The Book Theif: Best Book of 2013

The best book I read in 2013 was the book theif. I am guilty, I did see the movie first, and after reading the book I regret it, because it's easier to have read the book and critique the movie than it is to  read the book and question if it happened in the movie. The Book Theif is about a young girl living in Nazi Germany. Leisel, the girl, is abandoned by her mother, a communist, attempting to get away from the Nazis. She is left with her foster parents, Rosa, a woman with a harsh temper, but a kind heart, and a lazy but loving man named Hans. There she becomes, well, a book theif.

While it may not be apparent to some at first ,  Death, is the narrator. In the movie, you hear death speak every 20-25 minutes or so, but in the book it is quite more frequent.  You see death takes a peticular interest in Leisel, and maybe too close of an interest, as Death got too close, and her brother ended up dead. Death gives you insight, in the book to what will happen next, and in the beginning leads you on to give you a peaceful view of Nazi Germany, where everyone is fine. As the book  goes on, Death decides to show the reader the other side of  Germany with a cold Jew  hiding in a train waiting for the possibility of safety.

In the beginning of the book, Leisel appears as a dumb child who can't read to the children around her, but the reader can see the courage in the young girl from the beginning starting from when she beats up a boy at school, to when she steals her second book from a Nazi book burning. She soon learns to bead with her Papa,  who left school in fourth grade, and they buy, and steal books together to read. Books were precious then, and hidden, as Nazis liked to burn books by authors they didn't find acceptable. She keeps a wall of words in her basement, to study, to read and to learn, however she doesn't know that her reading, and her willingness to learn keeps her alive in the end.

The Book Theif is about a young girl with the courage to disobey the rules, the cruel rules that were set into place by awful people.  It is narrated by Death, who was fascinated with Leisel, and let her live her full 93 years. It was a brilliant book and I recommend it to all.