The significance of books: “The Book Thief”

“The Gravedigger’s Handbook” is a rather important book to Liesel. Why? It represents many different things to Liesel.
First: Liesel’s brother died when she was 9, nearly 10. To remember this moment in time, the moment when her brother died, she wanted to keep something with her. And the item was…”The Gravedigger’s Handbook”. The book represents the memory’s she has of her brother.
Second: Her mother left her after this. And because of this, she will want to remember her mother in some way. And so, she decides to have “The Gravedigger’s Handbook” be her memory of her mother who left her as well.
Third: So now the book represents her dead brother who she will never forget as she always has visions of him, and also the last time she sees her mother. All this can be described as “Family!” The book represents her family, that she will never truly see again! She even goes so far as to hide a picture of her dead brother in the book too! And if your not sad yet, you will be when you realise the name of the book is “The Gravedigger’s Handbook”. It is literally a handbook to help bury the dead, and her family is represented by it. What the author might be trying to get at is how Liesel wants to bury her memories of her family away from her daily life, in a place no one else ever has to see them. So it represents her family and how she wants to bury her memories of them.
Fourth: Remember how Liesel can’t read yet? Well, lucky us, the book gets a new meaning when Hans uses it to teach Liesel how to read. Yep, she couldn’t read yet she had already connected so many things to the book, and then asked Hans to teach her how to read with “The Gravedigger’s Handbook”. And so the memories she would want to bury stay forever present whenever she reads.
Fifth: I guess I should also include the time she was supposed to read out loud to her class, but got nervous and found herself unable to read, so she just used some memorised paragraph from “The Gravedigger’s Handbook” and recited them. This ended up leading to the first time she beat someone up. So, I guess it could connect to that in some way?
In any case, “The Gravedigger’s Handbook” represents the death of Liesel’s brother, the last time she saw her mother, the burying of her family’s memories, what Hans used to teach her how to read, and a small connection to her first fight in school.

“The shoulder shrug” is another rather important book to Liesel. The reasons are below:
First: University students back in Germany had decided to start a book burning. This book burning’s purpose is to remove the past of germany, and begin a new history for germany. All things that were even slightly Jewish, or from another country, had to be burned. Anything that didn’t follow the values they wanted there new germany to follow must be burned. So, you know, massive amounts of books are being burned, and you can’t exactly do anything to stop them, since literally all of Germany was into this mass destruction of books. And you know what Liesel did? She stole a book that survived this fire. From right under the pile of ash. And just from that, the reader will know, Liesel doesn’t want this knowledge destroyed. She wants to read, and learn, and there is no way that she is letting this book get past her. And this signifies how she doesn’t want the destruction of Germany’s past; the history being burned will be saved by her, at least a bit of it.
Second: And just so you know, she knew the dangers. For ages afterwards she was scared of how she might get ‘taken away’, or her family might be ‘taken away’. Why? Because 1: Frau Hermann, the mayors wife, saw her steal the book. And if she decides to mention it to the police, then her and her family is doomed. 2: As she knew the dangers behind taking the book, of course she would be scared. Even if Frau Hermann decided not to turn her in, if anyone else saw, then she is doomed. 3: She stole a book and there is danger in that. This is the first time she properly stole a book, and so the first time she can feel the fear behind stealing something. “The Gravedigger’s Handbook” was taken in a far away place, from someone she will never see again. So why be scared of that? But “The Shoulder Shrug” is different in the way that it was done in the same place she lives, so if anyone saw, they can do something about it. And so this book represents what it means to steal a book.
Third: Well, besides the small part in stopping the destruction of Germany’s past, and the idea of stealing a book, there is also Frau Hermann. What I mean is that “The Shoulder Shrug” being stolen got her noticed by Frau Hermann, which ended up getting her into Frau Hermann’s library. Yes, that’s right, she sees a library! Isn’t this fantastic for her! Which is why this is important. This book got her connected to a library, and the next books she shall steal, which will be spoken about soon.
So basically, “The Shoulder Shrug” represents to Liesel: The saving of Germany’s history from complete destruction; the idea of what it is like to steal a book; and Frau Hermann’s library and all the books in that.

