This is going to sound like an odd statement, but: I love Holocaust fiction.
It’s so emotionally charged and character driven, two elements I look for in novels, and is what makes a book good in my opinion.
Most Holocaust fiction focuses on the atrocity experienced by Jews or witnessed by foreigners. In Australian author Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief, we experience WWII from the perspective of a 10-year old German girl and her friend. Set in Molching, Germany, Liesel Meminger is sent to live with foster parents Hans and Rosa Huberman because her parents are Communists. On the train ride to Molching, Liesal watches her younger brother die and is haunted by this image, plagued by recurring nightmares.
Growing up on Himmel Street in a poorer part of town, in the days leading up to WWII, Liesel is befriended by Rudy Steiner and together they join Hitler Youth, steal food, and otherwise try to survive this world gone mad. There is one other thing Liesel steals: books. Yearning for the knowledge to make sense of the tragedies of life, Liesel steals her first book at the grave of her dead brother. Later, books, and the words they carry will prove to be lifesavers.
As war breaks out, another friend enters Liesel’s life in the form of a promise kept by Hans Huberman. Years before, in WWI, Hans life was spared thanks to the actions of friend Eric Vandenberg. After the war, Hans visits Eric’s widow and son, promising to be of service should they ever require his assistance. Young Max Vandenberg, a Jew, is smuggled to Hans’ home in Molching one night, where he takes up residence in their basement and Liesel and her adoptive parents become Jew rescuers.
Narrated by Death, The Book Thief is a beautifully written novel about the Holocaust told from the perspective of everyday Germans. It is so easy to hold the country and its people as a whole accountable for the atrocities committed against the Jewish peoples during WWII, yet we must remember so many Germans were sympathetic to the Jewish plight, but were powerless to stop it. They lived in a police state where any outward sign of rebellion or anarchy was punishable by death, the same death they witnessed occurring to their Jewish friends and neighbours.
I got to sit down with the Windsor Book Club this past Wednesday at delightful Evolve Cafe, who were incredibly kind to open especially for us, and we chatted about this book. The overall consensus was that the book was really very good. Where I thought it may have dragged in places and been a bit slow, I was quickly shot down as everyone else thought it was a quick read. Go figure. One good point was made that it isn’t exactly a suspenseful novel, so that may have been what I was missing. The book is based on many actual events that happened in Germany to the author’s parents or witnessed by them, and this made the book resonate with readers. Some members mentioned stories they’d heard growing up from grandparents and parents who’d been in the war, and how the novel brought back memories of those stories.
Another interesting point that was made, and that speaks to the literacy advocate in me, is how important words, books and reading are to the characters in this novel. Scenes like book burnings were offset by townsfolk huddled in bomb shelters being read to by Liesel which very much helped to pass the time and ease fears and worries. The juxtaposition of Hilter burning books or using words to kill was nicely offset by Liesel using books and words to save friends and neighbours.
Till next time, happy reading!
L :)
| TBR = 8 | WPL = 23 |
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