Blog Post #5 : The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

The Premise

Markus Zusak mixed danger, love, and friendship together into such a beautiful novel. The Book Thief was a page turning novel about a young girl at the heart of the Holocaust in Germany 1939. Liesel Meminger is nine when she moves in with her foster parents after Hitler took away her mother, and Death her brother. At her brother's grave, she sees a book sticking out of the dirt, and takes it. Being a poor German girl, she did not know how to read. When she moves in with her foster parents, her foster dad, Hans, teaches her, and her thieving career begins. She steals books from book burnings and the private library of the mayor. With the help of her adventurous friend, Rudy, she begins to open up to a new lifestyle of stealing everything from books to apples. One day, Liesel's parents break some news to her: they will be hiding a Jew in their basement. Liesel at first is scared of the dirty, smelly, skinny Jew in her house, but her and Max [the Jew], quickly build a friendship, balancing completely on trust. Liesel's world has been flipped upside down, and she must keep the secret.

My Reaction 

This book was literally perfection made into a stack of paper. The author made it so well written with a new surprise after each chapter. One of my favorite parts is the epilogue. It was just a mixture of so many emotions. I think that is when everything came together and you really understood the relationship between the different characters. The ending (which I will not give away), wasn't like a normal story ending. It really made you think. I was so astonished by how Zusak could possibly right such amazing literature. It was so amazing. 

The Author's Writing Style

At first, this novel was a little hard to grasp on to. The very beginning was hard for me to read because I was confused on who was narrating the story. Turns out, Death is. You go through the motions from Death's point of view which I think is so interesting because it made the story line so much more exciting. Zusak made the writing flow, which made it easy on my part. He also included definitions along the way, because sometimes they said German words, which also made the story better. He included a few choice words to be written in German, which showed that they are actually German not full out American. He also used such detail in his writing which made it a page-turner. As you can see in the line "he tasted dusty and sweet. He tasted like regret in the shadows of the trees and in the glow of the anarchist's suit collection" (Zusak 536), he uses out of the ordinary details to really bring the story to life. 

My Favorite Characters

If you've read this book, you probably know about Rudy Steiner. He is Liesel's age and the very first friend she makes. I love Rudy. He is so outgoing and brave and strong. He isn't afraid to take chances and ask awkward questions. He is very sporty, he loves running, and he too is also a thief. Him and Liesel go on stealing adventures with older kids when the food level is low. He is just so perfect. I also really liked Max, the Jew Liesel is hiding. He was such a good role model and friend to Liesel which is what she needed at the time. He went through tough times with his real family and became part of Liesel's family. Max and Rudy really made the story interesting for me because they were such amazing characters.


To be honest, I don't think I would have read this book if it wasn't for Language Arts, but I am so so glad I did. This book has been a very emotional story but I will read it over and over. I highly recommend this book if the Holocaust is an interesting topic to you.  I give this touching story a 10/10.