The book thief.

Overview:

Today I would review the book by the name of “The Book Thief” by Markus Zusak. This book was actually recommended to me by my good friend Shumyla and I can’t thank her enough for that. I usually don’t check best seller lists and pick my reads at random by anything that fancies me or gets my attention. Much like the movies I pick which are usually the ones not getting top reviews. Yea I guess I am a weird this way.

How I found the book:

Anyways the moment I got hold of the book, Couldn’t put it down till I finished it. It is not a complex story. It is just a simple story set against the background of World War II in Germany. It’s about a little girl and her loss and gain in relations. It is about how wars take away from the innocent and harmless.
It is about the way war haunts your life and your loved ones. The story is narrated by death which I think is a very interesting and different way to express. Because death has a major role in such situations and most of the books and movies kind of overlook it. Another aspect that I felt after reading this book was that death is not the worst that can happen to a human being. Humans are the worst thing that can happen to human beings.
Political, monetary, and superficial gains of one egotistical human being can ruin a whole nation or nations in the case of this war. Anyways, let’s not get detracted from the review. So as I was saying that the story was very effectively narrated by death about the life of a girl named “ Liesel Meminger” who is the daughter of a communist which was very dangerous at that time in Germany. Her mother had to let her go because she couldn’t afford to feed her and her brother. On the way to the foster parent’s home she lost and found the first time and crossed path with death. She lost her brother and found her passion for books which was witnessed by death.
The girl didn’t know how to read but loved the printed word, so her foster father taught her how to read. She never thought that she would be able to find family again but she found family and friends. In the poverty stricken and war torn Germany she found happiness and belongingness. She found loved ones and trusted ones.
The most beautiful message that this story gives you is that although death took all of her loved ones one by one but life kept on bringing new things and people in her life. This is how life is and how it goes on.
Another aspect of the book that I really liked was the simplicity of the narration of the story. The way it was dealt with is very personalized. It shows how that time affected the common people, the people who didn’t hate Jews In fact who had Jew friends but could not support them openly. How such oppression harms the freedom of not only the Jews but the people who didn’t hate them at all but could not support them.
There is a reference to a book called “Mei Kampf” which was written by Hitler himself about how and why he did what he did. I will review it some other time. But at that time it was considered like a holy book in Germany at that time. People were forced to read it and keep it in their homes whether they want it or not.
Since I am a book lover myself (I don’t steal, though!) so I can understand how books helped Liesel get through some very hard times of her life. Helped her cope up with things when she couldn’t understand them or control them. I also can relate to her love for the printed word. I can’t explain the love but it is there for any printed word I see. She was poor so she stole the books when she got the chance to.

Recommendations:

All in all, I think it is a highly recommended book and you should read it if you get a chance to. It is definitely going into the keep section of my collection. It is a simple yet grasping story; once you start you can’t put it down till you finish it. It is available both online and in stores. It topped the international best-selling lists.
If you like my review, please do comment. Look out for the next one. Till then.