The Book Thief

'The Book Thief'- by Markus Zusak is a brilliant book in my opinion. It is set in Nazi Germany 1936-1945 and the Second World War (1939-1945). It is the war from the perspective of a ten year-old German girl named Liesel. Before too long, Liesel has lost her mother and her brother (the father was dead before the book began). She is a foster child whose 'parents' are named Hans Hubermann (whom she is very fond of) and Rosa Hubermann (whom she is not so fond of...). She develops a passion for literature after Hans tenderly teaches her to read and write. The character of Hans shines out in the book as good and honest and true and kind, in comparison to the horrors of Nazi Germany with its vindictiveness and cruelty and intolerance.The Hubermanns aren't exactly the richest people in the world and are always scratching around for any money they can get. At one point, Rosa even sends Liesel to deliver her washing in the hope that the recipients of the washing will not be cruel enough to fire a ten year-old foster child! She lives on 'Himmel Street' in Munich where the atmosphere is very friendly and they often have a match of football amongst the children. Liesel's best friend is Rudi who always converses with and sticks-up for Liesel. Max Vandenberg is a Jew (to whom Hans Huberman has sworn loyalty to after his father (Erik Vandenberg) saved his life) and he hides in Hans' house on Himmel Street. It is very interesting to see Nazi Germany through the eyes of a Jew in hiding. Max's most common words are 'thank you' and 'sorry'- this shows what the war has done to him and is very sad. Max's 'home' is the freezing basement where no peeking eyes can see him as there are no windows (and it is below ground level). There are a few very emotional chapters about Max Vandenberg which involve Liesel Meminger (The Book Thief) as well (I shall not spoil the story for you by explaining blow-by-blow accounts of these chapters which are situated half way through the book)! These two seemingly very different characters develop a friendship and discover that they actually have a lot in common - both survivors, both fugitives, both like a good fist fight!

This book is narrated by a personified image of Death. This may be quite hard to grasp at first but is a very interesting twist considering that this is the time of The Second World War and also immediately allows room for a whole range of metaphors. If you are thinking of picking this book up then prepare yourself for a whole bunch of metaphors, a lot of strong vocabulary, incredibly constructed images and you must be able to interpret confusing ideas and topics. This book is excellently and extremely cleverly written. Markus Zusak has really got this topic under the thumb and certainly succeeds in painting a perfect picture of the contrary feelings felt by people in war-time Germany - always worried and watching their backs. Markus Zusak grew up in Australia, however his mother lived in Germany during the Second World War and reguarly sent back letters to her son. After reading all these letters as a boy, he was determined that this was a story he was going to tell and preserve the horrors and innocence of the time for future generations to look back on. I think that Markus Zusak succeeds in doing the job he set out to do perfectly and if I were asked what the best book I've ever read is- then his novel 'The Book Thief' would certainly come somewhere high up on the list. The Book Thief was published in 2006 and has won many awards and achievements since then, such as:

• It reached number one in the 'New York Times' bestseller list
• Commonwealth writers prize
• Horn book fanfare
• Kirkus reviews editor choice award
• School library journal best book of the year

And many more...
As you can see, The Book Thief has had many successes and rightfully so in my opinion. I would recommend this book to anyone who is over eleven years of age. You have to be very pinickety and extremely critical in order to not like this book if you understand it. As the reviews of this book confirm, hardly anyone doesn't like this book. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and hope that any other adventurous reader who may stumble upon it will too. Thank you for reading my book review.

By Joe Ingram