Review: Wolf By Wolf by Ryan Graudin

★★★★☆

source: ARC from Hachette

publication: October 20, 2015, Little, Brown

This is one of the few books I've read recently whose synopsis actually gives you a sense of what the book is about. Wolf By Wolf is about Yael, a girl who survived a World War II death camp only because she was chosen as a science experiment: mysterious injections gave her the ability to change her face at will. Now, she's impersonating Adele Wolf, the victor of a cross-continental motorcycle race, so that she can enter the race, get invited to the ball, and kill Hitler. Meanwhile, she's got to keep everyone thinking she is Adele, including Adele's twin brother and another competitor, Luka, with whom Adele has a hush-hush romantic history.

I really liked this book. It was fast and interesting and didn't recall for me any other YA novels I've read (or movies I've seen, for that matter). I think what I love most is that Yael truly does question her own ruthlessness time and time again—there is a line that she never wants to cross: killing, or causing the deaths of, innocent people. Crossing that line would go against everything she is fighting for, and I think it's really important that this was a concern of hers, because a lot of times characters will feel bad for killing someone but insist that it's in the name of some greater good. Yael knows that that would be a lie, that "greater good" is the kind of justification that can go too far—just look at Hitler.

This is the second Ryan Graudin book I've read (the first being The Walled City) and I am noticing that she is not afraid to give her stories a lot of different elements. In this one, you've got the motorcycle race, the death camp flashbacks, Yael's training, her mission, her relationships with Felix and Luka, and the mystery of what happened at last year's race. Graudin pulls all of these off well; it never feels like too much is going on.

At the same time, though, with this much going on it does detract from the character development a bit. Yael is a complex character with a metric ton of history, so my issue wasn't so much with her as with Felix and Luka. I liked them just fine, but they never felt fully fleshed-out for me—and I wish that Yael had been given a chance to have deeper connections with them (or even just one of them). There weren't really any relationships driving this story: it was all about Yael and the world she lives in, and her mission to make it better. If you're someone who likes plot-driven stories, this won't be so much of a problem for you, but if you subscribe as I do to the mantra that character is king, you might be slightly disappointed.

I am split down the middle when it comes to the prose. It's very innovative and evocative, but sometimes language is just piled on so heavily that it can be distracting. Some sentences are stop-you-in-your-tracks powerful, while others are sort of cringeworthy and had me asking, Why can't you just use adjectives as adjectives??? (Graudin has this habit of using adjectives and verbs as nouns, which I also noticed in The Walled City, and it rarely works for me). But then again, there were so many quotes in the last chapter or two that had me going "Daaaaang," I can't say the writing style wasn't also one of the best things about this book. It was.

Now, Yael's ability to "skinshift"—a word that's not used until the end of the novel—is not entirely explained. I imagine that's because Yael doesn't know how it works, she doesn't know what was in those injections, but I do wish it had been explained somehow. I mean, it would be one thing if she were casting an illusion, but she is literally changing the structure of her face, as well as her eye and hair colors. It seems that her body, however, does not change when she shifts. Which is another anomaly altogether. Suspension of disbelief does not come easily, is all I'm saying.

But! This is a series! There's more room for the things I found lacking in book 1! I look forward to finding out where Yael goes next.

Review: Untold by Sarah Rees Brennan (spoiler-free)

A little story about the cover: I like my covers to match.
I was upset when I found out it would not match the first book.
I still like the original cover of Unspoken better, but am happy to accept this one.

Oh, lawd, this book broke me.

And put me back together.

And broke me again.

Several times.

What is there to say about Sarah Rees Brennan's writing that I didn't already say in my Unspoken review? The woman is hilarious. This book may be even funnier than Unspoken. But the woman is also evil, and Untold may also be even more heartbreaking.

