The Book Thief by Markus Zusak — Review
on Book Review
“I’m haunted by humans” — Death in The Book Thief
As Zusak writes, It’s just a small story really — about, amongst other things:
A Girl, An Accordionist, Some Fanatical Germans, A Jewish Fist Fighter, And Quite A Lot Of Thievery…
Readers are acquainted with Death as a storyteller, who is very empathetic with dying humans, unlike what you might envisage as macabre. There’s literally nothing deathlike. It’s not a haunting tale; rather, I would say it’s a love story of a little girl in the author’s word. There’s her love for Hans, Rosa, Rudy, Max, for life itself, and of course for books and stories. Each is a different kind of love — and each adds to the person she is and becomes.
Liesel Meminger is our main protagonist, handed over to her foster parents in a dismal town in southern Germany. She’s haunted by her past, depicting her little brother dying during their journey, her mother never coming back to see her again, her father, a Communist, being taken away. Her life sure didn’t have a head start, but it will soon be turned into a blast of experiences, both sweet and sour.
What do I say of her fascination for books? It’s like imagine being deep into a large cavern despised of lights and shining stars, all alone. Now you suddenly see something glittering, something you never experienced, and suddenly you catch holds of it, such as her love for the books and the stories engraved in it. This fascination with her leads to quite a lot of thievery.
Hans Hubermann, her foster father, is an accordionist who has his own past yet to be unraveled. For Liesel, he’s more of a teacher. Together they learn to read, roll cigarettes, and subtle art of not giving damn to the swearing of Rosa, her foster mother, whom death refers to as “like a small wardrobe with a coat thrown over it. There was a distinct waddle to her walk. Almost cute, if it wasn’t for her face.”
Next comes Rudy, our great Jesse Owens, who’ll paint himself black with charcoal and run a hundred meters at the local sports field. He’s a character who’s alive and a hell lot of a Ben Tennyson with Omnitrix running wild. Haha, that’s my personal analogy! Rudy is Liesel’s partner in crime and loves her deeply, though it’s one-sided, but maybe not!?
Max, a Jew, and you might as well know what the hell he’s been through during the Hitler era. He’s a man of patience and perseverance. Both Liesel and Max have nightmares. This shared pain bonds them to the beautiful relationship of big brother and sister. Together they write stories of friendship over Hitler’s words of hate. For Max, Zusak says he was desperate for him to imagine having a boxing match with Hitler in the basement of 33 Himmel Street. He wanted to write that line about him aiming to give it to Hitler in the place it might hurt most…
Humans haunt death because he mostly finds them at their weakest and worst. Even when he carries their soul away, those grievances, hatred, animal instincts, and bloodshot eyes never leave his mind. Through Liesel’s story, he tries to prove that humans can be beautiful, selfless, and worthwhile. This voice will skim you through those harsh reality inhumed in the sand of time…
One more thing worth mentioning is the illustrations, kind of a story within a story, which paralleled the theme of personal history within world history. There are a couple of them, both hilarious and emotionally compelling. This book is an artwork of both words and illustrations interleaving best to bring the harsh beauty of truth about humanity…Woah, that’s an oxymoron XD!
The Book Thief is Zusak’s vivid imagination of Nazi Germany. Here death sees first the colors, then the humans. Almost throughout the novel, you’ll find death wondering about what color will everything be at that moment when he comes for you? What will the sky be saying? So get ready to be tingled by this masterpiece. This book is my personal favorite in every sense…