THE BOOK THIEF

I just finished reading this book and I m writing this review immediately .I got about reading this one as I had heard a lot being said about it and i m so glad that all of it was absolutely true.I loved the book.

This book tells us the story of Liesel a little girl and her life.The backdrop is the holocaust 1939-1942 in Nazi Germany and the narrator of the story is 'Death'.I found this a little strange in the beginning but I was pleasantly surprised to see the story so beautifully told,sometimes even with a sense of humor.

It tells us how Liesel comes to live with foster parents Hans and Rosa Hubermann as her mother cannot afford her upbringing anymore.On the way to the Hubermanns ,her only brother dies in the train.Liesel sees death at close quarters right from the start and the story progresses with her stealing a book,the first of many.She does so,just as a reminder of her brother,as she cannot read.

Liesel's life soon changes as she arrives at the Hubermanns.Hans ,her foster father is very kind right from the beginning and Rosa too has a hard exterior but a big soft heart.She has to deal with change,abandonment by her mother and death at the tender age of nine.She is put in a lower grade in school as she cannot read and that is when Hans Hubermann,her foster father starts teaching her how to.Liesel soon develops a passion for books and reading.However this is Nazi Germany and the Hubermanns are not rich enough to buy books.So Liesel ,gets books by the only way she knows to,by stealing them.

As the story progresses,it tells us about her love for words,how they comfort her,how she loves them and how they save her.It tells us about her life on 33,Himmel Street.Her bond with her foster parents.Her friendship with the boy next door,Rudy.Her connections with the many people that constitute her life and how her life changes irrevocably when her parents decide to hide a jew in their basement.

Liesel helps Max Vandenburg ,a jew, and the power of words creates unbreakable bonds between them.It tells us how a little girl of nine fails to understand why jews are treated differently.Why she has to say Heil Hitler everytime.It is a heart-wrenching story.Everytime I read about the holocaust,I cannot help but say a silent prayer for the times we now live in.That our lives are only ours to live.I cannot even begin to imagine the plight of the jews.

I could not read all of it at a stretch but it still managed to touch the right chords in my heart.In the few days,I took to read this book,I think I actually lived Liesel's story.

There are a very few books,which change your perspective on life.They make you a different person.They compel you to think.The Book Thief,is one such story.I highly recommend it.