Death takes a stroll through Nazi Germany (The Book Thief - Markus Zusak)

Member Name: mickeyhunt

Product:	The Book Thief - Markus Zusak
Date:	05/08/09 (10 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Thought provoking and disturbing

Disadvantages: Wanter more information at the end

I have just finished this book and was absolutley suprised by it. It was not at all what I was expecting. Markus Zuzak takes an interesting stance by writing from the point of view of death and death has a very strange point of view. The pricipal charachter is Liesel Memminger who seems to be suffering a blighted life right from page one with the death of her brother whilst traveling with her mother to be left with foster parents. It is clear from the beggining that Liesle's parents are undesirables from the Nazi point of view. Her meeting with her foster parents does not bode well as she has to be dragged kicking and screaming into the house and Rosa her new foster mother appears to be the foster mother from hell shouting and swearing at her and calling her a pig. However it soon becomes clear that Hans the foster father is not a monster and although Rosa appears rough and hard, it is only a defence against the environment that they live in. What unolds is a strange and hauting story of normal children growing up in an utterly repellant era of history. It telling of the story from deaths point of view makes it difficult to get into at first, but once you get used to the strange phraseology you soon forget and get carried along by the story. Mid way through death goes and lets you know some of the ending which again I found a bit irritating, but it did not detract from the overall quality of the story. I found the developing relationship between Hans and Liesle to be particularly heartwaming and even warmed completely to Rosa by the end of the book. The ending of the book whilst not unexpected (mainly due to Deaths heavy hints throughout the preceeding chapters.) never the less still resulted in buckets of tears.

I have read some reviews where the main critisism of this book was the jocular manner in which the subject matter is dealt with. Yes the issue of concentration camps and the treatment of the Jews is a main topic of this book and the way the matter is presented could be deemed "jocular", but is is with a sarcastic or ironic undertone. To be overly somber and serious would not produce the effect that the author is after. I think that he is trying to show that in this terrifiying environment the human spirit can fight against what is being forced on them and that humour is a way of surviving.

My only critism of the book is that I wanted to know more of what happened to Liesle after the war and who she married. I felt that it ended too soon and too suddenly.

I would have to say that this book is a very remarkable book and for me is up there with the likes of the Time Travellers Wife and the Curious Case of the Dog in the Night. Difficult subject matters dealt from a completely different viewpoint.

Summary: Growing up in Nazi Germany despite the Nazi's