Characters

I'm a sucker for a good character. Any good character, really. But these aren't just any good characters. You're going to wish you had a Kami Glass, Lady Sleuth, in your life. Kami is not only witty and entertaining, but she has the endearing quality of being so objective that she sees both the best and the possible worst in everyone. She's no damsel in distress, but she's not an invulnerable stone either. You're going to simultaneously want your own Jared Lynburn and hope that you never, ever get one. He's a bad boy but he doesn't really know why. He's full of anger and despair but also lightness and vulnerability similar to Kami's. You're even going to love the overly-boy-friendly Holly, who most other books would have turned into a teenaged nemesis in a frenzy of girl-hate. She's wide-eyed but also logical, friendly but also lonely. All of the characters are so beautifully complicated, I could go on and on, but I'll spare you. Just. Yes. Good.

The above is a direct quote from my Unspoken review. Every single sentence of that still applies, but this time I won't spare you. Because now I have to talk about Angela, Rusty and Ash too. I love Angela because she's a total badass without even trying-- no, really, she does not try. If there's something that Angela has to try to do, she does not do it (I had a kind friend point out that Angela and I are spirit sisters in that way). That's the Montgomery way. People are scared of Angela because one glare says she can end you and then immediately take a nap-- not because it took so much effort, but because being awake isn't really her thing. Angela likes having people scared of her, because it means they won't mess with the people she loves. Rusty is similar in that if you make him do a thing, he will request a snack and a nap. He takes exactly two things seriously: Angela and Kami. If you make one of them cry, he will punch you. And then he will make a joke about his dashing good looks and irresistible charm.

As for Ash, I was never quite sure how I felt about him before, but I know now. He is a beautiful squishable puppy dog. He is the non-Lynburn Lynburn, where Jared is the Lynburn non-Lynburn. Don't make that face at me! I am making sense!

Pacing, plot and all that good stuff

Well, I stayed up until 3:30a.m. to finish it. So.

The hacky sack

I already mentioned the breaking and the putting back together and the re-breaking. The hacky sack is back. Literary masochists, I call upon thee to preorder this book right now! You will not be disappointed! You'll laugh (a lot), you'll want to strangle some people (mostly Jared, "the most infuriating idiot in all the land"), you'll dance with glee and throw imaginary sparkles into the air because finally everything seems good and right, and then you'll realize there are too many pages left. Too many pages. TOO MANY PAGES.

And once again you'll be lying on the cold, hard ground, shaming no one but yourself because you knew SRB was trouble when she walked in. You let yourself hope for too much, and then she did that thing she does, because she gets her lifeblood from your tears.

But it was fun, and I'd do it again. And not just for the part where Jared and Ash both decide they want Rusty.

★★★★★

Book Review: The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

Guys. GUYS.

This is going to be another one of those times when I completely gush about a new book and say just about nothing negative in regard to it, because it is PERFECTION. Five stars, again. And trust me, it's really hard to get 5 stars from me. Yes, this is going to end up being one of those books that I put on a pedestal and turn all red in the face if ever I see or hear a negative word about it.

So this is a little backward, but The Raven Boys was my first Maggie Stiefvater book. I've never read the Shiver series, and I own The Scorpio Races but haven't read that yet either. So I went into this book completely blind and not really knowing what to expect. But HOLY CRAP is my mind blown. I'm writing this review two days after finishing the book because I've been having trouble even forming the right words.

Let me just organize my thoughts into categories here. Of course, I must start with my most important category:

CHARACTERS

The characters in this book are some of the best I've ever encountered. Like, they're so flawed and real but also still characters in the sense that they're exciting and new, and can't really be compared to anyone in real life. Of course these are just vague descriptions of a bunch of characters, so I'll go character-by-character.

First, there's the main character, Blue. I just love her. She doesn't take crap from anyone. She has a pretty leash-free relationship with her mother, and doesn't really listen even when her mother does tell her what to do. She stands up to the macho raven boys with a quick wit and no fear, which would be impressive even if she weren't a mere five feet tall. She isn't too keen on doing what's expected of her, but she always does the sensible thing. It's almost like she thinks about her feelings even more than she actually feels them, because she likes to be in control of them.

