The Book thief. (M. Zusak)

Markus Zusak (2005) The Book Thief.

Picador.

Summary
Set in Molching, Germany before and during World War II, The Book Thief is told from the point of view of Death, a reluctant collector of souls. Death dislikes his job but enjoys the story of Liesel Meminger, who is sent with her brother to be fostered by the Hubermanns. On the journey her brother dies and at his funeral, Liesel takes the gravedigger's handbook, despite her inability to read. Hand Hubermann teaches Liesel to read and she steals more books - from Nazi book-burnings and from the mayor's wife's library. The Hubermanns shelter a Jewish refugee, Max Vandenburg, who chronicles their lives in books he makes by painting over the words in a copy of Hitler's autobiography, Mein Kampf.

My comments
This is a book that can be enjoyed on many levels - and I did. On one level, it was a very realistic book. The author's descriptions of the characters' daily lives were relentlessly grim - on finishing the book, I realised that I had consistently imagined that the sky was grey and overcast. However, I know just enough about conditions for working class people in Germany before and during World War II to know that they are portrayed realistically; and the book's descriptions of trainloads of Jews being marched through the town on their way to a death camp were chilling.

On another level, it was a sardonic book. While Death's 'narration' wasn't integral to the story - and could, indeed, have been omitted from it without any loss to the story - his (?) wry commentaries on life were enjoyable in themselves; as was the irony of a Jewish refugee writing his story on a 'recycled' version of Mein Kampf; and Liesel's friend Rudy idolising the American black athlete Jesse Owens at the height of Germany's obsession with blond, blue-eyed Aryans. Finally, it was a book about books - or at least about the pleasures of reading and writing - and it was satisfying to see our own pleasure in books reflected in this story.

1. Markus Zusak has a Wikipedia entry:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Markus_Zusak
He has a web site (run by publisher Random House):
www.randomhouse.com/features/markuszusak/author.html

The Book Thief has its own Wikipedia entry:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Book_Thief

2. Markus Zusak was interviewed by Kathleen Noonan for the Brisbane Courier-Mail following the publication of The Book Thief:
www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,24541508-5003424,00.html
Zusak talks about writing The Book Thief on The Blurb:
www.theblurb.com.au/Issue74/ZusakInterview.htm (From PanMacmillan.)

3. Other books by Markus Zusak
Bridge of Clay (2009) Picador
When Dogs Cry (2002) Arthur A. Levine Books
The Messenger (2002) Random House
Fighting Ruben Wolfe (2001) Arthur A. Levine Books
The Underdog (1999) Omnibus Books.

4. Markus Zusak's publishers
Picador. Part of the Macmillan Group, whose imprints include Pan and Sidgwick & Jackson. Macmillan is owned by German-based Holtzbrinck, which owns around 40 media companies.
Random House. The world's largest English-language general bookseller, Random House imprints include Bantam Books, BBC Books (BBC minor shareholder), Jonathan Cape, Chatto & Windus, Doubleday, William Heinemann, Hutchinson, Knopf, Pantheon, Schocken, Secker & Warburg. In turn, Random House is owned by German multinational Bertelsmann AG, whose subsidiaries include the RTL Group, owner of 45 television and 32 radio stations in 11 countries in Europe.
Arthur A. Levine Books, Omnibus Books. Each is an imprint of Scholastic Press, one of the largest publishers and distributors of children's books and educational materials in the world. (Scholastic market The Book Thief as a children's book.)