“The standover man” was the first book that Max gave to Liesel. So, it was a rather important book, that was full of different ideas and meanings, and of course, represented a lot to Liesel.
First: Max spent a week in the basement painting over the Mein Kampf books pages. The entire time it was kept secret from Liesel. The reason he did all this was because he wanted to give Liesel a gift in return for all she has done for him. And what better way to do this than to use the pages from the book that had literally saved his life(Fake papers where hidden in it, while it also got officers thinking it was legit as they were in the most famous book in the country, written by their leader).
Second: The book was 13 pages long. It followed the life of Max, and his standover-man. A standover-man being someone standing above you when you are down. As so, we see multiple different standover-men, like his father(He thinks this is so, apparently he disappeared quite quickly), or the people he used to fight when they won and he lost. Then there was that one page that talked about the first basement he hid in, and the friend that was always standing over him. And then the final standover-man, who wasn’t even a man, but a little girl called Liesel.
Third: Each of these standover-men had their own meaning in Max’s life, as each one covered massive amounts of his life. Like his father. He imagines that his father must of once been there in his life, looking down on him. But as he left before Max started forming memories, he would never know. And so in his childhood, and all the way to adulthood, we know he never had a father, which, now that I think about it, is the same as Liesel. Basically, a 13 page book with 13 different meanings and concepts that connect to Max’s life, and an important part in Liesel’s life.
Fourth: So some of you might be wondering why I am putting most of these meanings to Max’s life, and not Liesels. Well, that is because you can use this book to reflect a large part of Liesel’s life. One of the pages even talks about this, how the two of them are so similar. The dreams that they each have, the fact that they both came to Himmel street on a train, and then there is the fighting that they both do. And now that I noticed that there is the fact that both of them never knew their father, and their mother and siblings are long gone, I realised they have another connection in the way that their family is gone. But they both now have Rosa and Hans who took them in and is keeping them alive. Oh, but their is still a difference, which is that Liesel said Max looks like something else, which he always found odd. Oh, and the fact that the book always made sure to say “a german and a jew” and not just “these two normal people”.
So yeah, this book represents many things to Max and Liesel; like how the book that saved Max’s life was used to make it; the many standover-men in Max’s life; the meaning each one held to; and how Lisesl is so similar to him in both life and mind, but still different in race. Honestly, the meaning behind this one book is quite impressive, but it contains to much for me to include it all here. Suffice to say, every page denotes years, and the pages with Liesel denotes an importance in Max’s life that will span years ahead.

“Mein Kampf”- Hitler’s published philosophy, Max’s camouflage traveling to Molching, and the pages used for “The Standover Man”. How was it represented within “The Book Thief”.
First: This is the book all Nazies must read. The reason being that it was written by their leader, and the book itself contains all of Adolf Hitler’s ideals in life, and what he hoped to get from Germany. And so when Han’s son said to Liesel that she should read the book, then you knew exactly where he stood, which is with the Naies.

 

 

“The Dream Carrier” – The text Liesel steals from Frau Hermann’s library.

“A song in the dark” – The text Liesel steals from Frau Hermann’s library.

“The Word giver” – Another gift from Max to Liesel.

Characterisation of The Book Thief

Liesel:

For this task, my job is to do the same for these characters as I did with Death. Now then, let’s begin!

Liesel was first seen as a 9, nearly 10 year old girl, who standing in the snow, crying over her brothers death. “Tears were frozen to the book thief’s face.” At the time, besides having her brother die, it was the last time she saw her mother. From this we can figure out that the past of Liesel before she first sees Hans is quite bad. Or at least, it was a unhealthy situation. “There was an intense spurt of coughing. Almost an inspired spurt of coughing. And soon after – nothing.” This was a moment where the sickness her brother was probably suffering from finally caught up to him. He was sick, so why couldn’t Liesel of been too? There living conditions had to of been bad, to the point where you can die from sickness, meaning Liesel was in those conditions. I know I am not even about to begin going on about all the terrible things that happened to Liesel because of the Nazi’s, but from this beginning we can tell that Liesel and her original family where in bad living conditions. Barely any school, leaving Liesel illiterate. Sickness, leaving Liesel’s brother dead. And as her mother was communist, her mother had to leave her, because if she stayed, the living conditions would get even worse(Like, slavery).

