The Book Thief

Thoughts, Review and Favorite Quotes

My thoughts

The Book Thief is written by Australian writer Markus Zusak. First I watch the movie then read the novel. But as expected, the novel is better than the movie. The reason is obvious. While reading the novel, it gives you emotions and feelings that the movie does not give you. When reading a novel, I realize that the way the writer present ideas in the novel cannot be done in a movie. In the movie, many important things have been skipped and they move forward. While the novel is in more details. I always think that how the writer was able to write the feelings of a little teenage girl. What a little girl thought and what she feels? Can you imagine? Not only this but every other person and every other scene has been clearly explained.
At the first attempt, I stop reading the novel because the words and sentences were seen as very difficult. But I decided to take another chance. It takes more time in the starting pages. But when I read it further it seems easier to understand.

Actionable Takeaways:

1. When a boy through the book in the river and go away. Rudy came and jumped into the river and pick the book. He didn’t come out but stayed there for some minutes. Finally when Leasel asked why he is not coming out. The reason is shown in his actions. He wanted to kiss the girl. He does not want to lose another moment of kissing the book thief. For a long time in the river, instead of words his attitude and the way he acts shows what the boys want from her.
2. The girl had once been given a gift by the mayor’s wife. Instead of a book, it’s a notebook with blank pages. The girl was asked to write a story. When she started she had to wait for an hour or two to write even a single line. Once started it gown too far. Well, this means that when someone does something for a very long time. Or more to the point, when one consumes too much of something, then she must start creating stuff on her own. In her case, it’s the book, called ‘The Book Thief’.

Review

One day I was searching for a book on my bookshelf to read. Then I found out that The Book Thief is here. I remember the movie that I had watched earlier but I wanted to read the book and wanted to know how Markus Zusak narrated the story of the girl in his own words. After reading the book I never regret reading it. The emotions that I feel during reading is remarkable. It has no comparison with the movie.

This story has narrated by death. This story is about a young girl who lives with her foster parents in Himmel Street in Nazi Germany. While going to Munich her brother died. There she learns to read and fell in love with the words. The girl steals books and read them in the basement.

Her papa brings the Jew in their basement. The girl passed her time while reading words in front of a Jew who was fighting for his life. The girl made a friend in the neighbourhood with whom she often went to the library to steal books. The boy wanted to kiss the girl but as always the girl refuses. The boy never gets the kiss until he dies.

The writer shows us the story of people who lived during World War 2. While the girl grown up her whole family died in the raid. Well, it’s a fictional story but Zusak trying from every aspect to show the lifestyle of the people of Germany during World War 2. It shows that the people of the time were very poor and living difficult life.

Favourite quotes:

“The only thing worse than a boy who hates you: a boy that loves you.”

“I have hated words and I have loved them, and I hope I have made them right.”

“I wanted to tell the book thief many things, about beauty and brutality. But what could I tell her about those things that she didn’t already know? I wanted to explain that I am constantly overestimating and underestimating the human race-that rarely do I ever simply estimate it. I wanted to ask her how the same thing could be so ugly and so glorious, and its words and stories so damning and brilliant.”

“Humans, if nothing else, have the good sense to die.”

“She was saying goodbye and she didn’t even know it.”

“Like most misery, it started with apparent happiness.”

“A DEFINITION NOT FOUND
IN THE DICTIONARY
Not leaving: an act of trust and love,
often deciphered by children”

“She leaned down and looked at his lifeless face and Leisel kissed her best friend, Rudy Steiner, soft and true on his lips. He tasted dusty and sweet. He tasted like regret in the shadows of trees and in the glow of the anarchist’s suit collection. She kissed him long and soft, and when she pulled herself away, she touched his mouth with her fingers…She did not say goodbye.”