My Review On "The Book Thief"

                                                                                       Hello Blog!

            I have finally come to a conclusion of my class novel The Book Thief written by Markus Zusak! It was great and I can definitely say it was a book I thoroughly enjoyed. Now for a reflection/review of this novel, that I surely do recommend...

            As I mentioned in the blog that I wrote last month, I really do believe that Markus Zusak is a strong author. After doing a little bit of research on him, I found out that he is actually Australian, and grew up hearing stories about Nazis and Hitler so he decided he wanted to write a story of his own about that era. I think this novel connects to the course content, since we are learning about WORLD WAR II in this course and the history course as well.  The Book Thief takes place in Germany and we learn a lot about the history of the Führer (also known as Adolf Hitler) and his powerful Nazi Army. Honestly speaking, I think that he had quite a lot of actual-based knowledge about the history surrounding the setting of his novel. Zusak also chose the most interesting narrator, DEATH, that I mentioned in my previous blog. 

       The beautiful story told throughout the novel, although fiction, is surprisingly believable. Zusak writes about many true historic facts such as the camps, communists, hatred against jews, and the night of broken glass (kristallnacht). It also touched on many themes that happen in the real world, such as war, thievery, suffering, and more. In my opinion, all the characters were interesting and authentic. I think I myself, could compare to the protagonist of the novel Liesel Meminger. She is a young girl in an unfortunate time and setting but she has a deep love for books despite her many obstacles, including not being able to read/write and not affording books.  Fortunately, she finds a way to overcome both obstacles. I believe I could relate to Liesel because I as well, share a deep love for books, whatever the genre books fascinate me and help me escape to a fictional world. Not only do I share a love for books but I too face many obstacles in life. Although not the same obstacles, Liesel and I both find our own ways to overcome them. 

     Lastly, Zusak uses many forms of literary devices in his writing. One that stood out the most being, Symbolism. Books although some stolen, stand as a symbol of happiness and joy for Liesel. Since she lives in a very dark time and place and she is almost always sad or missing someone, books are a symbol of comfort and the littlest yet most important aspect of joy for the young Liesel Meminger!

All in all, I recommend this book to anyone who reads this blog! It is interesting and  I give it a 5/5 star rating! Great read & Be sure to check out the movie coming soon based on the novel!