The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

   Never in my mind would I have considered picking up this book, much less thumbing through a few pages. I have seen it perched upon a few shelves, but I didn't think much of it. However, when my second grade teacher Mrs. Hanes gave each of her students a shining copy (free of charge) I did a double-take. Next thing I knew I'm reading it right smack dab in the middle of History class. Although I am only 37 pages in, which is somewhat understandable due to the fact that the reading level is a bit over my head. I'm glad it is though, I like a challenge. If Mrs. Hanes had not informed me that the book was written from the viewpoint of Death, the book probably would be collecting dust on my bookshelf due to frustration and bewilderment. I guess that side note is what roped me in to this particular book. 

   So far, Death has managed to set up a twisted base on his/her whereabouts and what they do on a daily basis. Death has seen "The Book Thief" three times. The sky three different colors each time Death has seen them; red, white, and black. The Book Thief aka Liesel Meminger is a nine-year-old girl on a train with her six-year-old brother, Werner and her mom. The train is headed down to Munich, Germany, where Liesel and her brother will be handed over to their foster parents on Himmel Street. Unfortunately, Werner doesn't make it. 

He collapses in his seat, dead. Where Death approaches and retrieves his soul. This is the first encounter between Liesel and Death. The sky is white. The train stops and after a crude burial of the small child, they continue on to Munich. Reluctantly, Liesel is passed over to Hans and Rosa Hubermann. Liesel finds terror in her first few nights in the small, foreign house, but comfort in the arms of Hans, who is like the father that Liesel never had. Rosa, however, is rough and cruel. She spits her words and bites off her commands. 

   Sadly, that is about as far as I ventured into the book due to the fact that I recently acquired it. Normally, books based off history aren't really my forte, but how this book is written makes a large difference. If someone had told me about a book that set place in Germany in 1939 during World War II, I would have walked off without a backward glance. I guess it's the way the words sort of melt together right off the page, but in such a way that you can still understand it. It's almost as if they've manifested poetry and combat and snapped them together in such a way that it fits.  

   To be honest, I haven't gotten so far into the book that I could understand as to why the author wrote this book. I haven't had enough evidence or experience to collect my comments about the meaning behind the words. Although, I have never actually read a book that was written from the viewpoint of Death themself. 

   However, I do have a theory. It may sound ridiculous or maybe even odd, but hear me out. You don't come about many people who enjoy reading about World Wars and combat and bloodshed (This is me being stereotypical, mind you) then you look at themes like Supernatural and Mystery and the unknown and extraterrestrial beings. The topics within themselves are interesting; I am a big fan of Supernatural myself. That is probably what mostly lassoed me in to this story as I stated earlier. 

  The characters that I've read about in this book are few and far between. So it may sound morbid when I say that my favorite character would most definitely be Death. They've mostly been the spotlight of the show until Liesel came into the picture so I got a good look at who exactly Death is. I've seen many different portrayals of how Death acts, may it be TV shows, video games, other books, movies, etc. This is hands- down my favorite "Death" They do not put on a malicious, stereotypical, evil, violent facade. They are not a skeleton donning a black robe and wielding a scythe like the infamous Grim Reaper. This Death is blunt, they speak their thoughts, but they don't think of themselves as a superior being to humans. Within the first page I knew I was going to like them, how they "speak" isn't hateful or wicked, and they execute each "job" without any errors or without breaking the invisible rules they enforce.

   Another reason why I really like this portrayal of Death is the fact that they do not have a gender. Most media sees Death as male, and goes on with their life, same way as many people see God as male. Now I'm not going to wade too far into the waters of religion because I'm keeping this blog post people-friendly. I wouldn't be upset if this book portrayed Death as just male or just female, although it may alter the reading experience in some unexplainable way. 

  If every author followed the example that Markus has set up (with exceptions.) Then I probably would read quite a bit more. They use personification flawlessly, in my humble opinion. I have never read any other instances in which the author has compared the sky to a hard candy, or a soul to melting ice cream. However, how Death talks is another predominant reason as to why they have grown to be my favorite character. "Here is a small fact. You are going to die. I am in all truthfulness attempting to be cheerful about this whole topic, though most people find themselves hindered in believing me, no matter my protestations. Please, trust me. I am most definitely can be cheerful. I can be amiable. Agreeable. Affable. And that's only the A's. Just don't ask me to be nice. Nice has nothing to do with me." Notice how Death mentions that they are not nice, but they are neither mean nor violent (like I stated above) and that's only the first page. 

   As of now, no queries have entered my mind since the beginning of this book, although I'm positive I will have some as I read on. I guess this is because I've had to reread certain things to pick up on what Markus is setting out. I've even had to look up a few definitions to really get what is going on, this might frustrate me in the least, but it won't hamper my efforts to finish the book. However, I do really want to know more about why Liesel's mom handed her kids off to foster parents. Also, some pieces of the dialogue are in German and for some reason, seeing the foreign words compel me to translate them somehow. So I often wonder what they are saying word for word. I am one of those readers who fears they will miss out on something and find themselves hopelessly thrown astray in the twisted plot. A significant cause of my painfully slow reading habits.