So yeah, terrible beginning. Her character at this point is one of what you would expect a little girl to be like. You know, freaking out over how her brother died, and trying to remember something about this moment by stealing “The GraveDigger’s HandBook”. But if you take into account her sad past, you begin to see a tale of a determined young girl who won’t let anything hold her back. Her determination to find her mother again, and not be held back too much by her brothers death, even while dealing with a heavy and sad past, is extremely impressive and inspiring.

And now we know what kind of person she is at the beginning of the tale, a little girl going through so many terrible experiences that it would’ve been fine if she went insane from it(I would of, pretty much anyone would).  So then we move onto the next part, where she meets her new family!

Hans and Rosa. They deserve their own write ups like this one, but basically, Hans is the kind hearted father, who taught Liesel how to read, and helped keep her sane when anyone else would go insane. And Rosa, who is the mean talking, but kind hearted mother. . ““Saumensch, du dreckiges!” Liesel’s foster mother shouted that first evening when she refused to have a bath. “You filthy pig! Why won’t you get undressed?” She was good at being furious. In fact, you could say that Rosa Hubermann had a face decorated with constant fury. That was how the creases were made in the cardboard texture of her complexion.” That was Rosa, the filthy mouthed women who was mean to everyone, and always angry. But in that quote, you can still tell that there was a certain amount of care in there, towards Liesel. Both Hans and Rosa set up Liesel with a family, with all the love and care you can get from it. This is something she never would of had before this, and would be something she always remembered. And as this came after such a large turning point in her life, this family would of saved her. If Hans or Rosa had acted differently, the Liesel we get later on would of been completely different(If Hans was more mean, she would of never been saved mentally, and if Rosa was nicer, then the concept of meanness would never be present in Liesel).

So basically, we have managed to get past the first chapter or so, and we have already had massive amounts of development, from a little girl with a terrible past, to a little girl who is developing with her new family. Honestly, I could go on and on about how every single person she meets changes her, like the school incident and the bully she beat up, or Tommy Muller who she beat up because she thought he was making fun of her too, but then had to convince him for ages “that she wasn’t going to kill him.” Just this one incident changed Liesel into a person who isn’t afraid to hurt others, while also making her more determined to learn how to read so she doesn’t mess up in front of others again, and also taught her how to tell the difference between friends and enemies. This massive change, and it was one short chapter. So I will shorten down what I say(And luckily at around this point there was ‘less’ development.) The next part is about the middle of the book, after the library incident.

At this point, Liesel can read, but is still increasing her knowledge of words. She can hurt other people if necessary, and also steal from other people to get what she wants. She has Rudy as a friend, and someone for her to talk to, but still not quite confide and trust in, meaning she had social abilities. And Max was living in her basement around here in time, who is someone she always talks to after the near death incident from the snowman. From this, her knowledge on death has increased, and she can ‘better’ handle the concept of people she cares about being in precarious positions. And the library incident got her to know more books, and also developed the idea of ‘treachery’ and ‘guilt’. Treachery from how the mayors wife stopped paying her, which was akin to kicking her out of the library, and stopping her from reading(Which was literally keeping her sane a few years ago, so reading is extremely important to her). And guilt from when she insulted the mayor’s wife, and realised that that might of been a bad idea. This particular incident would of changed her into someone less trusting, and less susceptible to guilt. It also had risen her confidence to overcome guilt and fear, which she used to feel when going to the mayor as she feared being in trouble.

And after all that, I suppose all that is left is the ending. Oh, well, a brief note, I didn’t include the summer of going around painting; or the reading aloud of the book in the shelter; or the suicide of the soldier who came back but who didn’t want to live because he couldn’t handle the guilt of wanting to live; or Rudy and the romance/friendship between them; or Max and the fear of his death or capture, and the many books she got; or the champagne she once drunk and loved; or the time she went into that thief group again, but she left quite quickly because the new leader didn’t like her or Rudy. So yeah

Hans:

 

Rosa:

 

Rudy:

“The Prologue: Colour Imagery”.

