A lot of books, whether it be fiction or a documentary, were written about the holocaust. This is one of them, although that wasn't the reason why I picked it up. There are three reasons.
One is the Book Thief herself. I thought at first this is a story of an exceptionally gifted and intelligent girl who would somehow save her neighborhood if not the world. This is usually the case in young adult books, isn't it? Markus Zusak, however, made an even more interesting protagonist. A very plain girl whose love for books (and stealing books) was actually quite accidental. What was more interesting for me was that, at the age of 10, she didn't even know how to read. Clearly this wasn't a book about some sort of prodigy but an ordinary girl raised in an era of fascISM and antisemitISM. She's not without flaws (she's a thief, after all), she is impulsive and proud but she does have qualities that makes her worthy of a reader's respect.
The second thing that made me seal my decision on reading the book is the last sentence of the book description on Audible (I have both audio and eBook). The description read: "This is an unforgettable story about the ability of books to feed the soul." I fell in love with that. I think anyone who loves books and reading books will be able to relate to that phrase. Books are a way to forget about reality and experience a totally different world. Words, when written a certain way can work it's magic on anyone.
Last? The story was narrated by DEATH himself. That kinda reminded me of Terry Pratchett's Discworld Series, although, of course The Book Thief is a lot more serious than Discworld. Death in both books have a sarcastic humor, though. It's as if it comes with the job but that makes it fun to read too.
Some things to watch out for in the book?
1) The childlike sketches of Max Vanderburg and the stories accompanying it.
2) Death's small notes. They are everywhere in the book. I love that in a way, it gives a fresh look to the pages. Yes, I meant "look". It makes a page more alive, somehow. Not monotonous and ordinary to the eyes.
3) German terms and their English equivalent. This is most important for non German speakers, as myself. I would actually suggest to read the book/eBook while listening to the audiobook to learn how to pronounce the words and sentences too. Hey, I learned how to swear properly in German. Kee-hee.
One of the best things about the book (in my opinion) is how Markus Zusak presented the characters. In most books there are good character and bad characters. All of the main characters here are merely victims of the situation. The setting is Nazi Germany and although the people who lived in this small town are "law abiding citizens" of the Nazi ruler, each and everyone of the characters have their own sob stories that pushed them to be where they are.
To summarize, I felt amusement from Death's way of looking at things (when he's not feeling sentimental), love for characters like Rosa who has a bad mouth but a good heart, anger towards Nazi Germany for reasons I don't have to spell out and sadness for the children who are the most helpless and suffered so much during the war. This book is a sad story all in all. But it stirs so many feelings in a person.
And yes. I cried too.
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