The Book Thief (36 of 2024)

The Book Thief about which I first heard around 2005, is a historical fiction novel by the Australian author Markus Zusak, set in Nazi Germany during World War II. 

The story follows the young girl Liesel Meminger, living with foster parents Hans and Rosa Hubermann in Nazi Germany during World War II.  The back cover of the book is as below:

So says death. Then adds, I saw the book thief three times. 

The book is introduced by the character/narrator Death, which underlines that mortality is very present in the lives of each character. Throughout the novel, the deaths of prominent characters reaffirm the presence of mortality. Because the novel takes place during the Second World War, death and genocide are nearly omnipresent in the novel in a manner that is less distant and threatening. Because Death narrates and explains the reasons behind each character's destruction and explains how he feels that he must take the life of each character, Death is given a sense of care rather than fear. At one point, Death states "even death has a heart," which reaffirms that there is a care present in the concept of death and dying.Death's last words for Liesel (and possibly the reader) are "I am haunted by humans."

Death becomes fond of Liesel because of her ability to overcome hardship and still see the joy in life even though she is surrounded by a merciless war and endless amounts of death.

It's about love – Liesel's love of reading, of her friends Rudy Steiner and Max Vandenburg, and her love for the Hubermanns. Liesel undoubtedly stole the books, most of them almost presented themselves to be stolen. Thieving, Liesel finds, is a way of taking something back. Something from Hitler, something from despair, something from Death. But Death will find his way back to her. He will dance around her…he will become slightly obsessed with Liesel Meminger and her story…

It is a bittersweet tale of life in a small German town during the Second World War, viewed from the eyes of a girl, fostered out to a foul mouthed middle aged woman and her husband. Liesel Meminger is a young German girl who’s been dealt a rather awful hand by life. The Nazis came for her father, a communist, and, likewise branded and also ailing, her mother finds it too difficult to care for Liesel and her brother, Werner. So they travel to Molching, a small town outside of Munich, where a foster family has been found for the children. Only Death finds them on the train and spirits Werner away, so it is only Liesel who comes to live with Hans and Rosa Hubermann. The Hubermanns live on Himmel Street, one of the poorest streets in Molching. Money dried for them after Hans failed to become a party member; he gets most of his income playing his accordion in the local tavern. Rosa also takes in washing. For Liesel and her neighbours there was little more to eat than pea soup and dry bread.

In The Book Thief it is not said whom Liesel marries, only that she does and has a family. Shortly after the war has ended, she sees Max at the end of the story in an emotional, joyful reunion. Death then tells how he comes for Leisel when she is old and living in Sydney, Australia.

Although the novel focuses primarily on Liesel's years in Molching, losing almost everyone she cared about, its portrayal of the rest of her life helps put her experiences in context and shows that she does have a future, even when it seems that all is lost. Despite all those who died in The Book Thief, Max's survival is also a very optimistic element in the book's ending. As a Jewish man living through the Holocaust, Max undoubtedly experiences some of the worst violence and persecution of any characters in the book, so his ability to survive and reunite with Liesel is an important symbol of hope.

There are several stories within the main story, and they are fantastically illustrated in a way that adds a great deal of texture to the larger story. Zusak’s prose is lovely and often more poetry than straight prose, but he also uses metaphor and symbolism wonderfully. And the book circles back on itself, revealing and clarifying events, in way that rather demands rereading.