The Book Thief - Markus Zusak

This is an astounding story of Liesel Meminger , an young girl,  who steals books during world war II . The narrator of the story is death. And its very opt as the story happening during World War II.The story unfolds when death travels to Australia to take the soul of Liesel Meminger. I think the author should be appreciated for making death as the narrator of this story of hope and survival.

At age of  nine Liesel was sent to Hubermans family to be taken care. She arrived after stolen her first book , The Grave digger's handbook . The Hubermans were good in heart and adopted Liesel as their own. Hans Huberman to calm Liesel's nightmare started reading the book. But he himself was struggling in reading words, so they both started learning the alphabets by writing on the wall. There starts the journey of reading and sharing.As Liesel discovers the power of words,he started stealing books from the mayor's home , though mayor's wife knew about it.

Liesel was captivated by Max Vundenburg, a Jew, whom her foster parents hiding in their basement. Huberman who sent Hitler's Mein Kempf to Max with their home address , so that when needed he can come to Himmel Street and stay with them. Slowly they both grew in love and friendship . When Max was sick and brought to her room , she gave many mementos and he in turn wrote her a very touching and emotional book .He presented her a book and asked to read latter.The story of Max was heart warming , a  real fighter who when staying alone in basement fights with imaginary Hitler. His walk to death was very emotional. I liked those fights Max had with Hitler. A man's inability to fight against the power.

The author's description of each character is subtle, sometimes poetic."a small wardrobe with a coat hung over it" thats for Rosa Huberman. Most of the words including in German ,sentences and paragraphs are lyrical.The compelling characters make one fall in love with them.  I enjoyed reading it. It appears that this is based on a true story of author's grand mother. This book also shows human resilience in times of struggle. This book also shows the destructions of war.

I loved this book . I finished the book in two sittings. Many beautiful things one can experience as progress through the pages. Of course lots of tears too!! As i'm reading books related to World Wars, one thing is clear to me - War is not the solution for any problem even if its nuclear or chemical.

Wonderful book!

Check out the movie coming out soon