Books | The Book Thief.

It’s that time again! I’ve decided to make my book review a monthly occurrence as I love writing them and got some lovely comments on my last one (you cuties)! This month’s book is the amazing ‘The Book Thief’ by Markus Zusak. I picked up this book a while back as I’d heard there was a film coming out so, as always, I had to read it first.

This book is set in Nazi Germany and narrated by Death who, at the time, is very busy.  The story is set around a young girl named Liesel and her life in the new world of her foster parents. Throughout the book we see Liesel’s relationships with her foster parents, neighbours, and friends develop as she has to deal with tough circumstances, including hiding a Jew in her home. Liesel steals books, which soon become her main comfort when the bombs begin to fall. There is obviously a-lot more to the story than this but I don’t want to spoil anything! 

I loved this book. It’s a far cry from my usual reading repertoire (gotta love some young adult romance novels!) but the change was so welcome! Liesels’ character is so amicable and I personally was on her side from the get go – even if she was making poor decisions. Her relationship development makes for really touching reading, particularly with her foster father, Max the Jew and her young friend Rudy. I was (unsurprisingly) brought to tears multiple times throughout.

Although there are moments that severely tug at the heartstrings, Death’s narration provides a unique perspective as well as some light-hearted relief from what could easily have been a heavy subject matter. His (I’m assuming Death is a man; not sure why) tone is matter-of-fact while still maintaining compassion for events occurring and is a very refreshing take on narration. This is a major part of the attraction of the book for me and I wonder would it be as good without it?

Between Deaths narration and the touchy subject matter it’s hard to know how this story works – but it does. From the first chapter I was hooked and the story did not let up until the last word. It’s the most well written book I’ve read in a long long time and I can definitely say I will be looking for more of Markus Zusak’s work! I’ve yet to see the film but after the reading the book I don’t even feel like I need to! It has everything you could possibly need and is therefore getting 5/5 from me!

Have you read ‘The Book Thief’? Or even seen the film? xo