“I guess humans like to watch a little destruction. Sand castles, houses of cards, that’s where they begin. Their great skill is their capacity to escalate.” - Markus Zusak
Author: Markus Zusak
Genres: Historical Fiction, WWII, YA
Page Count: 584
Content Warning: Anti-Semitism, Holocaust, War, Physical Abuse, Suicide
Age Rating: PG-13
🍃If you like slow-paced, heart-rending historical fiction then ‘The Book Thief’ written by Markus Zusak is the perfect read for you. The narrator is Death-itself(quite peculiar, isn’t it?).
🍃Set in Nazi Germany, 'The Book Thief' tells the story of Liesel Meminger, a 9-year-old girl, who is given up to foster care after her mother (who is a communist and a threat to Hitler’s regime) is unable to make ends meet. Her foster parents are Hans Hubermann, a low-paid accordionist, and Rosa Hubermann, a volatile but kind-hearted mother and a washerwoman.
🍃The plot follows Liesel as she goes through the trials and tribulations of being a young foster girl in Nazi Germany. Liesel questions the very nature of morality of the rules and laws imposed on every "Aryan-blooded" child.
🍃Soon, she finds solace in stealing and reading books during a time when each and every book is regulated and under strict supervision. At the time when propaganda was at its peak and any book by a ''Non-Aryan'' person, or any piece of print and literature that went against the Nazi propaganda was burned during the book burning event amidst laughter and cheers.
🍃The book never becomes dismal, despite the fact that it is set during World War II. What happens when people are compelled to despise their neighbours, friends, and loved ones because their "liberator" turned them into some "threat to the nation" overnight? Many turn a blind eye to the atrocities inflicted upon their Jewish neighbours/friends/loved ones and through the perspective of Death, this book dissects why some people chosose not to question these atrocious instructions.
Favourite Quotes
“Even death has a heart.”
“I have hated words and I have loved them, and I hope I have made them right.”
“A snowball in the face is surely the perfect beginning to a lasting friendship”
“I wanted to tell the book thief many things, about beauty and brutality. But what could I tell her about those things that she didn't already know? I wanted to explain that I am constantly overestimating and underestimating the human race-that rarely do I ever simply estimate it. I wanted to ask her how the same thing could be so ugly and so glorious, and its words and stories so damning and brilliant.”
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