Then there's Gatsb-- I mean Gansey (sorry, my brain has involuntarily made connections between Gatsby and Gansey). I hardly even know how to explain what a perfect character he is, because he's so complicated and unexpected. Imagine meeting a guy who's been filthy rich his whole life. He goes to an all-boys' private school, uses his money to get what he wants, and condescends to people who aren't as rich as him. But the thing is, the condescension is completely unintentional. He doesn't realize he's doing it. And his relationship with money isn't quiet so simple either-- it's not just that he has so much of it that he doesn't think twice about throwing it at anyone who can do something for him; it's that he's never known any different. He's jealous of the people who haven't had money their whole lives, because he secretly wants to be normal. Sure, he's in-control, suave, confident Gansey. But he's also just Gansey, the boy who wants to carve his own path. The boy who gets excited about things, who wishes he hadn't been raised to use three- and four-syllable words that nobody else knows, or cherish ridiculous things like fancy cars and glass plates, or ride in private helicopters without realizing that it's a little excessive. And he cares so much about his motley little group of friends, because of the feeling he got when he met each of them-- that it was just right. He may seem like the type whose head guides his every move, but Gansey's heart is what really does it.

Then we've got Nic-- I mean Adam. The level-headed, "elegant"-looking kid from the not-a-trailer park, whose private school sweater has a pull on the shoulder because he can't afford a new one. The most trustworthy one for Blue, it seems, but oh, did I mention these characters are complicated? Yes, Adam has a dark side. I won't tell you what it is, but he's both the most innocent and down-to-earth raven boy of the bunch and possibly the most off-his-rocker. Gansey is the leader of the group, but Adam is the only one to whom Gansey ever defers. He respects Adam's opinions on all things, and Adam forces himself to see the best in Gansey, reminding himself that he doesn't mean to be condescending. His devotion is tested and tested again, and the beautiful thing is that I can't tell you it's never broken. Adam is not flawless, he has his weak moments, and he's all the more perfect because of it.

Then there's Ronan. The brute who nurses a baby raven back to health. The raven named Chainsaw who has also made appearances in his dreams, because his head is only a safe place for a chainsaw. He's got a secret and we don't know what it is. He seems tough and heartless, but he's also the person who tried to teach Gansey how to fight to protect himself, and the person who defended Adam in a situation when nobody else would dare get involved. Mostly in the first book Ronan is a mystery, but I have a feeling we'll be learning a lot more about him in the next one.

Then you've got a bunch of eccentric supporting characters, and I'll just say that you hardly even have to look to see who's talking because you can tell just by what they're saying. Which is a feat in itself.

PLOT

The plot in this book is extremely twisty and confusing and I wouldn't have it any other way. It was impossible to guess what was going to happen, because half the time you're still trying to figure out what just happened. You're waiting for Blue's prophecy (that her kiss will kill her true love) to come true, but at the same time it's possible that you've already seen it. You're wondering if she's really going to fall in love with Gansey (sure seems like it), or if that was a misdirect. You're wondering what's going on in the magical world and what it has to do with the real world. My favorite thing is looking for connections in stories, and this book gives me a whole crapload of that. So I'm happy.

ROMANCE

IT IS ABSOLUTELY PERFECT. Do not go into this book thinking it will be a romance novel, because you will be doing yourself a serious disservice. Yes, the main hook is the whole thing about Blue being destined to kill her true love, but it is not about the romance. At least not in the first book. In this one, Blue starts seeing Adam, and it's completely innocent and adorable but it also has dark undertones because Adam's got some issues that Blue doesn't know about, and Blue knows that she's either going to kill Gansey or fall in love with him. Her relationship with Adam, believe it or not, allows her relationship with Gansey to develop, because she gets to spend time with him as friends. She gets to learn about who he really is before simply assuming that she's going to fall in love with him. It gets to be her choice (no insta-love!!!!!!!!). Gansey becomes the only person she tells about the prophecy, because at this point, to her, he seems so detached from it. I felt like this was the perfect way to start their relationship without really starting it-- and without really confirming that there will even be a relationship.

SETTING

Unique, interesting, transporting, clear, and kind of a character in itself.

WRITING

Beautiful. Flawless. More, please.

