Shelly's Book Blog

The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak, broke my heart. It took me a long time to finish this book because it is so terribly sad and sometimes I just couldn't face it. This is a book about the Holocaust, narrated by "Death," and told from the perspective of a young German girl named Liesel. Readers first meet her as she is on a train with her mother and brother. The two children are to go live with a foster family because their mother cannot afford to take care of them, but her brother dies on the train. Liesel goes to live with Rosa and Hans Hubermann. She becomes especially close to Hans, her Papa, who teaches her to read. During World War II, Liesel steals a book that survived a Nazi book burning, and when she is finally able to read it she hungers for more. She ends up becoming "the book thief," stealing books from the library of the mayor's wife.

I found that I often forgot that "Death" was narrating the story instead of an omniscient narrator. When "Death" jumped in with some personal comment about what he did or saw, it was a little jarring, and I had to remind myself of who the "my" or "I" referred to. Nevertheless, having "Death" be the narrator enriches the story by emphasizing death's pervasive presence during that time and at that place. This book was a Printz Honor Book for 2007. I can't honestly say that I enjoyed it, but I certainly admire it and feel it was worth reading.