The Book Thief

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Book Thief is a 2006 best-selling teen novel by Markus Zusak, and a finalist for the 2007 Michael L. Printz Award.

Contents 1 Plot summary 2 Characters in "The Book Thief" 3 Themes 4 Footnotes

[edit] Plot summary

The Book Thief is set around the time when Adolf Hilter was stirring Germany into World War II through to the end of the war. The story is told from the point of view of Death, a collector of souls who doesn't always enjoy the job he must do. One of the few pleasures he has is in the story of the book thief, Liesel Meminger. It follows her through the tragic loss of her family, to her adoption to a home on Himmel Street and the young Jewish man who hides there.^[1]

[edit] Characters in "The Book Thief"

Death - This story is told through the view of Death, though he is not at all like the stereotypical Grim Reaper. Through what he has witnessed and from what he has read in a book he found, written by Liesel Meminger, Death gives a personalized account of this young girl's life from the time she was given up by her mother to the time when World War II disturbs her previously unaffected area of Germany.

As it is not human, Death tells a lot of the story through colors, which he calls his 'vacation time'. The emotions and feelings that Death conveys through colors sync perfectly with one another and are immediately understood, even though it is an unconventional way of describing them. Death is telling the story of a particular young girl because her story, with a few others it has saved, are "each one extraordinary in its own right ... [e]ach one an attempt—an immense leap of an attempt—to prove to me that you, and your human existence, are worth it."

Liesel Meminger - When her mother cannot afford to take care of Liesel and her 6-year-old brother (though there are hints at her possibly being considered a Communist by her country), she takes them on a train to Munich to live with a foster family. Leisel, who is 10 when this happens, is on the train with her mother when her brother begins to cough violently and dies. After the funeral in the next town the train comes to, the apprentice grave digger accidentally drops his handbook, and as no one notices but Liesel, she picks it up and keeps it. Though she is illiterate, it sparks an unwavering fascination in her, and it marks the first in a list of about fourteen books she will collect under the title Death has given her and that she eventually gives herself: The Book Thief.

[edit] Themes

Death, dying - Throughout the novel, the discussion of dying comes to the forefront. This is a very apparent theme due to the fact that the narrator is Death. World War II is also in the background, which denotes that death is all around Liesel. The source of all of Liesel's and Max's nightmares are the deaths of their family members.

Words, reading - Liesel learns the value of having a voice and knowing how to read from the beginning of the book. Hans teaches her to read at night, the mayor's wife allows her into the library and Max gives her two stories. All of these give power and a certain inner strength to the main character to think for herself and see a world outside of the bleak, harsh world of Germany in the years of the war.

Color - Death values colors throughout the book as a means of expressing the scene. It is the best way it can describe the emotions and the feeling of what is happening. Colors are a means for escape from the horror of death, as well as a confirmation of it.

[edit] Footnotes

1. ^ Markus Zusak books. Random House Website. Retrieved on January 16, 2007.