The book tells a carefully worded story that follows four years (1939-1943) in the life of young Liesel Meminger, a poor German girl, who loses her entire family due to circumstances at the time (mother and father being taken away by the Nazis for being communists, her younger ailing brother succumbing to his illness on the train to her foster home) and is then "adopted" by Rosa and Hans Hubermann, a poor couple in fictive Molching, a small town between Munich and Dachau, who live on a street named Himmel (Heaven).
One of the early surprises in this book is the narrator of the story, Death himself, who comes across more introspective than the hooded scythe-carrying Grim Reaper in our Halloween plays but, being who he is, is able to inject black humor into sad situations he encounters. By using Death as the narrator, Zuzak is able to offer a unique perspective on all the death and dying occurring during this historical period and fill in events that occurred far away from the small town, where the story plays, but that nonetheless provide an important context (the Holocaust, Stalingrad, etc.).
I feel a bit conflicted actually giving too many details away from this beautifully crafted story, as I think it is one of those moving narrations that everyone should experience for her/himself. So, I resort to provide some chronological story plot overview:
When Liesel arrives at her foster home, she can't read. She realizes how powerless she is without words, and so her foster father Hans, a painter and accordion player, teaches her how to read during midnight lessons in the basement. Being a gentle and kind man, he gains Liesel's trust as she grows close to him and comes to associate his presence with safety. She also becomes good friends with the son of the Hubermann's neighbors, Rudy Steiner.
The Nazi Party's presence becomes increasingly
apparent in Molching. Liesel and Rudy are required to join the Bund Deutscher Maedchen (Band of German Girls) and
Hitler Youth, respectively. To celebrate the "Führer's" birthday,
the people of Molching gather for a bonfire during which they burn books. This is where Liesel steals her first book but also where she begins a sort of kinship with the mayor's wife (Ilsa Hermann), who saw her theft but shares her passion for books - and has a library!
As the story unfolds, the Hubermanns hide Max Vandenburg, a Jew and the son of a WW1 army friend of Hans' who once saved his life, in their basement. Liesel becomes interested in him and realises that they share an interest in stories. But Max, who also understands the power of words, "teaches" that aspect to Liesel via a book, he makes for her.
One night, Liesel
takes Rudy to the mayor's house and earns her title of book thief when
she sneaks in through the window and takes her first book from Ilsa Hermann's library. In due sequence,
the air raids begin. Liesel and her family, along with Rudy and his
family, take shelter in another neighbor's basement because they've been told
their basement is not deep enough to protect them from the bombings.
They must leave Max behind. Around that time, parades of Jews start appearing in Molching on their
way to Dachau, where Liesel witnesses their suffering. Because of an unwise humanitarian act of Hans, they must send Max away because they are afraid the Gestapo will come to search their house.
During the time her father and many other men are sent to serve with an air raid unit (or other outfits) towards the end of the war, Liesel reads a book, Max left her, in which he describes a girl who is able to use words like
some of Hitler's most skilled propagandists, but she uses her words for good, not for evil. During the continuous parade of Jews, Liesel sees Max but attempting to enter the parade, she is whipped. Soon thereafter, she is encouraged to write the words
of her own story. In October 1943, bombs fall on Himmel
Street while everyone sleeps...
The Book Thief was first published in Australia in 2005 and in the US in 2006. It emerged on the scene, when Zusak was only thirty years old. The story is actually partially inspired by the stories of the author's parents, who grew up in Germany during World War 2. According to a review in the Guardian:
"Zusak mentioned that writing the book was inspired by two real-life events related to him by his German parents: the bombing of Munich, and a teenage boy offering bread to an emaciated Jew being marched through the streets, ending with both boy and Jewish prisoner being whipped by a soldier."
Normally, I would end this review with the summary statement found on bookseller synopses and reviews that says: "This is just a small story really, about among other things: a girl, some words, an accordionist, some fanatical Germans, a Jewish fist-fighter, and quite a lot of thievery. . . . but it is also an unforgettable story about the ability of books to feed the soul."
However, given that I am German (admittedly born much later than that time but with family who also lived though this time), this book has touched me on a quite personal level. I had always been interested in finding out more what life was like for ordinary people (like my own family), who were not at all close to Nazi politics but somehow had to carve out a normal life amongst the many, who had bought into this radical fanaticism, and ultimately suffered the same - if not worse - fate than those, who started it all, during the bombing raids in the early 1940s. Besides the key message above, showing the nuances and differentiated spirits of people in Germany was a refreshing deviation from the stereotypical goose-stepping Nazis you see in so many Hollywood reincarnations of the time. Because I can honestly say that some of these characters could have been my grandmother, father, or grand-uncle, this book is still with me days after I finished it. Damn you and thank you, Markus Zuzak.
PS> This book has been made into a movie that is about to be released in October/November 2013.
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