I think I'm going to stop myself before this becomes ridiculously long and gushy. I just had to say something because I can't stop thinking about this book and these characters and their relationships and okay bye.

★★★★★

Book Review: Unspoken by Sarah Rees Brennan

You know how in every teen movie ever, there's always that party that gets way out of hand and giant dudes end up throwing around breakable things with no concern for their fragility? And 9 out of 10 times, that thing ends up smashed to bits? Well, Unspoken by Sarah Rees Brennan is a pair of giant dudes, and my heart is that breakable thing.

Why am I telling you this? Well, I think you should read the book. HEY, don't give me that look. I'm not crazy. I want you to read it because, sure, I am selfish and do not like to be alone in my misery. But also because I am selfless and want other people to experience good things. And Unspoken is a good thing. A very good thing. And also a thing that will use your feelings like a hacky sack. But let's start with the good things first:

HUMOR

This was, without a doubt, the first time I've laughed hysterically at a book (for what is probably not considered a normal amount of time) since I read the animal crackers scene in The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer. And I still have times when I think about that scene at any random moment in the middle of the day and turn into one of those crazy people who seems to be laughing for no reason at all. So yeah. This book is funny (even if you don't have the memory of Sarah unbuttoning her cardigan whilst doing a dramatic reading from it, as I so vividly do). My favorite spoiler-free hilarity:

Kami strode through a froth of daisies to a half-fallen wall that might once have been part of a fortress, but was now a tumble of stones studded with spiky yellow blooms. She bent down, rummaging in the wild tangle of garden around her feet, and chose a pebble. A large pebble. Kami wound her arm back, took careful aim, and threw.
The "pebble" crashed through both glass and curtain.
There was the creak of an old sash window being thrust open, and Jared's head and shoulders appeared at the window. "Hark," he said, his tone very dry. "What stone through yonder window breaks?"
Kami yelled up at him, "It is the east, and Juliet is a jerk!"
*pause to get laughter under control* [I mean, she just smashed his window open and he pulls out Romeo & Juliet?!]
Jared abandoned Shakespeare and demanded, "What do you think you're doing?"
"Throwing a pebble," said Kami defensively. "Uh... and I'll pay for the window."
Jared vanished and Kami was ready to start shouting again, when he reemerged with the pebble clenched in his fist. "This isn't a pebble! This is a rock."
"It's possible that your behavior has inspired some negative feelings that caused me to pick a slightly overlarge pebble," Kami admitted. 

CHARACTERS

I'm a sucker for a good character. Any good character, really. But these aren't just any good characters. You're going to wish you had a Kami Glass, Lady Sleuth, in your life. Kami is not only witty and entertaining, but she has the endearing quality of being so objective that she sees both the best and the possible worst in everyone. She's no damsel in distress, but she's not an invulnerable stone either. You're going to simultaneously want your own Jared Lynburn and hope that you never, ever get one. He's a bad boy but he doesn't really know why. He's full of anger and despair but also lightness and vulnerability similar to Kami's. You're even going to love the overly-boy-friendly Holly, who most other books would have turned into a teenaged nemesis in a frenzy of girl-hate. She's wide-eyed but also logical, friendly but also lonely. All of the characters are so beautifully complicated, I could go on and on, but I'll spare you. Just. Yes. Good.

PACING, PLOT & ALL THAT GOOD STUFF

Do not put this book down. It will start making irresistible weepy noises and begging you to come back to it.

You want an awesome concept for a book? Imaginary friend turns out to be real. He's got a weird family. Murders (both human and fuzzy woodland creature-- oh yes, she went there) abound and you think his weird family has something to do with it. Oh, and there's some weird magicky thing happening in the woods, and someone's trying to kill you. You know.

