“You don't have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them.” - Ray Bradbury

The Book Thief – Markus Zusak

This is one of my favourite recently published novels and I am so excited for the film to come out.

The novel is set in 1939 Germany and follows the story of Lisel, a nine year old girl. Lisel is fostered by the Himel family, however as she learns to love her new family, she is danger of losing everything. They, like her mother and father, despise the Nazi regime. The story follows both her family’s story as they hide a Jewish man in their basement who teaches Lisel to read and that of the other inhabitants in the street, as the war creeps from whispers in the street to bombs in their gardens. It tells the little known story of the suffering the Nazi regime inflicted on its own people, recounting Germany’s implosion starting by the small, secret rebellion of its citizens.

It is narrated by death, which sounds morbid but actually allows a distinctive insight into a wartime Germany. Death shares his personal experiences but mainly tells Lisel’s story and as the novel is told through the eyes of a child, it allows the reader to be naive to real meaning of events, giving a sense of both knowing and unknowing.

Lisel risks her life to save something so fragile yet so powerful - books. It demonstrates the power of the written word by showing the two extremes, Hitler uses Mein Kamp to control people, yet Lisel uses her stolen books to set her free. It is a human tale of personal sacrifice for moral principles.

The film comes out in a few weeks but I would definitely recommend reading the novel before seeing the film, (here is a sneak peak at the trailer, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92EBSmxinus). Do you like to read the books before the film or does it just lead you to criticise all the inconsistencies?  

Lots of Love 

Elouise

xxx