The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

A couple weeks ago, for the first time, I finished reading a historical fiction book titled A Book Thief. It was a kind of achievement for me :p because so many times I was assigned with my lecturer to read some historical fiction books, but I never finished them. It was such a miracle I intended to read this kind of book without being obliged.

For those who want to read this book later, I suggest not to read this spoiler-contain review.

It was set in 1939, Germany, when the Nazi influence was still strong... When being a Jew became a sin... Liesel Meminger was a foster child of the Hubermanns. She was abandoned by her biological mother after the death of her brother. Up until the end of the story, she never told meeting her mother again. However, her life with the Hubermanns was much better. She was sent to school, she had a close friend, which was the boy next door, Toni (I forgot his family name).

What's the correlation between the plot of the story and the title, The Book Thief? Who actually is the book thief? Liesel is. The first time she stole a book when she was in her brother's funeral. The title of the book was A Grave Digger Handbook. It was such inappropriate for a 12-year-old (If I'm not mistaken) like her. However, her curiosity grew higher as she found this book. She was willing to learn to read, to open her world into a little wider. After that, stealing books became her habit. Liesel's stealing books was not because she was a thief or else, but because the economy of her family wasn't possible to afford her books. At the same time, reading became her only joy in this unfortunate situation.

If you ask some romance in this story, yes there was, but it was not as much as chicklit or teenlit books. As I mentioned before, Liesel became friend with her next door neighbor, Toni. From the very beginning, Toni showed the sign of being in love with Liesel. However, Liesel herself showed no interest in him. Funny thing was, Toni kept asking her to kiss him. Indeed, Liesel refused it again and again.

Sadly, the end of the book made Liesel suffered again of abandonment. Not because her foster parents left her, but because of the bombing that made them passed away. When she walked on the street in the following day, among the rubble, she found the dead body of her foster parents. And also Toni's. She cried and cried, holding and hugging his cold dead body. And in the end, she finally kissed him on the lips, tasting the cold blood of his that would never warm again...

"They say that war is death's best friend.
But I must offer you a different point of view on that one.
To me, war is like a new boss
Who expects the impossible." (The Book Thief--Markus Zusak)