THE HACKY SACK

So, if you're one of those literary masochists (like me), who are not complete until a book has turned you into a puddle of emotions on the floor, I HAVE GOOD NEWS. The end of this book had me unable to form a coherent sentence about it for going on 3 hours. You see, throughout the whole thing, there are ups and downs-- moments that kind of lift you up and make you squee like a schoolgirl, followed by moments that throw that squee out the window and run it over with a large sedan. But nothing will prepare you for the end, when *something* happens and you're like FINALLY and you're walking on clouds and life is wonderful and you're about to slide down a rainbow and then suddenly it's all gone and there is nothing left and, nope, there's no parachute to soften this blow, so you're hurtling to the cold, hard earth that is the end of the book. And then, as my friend Will Herondale would say, you're left lying limply on the ground, trying to remember your own name.*

STOP READING THIS AND BUY IT

No, really. That's all I have to say about it. I hope I sold you on the book, and I hope you love it. But mostly, I hope you fangirl and commiserate with me.

★★★★★

*- I have found this phrase can apply to many different situations. For instance, Will used it to indicate how charmed Aloysius Starkweather would be by him. I have just used it to indicate how broken you will be by the end of this book. Just saying, it's a very versatile phrase.

Book Review: Saving June

So, I've been meaning to write a review of this book almost since the moment I finished it, but at that moment all I really wanted to do was go back and read my favorite parts again. This book immediately went to the shelf on which I keep all of my favorites, like John Green and Stephanie Perkins and, yes, The Hunger Games.

Not that Saving June is really anything like those (especially The Hunger Games). But still, I find it somewhat shocking that a debut author-- with a publisher too small to even put out a hardcover version of the book-- could manage to get on that bookshelf. Especially with a basic concept that's been done so many times before-- the death of a family member. Namely, the sister of the main character.

This book could have ended up just like The Sky is Everywhere. Except for the fact that Harper and her sister never really "got" each other. They weren't best friends. Their last conversation was a bickering match. June's boyfriend was a jerk, and OH, June committed suicide. There's the notion in Jandy Nelson's book, which you'll recall I gave 4 stars, that Bailey's death was unfair because she was full of life (literally, she was pregnant) and wanted to be here. It's unfair because everyone who loved her wanted to be a part of who she became. In Hannah Harrington's book, the questions are somewhat more complex. Is someone's death still unfair to them if they choose it? Or is it more unfair to the people they left behind? Are you allowed to be angry with someone when they end their life and put you through the pain of dealing with it? Should you feel guilty for not having seen the signs? Whose fault is it?

“I've never been good at emotional stuff. Except anger. Anger, I'm good at.” 

And yet, this grief book is only a little about grief. The main character, Harper, has a knack for pushing things down and not letting anyone in. At first I didn't really believe the things Harper tells us about herself-- that she's a delinquent, that nobody is proud of her the way they were of June, that even before June's death she always wore black on black on black. I kind of felt like she was showing more than telling. But as the book progresses, you learn that that's part of Harper's defense mechanism. She wants people to believe she is someone she's not, so that nobody really knows who she is. But at the same time, all she wants is for someone to care enough to get to know who she really is.

Enter, Jacob Tolan. Jake, the mysterious and disrespectful guy at June's wake, who eavesdrops on a conversation Harper has with her best friend, Laney (who we'll get to later-- heads up: she's awesome), and demands to go with them on the road trip to California they have planned to scatter June's ashes in the ocean. It's the one thing Harper can think of to give June the ending she deserved, rather than the ending she gave herself: in the back of her car with a bottle of pills and a lot of exhaust, her ashes split between their divorced parents' houses. June was Jake's tutor while she was alive, the only person who encouraged him to make something of himself ("don't let the bastards grind you down"), and he wants to go to California because he appreciated that. And also he's got a secret.

This is where the book detours from the typical-grief-book outline. A road trip! I love road trip books, especially when they've got pit stops that actually 1) Help the storyline along, and 2) Are fun, entertaining, heartbreaking, or all of the above. This one's got the goods. 

Which include Laney, Harper's charismatic, flighty best friend who has an obsession with old movie stars and wants to be Marilyn Monroe. She and Jake bicker a lot because one accuses the other of living in the past and then the other points out that they're not the only one-- Jake listens to old music and Laney likes old movie stars. They judge each other and at times are really mean, but that's what makes it so much more rewarding when you see them actually come to care about each other. There's a high-drama storyline with Laney that I won't spoil you about, but let's just say Jake kind of becomes the unexpected knight in shining armor.

