Steal This Book

I am so loving this book I'm reading, y'all. It's one of the best young adult novels I've ever read. It's called The Book Thief and it's written by an author I had never heard of, Markus Zusak. I picked it up from the cart full of new books that just arrived in my library (when a book order comes in, it's better than Christmas) as it was recommended on our school library listserv. It is absolutely wonderful.

It's hard to describe. The most remarkable thing about it is that it is narrated by Death. Yes, Death. And he's a likable guy--he's not evil, and he doesn't make people die, he just retrieves their souls when it's their time to go. The book begins with Death talking about his job and how he tries not to get involved at the scene of a death. Rather than paying attention to the grieving survivors, he observes the colors in the sky at the death scene. He can remember certain deaths by the colors he saw as he retrieved the soul. Despite himself, he paid attention to one girl who was present on the scene for three different memorable deaths. Something about this human girl drew him in. He began to observe her and learned that she is a "book thief." He tells her story.

And that's really what the novel is so far--the story of this one German girl living during World War II as told by Death. As you can imagine, Death is pretty busy at that time and place. It's historical fiction, I suppose, but because of the point of view, it has some gothic and supernatural overtones.

This book received several young-adult book awards this year, but it's not like most YA stuff I've read. It's really making me think.

So if you're looking for something different to read, pick this up (or be a book thief yourself.) If you read it, post your comments--this is one I want to share with someone and talk about.