The Book Thief

I thought this was a painfully beautiful book. Death talks about that at the end of the book actually- which I thought a little cocky of the author but still true. Death says, "I wanted to ask her how the same thing could be so ugly and so glorious, and its words and stories so damning and brilliant. " The truth behind it comes from the contrast of human actions. There are the cowards and the vicious. There are also the heroes who are all the more heroic in the face of crisis and danger.

I was struck by how precarious a position the Hubermanns were in . While I can't understand how a nation ever let their hate get to this point I do understand why at that point so few were willing to take action. I am amazed by those like the Hubermanns were willing to risk the lives of their families to save a few souls. I hope that I would do the same. I hope that I would prevent the situation from getting that bad in the first place. I was amazed at how quickly the people would turn on each other. I thought it most revealing when it talked about how Rudy's dad felt about the Jews being kicked out and when Hans jr. voiced his opinions. You could hear the propaganda that spouted fear. I thought it interesting too that kicking the Jews out took away Herr Steiner's competition and also his paying customers. The war furthered that even more. So what he had originally feared ( no work) came to pass because they kicked the Jews out. Hans Jr. was exceptionally brutal especially because of the contrast between him and his Dad. He is quoted as saying,"It's pathetic - how a man can stand by and do nothing as a whole nation cleans out the garbage and makes itself great. " It reminded me of the rhetoric against illegal aliens in our country. Now don't get me wrong- I do think that we need to protect our borders better. But blaming all of our country's problems or our personal financial troubles on a group of people gets a little too close to what the Germans did to the Jews and anyone who helped them. At least that's how it started. Indifference and the building of fear kept it escalating. I'm thankful for the many opinions in our country and the loud voices that keep us on the straight and narrow- for the most part.

Anyway I enjoyed this book. I enjoyed it's perspective though it was very hard to read at times because because of the tragedy of it. I've been having weird dreams where we need food storage ever since. I think it's a combination of things making that happen but still... it's good advice to myself in my sleep. :) We are having a preparedness expo this weekend where I plan on gathering lots of good info.