Book Review: Markus Zusak – “The Book Thief”

It is 1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier, and will become busier still.
Liesel Meminger is a foster girl living outside of Munich, who scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she encounters something she can’t resist–books. With the help of her accordion-playing foster father, she learns to read and shares her stolen books with her neighbors during bombing raids as well as with the Jewish man hidden in her basement. (Source: amazon.com)

I took quite a while for me to read this book. Since the movie came out in the theatres,  I was really interested in reading it, but once I read its description, standing in my local bookstore, I put it down again.

Because it was written by “death”.

Of course I know it’s not really written by “death”, he’s only the narrator, but still, I felt controversal to give it a shot, although the story behind the life of Liesel Meminger – The Third Reich, World War II, the Holocaust – are the three history subjects that I’d never refuse to read about, no matter what. So by pure accident I got hold of a free version of it on my Kindle and decided I had nothing to lose. One thing led to another and I only needed less than two days to finish it (I’m really craving for books recently!).

My conclusion: it was worth it. At first, I had real difficulties to find my own way into the kind of narration that I faced in this book, and halfway through the first 5 pages, I wanted to give up again. But my will to find out if the narration changes, if maybe “death” gives it into the hands of Liesel Meminger, the main character, kept me going. And I’m glad it did.

I love how the reader follows Liesel from scratch; from the moment she can’t even read a single word, to the end, where she writes an entire book about herself. It’s interesting to see her learning new words and expressions every day, just by sitting with her foster-father during every night (that she can’t sleep because nightmares of her dead brother are haunting her), reading with her. It’s like the story holds up some kind of mirror to every reader that follows it, because who can’t remember themselves starting to read in (or in my case, before) school? And who doesn’t look back to it with a shy smile on their faces when they remember their first few tries, sometimes failing miserably, but never giving up? Well, I do remember my first steps, and even if mine never have happened in such a difficult environment as Liesel’s first steps, I can somewhat relate to her. Reading becomes her escape, and the wish to write becomes kind of her lifegoal, the thing that keeps her going. It seems like the narrator (“death”, remember?) draws the reader in, and while Liesel forgets all the horrors of the Nazi-Regime whenever she feels the kick after having stolen a book or reading in the dark basement to Max, the Jew she and her foster-parents have hidden, it almost seems like the reader of “The Book Thief” can himself forget the outside world. A book all about the love to books. Brilliant.

One of the most loveable characters in this book for me was definitely Liesel’s best friend, Rudi Steiner. He is a crazy young boy who’s desperately and (not so) secretly in love with Liesel, and tries to get her to kiss him whenever there is an opportunity (mostly, when he has done something heroic for her or for himself, something he can be admired for). I actually admire him for his attitude, because although he probably knows that Liesel will never kiss him (when you’re 11/12, boys are generally “Ugh” to every girl, I guess, at least in the old days), he never loses his spirit. Plus, he stands by her side through good and bad times, even accompanies her on more than just one “Book Thief” trip. For me, he sums up what a best friend is all about, no matter what. And I think in the dark times of 1939 until 1943, a best friend like him was even more needed than in any peaceful time before or after.

What the book does with Hans Hubermann, Liesel’s foster-father, is simply described as beautiful. He’s an opponent of the Nazi-Regime, but he does his best to keep his family, and – especially, – Liesel safe. With his neverending will to play his accordion to her, to stay up every night to read for and with her, he not only keeps her alive in some way (by making her fall in love with words, reading and at last, writing, with the latter one literally saving her life), but also lets her being the happy girl she should be. With him being the positive spirit in her life, apart from Rudi, the reader never feels that Liesel ever loses faith in life and all it has to give. Even when “death” creeps into her life more and more and in the end, takes everything she believes in.

The way Zusak has written the book has – as I said at the beginning of this blog, – first made it weird to find my way into it and its story, no matter how interesting the history behind it is. Now that I have finished, I almost feel like Liesel during her first steps in learning to read: everything seems confusing, words make no sense, and you just can’t get your head around things and words. But as the story goes on, you find your own way right into it, and that is what makes it impossible to put this book away for long. Especially with the hints that “death” throws in every now and then, that spoilers you but also makes you want to go on, to know how these “spoilers” happen and turn out in the end. And I have to admit, while reading, quite a few times I even forgot that the narrator was “death”, because I breathed the story in, and I stopped reading between the lines. Of course, there are a lot of times where “death” mentions his work, what he does and has to do, and how he goes on and on with what he does. But it almost makes him human, it makes you think of him like someone like you and me, and you actually can feel some kind of empathy for him, for the struggle that goes on behind his own mind.

My resumé: Markus Zusak has done a stroke of genius here, with approaching a storyline from a completely different angle than other authors, from the view of a person that isn’t even a person, but, in some way, is a person, after all. I say it again:

Brilliant.

Top 5 Books Of All Times

After my last post about the Top 5 books by Stephen King, I thought it might also be a good idea to do one about the Top 5 books ever – please note that this is just my personal opinion and what I think at this point of my life.

1. Stephen King – Pet Sematary

What a surprise. You can read my full opinion here https://dreamtraveler86.wordpress.com/2014/02/12/top-5-books-by-stephen-king/ where this book has also the first place in my favourite Stephen King reading list. Basically, no matter how much my taste in books will shift in the future, this one will be always be the biggest book love of my life, because it’s the one that started my madness for King and reading in general.