1.During the prologue, we get Death, just a chapter full of Death. Well, to be exact, we see Death talking about his job, and how he treats it. Then we see him talk about Liesel in the 3 situations he sees her in. Each of these situations has a colour attributed to it. “When I recollect her, I see a long list of colours, but it’s the three in which I saw her in the flesh that resonate the most…Red, white, black. They fall on top of each other. The scribbled signature black, onto the blinding global white, onto the thick soupy red.”
The colour white was the colour of the snow white sky at the time Liesel’s brother died. “Yes it was white. It felt as though the whole globe was dressed in snow. Like it had pulled it on, the way you pull on a sweater.” This colour was a major part of the book. Why? Because her brothers death affected her always. She never forgot, and neither did Death. And for Death, it was the colour of the snow white sky that he remembered. And so this colour of white became the colour of grief, making everyone remember their own sad memory’s when they see the colour.
The next colour was black, the sky was black at the time, an eclipse had occured at the next death, and there was smoke everywhere from the plane crashing “As with many others, when I began my journey away, there seemed a quick shadow again, a final moment of eclipse – the recognition of another soul gone.” The colour black symbolizes many things, but in general for this book, it will be referring to death and fear, and in the book, the main portrayer of this is the Nazi’s. Everytime the colour black was used, there was fear, or hatred, or death. Basically, the colour black isn’t a good colour to have around.
And the final colour is red:
“The last time I saw her was red. The sky was like soup, boiling and stirring. In some places it was burned. There were black crumbs, and pepper, streaked amongst the redness.” The colour red represents the destruction of everything. This quote, for example, is at the time when Himmel street was bombed. And there are other examples, like the book burning. “To their left, flames and burning books were cheered like heroes.”  Whenever the colour red comes up, so does destruction. The destruction of many lives through the bombing of Himmel Street, and the destruction of the past of Germany through the book burning. This destruction never stops, and neither does the colour red. “The blood enlarged on Ludwig Schmeikl’s ankle.” Every now and then, like with the last quote about bleeding, there was danger, and the colour of red. To finish this off, and as you can surely tell by now, the colour red in “The Book Thief” stands for destruction, through burning, through bombing, and even through bleeding. 

2.“When I recollect her, I see a long list of colours, but it’s the three in which I saw her in the flesh that resonate the most…Red, white, black. They fall on top of each other. The scribbled signature black, onto the blinding global white, onto the thick soupy red.” This is the image of the Nazi flag. Why does this have anything to do with Liesel, who hated the Nazi’s? Well, you see, I have made this point before. It is that all our problems are caused by humans. And in this case, every single problem Liesel ever encounters is because of the Nazi’s. “‘You think you’re the only one, Saukerl?’ She turned away. ‘And you only lost your father…’… Her mother. Her brother. Max Vandenburg. Hans Hubermann. All of them gone. And she’d never even had a real father.” All these people, gone from her life, was caused by the Germans. And we haven’t even reached the ending yet… In any case, she has a lot to do with the Nazi’s, and their flag can be used to represent her young life quite well. The scribbled black, symbolizing all that fear, hatred, and death. The blinding global white, representing all her grief and sadness. And the thick, soupy red, representing the destruction of everything she knows. Her life was first caused and made by what the Nazi’s did, and so their symbol will of course be able to be used to describe her.

3.So far, I should of only been talking about what happened inside the prolog, but to be honest, you can never accurately describe each colour with only that, much as “A single hour can consist of thousands of different colours.”, each colour has symbolic meanings that are far deeper than just her brothers death, or blood washing down the street. You can’t forget the book burning, which represents the destruction of the past of Germany, and the creation of a new Germany. You also can’t forget Max, and all that time he spent in the darkness of the basement, within his own dark thoughts. And then there is the white women in the white bathrobe, being the literal representation of grief and sadness.
Each one of these points is important, as are many others throughout the text.They can all be pulled back out, and allow us to see the world in a different light to our current one, and also show us how Death views the world, through some assumptions on his power.

