Rereading The Book Thief eight years later

I reread The Book Thief eight years later, and it still broke my heart.

You can see my review of The Book Thief here.

One thing that stood out from the experience of reading TBT the first time was the buckets of tears I cried. Still, years after, even when I knew how it ends, I cried buckets. The Book Thief has got to be one of my favorite books of all time. It left a mark in my heart the first time I read it. Rereading it reinforced the many things I adored about the book:

1. The characters - There's so much to love about the characters on this book. While the major characters were carefully fleshed out, the minor ones were unforgettable. Delicate care and attention were devoted in breathing life to everyone. Each one a different color of thread interwoven masterfully into a beautiful tapestry.

2. The narrator - The idea of death being a sensible character with a great sense of humor and humanity comforts me.  death's narration is one of the strengths of TBT, because it shows us an impersonal and unfiltered perspective on human -- at their best, and most interestingly, at their worst. The book also invites us in a journey as death attempts to understand what makes us humans, humans.

3. The central theme - At the heart of TBT is the dichotomy of the power of words: How healing and life-giving it can be in hands of good people, and how destructive and deadly it can become in the wrong hands.

4. The story - While Liesel was going from one stolen book to another, a bigger thievery was happening---lives were being snatched and wasted to a fruitless war, dreams and hopes were being shattered and burned. Despite all of this darkness, there were glimpses of silver linings. 

Takeaways:

It all started with one book, stolen during her brother's burial. When she hid that book underneath her coat, the first block of domino fell, setting off a series of events.

• When the mayor's wife discovered Liesel's talent for writing, she was gifted with a black book.
• The night the bombs decimated Himmel Street, Liesel was in their basement, writing her book.
• Max taught her how powerful words can be, and near the end, Liesel was confronted with the irony of it all: words kill and bring life.

It was the girl's commitment to the craft of storytelling that saved her. And without that first domino knocking off the next one, we would have a different ending.

I'd like to think that writing has helped me more than I can give it credit. Writing has helped me process my mother's death and the grief that followed shortly. Writing has helped me express my innermost thoughts---thoughts that once written and realized, explained so much of who I am.

Words are my friends. Some are easier to find than most. I sometimes get exasperated looking for the right words to string together. It gets tiring at times. It's a love-hate relationship. But there are times when the words come easy. They might be difficult to come by, but when they do, they make every effort worthwhile. Writing continues to keep me sane, hopeful, and honest.

I hope that when death comes knocking at my door, I'll be brimming with stories to keep us entertained on our journey.