2. Cody McFadyen – Shadow Man

What can I say about this? If you generally love horror movies and books that are brutally detailed and cruel – Cody McFadyen is your man. This was the first books he ever wrote, and the 2nd one that I read (after “Face Of Death”) – and boy, I will never regret it. For me, there are barely really compelling books out there, books that grab you, pull you into their story and don’t let go until you’re finished with the last page of it – this book did that with me. And more importantly, it was the moment I started writing on my own book a few years back because I was so inspired by McFadyen’s writing skills and his ability to reach out to his readers in ways not many authors nowadays are able to.
I absolutely love the story behind Smoky Barrett in general: she has been tortured, her face has been scarred for life, and a psychopathic murderer killed her husband and daughter, leaving her no other option than shooting him in cold blood. Nevertheless, she stood up again, walked back to her job and did what she does best, and that’s quite inspiring for me (even if I would never wish the horrors her character has been through, or other characters in McFadyen’s book for myself), because behind all the layers of gruesome, bloody and life-scarring proceedings, all the fall-backs Smoky and her colleagues/friends are facing through the story, they all never give up. Combined with the suspense that never leaves the reader with this book – what more can you wish for?

3. Suzanne Collins – The Hunger Games Trilogy

I know this isn’t just one book mentioned, but when mentioning “The Hunger Games”, you can’t just go with one of them, can you? My favourite by far is the first one – first book I read in less than a day because I just couldn’t put it away (don’t ask me how I was able to work 8 hours that day and managing my own household). Suzanne Collins had me from the first moment I started reading, and I absolutely admire her writing skills, her passion (that you feel in every sentence), and her seemingly inexhaustible imagination. Sadly, I was a bit…”deprived” of imagining the looks of Katniss and all the characters or the districts because I only started reading the books when the first pictures of the first movie were released, but I think I can easily get over that, because it didn’t diminish the joy and excitement I felt while reading. Or, for that matter, the joy and excitement I feel whenever I re-read them over and over again.

4. Chris Carter – The Crucifix Killer

When the body of a young woman is discovered in a derelict cottage in the middle of Los Angeles National Forest, Homicide Detective Robert Hunter finds himself entering a horrific and recurring nightmare. Naked, strung from two wooden posts, the victim was sadistically tortured before meeting an excruciatingly painful death. All the skin has been ripped from her face – while she was still alive. On the nape of her neck has been carved a strange double-cross: the signature of a psychopath known as the Crucifix Killer. But that’s impossible. Because two years ago, the Crucifix Killer was caught and executed. Could this therefore be a copycat killer? Or could the unthinkable be true? Is the real killer still out there, ready to embark once again on a vicious and violent killing spree, selecting his victims seemingly at random, taunting Robert Hunter with his inability to catch him? Hunter and his rookie partner are about to enter a nightmare beyond imagining. (Source: amazon.com)

When I read this description on the back of the book while I was strolling through a book store while waiting for my bus home – I was instantly in love. I have never experienced that already the back of a book gripped me so tight and screamed “BUY ME! BUY ME!” loudly into my ear.
And Chris Carter definitely didn’t disappoint me. What I especially love about the book is the beginning: it begins at the end. I can’t say much to not give away the story, but the reader is already sucked into the world of Robert Hunter and Carlos Garcia, his partner when you read the first paragraph; it’s like you are fast-forwarded to the end of something and feel the constant need to know how on earth the two main characters got themselves into their mess. Plus, the little puns between Hunter and Garcia are highly entertaining, and they pull you out of the horrors that they are facing every day with just some teasing comments about Hunter not having problems in hustling women and Garcia being kind of “prudish”. This is what makes this book one of my favourites and Chris Carter definitely one of the best crime-fiction writers that are out there – in my opinion.

5. Laurence Rees – Auschwitz-A New History

Now how does this book possibly fit into this line of great story-telling books? For starters: Laurence Rees is telling a story, the story of Auschwitz, about what was really going on behind the scenes of this Nazi killing machinery. Never has a book about the Third Reich sucked me in as much as this one; especially the part about the poor french, jewish children that were taken away from their parents and had to suffer in more than one concentration camp, just to end up in Auschwitz anyway. Rees is definitely not soft-pedaling in the way he describes all the horrors in the almost 4 years Auschwitz existed, and for me, this is the exact right way to handle this subject – because there are still way too many people out there who think the Holocaust was just a huge lie put up by the enemies of the Nazi-Regime. Also, the book contains not only interviews with survivors of Auschwitz, but most importantly, interviews with former members of Hitler’s circle of murderous, faithful subjects. It seems inconceivable to read about these people describing how they perceived the entire situation, how less sympathy they feel for their victims. You’re tend to feel so much hate, but at the same time, Laurence Rees tries explaining the reasons for their behaviour, which, for me, makes it even more interesting. If you’re as interested in the entire Holocaust History (and the 3rd Reich in general) like I am, you always crave to finally understand all the real motivations behind the Nazi-Regime and their concentration camps – and this book definitely helps a bit with that. For me, the best book about this subject I’ve read so far.

There are a lot of other books that should be in here – “Gone Girl” by Gillian Flynn, for example, or one of the amazing books by Karin Slaughter, – but the ones in this post inspired me the most. If you have read them or not, if you plan on reading them or not, that is totally up to you, because, above all, do what makes you happy. And read what you enjoy the most.