just a small story really, about, amongst other things:

• a girl
• some words
• an accordionist
• some fanatical Germans
• a Jewish fist-fighter
• and quite a lot of thievery. “

I finished The Book Thief this morning in a puddle of tears.  As the quote above states,  it is  a book about many things, but mostly, it is a book about words.  The power of words, the strength of them.  Their amazing ability  to exalt the human spirit, or at times, to destroy it. 

Liesel Meminger is 9 years old when her brother dies and her mother is forced to abandon her.  She goes to a foster home in Himmel, Germany to live with Hans and Rosa Huberman.  They are a bit odd, but have generous hearts and soon come to love Leisel.  Hans, is a loving and kind man who spend his nights keeping Leisel’s nightmares at bay by teaching her to read.  Leisel falls in love with words, reading, and books.  Books are a luxury for a poor family like the Hubermans and when Leisel steals a still smoking book from a book burning, she is dubbed the book thief.   In the backdrop is Nazi Germany.  Hitler is busy using his words to rule the world.  “yes, the Fuhrer decided that he would rule the world with words.  “I will never fire a gun,” he devised.  “I will not have to.”

One man remains unconvinced.  Hans Huberman.

“Some crunched numbers.

Since 1933, ninety percent of Germans showed unflinching support for Hitler.  That leaves 10 percent who didn’t.  Hans Huberman belonged to the ten percent.”

Though Hans does not support Hitler, he is careful not to show it to outsiders, and the dissent remains in the family alone until one day he is forced to make a difficult decision to hide a Jew in their basement.  His name is Max and he is the grown son of a man that saved Hans life.  The Hubermans treat Max as part of the family and they all grow quite fond of him, Leisel,  in particular.  The two of them form a powerful and touching friendship.  

Obviously, as the story unfolds, many good things, and many bad things happen, but the brilliance of this book lies not in the plot, but in the narrative.  For starters, Death personified, is the narrator.  “I do not carry a sickle or a scythe.  I only wear a hooded black rode when it’s cold.  And I don’t have those skull-like facial features you seem to enjoy pinning on me from a distance” (Death).  He tells us the story of the book thief in a tone mixed with sadness, cynicism, and regret.  His words poetic, and contemplative.  Zusak’s choice of making Death the narrator is a unique method of storytelling that serves the novel perfectly.  The writing is spectacular and unpredictable. 

I don’t just recommend this book, I beg you to read it.  Sure, it made me cry but it was worth every single tear.

While I was researching the book, I found an interesting quote that was used to compare themes from The Book Thief.  It is from The Magus by John Fowles.

The human race is unimportant.  It is the self that must not be betrayed.

I suppose I could say that Hitler did not betray himself.

…You are right.  he did not.  But millions of Germans did betray their selves.  That was the tragedy.  Not that one man had the courage to be evil.  But that millions had not the courage to be good.

Would you have had the courage to be good?  Would you have hidden a Jew in your basement in Nazi Germany?  I look into the innocent beautiful faces of my children and I can honestly say I don’t know. 

To be honest, before I went sniffing around online today, there was only one thing I did not like about The Book Thief.  The cover. 

 

This is the cover on my copy of the book and the only one I had seen before today.  I didn’t find it engaging or inviting.  It wasn’t indicative of the beautiful words, and meaning I would find within it.  In my I opinion, it didn’t do it justice.  So you can imagine my delight when I found two other versions of the cover today online.  One I have at the top of my post, which I think is lovely.  The other one, I thought was even better,  and I felt it captured the exact emotion of the book.  Unfortunalty,  I couldn’t upload a good looking version of it. 

This was the best I could do here at Bookie.  Please go here to see a much better version of this cover art.  It’s perfect.   I think.  Much like the story within it.

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Resources:

To listen to a NPR podcast of an interview with Marcus Zusak talking about The Book Thief go here.

To watch an interview with Marcus Zusak on ABC News click here.

 Listen to a podcast of Marcus Zusak discussing The Book Thief on The Book of Life.