Before the school year ends, you MUST read The Book Thief!!!!!

     Ladies and gentlemen...this is it.  This. Is. It.  I have just finished reading The Book Thief by Mark Zusak and I officially have a new favorite book.  You absolutely MUST read this book before the school year gets out...it is a treasure, an adventure, and a completely life changing novel.
     The story begins with a prologue -- a moment for the reader to be transported.  It is at the beginning that the reader learns that he or she has been invited by the narrator to take part in the journey of the novel.  The narrator, however, is not only writing in second person, but he is also not human.  In fact, he is the personified form of Death.  Yes.  The novel is narrated by Death during Hitler's reign of Europe during World War 2.  Are you intrigued yet?
     If that doesn't get you wondering, just wait until you check out the fascinating style that Zusak gives his narrator to use.  Constantly, the narrator interrupts regular story telling for interruptions, announcements, and statements of fact.  He makes lists, pauses for observations, and steps away from the plot of the story to hold the readers gaze at a particular angle and helps us linger over beauty, sadness, terror, and love.

***** FACT:  You are thinking, seriously?  Another novel about the Holocaust? *****

This is not just another novel about the Holocaust.  In fact, it is centered on the lives of Germans living under Hitler's rule and their experience with the dictatorship.  Our main character, Leisel was brought to Molching, Germany to live with foster parents Rosa and Hans Hubermann.  On the train ride to Molching, Leisel's younger brother dies and when she arrives at her foster family's home, she cannot even bring herself to go inside.  She's so young and unable to bear the pain of losing her brother and being given away by her mother that she can't be coaxed to leave the car to go in the house.  That is until Hans, her soon to be Papa, calmly and quietly earns her trust and brings her in the house.
     Rosa and Hans Hubermann are fascinatingly opposite.  Rosa is loud, aggressive, and curses like a sailor.  Hans is sweet, docile, and much more of a conversationalist.  The two parents love and care for Leisel, however unconventional the circumstances or the methods they use.  Leisel suffers nightmares after her brother's death, which ultimately leads to her close relationship with Hans.  Whenever she had a nightmare, Hans would go to her room and comfort here.  It is here that Leisel reveals her first stolen book, The Gravedigger's Handbook.  She stole this book from the grave site where her brother was buried and it is the only material possession that she has to remind her of her brother and her family.
     This story of childhood and growing up is set against a dark, cold background of Nazi Germany.  Leisel grows up enjoying soccer, her neighborhood friends (I think her friend Rudy was my favorite character), beating up boys, learning to read, and stealing books (among other things).  As Leisel grows up, she begins to learn about the world around her, how fragile it is, how terrible it can be, and the extremes of joy and pain that humans are capable of feeling.
     The story felt like listening to my best friend recollect memories from her past as we sat by a fire.  The narration is so personal that reading The Book Thief doesn't even feel like reading for the most part...it feels like listening to a friend.  Like I said earlier...best book I've ever read.  Let me know if you want to borrow my copy!!


Read another great, detailed review at The Book Smugglers website:  http://thebooksmugglers.com/2009/08/guest-review-the-book-thief-by-markus-zusak.html