Shriya Yadalam

Death says.....he saw the book thief thrice, associating a colour with each sighting, white, red and black, the colours of the German flag. The book thief is a historical fiction novel written by Markus Zusak.. Narrated by death, the story surely has a mysterious effect. From the first page you turn, you are taken on a journey, you experience every incident in the book as if you were standing in the shoes of the protagonist. This novel shows you life in a small town in Germany through the eyes of the protagonist, a young girl, Liesel Meminger. She stays with her foster parents, Rosa and Hans Hubermann. The book is based in Nazi Germany and we are shown various events in their life. We are also introduced to a happy go lucky boy Rudy Steiner who immediately gets along with Liesel and a Jewish fist fighter , Max Vandenburg who is also her best friend.. The story also discusses the power of words and language. The book thief is a befitting title as Liesel steals many books , from a gravedigger , from the mayor's wife.etc.The background stories and marvelous use of dialogues makes you feel connected with every single character and you empathize with each one of them. Based in the world war 2, the story deals with a lot of death, war and bombings showing us the harsh reality without any sugarcoating of life at that time .... Hans and Liesel form a deep bond and Hans even teaches her how to read. She starts helping her mother in her laundry business and starts reading books in the mayor's household.. she forms a deep bond with max whom her family takes in and saves his life.. The entire story is heart wrenching and emotional and keeps you eager to read what happens next It is one of the best books I've ever read and I recommend everyone to read it Its truly marvelous and one of a kind...

Ella Minnow Pea is a progressively lipogrammatic, epistolary novel in which the author has taken up an unconventional, unique concept and has done justice to it. The entirety of the story is conveyed to the readers in the form of letters written by the characters to each other which makes the conversations feel all the more personal, as if you are reading the characters' thoughts. Alphabets are dropped progressively but there is o difficulty in understanding and the writing style makes the reading experience more memorable and enjoyable. This tiny town of Nollopians was crafted brilliantly with immense detail and I could not put the book down until I turned the last page.