First is the colour white. “She stepped aside and motioned with her chalky hand and wrist for the girl to enter.” There was plenty of grief and sadness within “The Book Thief”, and each time this person was described with a colour to represent this. For instance, the mayor’s wife, who at all times is described as white, to the point where a random off handed comment describes her as ‘chalky’, aka, white. And we all know that the mayor’s wife is grieving, constantly trying to convince herself that her son only froze to death(Which death revealed he didn’t). Then she starts trying to freeze herself as a form of catharsis. Her entire life resolved around her sadness, and the colour white was used in all cases to describe her. The colour white, just from the mayor’s wife’s sadness, is shown to mean grief and sadness. Then the even sadder thing is how this entire book is trying to describe world war 2. World war 2 really happened, with many, many people dying. And so, it is a given that somewhere out there, at least one person did this to themselves, most likely more. So when I read “The Book Thief”, I end up thinking about all those people out there in similar positions, and the fact that anyone had to ever go through that in the first place.
So all that and far more is described by the colour white.(Did I mention that Max was always described as pale? Clearly, he would be sad, and always suffering from nightmares, but I didn’t mention him because the colour black far better reflects him.)

“Dark. Nothing but dark now. Just basement. Just jew.” Max Vandenburg is a jew, who ‘abandoned'(He thinks he did, but his family was pretty much making him leave) his family, and came to live in the Hubermanns basement. And sure, the Hubermanns are quite nice people, they kept Max alive in their basement for years, having fun with him, feeding him, reading with him, describing the weather to him, worrying about him dying or living, all good things good people do. However, this doesn’t change the fact that he was in a basement. It was dark in that basement. He had nearly nothing to do. Only counting the days until the war ends, or he dies. This generated hatred really quickly. And this hatred was pointed at Adolf Hitler, who he imgagined getting into fistfights with. And of course there was fear. Why wouldn’t there be? There was the fear of being abandoned, the fear of dragging down the Hubermanns with him, fear of the Nazi’s, and fear

 

 

 

Death from the book thief.

Markus Zusak had Death as the narrator of “The Book Thief”. This character is quite different to what Death is normally perceived as. Here is a quote that shows this: “Where was Rudy’s comfort? Where was someone to alleviate this robbery of his life? Who was there to soothe him as life’s rug was snatched from under his sleeping feet? No one. There was only me. And I’m not too great at that sort of comforting thing, especially when my hands are cold and the bed is warm. I carried him softly through the broken street, with one salty eye and a heavy, deathly heart. With him, I tried a little harder.” This tells us that Death cares, at least a little. He was saddened by the idea of Rudy dieing, and wanted Rudy to be comforted like Rudy comforted the dying soldier. This is different to any idea we might have of death. If at any point people managed to begin liking Death, the ending will destroy that as he tells them all about how everyone dies, and Lieselś reaction to this, causing people to associate everyones death with Death. However, I disagree, this quote quite clearly explains how Death cares, and how he is saddened; “One salty eye”; by Rudy’s death. Death was just doing his job, saying “It helps me cope, considering the length of time I’ve been performing this job. The trouble is, who could ever replace me?” Which pretty much means that he can’t leave his job, and no one can take it over. He must pick up the souls of the dead, which includes Rudy, and the rest of Liesel’s loved ones. As this is his job, we can’t judge him for it. Death can feel, and he can care about others, yet his job is to pick up their souls. No other idea of Death would feel saddened by this, but this one. And so, because of this difference, it can be possible to care about this Death. Even if he is death, symbolizing the end of our existence, I can definitely care about Death, if he cares about the people he is working with.

Book report: The Book Thief

Book Title: The Book Thief

Points to talk about will be: The books, the people, and the ending. I need to combine the personal, and story parts together. I also need to fix up the message, or at least present it better. And add quotations.

“The Book Thief”, by Markus Zusak, is about a little girl called Liesel Meminger, who lived during world war two in Germany. The entire story is narrated by Death, with its own points of view added in. For instance, The Files Of Recollection” “Oh yes, I definitely remember him. The sky was murky and deep, like quicksand. There was a young man parceled up in barbed wire, like a giant crown of thorns. I untangled him and carried him out. High above the earth, we sank together, to our knees. It was just another day, 1918”. To be more exact on the plot, it follows the time when Liesel Meminger lived in Himmel Street, and what happens in that time, like the stealing of some books, the discovery of a Jewish fist fighter, who would live in the basement, and other events. The book finishes when Liesel’s ‘normal’ life ends, with the death of nearly everyone she ever cared about or loved.

