The Book Thief

"I have hated the words

and I have loved them,

and I hope I have made them right."

I just finished the Book Thief and would highly recommend it to most people. Markus Zusak created a story that was very moving and gave a different perspective of WWII. So often we hear from the perspective of Jews that were killed, or in concentration camps, we hear from Americans or people on the Allies' side. This was from the viewpoint of a little girl who was German and was placed in a town among Germans who were real people and struggled like most people during the war. I feel we often forget that most Germans traveled through Hell as well as the countries that Hitler took over. 

Markus Zusak did a fantastic job putting Death as the narrator of the story and Zusak dives into how the power of words can change the life of an individual, a group, as well as nations. Words, or arguably any medium, can carry a message, pure and simple, to the hearts of people. Hate. Love. Authority. Despair. Leadership. Friendship. Sacrifice. Hope. 

Liesel becomes the Word Shaker and stands up to Hitler despite him not knowing that she even exists. She learns to do what it takes to learn the right lessons and in the process she steals books. 

Very rarely do I get so involved in a book that I feel the extreme emotions that are frequently portrayed. This book, on several occasions, had me cheering and reverently pondering the various settings and themes by the persuasive and inviting writing style provided by Zusak and Death.

I will remember the Word Shaker that Liesel became and a little boy named Rudy who had black soot all over him in order to mimic the fastest runner in the world and Rudy's idol, Jesse Owens. 

"I'm always finding humans at their Best & Worst. I see their Ugly and their Beauty and I wonder how the same can be both.