Book #22: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

This is one of those books that I've heard about a number of times over the last few years, but I'd never thought to look for it at the library or actually read it myself. So I finally got around to it and it finally came from the library and I just finished it today. This book is one of those that you can see why it is popular--it's a WWII story (which seems like it's part of a formula for success), the main characters hide a Jew in their basement (which makes everyone cheer), and it's alternately heartbreaking and adorable. The book follows Liesel Meminger, who goes to live with foster parents in Munich just before WWII, and her experiences living there. Most notably, she begins stealing books from wherever she can find them, and teaches herself to read through them. She has a wonderful, normal life there, but also one punctuated by terrible things as their country enters into WWII and follows the ever-growing demands of the Fuhrer. This is a super lame summary but I can't think of any other way to describe it without going into too much detail I'd have to describe more here, haha.

The weird thing about this book is that it is narrated by Death. I don't really know how to describe this, but it kind of made me feel like it was a little gimmicky. I wonder why the author did that, other than to make people talk about his book. It was pretty interesting to see the little asides that Death could throw in about collecting souls, though, once I got used to that fact when I was partway through the book. I liked how a theme throughout the book was commenting on the power of words--for bad (like Hitler's use) or good (like Liesel's use, to heal and help those around her).

I really did love this story though. I was very absorbed in it and couldn't stop reading once I got into it. I finished it in just over a day, even though I was hanging out with Dane for most of it--it was one of those days where I kept reading my book while playing with him, haha. My favorite characters in this book are her foster father, Hans, who loves her and teaches her to read and takes care of her, and her best friend Rudy, who is an irrepressible and crazy kid you can't help loving. I felt like those characters themselves made me really attached to the story, although it made the ending more sad. (No more to say--no spoiling it here!) It was definitely worth the read and I'm glad I finally got around to it.