The message the book presents, from my point of view, is that humans are the creator of nearly all of our problems, and these problems have an effect on everything. Even Death admitted to being affected right at the end when it say’s “I am haunted by humans”. I also find that many problems I face normally, and the problems other face, are all caused by humans. My problems might not be as extreme as the one’s Liesel face; like having to do exams; but they are still problems caused by humans. Liesel’s everyday problems included starving to the point where an apple looked amazing; “Sitting on Rudy’s front step, they noticed Fritz Hammer—one of their older counterparts—eating an apple. It was of the Klar variety— ripening in July and August—and it looked magnificent in his hand.” Clear symptoms of starvation when apples look that great. This problem was caused by humans because a war is going on, which takes up the resources in a country at a massive rate, often leaving the people living in the country with less food to eat, among other things. Now that is just one of the many problems surrounding Liesel, not including the others like illiteracy and discrimination against Jews. All these problems were caused by humans, like the war, or an excuse to start a mass murder campaign. Now, there are 3 different ways I will show you how this book showed this message. They are: The books that were stolen, the people Liesel surrounded herself with, and the ending of the book; also how all these connect to me and our world.

The book thief stole books. That is how she got her name. Throughout the story she stole many books, the first of them being “The Grave digger’s Handbook”. Each book had its own meaning, and reason for being stolen. “The Grave Digger’s Handbook” was stolen when Liesel’s brother was buried. The assistant to the gravedigger was walking back, and the book fell out of his pocket. This book ended up symbolizing her brother, and his death, and also the last time she saw her mother. This book was also the first book she finished reading, and the one she learnt how to read from. I can sort of relate to this, in the way that I still remember the very first book I managed to fully read by myself. It was called “Are You My Mother?” by Dr. Seuss. Even though I have read hundreds of books at least since then, I still remember it. So I can definitely understand some of her feelings towards this book. Other books where also stolen, like “The Shoulder Shrug”, which she rescued from a book burning. It got the attention of the mayor’s wife, leading to Liesel going to the library that the mayor owned. That book represented what it meant to steal books, and the threat it could hold. And of course for a kid, this was a big deal; “Every minute, every hour, there was worry, or more to the point, paranoia. Criminal activity will do that to a person, especially a child.” Another point to this is the fact that the burning of these books represented the destruction of the past in Germany, and the creation of a new Nazi Germany. By stealing that book, she is deciding to keep a part of that past with her, which is similar to when she befriends Max. All the other books also have meaning, like “The Whistler”. She stole this one from the Mayor’s Library, to get rid of the guilt she was feeling, and to get back at the wife of the mayor, for the crimes she imagined them doing. However, even though every book she stole had its own meaning, and played into her life in an important way, those first two books have to be the most important. One symbolizing her brother’s death, the disappearance of her mother, and the wonderful world of books; while the other represents the art of stealing, the disagreement with the Nazi party, and hatred towards Adolf Hitler.This is what the message of the book is, that humans cause all our problems. Those being: The death of Liesel’s brother in the cold train; the book burning happening because of Hitlers birthday; and the mayor running out of money to have others wash their clothes. All these problems were caused by humans; the meaning behind the books for Liesel were caused by these problems. The problems humans cause have many effects on the world, some good, some bad. And for these books, they had a generally bad meaning.

