“Please, trust me. I most definitely can be cheerful. 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.”
Thus we are introduced to the narrator of “The Book Thief” by Markus Zusak (2007, Alfred A. Knopf) as he sets the stage for his 500-plus page journey through Hitler’s Germany.
“It’s just a small story really, about, among other things:
I saw the book thief three times.”
Nine-year-old Liesel Meminger is supposed to be delivered, with her younger brother, Werner, to their new foster family, the Hubermanns. However, her brother does not survive the train ride to Molching, a small town outside Munich, and so is buried alongside the tracks.
In one of many perverse ironies in this novel, Liesel steals her first book, “The Grave Digger’s Handbook,” from her brother’s gravesite. Thus, Werner’s death becomes the antithesis of Liesel’s rebirth; she becomes the book thief of Himmel Street.
As the heroine, Liesel’s story is one we’ve heard — or read — many times before, survival; life at any price — one minute, one hour, one day at a time.
At times, the book is raw, sometimes overflowing, with graphic commentary. However, what makes this story stand out is the author’s style and provocative, powerful ability to tell a story through the eyes of another.
And then there’s the narrator’s identity — Death.
A chapter entitled “Death’s Diary: The Parisians” begins with this entry:
For the book thief, everything was going nicely. For me, the sky was the color of Jews.”
The narrator describes the continual killing at the death camps. “When their bodies had finished scouring for gaps in the door, their souls rose up…. They just kept feeding me. Minute after minute. Shower after shower.”
In spite of the unspeakable evil, the fear and the guilt, the death and the grief, the story of Liesel, her foster parents and the cast of characters gives us hope. It speaks of the beauty of life and the sustainability of the written word.
Perhaps most importantly, “The Book Thief” bestows a ‘voice’ of compassion to Death — who “constantly overestimates and underestimates the human race,” the one who wonders how the “same thing could be so ugly and so glorious, and its words and stories so damning and brilliant.”
Highly praised and the recipient of countless book awards, “The Book Thief” is a masterful piece of fiction. Though billed as a book for teenagers, it should be required reading for everyone, and is sure to be a catalyst for change to those who read it. It’s guaranteed.
Sue Borkon taught reading, language arts and social studies to sixth graders at Atwater Elementary School in Shorewood for 28 years before retiring this June.
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