Throughout the trip, the three of them don't sit around wallowing in their own problems. Jake's music becomes a soundtrack to everything that happens to them, from the crazy drunken philosophical contemplations to the tourist traps to the emotional breakdowns. Harper and Jake's relationship doesn't develop out of nowhere-- half the time they can't stand each other, half the time Harper expects more of him than she's ever let herself expect of anyone, and that scares her. She's suspicious of his real motivation for coming with them (did he have a thing with her sister? If so, how could he like her when she's nothing like June?), and he's hiding something, but they both still manage to be exactly what the other needs. Without, of course, admitting it. Which makes for a highly entertaining dynamic in which last names are used a lot and games of Truth or Dare don't go very well. And an offer from Harper for Jake to sleep in the same bed as her (instead of on the floor) is attributed to a temporary psychotic break of which he must take advantage if he wants to sleep at all.

“You're nothing like your sister," he tells me. "She meant a lot to me, okay? It's true. But the things I like about you have nothing to do with her. You - you are so strong and stubborn it drives me crazy. You're the one going through all this and you still put Laney first every time, instead of throwing yourself the pity party we both know you deserve. You call me out on my shit, and I like that, because sometimes I need someone to call me out on my shit. And you get Johnny Cash, and you take these incredible photos, and everything about you makes me hurt, in a good way, and it blows my mind that someone can be so amazing and not even see it.” 

Sometimes there are male love interests in books that are intended to make readers swoon and want for themselves. Jake Tolan is not that guy. True, I love him. He's supposed to be drop-dead gorgeous, but no, he doesn't really make me swoon. I don't want him for myself-- I want him for Harper. Which is more important.

There's a lot about this book that would satisfy someone who is only looking for a romance, but to that person I'd say they're missing out on a lot if they focus solely on romance. Laney is an extremely well-developed character and, believe it or not, so is June-- who isn't even there anymore. The questions Harper has to ask and answer about her sister's death are thought-provoking, and at the same time it never becomes one of those soggy, bawl-your-eyes-out-and-get-crushed-by-the-weight-of-sorrow novels. It's believably plotted in a way that's not predictable or boring, and the emotional ride is somewhere between floating on waves and riding a rollercoaster. It's heartbreaking at times, yes, and you'll never hear "Let It Be" the same way again, but you come out of it without feeling like you've sunken two feet into the ground. Heck, you'll probably feel a little bit lighter.

“I gaze out at the glittering sea, the breathtaking sky above it, and think of birds and the moment before the fall, and how my sister as a child had been strong enough for the both of us, and I wonder when exactly that changed. I don't know when, but it did. Jake was right - I'm strong in a way June never was. Because I know that I want to be here. Even with the pain. Even with the ugliness. I've seen the other side - marching side by side down city streets with people who all believe they can change the world and the view of the sunset from Fridgehenge and Tom Waits lyrics and doing the waltz and kisses so hot they melt into each other and best friends who hold your hand and stretching out underneath a sky draped with stars and everything else. 

There is so much beauty in just existing. In being alive. I don't want to miss a second.” 

 ★★★★★

Recommended for: Anyone. Specifically fans of John Green, Gayle Forman, Lauren Oliver, Jennifer E. Smith, and yes, The Sky is Everywhere

"I am not malicious. I am a result."

"He made three separate formations that led to the same tower of dominoes in the middle. Together, they would watch everything that was so carefully planned collapse, and they would all smile at the beauty of destruction."

This one... is probably going to take me a long time. To think about what I want to write about this book, as if I can think of anything that truly describes it and its many facets.

I can't even organize this the way I usually organize my reviews, because this is not a review. This is an explanation of the story of the book thief, what it means, and what it can teach us about humanity, friendship, love, hatred, beauty and evil. And words. How they can destroy us, how they can save us.

"***AN OBSERVATION***

A pair of train guards.

A pair of grave diggers.

