The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

A novel recommended for young adults on a worn out topic but there is seriously nothing less ordinary about this book. It is a story about a young girl, Liesel, whose zeal on reading and her thirst to learn were so overwhelming, that those desires compelled her to sort of steal books.

Her life took place during the period of Nazi Germany where books, that are not related to Nazi ideology were destroyed which made her secret past time not the least none-dangerous at all. Liesel’s story during Nazi Germany on Himmel (Heaven, Zusak has a healthy sense of irony) Street, where she lived with her foster parents was narrated by the none other entity than Death itself, who was en route in Germany, fully occupied collecting souls massacred in the war.

I am truly impressed by Zusak’s way of describing those poignant moments of death in a rather unconventional way, that is by using colours to associate the mood. The character development of each individual mentioned in the book is worth the reading. I come to love Liesel’s foster parents, especially Rosa, whose character reeked of a wicked foster-mother at first read but I was glad that Zusak proved me wrong in his rather endearing way of describing Rosa, of someone who loves, without words, conveyed in her own ways.

The story had me laughing out loud due to the witty antics of the characters but also had me sad with unshed tears with each death. Rudy, Liesel’s playmate and closest buddy on Himmel Street, is such a darling and he’s hard not to love. Hans, Liesel’s father, is truly an angel of a foster father whose love for his child was expressed in profound gestures like giving midnight reading lessons.

∞ A TWO a.m. CONVERSATION ∞
‘Is this yours?’
‘Yes, papa.’
‘Do you want to read it?’
Again, ‘Yes, papa.’
A tired smile.
Metallic eyes, melting.
‘Well we’d better read it then.’

Quoting Zusak, Death has a heart too.

“I am haunted by humans.”
∞ Death, The Book Thief by Markus Zusak.

I love this book.

Being cooped up indoors (due to some crappy spring weather lately) tends to make me feel restless and fidgety. Where else is better to channel my excess energy than at my kitchen! I was browsing through my recipe collections for some authentic Malaysian food a couple of days ago and I suddenly felt like having chicken rice for dinner. The recipe is easy enough and after some grinding, slicing, rubbing, chopping and shedding some tears (yea, I get pretty emotional when dealing with onions) I realised that, darn am I a good cook . Served with homemade chili ginger sauce, the one and only chili sauce (in my opinion) for chicken rice. Perfetto!

While tending to my plants a few days ago, I saw ’something’ hiding beneath the baby parsley. A snail is lurking amongst my precious herb garden! But according to bf’s mother, snails with coiled shells post no harm to plants. The real culprit is those snails without shells (or literally known ‘naked’ snail in German ). However I still find it to be a little out of place loitering around the parsley. They are sort of like a living nightmare for gardeners who wish to grow their plants as pesticide-free as possible but the presence of these culprits make organic-gardening almost impossible. A colleague of mine told me that he used to place electrical-wires on the ground surrounding its vegetable plants, with voltage high enough to kill the snails but still low enough without hurting oneself to combat snail invasion! Now that’s an idea I should consider…

It was one of those spur of the moments tactlessness. What was supposed to be thoroughly thought, turned out to be a blunder. Time to gauge the severity of the damage done. The humble pie has never been tastier this time round but somehow, I wonder how many glasses of water will suffice to wash them down. Especially when they felt like rocks at first bite.