"When writing a novel a writer should create living people; people not characters. A character is a caricature." (Ernest Heminway, Death in the Afternoon). Markus Zusak indubiously creates memorable, realistic, and alive characters that you grow uncontrollably attached to and become sympathetic for. Markus displays excellent diversity in the people who inhabit the fantastical world on Himmel street from the boy who thinks he is Jesse Owens, to the man with the silver eyes and an exceptional talent at playing the accordion, a mother who shows her love through screaming obscene profanities, even a beholden and meek Jew with hair like feathers. Every character that steps into Liesel Meminger's life leaves an everlasting impression and a unique flavour to the remarkably tasteful universe inside The Book Thief. The sweet and tangy taste of Rudy's quirky friendship with Liesel effortlessly provides the much needed spice on the dreary Himmel street . Max, the forsaken Jew, evokes such a rich taste that sticks with you long after you've finished the book and creates heart-felt emotions that not many books have the capability to do. The matchless personalities you will encounter in The Book Thief are truly alive and well.
Most stories are shown from the main characters point of view - sometimes even from a third, omniscient beings, point of view. However, what The Book Thief excels at is its unquestionably different point of view. By using death as the narrator, the author was able to use some strikingly ingenious methods of displaying information to the reader as well as providing some ideas and topics that would be quite hard to present if done in any other way. Additionally, a rather rare point of view is also taken into consideration in the book, a German citizen's. The reader gets to observe the uncommon perspective from someone not being prosecuted by the Nazis, as well as someone who is. The sorrowful fact that many Germans were opposed to the Nazis but were unable to act openly for fear of death is made clear to the reader, so is the even more sorrowing fact that many were turned to support the Nazis beliefs.
The book thief excels
The Book Thief, A Steal!
When looking for that next new book to submerge yourself into, to really experience and enjoy - you may look for, and count-on, a number of topics, themes, or genres. One such topic many would be keen to avoid would be the absolutely atrocious and sickening events that took place in Nazi Germany in the late 1930's, and to the early mid 1940's - more notoriously know as, the Holocaust. While The Book Thief is indeed set in this dark time period, this particular materpiece should, in absolute certainity, not be passed up. The immaculate writing of Markus Zusak in The Book Thief displays unforgettable characters, an extraordinarily unique point of view, and a multitude of valuable realities to be learned from that gloomy time period that is hardly ever at the fore-front of anyone's mind.
4