The Book Thief 1st Edition

There are books(most of them) which after having read, find their places back to the shelf, to be lost in the midst of the growing dust, chucked into oblivion, perhaps for ages. And then there are the books that find a place in the readers’ heart owing to their inimitable quality. Books which urge the reader to heave them out of the shelf now and then, to remove any gathered dust. The Book Thief as you can guess has found its place, in the latter category. This book is truly a celebration of words, and I value Zusak’s talent to play with words as fluently as the story they have created. Instead of writing a review, I thought it’d be better to show you a preview. So here are a few of my favorite quotes from the book:

“Mr. Steiner was steering the bike with one hand and Rudy with the other. He was having trouble steering the conversation.”

“The words were not spoken, but they were definitely there, somewhere between Rudy’s blue eyes and Deutscher’s advisory hands”

“Rudy’s voice reached over and handed Liesel the truth. For a while, it sat on her shoulder, but a few thoughts later, it made its way to her ear.”

“Three languages interwove. The Russian, the bullets, the German.”

“He was the second snowman to be melting away before her eyes, only this one was different. It was a paradox. The colder he became, the more he melted.”

It is really hard to place this book among the established genres. There is a little of everything a good book, in the traditional sense, needs. But the book simply transcends beyond these elements and stands on its own.

The first element that captured my attention was the narration made by 'Death'. Marvel! He chooses to tell a story set during the holocaust period. One doesn't have to relate themselves to their historical scholarship to devour this gem. The story, holocaust or not, stands on its own merits. Holocaust is perhaps the busiest time 'Death' has ever been in. As he puts his in his own words that he would make 6 million discoveries. Death shows us the world in a different light. For him, death is a duty which keeps him every busy, and he has his own revealing opinions about the world we know.

The story is about a little girl Liesel Meminger and her upbringing by her foster parents during the Nazi riddled times. Liesel falls in love with books; but not in the usual way. The first book she accidentally lays her hands on is 'The Grave Digger's Handbook' - nothing interesting to an ordinary reader; but for Liesel it's as good as her first love, for the limited means of her parents cannot earn her anything more. Liesel eventually gets hands on more books, some by cunning means, some by fair means. She also has some very audacious, if not idiosyncratic, neighbours. And then comes the jew to hide in the basement of her home.

I'll not dwell more on the story or the characters. The tale is engaging and rich with imagination. The language is simple yet stylish, a blend that only a handful of gifted authors develop. Markus Zusak, just like the narrator Death, seem to have his own revealing view of the world. At one instance he says “Liesel crossed the bridge over the Amper River. The water was glorious and emerald and rich. She could see the stones at the bottom and hear the familiar song of water. The world did not deserve such a river.” This is a book that deserves a second read; and a third. I've read it twice so far. I'll read it again.

This is a precious book. For many reasons. It is just about a small girl and her family and life in Nazi Germany. But the author takes us through her rather eventful life in a very soothing way that you feel one with the characters. There are many things that make this book special, but mainly the one-liners. The one-liners are brilliant. Some I liked

On Jews fearing Nazis

~ But then, is there cowardice in the acknowledgement of fear?

~ His eyes did not do anything that shock normally describes. Those things happen when you wake from a bad dream, not when you wake into one.

~ If they killed him tonight, atleast he would die alive. (On escaping concentration camps)

~ The only thing truly visible about him was his voice.

~ Silence was not quiet or calm, and it was not peace.

~ For some reason, dying men always ask questions they know the answer to. Perhaps it's so they can die being right.

~ There were people everywhere on the street, but the stranger could not have been more alone if it had been empty

On a small girl's thoughts

~ It's a lot easier, she realized, to be on the verge of something to be actually it.

~ She'd have preferred to have them arguing. Whispering adults hardly inspire confidence.

~ He tasted like regret (On Kissing a friend the girl loves all her life, but never reveals it)

If you want a fast paced, happening book full of incidents, this book is not for you.

This book is for all those who want to gulp in literature & imagination. The words and the sentences in the book are treats like an ice cream! Get immersed and drowned in the story. You would long to visit the amazing sentences and dialogues again and again and yet you would get the taste .

Narration of the Nazi world by Death? Simply Wow...There is nothing awesome about the story itself but the narration and the literature and the description of the emotions is what gives the novel a life of its own.

Through those sentences of death, viewing the little girl from an angle invisible to her, you would find yourself on the street watching the kids play football and Rudy teasing Liesel; you would visit the River with our book thief standing by it and Rudy swimming in the current to save Liesel's drowning book, that basement where everyone shelters in. OMG !!! The excitement and enjoyment remains as fresh as the first one even after reads.

To conclude, this is the second novel in my life whose last sentence always rings in my head :-
Death says, "I am haunted by humans".

I will consider this book as one of the greatest books of our time. The author has made DEATH as narrator of the story. By the end of the book we start to pity and like "DEATH" at the same time.
An example from the book on how DEATH feels about human.

“I wanted to explain that I am constantly overestimating and underestimating the human race - that rarely do I even simply estimate it. I wanted to ask her how the same thing could be so ugly and so glorious, and its words and stories so damning and brilliant...I AM HAUNTED BY HUMANS.”

A beautiful book amazingly presents many emotions of life and many relations. And stressing on the importance and power of words.
In one of the pages the author says "Sometimes you read a book so special that you want to carry it around with you for months after you've finished just to stay near it.". I would say "the book thief" is one such book.