The Book Thief

From time to time I read a book, or in this case, listen to a book, that just doesn’t resonate, though the general population loves it.  So was the case with the award winning book The Book Thief by Markus Zukas.  The book is set during the time of Nazi Germany and features the main character, Liesel Meminger, a ten-year old girl being transported from her home to live with her foster-parents, Hans and Rosa Huberman.  The story focuses on Liesel’s relationship with the Hubermans and the various neighbors in the small town of Molching, just outside of Munich.  The story begins on the eve of World War II and through the end of the period of time where the Nazi leadership changed the landscape of Europe with hate and killing occurring at every corner of the country and beyond.  Young Liesel has just left her home having been present for her brother’s funeral but what she learns in her new home is a lesson that may haunt her for the remainder of her life.  You see, this story is narrated by “Death” who is in the right place during the occupation of Hitler and his men attempting to remove all people of Jewish descent.  Liesel moves through the city spending time with her various friends and towns people, always the feeling of death around every corner, which seemingly he is.  The Hubermans befriend one Jewish person, Max, and hide him illegally in their basement.  It is this relationship that Liesel learns to give and grow as a young woman.  There are others as well, such as the Mayor’s wife and young Rudy Steiner, who do not support the Nazis.  There is a great deal of detail in the various relationships among the characters and the atrocious times, even the bomb that kills most of the town, yet Liesel seemingly avoids dying.  Maybe it was the fascination with death and the symbolic reading of “the Grave Digger’s Handbook” – (can you be hit over the head any harder?)  that alluded my own interest or inability of finding deep connections, no idea.   In the end, we learn that Liesel has died after living a long and happy life with a husband, kids, and grandkids (ah – vindication!). Then we learn Max actually survived the concentration camp, and he and Liesel reunited at the end of World War II. The novel ends with Death giving Liesel back her book, The Book Thief, as he's taking her soul away from her body.  And so the book thief, Liesel, who grabs books when she can, comes full circle, with life then comes death.  I never felt any real affinity for the story and the subtext underneath being presented by the author.  Not all books are made for everyone….