Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief is a large book about a small girl, an accordianist, some fanatical Germans and the power of words. Set in Germany during the 2nd World War, the book centres primarily on Liesel. Liesel's father has been taken by the Nazis because he is a communist, her brother has died tragically of sickness, and Liesel is adopted out by her mother as the last hope for survival. She lives with the accordionist who is a gentle and lovely man who helps her overcome the trauma of her brother’s death, her abandonment, and who teaches her to read. Books become the inspiration for her survival. She is 'the book thief' and steals her first book at the graveside of her brother. It’s a little book about how to dig graves. She goes on to steal other books, including saving books from the bonfires of the Nazis. The book about graves is significant because it is an ongoing link with her family, especially her brother. Stealing books from the Nazis is significant. She steals them from the library of the mayor, a collaborator with the Nazis. She reads them to her friends and to her community in the bomb shelters.
The Book Thief has a unique narrator too--death. The grim reaper. He is fascinated by this little girl who repeatedly cheats him. She evades the sickness that claimed her brother, and the concentration camps that killed her father and probably her mother. She even survives the bombing of her city.
At one of the most moving moments in the story, Liesel and her family take in a Jew hiding from the Nazis. It’s a very tense and dangerous situation. There is a beautiful relationship that develops between Liesel and Max. I think I cried most when Max presents Liesel with a beautiful book he’s painstakingly created for her. The paper he uses is white-washed pages from Hitler’s autobiography Mein Kampf, My Struggle. In this way Max reclaims the words of Hitler which have been used to steal people’s identity and lives; and he creates new possibilities for Liesel; words and images of hope and beauty.
This book is about the power of words. Zusak comments: “It was words (and Hitler’s ability to use them) that contained the power to murder and ostracise. What I set out to create was a character to juxtapose the way Hitler used words. She would be a stealer of books and a prolific reader. She, too, would occasionally use words to hurt, but she would understand their power to heal and give life through stories.” Ultimately the message of the book is that love is stronger than death.
This is a wonderful book. There are pictures and poetry and songs and images: the flames from bombs lighting up the skies like day; a man being beaten for daring to offer bread to the Jews... It’s creative and lyrical and significant and charming and funny and sad. It is a tremendous achievement, and so awesome that the author is young and Australian. He has much to give. My only warning is, the book is big, it builds your biceps just reading it; but one you will still be sad to finish!
