The Book Thief - By Markus Zusak

This book falls in the genre of historical fiction and is set in the backdrop of the horrors of Nazis with glimpses of World War II.

The narrator of this book is death, which is a unique aspect of this book. Since death is the only truth of life, this story couldn't have been explained better by any author but death.

Death is busy carrying bodies on it's shoulders in a story set in the times of WWII but becomes fascinated by the book's titular character "The Book Thief", who is a young girl named Liselle. The book revolves around her first encounter with death when she loses her brother on her way to her foster parents home. It is then when she steals her first book "The Gravedigger's Handbook". The book describes her as a girl who loves to read and write, treasures books, chooses stealing books over food, learns to love and be loved. She learns about death at an early age and the feeling of losing the people she loved the most.

The book is like a beautiful but a sad melody, which aches the strings of your heart as the pages play its tunes. It makes you learn the beauty and importance of the real things in life. It unfolds the turmoil of the Jews in Nazi's Germany, their misery laden faces and lives, their assault at the hands of boot trodden soldiers with death lurking on their heads as they take their every breath. The author has described her foster father as a quiet man with silver eyes. He teaches the book thief to read and write along with knowingly and unknowingly teaching her life's lessons. Her foster mother is a rude and strict woman on the outside but is a large-hearted lady who cries silently at her miseries in the darkness of the night. 

The book tells the unexplained love between Liselle and Max, who is a Jew, shows at their doorstep one night and her family excepts him even after knowing the risks of hiding a jew in their basement. The book describes Max as a composed man limited to the darkest freezing corner of the house, where his dreams know no bounds and heart filled with love. He knows nothing about the dawn or the dusk as the time passes by but angst with the thought of defeating Hitler. Death describes his turmoil, his silent love for Liselle for whom he writes "The Standover Man" on the white painted pages of Mein Kampf before disappearing in the shadows of darkness to which Jews were subjected to.

The book beautifully describes the mix of colors in Liselle's life who is lost, broken yet trusts in her books, family and friends. She cherishes good books and reads them aloud to her neighbors hidden in the basement amidst the bombings to distract them off the hustle going around.   

The book is an ode to people who never left the side of humanity even in the middle of a war, that were so kind and loving that nothing could change them. It celebrates people like Rudy, who never once left Liselle's side except in death. 

The way death explains these people gives you a certain kind of hope that even in the worst of times there's always light looming at the end of the tunnel. 

I have never read a book so close to perfection in terms of language, thoughts, learning and emotions. It shatters your soul, breaks your heart and makes you pray for the character's safety ever after knowing that their fate has already been written by death. It lingers in your mind long after you have finished the book. I found this book as emotionally draining but at the same time it makes you value life even more, especially your freedom. This book deserves more than 5 on 5 rating according to me. 

Hope you enjoyed reading!