"The Book Thief"

This book has been on my 'coming up next!' list for a while now. It hasn't taken me that long to read it, but it has taken me that long to get it on here. Which is a shame because "The Book Thief", by Markus Zusak, is one of those books that you want to tell the world about after you get done reading it. This book is set in Nazi Germany during WW2 and follows the life of a young girl named Liesel. "The Book Thief" is unique because it tells about the war from the perspective of a German citizen. Almost every other book about WW2 that I have read is written from the perspective of a Jew, which makes all the Germans look like really bad people. This book is amazing because it shows the other side of the war; the Germans that were forced to do go on rations and be hungry all the time, or were forced to give up their children to go to Nazi soldier training camps, or were publicly  humiliated and disgraced for showing any kindness to a Jew. 

The story, which is narrated by Death himself (an unexpected twist which only adds to the uniqueness of the book), focuses on Liesel and her family. Through unfortunate events Liesel is left in the care of a foster family who suffer from the side affects of the war. They suffer even more when they decide to hide a Jew in their basement and have to share what little food they have with him. Liesel goes about living her life with this huge secret locked inside. She delivers washing to customers, plays soccer in the street, learns to read, gets into mischief with her best friend, and occasionally steals books. She suffers unbearable heartbreak and yet somehow manages to rise through it all.

This book is brutally honest and will keep you turning pages even though your eyes are too blurry with tears to be able to read. "The Book Thief" may take a week or so to get through, but this is a book I would not suggest skipping over. You would definitely be missing out.