[Holds mild spoilers]
Once in a while, you get lucky. Lucky enough to come across a book that you'll remember for a lifetime. The Book Thief, without a tiny grain of doubt, is one such marvel. Narrated by Death himself, the book is about a young German girl and the life around her during the World War II.
The Fuhrer's hatred towards the Jews has always fascinated me, for I have never been able to grasp how a single human could be capable of butchering six million European Jews, a feat not achievable by Death himself because you see, 'even Death has a heart'. I wanted to learn more about it. But, as I read books and watched movies that tried to recreate the war for us, what had begun as a mere interest became an obsession. I devoured any material I could find about the holocaust and while I was at it, The Book Thief has turned out to be a gem among them. Have you ever noticed how the pain of death is magnified manifold when you hear the same story from a child? Reading such a book is like your heart being whipped with raw words that ache for love, but shiver with embarrassment and yearn for death at the same time. Just when you recover from the lash, you are struck again with another truckload of fresh words. Your chest tightens up and you feel the undesirable choking in your throat as you try not to let the salt out of your eyes.
At least, that was what 'The Book Thief' did to me. The story-telling was unique, with no room for suspense. Every character's fate was handed out openly like a slap in the face, trampling down the little hope you had in store for them. After all, the book thief is just ten years old and lives in Munich, with a German papa whose foolish kindness brings unforeseen troubles, and is friends with a Jew. Life is doubtlessly a torment, rest assured. How do you feel when you lose everything, during that peaceful sleep you get when you are content and just when your life is brimming with gaiety? No, you don't feel. You become devoid of it.
More people need to read this book. It will at least help us retrieve the little bit of humanness buried within us. Every character is so beautifully detailed in the most intricate way. The power and depth of the story are highly unsettling, so much that you keep thinking about Liesel Meminger for a long time even after having finished the book. It is said that the ghosts of our past come back to haunt us. Maybe, that is what this book is - a ghost of mankind's past, brought to existence to forever haunt us of the regret and shame that still lingers in the world due to the acts of all those who were acclaimed leaders but were actually humanity's nemesis.
Quotes:
“Like most misery, it started with apparent happiness.”
----
“Imagine smiling after a slap in the face. Then think of doing it twenty-four hours a day.”
----
“She leaned down and looked at his lifeless face and Liesel 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. She was incapable, and after a few more minutes at his side, she was able to tear herself from the ground. It amazes me what humans can do, even when streams are flowing down their faces and they stagger on...”
----
“How about a kiss, Saumensch?"He stood waist-deep in the water for a few moments longer before climbing out and handing her the book. His pants clung to him, and he did not stop walking. In truth, I think he was afraid. Rudy Steiner was scared of the book thief's kiss. He must have longed for it so much. He must have loved her so incredibly hard. So hard that he would never ask for her lips again and would go to his grave without them.”
----
“On many counts, taking a boy like Rudy Steiner was robbery--so much life, so much to live for--yet somehow, I'm certain he would have loved to see the frightening rubble and the swelling of the sky on the night he passed away. He'd have cried and turned and smiled if only he could have seen the book thief on her hands and knees, next to his decimated body. He'd have been glad to witness her kissing his dusty, bomb-hit lips.
Yes, I know it.
In the darkness of my dark-beating heart, I know. He'd have loved it all right.
You see?
Even death has a heart.”
----Yes, I know it.
In the darkness of my dark-beating heart, I know. He'd have loved it all right.
You see?
Even death has a heart.”
“The words were on their way, and when they arrived, she would hold them in her hands like the clouds, and she would wring them out like the rain.”
----
“You’re a human, you should understand self-obsession.”
----
“It's a lot easier, she realized, to be on the verge of something than to actually be it. This would still take time.”
----
“The best word shakers were the ones who understood the true power of words. They were the ones who could climb the highest. One such word shaker was a small, skinny girl. She was renowned as the best word shaker of her region because she knew how powerless a person could be WITHOUT words.”