When it came down to it, one of them called the shots.

The other did what he was told.

The question is, what if the other is a lot more than one?"

Liesel Meminger, sent to live with Rosa and Hans Hubermann, her foster family (because her mother was most likely suspected of being a communist), is an illiterate girl who is determined to read. She steals books and Hans, her Papa, teaches her how to read them. She steals them from various locations until she meets Ilsa Hermann, the mayor's wife, who saw her steal her second book and then invites her into the library, where Liesel mostly just looks at the books because she can't really read yet. She then cancels Rosa's ironing service, so Liesel gets so angry she yells at her and calls her names and tells her she'll never come over again. Of course, she does. With her best friend Rudy, she goes back to the mayor's house and steals books repeatedly, not realizing that the mayor's wife is fully aware of her thievery and feels so badly about causing Rosa's unemployment that she actually wants Liesel to steal the books.

Let's talk for a moment about Ilsa Hermann's patience with Liesel Meminger. That second book Liesel stole, the one Ilsa witnessed, was a book that was meant to be burned because it was contraband-- it promoted values that weren't those of Hitler and Nazism. Instead of turning Liesel in, Ilsa saw the book thief's desire to read and invited her into her own library. Then Liesel shouts at her and calls her horrible things and tells her she's pathetic for continuing to mourn over her dead son, and Ilsa still allows her to steal books from that library. Then, later, Liesel gets so mad over the power of words (which we'll get to later) that she goes to the library and destroys a book, and then writes a note saying she won't come over and take the books anymore, and what does Ilsa do? She shows up at the Hubermann residence with a blank book of lined paper, and tells Liesel that if she's not going to read anymore, she should write, because she writes well.

Back to the story. Well, no. Let's backtrack a little and talk about Rudy Steiner. Liesel first moved to Himmel Street when she was nine years old, and she and Rudy became best friends, but the kind who are not openly nice to each other. They swear at each other and insult each other, but the only reason they're comfortable doing this is because they actually love each other. Rudy asks Liesel to kiss him time and time again and she refuses. They steal things together, food and books mostly, and they understand each other, and they protect each other. Keep in mind that they are only 9-14 years old here. At the first of their excursions to the mayor's house, Rudy tells Liesel to take off her shoes because it will be quieter, so she leaves them on the porch. They hear someone coming, so they run away from the house, and Rudy forgets her shoes there. She yells and swears at him, and he puts up with it and just goes back to get them. Once, when a bully throws one of Liesel's books into the river, Rudy follows it and wades in to get it back. But the narrator has previously told us that Rudy does not offer his friendship for free (this is mostly a joke).

“How about a kiss, Saumensch?"

He stood waist-deep in the water for a few moments longer before climbing out and handing her the book. His pants clung to him, and he did not stop walking. In truth, I think he was afraid. Rudy Steiner was scared of the book thief's kiss. He must have longed for it so much. He must have loved her so incredibly hard. So hard that he would never ask for her lips again and would go to his grave without them.”

Later in the story, Rudy is filled with anger that his father has been sent off to the war, so he makes plans to go to one of the upper-class villages near them and steal whatever he can get his hands on. Liesel obviously accompanies him (without actually being invited), and when they get there they end up just sitting in the middle of the road and not stealing anything. Rudy says, "I guess I'm better at leaving things behind than stealing them." This would be nice foreshadowing if the narrator, Death (did I forget to mention that?), hadn't already told us that Rudy was going to die. Even later still, when parades of Jews through Molching, where the Hubermanns and Liesel and Rudy and everyone live, become more common, Rudy breaks up pieces of stale bread to give to the Jews, at the risk of being whipped by the soldiers who accompany them. Rudy goes from a boy who steals food for himself to a boy who gives food to people he's supposed to hate. We were given permission to love Rudy the first time he did something for Liesel without asking for a kiss, and yes, I love him. He reminds me of someone. The subtle anger, the charisma, the selflessness... the bread...

