I borrowed this book from my Mom, a voracious reader/book collector, back in August. She told me it was wonderful, but I was hesitant to read it because she told me it was the story of a girl in Nazi Germany. I am always hesitant to read books about Nazi Germany because they are inevitably sad. So I didn't open this book up and decided this last Sunday to return it to her unread. As I handed the book back to my Mom, my sister-in-law made me take it back. "That book is amazing, and you can't not read it," she said. So I grudgingly took it back home with me and read the first chapter on Sunday. Oh my goodness, this book was AMAZING. Any yes it was sad. I cried really hard. My eyes are still puffy. What is it about? Well I guess you could say it is about a girl in Nazi Germany and her little life in Himmel Street, on the outskirts of Munich. The jacket of the book says, "It's just a small story really, about, among other things: a girl, some words, an accordionist, some fanatical Germans, a jewish fist fighter, and quite a lot of thievery..." It is a wonderful story about the power of words and books. One final quote from the book; "How does it feel, anyway?" "How does what feel?" "When you take one of those books?' At that moment, she chose to keep still. If he wanted an answer, he'd have to come back, and he did. "Well?" he asked, but again, it was the boy who replied, before Liesel could even ope, her mouth. "It feels good, doesn't it, to steal something back."
This is the story of a girl stealing some words back from Hitler. It is a wonderful book.
2 comments:
So good. I loved this book. The narration is fascinating and it is very well written. He uses vivid and non-traditional words to describe things, it's fun just to read the language he uses and try to soak in all the images. I cried, but it was wonderful!
Every book I have read about Nazi Germany is disturbing and sad - regardless of which side of the swastika it is written from. This book is no exception. But it has some wonderful imagery and is a tremendous story about the power of words and friendship. At first I did not like the fact that the narrator is death. I felt the idea of the colors was unnecessary and almost an afterthought on the part of the author. But the imagery and unusual use of words in the book are beautiful and serve to reinforce the power of words in the story. Wonderful.
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