Of a girl.
Of the struggles the Germans went through during World War II.
Not Nazi's, the Germans: the people, the mothers, the children, the fathers, all who knew not the black evil that had corrupted Hitler's heart.
Or did. And hated it. Or approved it.
All of this is strung out in the tale of a Book Thief.
When Liesel Meminger gets on the train set for Molching everything about her life changes. Promising herself that her mother will return, she agrees to live with foster parents for awhile.
But not all goes as one thinks and Liesel turns to words for comfort, stealing the books as the words feed her; helping her grow strong.
People enter her life:
Hans Hubermann, her foster Father, with eyes made of kindness and silver;
Rosa Hubermann, her foster Mother, a good woman for crisis;
Rudy Steiner, the boy with hair the color of lemons;
And:
Max Vandenburg, the Jew that stole the sky.
Death narrates this tale, telling you of his job, his personality, and his opinion of humans.
-He collects the souls of the dead;
-"I can be amiable. Agreeable. Affable. And that's only the A's. Just don't ask me to be nice. Nice has nothing to do with me.”
-“Humans, if nothing else, have the good sense to die.”
But what he tells you most about are the colors:
“People observe the colors of a day only at its beginnings and
ends, but to me it's quite clear that a day merges through a multitude
of shades and intonations with each passing moment. A single hour can
consist of thousands of different colors. Waxy yellows, cloud-spot
blues. Murky darkness. In my line of work, I make it a point to notice
them.”
This is not a book. You do not read the words, you breathe them. There seems to be no beginning or end, it is simply.... there. When you think back you find that there is no story line, yet it pulls you along, nonetheless.
In your head it sits, waiting for you to suck on it like a hardy candy, pulling from it everything you can until it fills your head with bitter sweetness.
Believe me, you would not regret reading this book.
But if possible - get a marked up copy. Some of these dear characters (...some perhaps not so dear) have a mouth that deserve washing. Hans Hubermann, a painter by trade, obliging painted over the nasty words in my copy.
If you are the type of reader that loves to breathe words and live the story, then you will love this.
If you love a book that swallows you up heart and soul, read this.
Markus Zusak paints a vibrant story of a girl during War World II.
And I will never look at words the same way again.
-Eva
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