By: Markus Zusak
HIGHLY RECOMMEND
TLDR: This is a story that follows a young German girl in Molsching throughout the Holocaust, but the story is told from the perspective of death. It is one of the most unique fictional WWII books that I’ve ever read, and it should be on everyone’s reading list.
The longer review:
This book has [unofficially] been on my reading list since one of my favorite teachers mentioned it – thanks Mrs. Weatherly! This teacher was one of the first to assign class reading that wasn’t instantly groan-worthy. Her class made me entirely reconsider my dislike for the subject. I was reminded of this novel during a recent trip to Powell’s City of Books (Portland, OR); if you’re ever in the area you absolutely have to stop by this multi-story book store.
I’ll warn you: this novel is not a short one. It’s ~550 pages (no breezy read here) depending on the print you get, and if you can do so I highly recommend getting the Anniversary print edition with special notes from the Author at the end. These notes are a deep-dive into Zusak’s process and decision making that provide so much additional context to the story.
I think this author’s approach to story-telling is fascinating, and you’ll definitely want to see Leisel Meminger’s story all the way through. She’s got grit, and you’ll root for her from the very moment she’s decided to steal her first book. A young girl, who’s traveling with her mother and brother to be dropped off at her foster home, loses her brother on the journey and decides to steal a book from the men who are helping to bury him. It’s the first of many times that Leisel decides to steal a bit of happiness when faced with despair.
Zusak also does an amazing job of building characters, and the relationships that this story highlights showcase the kind of heart-warming humanity that I often skip over when I think of Germans during this time. Don’t worry – there’s plenty of disdain for Hitler. But at least for me, it was a solid reminder that one authoritative dictator isn’t or wasn’t necessarily representative of an entire nation of people, or their beliefs. One critic wrote that “this novel belongs on shelves next to The Diary of Anne Frank“, and I couldn’t agree more.
