The Book Thief - Markus Zusak

If a book can make me think past what is written on the page in front of me, then it immediately wins my heart; but I don't think that a book has ever made me contemplate life just as much as The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak. In our English Lesson last week, we were asked to bring in a piece of interesting narrative, which straight away made me think of this:

'When the coughing stopped, there was nothing but the nothingness of life moving on with a shuffle, or a near silent twitch.  A suddenness found its way onto his lips then, which were a corroded brown colour and peeling, like old paint. In desperate need of redoing.

Their mother was asleep.

I entered the train.

My feet stepped through the cluttered aisle and my palm was over his mouth in an instant.

No one noticed.

The train galloped on.

Except the girl.'

Written from the point of view of Death, this book offers an interesting perspective into life during WW2 Germany, and the story of Liesel Meminger.  Due to it's unusual narrative viewpoint, the book offers a unique and sometimes confusing descriptive style, yet it seems to fit perfectly with the content and storyline.  It leaves such a lot of questions, too many to be pondered in a short blog post; however I'll leave you with this quote (another of my favourites, this time from the blurb of the novel):

'It is 1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier, and will become busier still.'