The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Fiction dealing with the era of World War II is not in short supply. To address this topic with the correct sense of seriousness and respect I think is no easy task. Similarly is it difficult to approach the subject with a fresh perspective, a point of view that adds dimension to what’s complicated—to impress upon readers with new force the grotesque criminality of the wrongs committed, the valor of those who recognized that great evil, and the strength of the downtrodden, whose lives were so terribly taken away. Zusak drives these points into our hearts, and they rest heavy there. We are reminded that this time in the world’s history left hoards of victims, including the unlikely, in its wake.

Zusak, above all, is a poet. What emerges from his words are incredible images (Carl Sandburg): eyes like coffee stains, a tightly knotted rope with a dripping yellow sun, a body like a wardrobe and a face like creased cardboard. The images keep coming. Because of the gravity of the subject matter, I found Zusak’s writing style surprising—not to say that Zusak’s style itself is surprising, but that such a style worked surprised me. +/-

The story is narrated by Death. In instances where Death is the main character, he is usually cruel, greedy, morbid, manipulative, rejoicing in his ability to snatch human lives from their grieving families. Zusak’s personification of Death is ingenious. His Death is empathetic, tired, burdened by his duty. And although he is not kind, he is compassionate. He finds the creatures he carries away bewildering. Humans kill humans, that and chance—he does not. His job begins as their bodies fail, and he carries away their souls, wrapped in warmth. And in the end, we realize something so foreign to the character of Death, that it is equally confusing as it is apparent—Death fears humans. He is the perfect narrator for the story, because fear had prime billing in World War II.

Fear was the weapon, and words were the tool. World War II was fed by a war of words, and the after effects of those words were great because they produced diseased minds. Hitler counted on the illness of his people and on the contagious nature of an epidemic. I think it’s important to note that he was close to succeeding. What power is endowed in words. Liesel, our heroine, discovers that power and teaches us about it.

Zusak’s characters are well written and hard to forget. They are well rounded and have complicated relationships in difficult situations. The story is well developed and is presented in short chapters, with interjected short asides from Death’s omniscient perspective. I will be seeking out other Zusak works.

BC About the Author: Markus Zusak

Australian author Markus Zusak grew up hearing stories about Nazi Germany, about the bombing of Munich and about Jews being marched through his mother’s small, German town. He always knew it was a story he wanted to tell. At the age of 30, Zusak has asserted himself as one of today’s most innovative and poetic novelists. With the publication of The Book Thief, he is now being dubbed a "literary phenomenon" by Australian and U.S. critics. Zusak is the award-winning author of four previous books for young adults: The Underdog, Fighting Ruben Wolfe, Getting the Girl, and I Am the Messenger, recipient of a 2006 Printz Honor for excellence in young adult literature.

Zusak lives in Sydney, where he "writes, occasionally works a real job, and plays on a soccer team that never wins." When asked about The Book Thief, he explains, "I wanted to write something very different than what I'd done before. The idea of a book stealer was in my head . . . Then I thought about writing of the things my parents had seen while growing up in Nazi Germany and Austria, and when I brought the ideas together, it seemed to work, especially when I thought about the importance of words in that time, and what they were able to make people believe." +/-

In a 2006 interview with Publishers Weekly, Zusak explained that the initial inspiration for The Book Thief were two stories he was told as a child. The first was of a tale his mother told of Munich being bombed. "Everything was red, like the sky was on fire. That was a memory that I could see really clearly as a child, a very visual image," he says. The second story was of a teenage boy who took pity on an emaciated Jew being forced through the streets, and offered him some bread. Both were whipped by a soldier who witnessed this act of compassion.

The Book Thief was published in September 2005 in Australia to wide acclaim, and was positioned as Zusak's adult debut. In the USA, Random House have chosen to publish it as a young-adult novel, which Zusak is comfortable with saying, "For a teenage audience, it's clearly for sophisticated readers. You just hope it gets into the right person's hands, whatever their age."

Visit his website, hosted by Random House, here.