What Rudy doesn't know is that Liesel and the Hubermanns hid a Jew in their basement for months. Max Vandenberg. The son of one of Hans's friends from World War I (who was the reason Hans wasn't on the mission that ended up killing him), Max shows up at their door one day because Hans promised him help if ever he needed it. So they shelter him in their basement until they can't any longer. Liesel reads to him and he writes her two picture books and they become friends through their mutual love of stories, even though he is 24 and she is 12. He has dreams in the basement of fighting Hitler and winning, until Hitler stops the fight and starts talking to the audience about what an abomination this Jew is, and using words to persuade the audience, who then basically stampedes the ring and attacks Max. Even in his dreams he doesn't win the fight, because Hitler uses the power of words to win, while he and all of the other Jews have been silenced.

"***A DUDEN DICTIONARY DEFINITION***

Schweigen-- Silence: the absence of sound or noise.

Related words: quiet, calmness, peace.

How perfect. Peace."

The reason they couldn't keep Max in their basement anymore? The kindness of Hans Hubermann. The man who made Liesel feel at home on Himmel Street, despite missing her mother and having nightmares about her brother (whom she saw die on the trip to their new home). The man who took in a Jew knowing the risks to himself. During the first parade of Jews through Molching, Hans Hubermann gave an obviously dying Jew a piece of bread. A soldier saw, and both received lashings. Not until he got home did he realize that now the police would probably come for him, and they would find the Jew in his basement and kill them both. So Max had to leave. Hans's punishment was half in waiting for his punishment, and half that he was sent to participate in the war-- recovering damaged buildings and moving dead bodies.

A little background on Rosa Hubermann: she's not an openly loving person (she's known for her yelling and swearing), but she has a bigger heart than anyone would know. While her husband is gone, she sits with his accordion at night, not realizing that Liesel watches. When an air raid is coming and her despised neighbor is refusing to go to the bomb shelter, she tries to convince her to leave. Earlier in the story, when Max had been sick and comatose for weeks, Rosa went to Liesel's school and pretended to be yelling at her in order to inform her that Max was finally awake.

Months after Hans Hubermann returns home due to a broken leg, Himmel Street is bombed. Everyone dies except Liesel, who was in her basement, because that was where she learned to read with her Papa, that's where she went to read to Max, and it's where she learned the importance of words. What was she doing in the basement while everyone else was sleeping? Writing. In the book that Ilsa Hermann gave her, she was writing the story of The Book Thief. Words may have been what ended up killing everyone else on Himmel Street, but they were what saved Liesel Meminger's life that night.

When she discovers what has happened, she sees Rudy first. The lemon-colored hair that she had described to Max and he put in his second picture book for her. She holds him and tells him she loves him and finally kisses him. She wanted to do it before, but she could never bring herself to it. She sees Rosa and then Hans, who she can't look in the eyes because his eyes are supposed to be silver, not dead. Death realizes that he is who she loved the most, but honestly I knew it all along.

She ends up living for a short time with the mayor and Ilsa Hermann, but then Rudy's father (who was also sent to the war as punishment for not allowing them to take Rudy to a military training school) learns that she has survived and takes her in. Max Vandenberg shows up asking for her one day, and all it says is that "they hugged and cried and fell to the floor." Then we learn that Liesel lived a long life with a husband (we don't know who. Max, possibly? But that would be weird. I can't help but feel sad and angry and ripped off that it couldn't be Rudy) and children and grandchildren. Because a long life is the only way to recover from such things.

"In her final visions, she saw her three children, her grandchildren, her husband, and the long list of lives that merged with hers. Among them, lit like lanterns, were Hans and Rosa Hubermann, her brother, and the boy whose hair remained the color of lemons forever."

"I wanted to tell the book thief many things, about beauty and brutality. But what could I tell her about those things that she didn't already know? I wanted to explain that I am constantly overestimating and underestimating the human race-- that rarely do I ever simply estimate it. 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.

None of those things, however, came out of my mouth.

All I was able to do was turn to Liesel Meminger and tell her the only truth I know. I said it to the book thief and I say it now to you.

***A LAST NOTE FROM YOUR NARRATOR***

I am haunted by humans."