Sunday, March 21, 2010

THE BOOK THIEF (MARKUS ZUSAK)


"'It's just a small story, really, about among other things a girl, some words, an accordionist, a Jewish fist fighter, and quite a lot of thievery...'
Is is 1939. Nazi Germany. The Book Thief is narrated in the all-knowing matter-of-fact voice of Death, witnessing the story of the citizens of Himmel Street:
When nine-year-old Liesel arrives outside the boxlike house of her new foster parents, she refuses to get out of the car. Liesel has been separated from her parents - ' Kommunists' - for ever, and at the burial of her little brother, she steals a gravedigger's instruction manual which she can't read. So begins a love affair with books and words, and her illustrious career.
In the care of the Hubermans, Liesel befriends blond-haired Rudy Steiner, her neighbour obsessed with Jesse Owens.
She also befriends the mayor's wife, who hides from despair in her library. Together Liesel and Rudy steal books - from Nazi book burning piles, from the mayor's library, from the richer people of Molching. In time, the family hide a jewish Boxer, Max, who reads with Liesel in the basement.
By: 1943, the Allied bombs are falling, and the sirens begin to wail. Liesel shares our her books in the air-raid shelters. But one day in the life of Himmel Street, the wail of the sirens comes too late..."

 

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