The people in Liesel’s life each did their own things, and had their own meaning to her, as it is with people.
The meaning and impact each of these people had on Liesel is huge. Her brother was her family, somebody she loved. With his death, it nearly broke Liesel’s mind, and ruined her forever. Then her mother, who abandoned/ left her at the Hubermann’s. With that, keeping in mind she is still quite young, would think that all of her family is gone and stopped caring about her. Good luck trying to convince her to stay sane. Which is where Han’s came in, and did the amazing thing of keeping her sane, and introducing her to what a family can be like, and how wonderful books are. So, a lot of stuff was done by Han, and Han meant quite a bit to Liesel. “Papa—the accordionist—and Himmel Street. One could not exist without the other, because for Liesel, both were home. Yes, that’s what Hans Hubermann was for Liesel Meminger.” Then of course there is Rosa, who was constantly mean to everyone, and still managed to get Liesel to love her as a mother, and we all know how important it is to have a mother(If you don’t, then you had a sad childhood. Or someone else as a mother figure.). Rudy too, was an important person, who was the first friend she had. When a person gets a friend, they get someone they can talk to, someone they can be more “them-self” with. And Rudy was that person for Liesel. He was also the first love interest, someone she often thought about. “She would lie in bed, missing Max, wondering where he was, praying that he was alive, but somewhere, standing among all of it, was Rudy.” Then there was Max, which as said before, was the Jew in the household. Another term for him would be the member of the family who everyone liked and wanted to be around. He was that important to Liesel. And even though he left, she never stopped hoping he would live; “Liesel? Do you think he’s alive?”…”I hope so, Papa.” All this relates to us, the reader in the way that we each have a person like this in our lives. Han’s, the kind father/father figure. Rosa, the mother/mother figure. The brother and mother, being your siblings and family. Rudy, the friend you should have. And Max, the person you care about and always talk to, about anything. Basically, the people in your life and the people in Liesel’s story are similar in the way that we all have someone like that. But once again, humanity caused some problems. Han’s was made to go to war, Rudy was forced to go to a special school, Max had to leave for the safety of the Hubermanns, her brother and mother both either died or left; basically, she lost everyone due to the problems caused by humans. And I haven’t even begun the ending of the book yet.

The ending of the book was best described as “Rudy Steiner slept. Mama and Papa slept. Frau Holtzapfel, Frau Diller. Tommy Müller. All sleeping. All dying.” At the end of the book we first get to see nearly everyone who Liesel had left die. Then we got to see her mourn over them, and a bit about how life continued on afterwards for her. The death of everyone was sudden and shocking. No one was expecting it, and I even heard one person talking about how they were expecting Liesel to do something big, like the story was building up to it. Basically, everyone died, and the buildup was ‘destroyed’, which caused many people to disagree, and even dislike the ending. However, keep in mind that death never kept the ending a secret. From the very beginning, it mentioned how everyone died: “Within minutes, mounds of concrete and earth were stacked and piled. The streets were ruptured veins. Blood streamed till it was dried on the road, and the bodies were stuck there, like driftwood after the flood.” Clearly, everyone died, and yet people complained that it ruined the book? In fact, this ending gives the book even more meaning, which is that it shows how suddenly death can arise, and how terrible it was to live in WW2. If a different ending had occurred, like if everyone lived happily ever after, then how is this message supposed to get passed on? How would the book end? It can’t be a cheesy ending like she steals some important book, as she is just a little girl; so how else does the book end? The ending tied off any loose ends, set up the future of the main character and everyone around her, and helped out the main message of the book. It also made sense story wise, and was always going to happen. Yes, it was sad, but it was a good ending nonetheless.

“The Book Thief”, by Markus Zusak, was a rather good book. It taught me how many problems are caused by humans, and that no matter what you do, these problems will affect you. The book had a few different methods to show this to the reader, like having Death be the narrator, and every now and then mentioning yet another death. Or Liesel and her often happy, but still terribly sad childhood, which is filled with death and fear. This book relates to our world through many different means, but I suppose the main one will be that the war really did happen. And as there are so many humans who went through that war, and many others, their are bound to be someone with a similar story. And really, the fact that can happen is truly sad, and quite regrettable. But once again, it would all be humanity’s fault. War would not happen if all humans were peaceful. But as there will always be that one person who wants what that other guy has, problems will occur, sometimes as a small fight, and sometimes becoming a war.
This book was an amazing one, probably one of the better books I have read for the past year or so. I would recommend it to anyone who not only wants to learn a bit about how it would of been in Nazi Germany, but also for those who want a new perspective on death, and how the world really is.
Finally, thanks for reading, and make sure to read “The Book Thief” at some point!