Review: The Book Thief

“I am haunted by humans”, words of death, the unconventional narrator of The Book Thief written by Markus Zusak.

“I am haunted by humans”, words of death, the unconventional narrator of The Book Thief written by Markus Zusak. This is a historical fiction set in the Nazi Germany and tells us a story centring around a 9-year-old Lisel Meminger.

When I finished this book, it left a striking image in my mind. This book follows the course of World War-2, a turbulent and cataclysmic time yet the book is filled with acts of kindness, be it Hubberman who risked everything to save a Jew or Rudy who converted from a thief to benefactor. Death is confused by all of this on one side there are people like Hitler who are capable of such atrocities on innocents and on the other hand the Hubermans whose generosity knows no bounds.

Death is eternal, and he keeps track of all, yet he is unable to understand humans who surprise him at every turns. He laughs at the sinister appearances and morbid curiosity of the humans towards him. He laughs at the scythe so reverently placed in his hands, rather he comments that a broom or mop might be more ideal. He is even more amused by the grotesque interest of the humans in death when he knows that humans portray death better than him.

After reading this book I realised how cruel and kind humans can be at the same time, how they can show so much love and at the same time hold such contrasting and horrifying ability to hate. I began to appreciate how words can be so beautiful and terrible at the same time; how awe inspiringly it can change the way you look at the world. I would like to end this by quoting death again: ““The human heart is a line, whereas my own is a circle, and I have the endless ability to be in the right place at the right time. The consequence of this is that I’m always finding humans at their best and worst. I see their ugly and their beauty, and I wonder how the same thing can be both.””