The Book Thief - Markus Zusak
The Book Thief is one of those heart warming stories that will make you deeply smile and cry. It will keep you hooked to the pages as you intertwine with each and every character’s sorrow, guilt, love, affection and personalities. The book is a historical drama based in the Nazi Germany. The author’s use of words, analogies and his easy description of events will hook you to the book instantly.
Liesel Meminger, and her brother are taken to a poor foster family as her mother is unable to take care of them anymore. On the way, her little brother dies and this incident is imprinted in the little child’s memory forever. She is handed over to the Hubbermans, an old couple with a big heart.
Liesel is unable to sleep at nights and is constantly woken up every night by her brother’s dead face. The night her brother is buried, she steals a grave digging book, her first thievery from the more to come. She keeps it hidden at all times, but Papa (Mr Hubbermann) finds it. As she is not a good reader yet, Papa reads it to her every night and later starts teaching her to read and write. This incident gives her a new hope in her life and is also going to be the reason that will save her life one day. She becomes friends with the neighbour named Rudy and they create a strong alliance of their own.
As the days pass, she grows up and the book thief and her adventures begin. Her love for reading and writing never seizes and she constantly steals books to fulfill her appetite for reading. Nazi Germany starts its atrocities with the start of the WW2. The torment and killings of Jews are indescribable as they are put into concentration camps like sacks of rice in a mill. In WWI, Hans Hubermann was saved by a Jewish friend and he had promised his wife that he will help them in need.
Suddenly, one day everything changes in the Hubermann household. From that day onwards they all had to live with a dreadful secret in their hearts. If the secret gets out, they all will be gone for good. But with time, the secret becomes a part of them all and especially very close to Liesel. Together they read, write and share their nightmares. Both are unable to sleep at night due to their fears gripping them and waking up in the middle of the night and gasping for air. Liesel and the secret formulate a special bond.
One day, a parade of Jews is marched through the street in front of their house and Hans Hubermann is unable to see the suffering and offers a piece of bread to an old man for which he is whipped and is tagged as a Jew lover. This incident fills the hubermanns with fear about their secret getting out.
The book emphasises all through on the power of words and its effect. How words can shape up people’s lives and personalities. The way it can offer solace in desperate times and happiness in the gleeful moments. Words bring Liesel closer to everyone she loves but will they be there forever?
One of the most attractive part of the book is its narrator. “Death” is personified as a human being and is the teller of the story. The effect it creates is so heavy that you will feel it all around you. Death recites the story of the “Book Thief” and her thieveries of books from a graveyard, a bonfire , a library among others. He beautifully illustrates the brutalities that the people suffer during the war. How he has to carry souls everyday and is constantly tired of his job like any human being. The tone sometimes is deathly funny and gave me the chills for sure.
The eccentric effect the book creates with its words will make u feel and think about each word, each line. The powerful relations, friendship and trust are one of the major plus points of the book. “Death” orates the ordeal of the whole story with such thrusting energy and fullness that one can never keep this book down no matter what. The last line of the book made me still for like a minute or two, Death concludes with- “I am haunted by humans”.
I will give it an 11/10.
amazon
goodreads
Liesel Meminger, and her brother are taken to a poor foster family as her mother is unable to take care of them anymore. On the way, her little brother dies and this incident is imprinted in the little child’s memory forever. She is handed over to the Hubbermans, an old couple with a big heart.
Liesel is unable to sleep at nights and is constantly woken up every night by her brother’s dead face. The night her brother is buried, she steals a grave digging book, her first thievery from the more to come. She keeps it hidden at all times, but Papa (Mr Hubbermann) finds it. As she is not a good reader yet, Papa reads it to her every night and later starts teaching her to read and write. This incident gives her a new hope in her life and is also going to be the reason that will save her life one day. She becomes friends with the neighbour named Rudy and they create a strong alliance of their own.
As the days pass, she grows up and the book thief and her adventures begin. Her love for reading and writing never seizes and she constantly steals books to fulfill her appetite for reading. Nazi Germany starts its atrocities with the start of the WW2. The torment and killings of Jews are indescribable as they are put into concentration camps like sacks of rice in a mill. In WWI, Hans Hubermann was saved by a Jewish friend and he had promised his wife that he will help them in need.
Suddenly, one day everything changes in the Hubermann household. From that day onwards they all had to live with a dreadful secret in their hearts. If the secret gets out, they all will be gone for good. But with time, the secret becomes a part of them all and especially very close to Liesel. Together they read, write and share their nightmares. Both are unable to sleep at night due to their fears gripping them and waking up in the middle of the night and gasping for air. Liesel and the secret formulate a special bond.
One day, a parade of Jews is marched through the street in front of their house and Hans Hubermann is unable to see the suffering and offers a piece of bread to an old man for which he is whipped and is tagged as a Jew lover. This incident fills the hubermanns with fear about their secret getting out.
The book emphasises all through on the power of words and its effect. How words can shape up people’s lives and personalities. The way it can offer solace in desperate times and happiness in the gleeful moments. Words bring Liesel closer to everyone she loves but will they be there forever?
One of the most attractive part of the book is its narrator. “Death” is personified as a human being and is the teller of the story. The effect it creates is so heavy that you will feel it all around you. Death recites the story of the “Book Thief” and her thieveries of books from a graveyard, a bonfire , a library among others. He beautifully illustrates the brutalities that the people suffer during the war. How he has to carry souls everyday and is constantly tired of his job like any human being. The tone sometimes is deathly funny and gave me the chills for sure.
The eccentric effect the book creates with its words will make u feel and think about each word, each line. The powerful relations, friendship and trust are one of the major plus points of the book. “Death” orates the ordeal of the whole story with such thrusting energy and fullness that one can never keep this book down no matter what. The last line of the book made me still for like a minute or two, Death concludes with- “I am haunted by humans”.
I will give it an 11/10.
amazon
goodreads
Comments
Post a Comment
Your opinions matter :)