Review of The Book Thief (2013) by Aria B — 15 Sep 2014

Through the perspective of death himself, he begins to narrate the story with the scene of a nine-year-old girl named Liesel, her mother, and younger brother sit window-side of a train. Taking the life of her brother, Werner, Liesel is haunted with the witnessing right before her young eyes. As the mother and daughter bury Werner at the next station, one of the gravediggers drops a book and to Liesel?s curiosity picks it up. The two then make their destination to Munich where Liesel is to live with foster parents, Hans and Rosa Hubermann. To make her feel at home, Hans teaches her how to read her found book. She later meets Ruby, a neighborhood friend who takes her to school and becomes her companion.

The thought of her brother still haunting her, she continues to read her grave-digging book. Enrolled in the Hitler Youth, one night, the town gathered to destroy all the books. After the book burning, she had courage to steal a book from the pile, to only have been watched by the Mayor?s wife. Later on, Liesel helps her foster mom with washing delivers to discover it was to the Mayor?s house. The Mayor?s wife and her slowly begin to form a bond as she is shown a library and allows her to read.

Months pass and news overcame throughout the town that a war has broken out. One day, a man named Max, an utterly ill Communist, is secretly kept in the basement of the Hubermanns. Son of a war friend of Hans, he was to be kept safe. As Liesel and Max build a brother-sister relationship, she helps him recover by constantly reading to him with ?borrowed? from the Mayor?s library. Recovered, Max leaves the helping home before he is caught by the Germans. As war gets closer to town, one night, air bombs strike and demolish the town. Liesel, the only survivor, witnesses her Mama, Papa, and beloved companion Ruby lay out in the middle of the streets.

Years pass and to her surprise, Max comes to visit her. As Liesel aged, the narrator comes back to take her precious life, and witnessed in awe of her live years. He is wondered, ?How a human can haunt a non human?.

The Book Thief is definitely an emotional yet inspiring movie of a little girl who took great challenges. Shortly before World War II, set in Germany, you can picture a town full of people hailing Hitler, while there were some who were against and secretly helped the Communist. The relationships between Liesel and her foster family, Max, and Ruby helped to reach closure in the difficult situation they were all going through. Even with help of simple words created an enlightening moment, even if it were for a short period. With the power of words, and purpose of each character, the Book Thief is a heart warmer.