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The Verdict is in, the Book Thief takes the win.

I have completed, with great disappointment (often when I finish a book I feel somewhat bereaved), the Book Thief by Markus Zusak.

It has been a long time since I have stumbled across a book that strikes me as being as unique as this book has.

The Book Thief is not the first book I have read set in War Time Germany; 1931 - 1945, however, this book took a rather different perspective of the time. While the book has a more predominant German landscape on the War and the World at the time there is defined beauty in the view.  

Narrated thoroughly by an unusual yet surprisingly lovable character the book leads us into the life and trials of foster child; Leisel Meminger. We meet Leisel as she parts ways with her birth family and travels on to a small town on the outskirts of Munich. Her foster parents, both prove to have extreme generosity of the human spirit, something that was not only rare but hidden at the time. We also meet various friends along the journey, a long time love and a hidden Jew.

The characters for me were hit and miss, some, for example 'Papa' Hans Hubermann was scripted beautifully and his image in my minds eye is clear and focused. Surprisingly the character of Leisel is slight blurred on the edges and while I can see her thoughts, her love and her purpose in the pages, her image is not so easily concocted.

While i found some weakness in the text I do believe the book overall is a beautiful read. The use of symbolism and iconography, so perfectly executed as well as the eternally important subject matter makes this novel so compelling.

The Holocaust is something that must be remembered in order to prevent its recurrence, this book takes away the weak and dying image that is so prominent of the time and replaces it with a man who is willing to Box the Fuhrer to his dying breathe, Germans who will feed the suffering - despite the adverse affects to their own quality of life and reminds us all that at the end of the day we are all human and we will all eventually meet the same end.

I not only implore you to go and pick up a copy of this book but also take a further look into The Holocaust. I have been able, during my travels, to visit some of the worlds best Holocaust Memorial Museums as well as some of the remaining Concentration Camps. The stories are often crippling and often inspiring but more than anything they are educational. In a world where history is scheduled to repeat itself, we cannot avoid the fact that Genocide has and continues to happen but we can look at ways that we might prevent it happening in the future.

Other Holocaust Books worth a read are:
The Reader by Bernhard Schlink
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne
The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
Schindler's List by Thomas Keneally
Night by Ellie Wiesel
Briar Rose by Jane Yolen
Escape from Sobibor by Richard L Rashke

also worth a read.... Mein Kampf (My Struggle) by Adolf Hitler

An excerpt from the Book Thief on the night of the Book Burning, May 10, 1933
"Although something inside told her that this was a crime - after all, her three books were the most precious items she owned - she was compelled to see the thing lit. She couldn't help it. I guess humans like to watch a little destruction. Sandcastles, houses of cards, that's where they being. Their great skill is their capacity to escalate."

Happy reading everyone! I start my next read today, Jodi Picoult's -  'The Perfect Match'.

Lexie