by Markus
Zusak
Last week I walked Nazi
Germany’s war riddled streets besides the Grim Reaper himself, as he narrated
the spell-binding story of the Book Thief. To begin with it was slightly hard
to follow but as Death introduces himself and the cast, he sucks us in with his
summery of the story. Speaking with a wonderfully witty first person
perspective, Death smoothly slips into a third person perspective for the main
body of the book.
Last week I walked Nazi
Germany’s war riddled streets besides the Grim Reaper himself, as he narrated
the spell-binding story of the Book Thief. To begin with it was slightly hard
to follow but as Death introduces himself and the cast, he sucks us in with his
summery of the story. Speaking with a wonderfully witty first person
perspective, Death smoothly slips into a third person perspective for the main
body of the book.
This all entices the reader
and with the short explanation in the beginning you find yourself clinging to
the side of the book hungering to learn what waits in the gaps between what
Death has slyly told you and the bombs falling from overhead.
We follow through deaths narrative the life of Liesel, a little girl who picks up a book dropped by a gravedigger at her brother’s funeral. The siblings had been on the way to be fostered by the Hubermann’s when he slips into Deaths arms on an overcrowded train. Liesel now alone she meets her new papa who is a man with an accordion heart and her new mama, a woman who cloaks her caring soul within a thunder storm personality. With help of her new papa and the Jew hiding beneath their basement’s stairs, they slowly teach Liesel the power of the written word, and what it means to have your own mind in Nazi Germany before and during the second world war.
We follow through deaths narrative the life of Liesel, a little girl who picks up a book dropped by a gravedigger at her brother’s funeral. The siblings had been on the way to be fostered by the Hubermann’s when he slips into Deaths arms on an overcrowded train. Liesel now alone she meets her new papa who is a man with an accordion heart and her new mama, a woman who cloaks her caring soul within a thunder storm personality. With help of her new papa and the Jew hiding beneath their basement’s stairs, they slowly teach Liesel the power of the written word, and what it means to have your own mind in Nazi Germany before and during the second world war.
I have never before read one of Markus Zusak’s books but after this story with its beautifully playful use of language and the heart and soul of humanity cradled within a Grim reaper grasp, I will totally be looking out for more of Markus Zusak’s works in the future.
If you are thinking of watching the movie, then do so but just remember the book has so much more in it than can be fitted into 2-3 hours’ worth of film. The characters mean more to you after you meet them through the pages of this story. Whilst you only see small snippets of characters through the film and do not get as attached to them as you are meant too.
I hope you enjoyed this first review.
Love The Otaku Bookworm.
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