Liesel Meminger is an orphan going to live with her foster family. Her brother dies along the way. At his burial she comes across a book, The Gravedigger's Handbook. This book helps to save her. She does not know how to read, but her new father helps her learn and together they make to the end of the book. Liesel is in search of more books. She wants to read.
This story is not just about a girl wanting to read. It's about living in Germany in 1939 after they hosted the Olympics and Jesse Owens won his medals, after he became a hero to a young white boy named Rudy. It's about hiding someone in the basement. It's about Nazi Germany, Heil Hitlers, and the Hitler Youth.
I've read a few Holocaust stories. This story is different. While not the narrator, it is told from the view of a Jewish sympathizer. But, it's not like Anne Frank or Number the Stars. It's not about hiding and all that stuff. It's about discovery. I wish we could have gone deeper into Liesel's head, but I was intrigued by death being the narrator, so maybe the story would not have been so good if he wasn't.
I read this book for pure pleasure. All opinions are my own. I was not compensated for this review in any way.
That sounds like an interesting narration. Hrmm...
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