Book Review: The Book Thief

Want to know whether to read The Book Thief by Markus Zusak? Well, here’s my full The Book Thief review to help you decide!

The Book Thief Summary

When Death tells a story, you pay attention. Liesel Meminger is a young girl growing up outside of Munich in Nazi Germany, and Death tells her story as “an attempt—a flying jump of an attempt—to prove to me that you, and your human existence, are worth it.” When her foster father helps her learn to read and she discovers the power of words, Liesel begins stealing books from Nazi book burnings and the mayor’s wife’s library. As she becomes a better reader, she becomes a writer, writing a book about her life in such a miserable time. Liesel’s experiences move Death to say, “I am haunted by humans.” How could the human race be “so ugly and so glorious” at the same time? This big, expansive novel is a leisurely working out of fate, of seemingly chance encounters and events that ultimately touch, like dominoes as they collide. The writing is elegant, philosophical, and moving. Even at its length, it’s a work to read slowly and savor. Beautiful and important.

The Book Thief Book Review

Suffice to say that The Book Thief is the only story I’ve read that’s been narrated by death, and within the first chapter or two, I was able to see why it’s been hailed by so many as a modern classic.

A touching tale that follows the life of Liesel Meminger, a young girl who’s just shy of ten years old when we first meet her, The Book Thief is set in pre-WWII Germany. After her father’s capture and her brother’s death, she’s handed over to foster parents Hans and Rosa Hubermann who live on Himmel Street in the town of Molching, just outside Munich. And while Rosa is often foul-mouthed and abrasive, Hans swiftly becomes a beloved and supportive papa to the young girl.

What follows is a poignant coming-of-age tale, in which the spirited young girl grows up against the backdrop of Nazi Germany. We witness her form a solid and strong friendship with local boy Rudy, develop a love for literature, fuelled by stolen books from the mayor’s wife’s library.

A beautiful, lyrical heart-wrenching, and powerful tale, rich with ingenuity and imagination, The Book Thief is a love letter to words; to books; to their power for both good and evil, and to friends that become family. It was well worth the wait.

“I wanted to tell the book thief many things, about beauty and brutality. But what could I tell her about those things that she didn't already know? I wanted to explain that I am constantly overestimating and underestimating the human race-that rarely do I ever simply estimate it. I wanted to ask her how the same thing could be so ugly and so glorious, and its words and stories so damning and brilliant."

Markus Zusak, The Book Thief