The book thief
by Markus Zusak
I'm almost embarassed to admit that this is my first book of 09. It's been a busy year, and I started out with a book that wasn't exactly a page turner. Don't get me wrong, though, I loved this book. It was the most interesting book I have read in a very long time. What a story told from a point of view I would have never of thought of: Death.
The book is about a little girl named Leisel Meminger who is more or less put into foster care after her mother is no longer able to care for her during World War 2 in Nazi Germany. There, she learns about life and love from her foster parents, Hans and Rosa Huberman, her Jesse Owens wannabe neighbor Rudy Steiner, Max, the Jew they are hiding in their basement and the books she steals from the mayors wife. All told from the perspective of "death" as if it were a real person. And death, by the way, is a fantastic storyteller.
What I found most interesting was death's constant hints of how the book was going to end. The ending, though, left me wanting more. I had to reread the last 2-3 chapters several times to fully understand what just happened and "conclude" it in my mind. It was, but it wasn't, a depressing book. A page turner? Not really. It didn't suck me in and leave me craving more as I read bits and pieces here and there. But a fantastic book none the less? Absolutely!
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