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| ★★★★★ |
Synopsis: 1939. Nazi Germany. The Country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier. Liesel, a nine-year-old girl, is living with a foster family on Himmel Street. Her parents have been taken away to a concentration camp. Liesel steals books. This is her story and the story of the inhabitants of her street when the bombs begin to fall.
***
Review: The two most basic elements of this book are it’s best, its story and its narration. The two continuously seem disjointed, so you are constantly aware that the story is a retelling, but that simply adds to it. The story follows in particular a small girl, and Death is your narrator. Death has a sense of humor, he has an eye for detail and he knows how to tug your heart strings. The narration throughout the novel is superb; the author employs an unusual tactic in making short notes and summaries every couple of pages and theres a very definite sense of ‘listing facts’ throughout. Death is frank, he pulls no punches, and he is as baffled as any reader will be as to how humans can be so screwed up. Add to all that the views and activities of a young girl, and with the matter-of-factness we all see childhood with, we learn about Nazi Germany. I want to include a quote here which sums up Death’s humor and frankness:
‘Many jocular comments followed, as did another onslaught of Heil-Hitlering. You know, it actually makes me wonder if anyone ever lost an eye or injured a hand or wrist with all of that. You’d only need to be facing the wrong way at the wrong time, or stand marginally too close to another person. Perhaps people did get injured. Personally, I can only tell you that no-one died from it, or at least, not physically. There was, of course, the matter of forty million people I picked up by the time the whole thing was finished, but that’s getting all metaphoric.’
The main criticism of the book, and the reason I docked the .5 mark from the rating is the mis-ordering of events. Early in the novel it works out quite nicely, Death will show you an event and then provide a glimpse into some past factors which caused it to happen. In a way, it avoids the build-up/suspence that Death says he doesn’t want to create. However later into the book, I do feel it takes away from it. There are two points at which he reveals parts of the ending in advance of their occurrence. Admittedly, the ending doesn’t lose any of its power for this – its still the first book in many a year to make me cry – but I can’t help but think that if you’re going to write a book, there are some basic traditions you should adhere to – and not spoiling the end is one.
Beyond that, it is impossible to fault this book. I don’t even want to explore it too much, because it’s the kind of thing you have to read for yourself. I’ll leave this short and sweet and on a similar note to my short ramble – the subject matter is harsh. You will know the ending is coming. The presentation is frighteningly deceptive. But it is one of those books that everyone should make themselves read.
Rating: 5/5
