Finished: The Book Thief (Zusak) Book Club Book #4. An instant favorite...couldn't put it down...incredibly moving book! The story of a little German girl named Liesel whose impoverished mother is forced to give her to a foster family to keep her from starving to death. Of course, this doesn't happen until Liesel first loses her little brother to illness on the long train ride to the foster family's little town near Munich. Set during WWII and Hitler's fanatical days, Death is the narrator of this riveting, yet lyrical, story of Liesel and all the people she comes to love and lose. I think most of the horrific Nazi stories I've read about their inhumane treatment of their Jewish fellow human beings have been from the Jewish point of view. This is the first one I've read from the viewpoint of down-trodden Germans who suffer their own hardships, while not necessarily agreeing with Hitler's views and actions. The story is so fresh with me and going to resonate for awhile. I don't really feel like just spitting out the plot. I do want to always remember the relationship that developed between Liesel and her foster father, Hans, or "Papa" as she came to call him. A kind, gentle, understanding, introspective, man of few words...but always the right words, Hans comforts Liesel through her nightly nightmares about the death of her little brother and also teaches her to read. He also cheats death twice, but surprisingly not to Death's dismay, because of circumstances that move him out of the line of fire due to his innate goodness. He carries immense guilt because he lived and his close friend in World War I, the Jewish Erik Vandenburg, died in battle. Erik was responsible for seeing to it that Hans missed that particular battle that day. In return, 30 years later, Hans risks his life and Rosa's and Liesel's lives to hide Erik's 24 year old son, Max, as he tries to flee Germany. Max hides in their basement for nearly two years while Hans, Rosa, and Liesel, all keep the dangerous secret. Liesel and Max grow close as they both have nightmares of the loss of family, and they both have a love for words, books, stories, and writing. They manage to save each other's lives figuratively and literally. Sadly, Max has to leave the safety of their home when Hans generously, but unthinkingly, gives a piece of bread to a Jewish prisoner who is being marched through their town on the way to the concentration camp, Dachau. Whipped for his actions, Hans then realizes that the Nazi party will probably search his house, so the family heartbreakingly says goodbye to Max and sends him on his way. We find out later that Max is caught and placed in the camp at Dachau.

As for Liesel, she originally becomes the "book thief" when she steals her first book standing in the snow-covered cemetery watching her little brother be buried. A book falls from one of the grave digger's pockets. Ten year old Liesel takes the book even though she can't read. This is the book that her Papa, Hans, later discovers under her sheets, and the first book he helps her learn how to read. The book is called The Grave Digger's Handbook. Though the subject material is grim, it actually helps Liesel to cope with her brother's death to read through the book. Later, while picking up and delivering the ironing on the wealthier side of their little town, Liesel meets the mayor's wife, who is hollow and grieving the loss of her own son in war. The mayor's wife shares her library full of books with Liesel and lets her read a book each time she comes. When the mayor financially buckles down and cancels sending out their ironing, Liesel is forced to sneak in the window of the mayor's house and steal a book every so often. Of course, the mayor's wife is not fooled, and one time even leaves cookies for Liesel. Their relationship is another one that develops deeply, which I really like by the end of the story. And, then there's Liesel's best friend and cohort in almost everything, including stealing, neighbor boy Rudy. Rudy is instantly smitten with Liesel, but their relationship develops as a rough and tumble friendship as they weather the hard years together. They age to be about 14, and grow to actually love each other, but never admit it. Their actions are their admissions, though. They are there for each other through thick and thin. Sadly, Death lets us know at the beginning of the story that he comes face to face with Liesel three times in her life as he carries the soul of another person off right in front of her. Needless to say, many of those people who become so beloved to Liesel die due to the bombing of their small German town. It's not hard to figure out who is going to die as the story unfolds...but it is still so very, very heartbreaking. :-( Even Death appears to be heartbroken. He doesn't really like his job, but it's just that....his job. He tries to tenderly carry the souls of good people as he leaves, and he always cradles children in his arms. He never hangs around to watch how the loved ones left behind react, because he doesn't want to get into all the emotion. The exception is Liesel, and because he does spend so much time observing her, he grows to greatly admire her. At the end of the war, Liesel's entire street is leveled, and everyone killed, by a bomb. The only survivor...Liesel, because she was up in the middle of the night in the basement working on a book. Dead: Papa, Rosa, Rudy, Rudy's family, all her friends on the street. It's so, so sad. The mayor's wife shows up to take Liesel home with her, and soon we see that Max survived Dachau and he comes to reunite with Liesel. Death informs us that he doesn't go to take Liesel's soul away until she's a very old woman with children and grandchildren. Gosh, I'm still thinking of so many details, and I just can't write them all down. So many characters I love...and as always, the horrific plight of the Jewish people at the hands of the Nazi's just breaks my heart.