The Book Thief, the power of reading

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak is a haunting and extraordinary book about a young girl with a passion for words in the death busy Holocaust. The main character is a young German girl Liesel Meminger, who is raised by foster parents after her real parents and brother died. She is a very sympathetic and warm hearted figure who is very observant of the mistreatment of Jews. She takes great risks not only by hiding Jews in her basement, but also in order to continue her true passion for reading. She is willing to steal books from the mayors library. This main theme, reading, and the importance of it to Liesel is the fact that it is an escape from the reality of war. It brought  friendship and love. It certainly saved Liesel's life. 

An example of Leisel's love for reading that brought friendship into her life was when she read The Whistler to the Jewish hide-a-way, Max (who lived in her basement for the majority of the book) while he was in a coma. To return the favor, Max wrote Liesel a book about her fascination for words and her stronghold on them. "Max and Liesel were held together by the quite gathering of Words". An example on how reading conjures love is seen when Liesel accidentally drops one of her mystery books in freezing December waters of a river, her best friend Rudy jumps in after the unfortunate novel and gains her love by saving the precious book. "She had to give it to him, he knew how to perform."  The most important book she receives is not full of words, only blank lines. In these blank lines she tells us her sorrows, and happiness, losses, and gains. She wrote of the people she had met and watched die due to the terrifying bombs dropped from the rib-cages of foreign planes. This little black book "gave her reason to write her own words, to see that words had also brought her to life."

Luckily, I cannot imagine living in such circumstances, I greatly respect Liesel's bravery to do what was right in a Hitler dictated society. I don't believe I would have the wits to be as immensely brave as her. I do connect personally to her passion for reading, it was an escape from the real world for her. My passion for swimming, two hours a day, is a temporary escape from the challenges of home work, responsibilities of my daily routines. It is an energy boost and which helps me move forward.