The Book Thief By Markus Zusak

The Book Thief, written by an Australian author, Markus Zusak, is a devastatingly powerful historical-fiction novel that bears several re-readings. Being one of the greatest, most divinely-written epilogues in my school library, The Book Thief, is a soul-shattering, thought-provoking story that undoubtedly can be recommended to the young and old alike. This poignant, prolonged, but achingly sad book, is the pinnacle of contemporary historical-fiction, poised to become a classic. Phenomenally breathtaking, and inspiring, bringing nothing but anticipatory dread, this lyrical, surreal book, though depressingly morbid at times, was my “gateway” to historical-fiction. The tribulations and trials provided in the novel, had inevitable passion, perspective

This also shows the reader that by Hans recognising the old jewish man as human, the life of the Jewish man is significantly impacted as he now feels something of worth and can die now knowing he is a human. This act of giving bread also impacts the life of Hans, as Hans is made to join the army in the most dangerous class of work as he is now seen as a ‘Jew Lover’. Through this quote the audience can see that change is inevitable and impacts the course of ones life, as through one act of kindness, two mens lives are significantly impacted. Zusak explores the concept of changing perspectives through how he incorporates the idea that change is inevitable and impacts the course of ones life, into the roles of his characters in his book ‘The Book Thief’.

C-The main character is a young German girl named Liesel that lives with her foster parents in Nazi Germany.”Wirelike shins.Coat hanger arms. She did not produce it easily,but when it came, a starving smile. Her hair was close enough brand of German blond, but she had dangerous eyes, dark brown” Told her physical appearance. One of her thoughts that describes her interests is “There were all different styles of books with different sized lettering on the spines of the black, the red, the grey, the every colored books. It was one of the most beautiful things Liesel had ever seen” The fact that she was originally very paranoid is supported by “Every night Liesel would nightmare,

Brutality and Beauty are both aspects of the human spirit and therefore are evident in society and have been through the ages. History can be examined to bring forth examples of both, often side by side, often in times of great destruction such as in times of war. In the novel, The Book Thief, Marcus Zusak explores and compares the juxtaposition between great brutality and beauty in the human spirit evident in the German town of Molching during WW2. The author demonstrates how the characters in the novel can overcome cruelty and ruthlessness with acts of extraordinary kindness and humaneness. This is shown through the novel with Max and Liesel’s friendship, when Hans gives one of the Jewish camp prisoners a piece of bread and when Rosa and Hans protect Max from the Nazis. Zusak illustrates that a human’s capacity for hope is difficult to destroy regardless of the circumstances.

Markus Zusak, the author of The Book Thief, was able to entice his readers by successfully framing the book thief 's story and giving us a better understanding of the book through the use of many color metaphors by the narrator. The prologue is my most beloved part not only because the color metaphors give captivating descriptions of every scene at the beginning of the story. Additionally, in the prologue—the author introduced us to such an “unlikely” narrator, and to the protagonist. Death, who associates the demise of others with the changing “colors of the sky,” and what those colors mean to the story; and the book thief—as a survivor.

Firstly, The Book Thief has several paradoxes embedded throughout it, as Markus Zusak uses specific scenarios in Liesel’s life to express the depth within the contradiction of two distinct conclusions. In the first few years that Liesel started living on Himmel street, Hubermanns had welcomed a Jew named Max Vandenburg to live in their basement, despite being aware of the consequences of this and knowing that by doing this, he would be putting their own lives in jeopardy. Max and Liesel have numerous amounts of similarities, as they both were able to understand each other’s feelings and emotions. Later on as Max continues to live with the Hubermanns, daydreams start to commence and cloud his daily thoughts. In his imagination, Max boxes

Heroes and heroines are individuals who defend the greater good and usually have experiences that give them personal traits. These traits make them behave certainly in a way that defines them as a hero. Markus Zusak’s book The Book Thief, Hans Hubermann is a hero by doing what he thinks is right. From the beginning to the end, Hans was a kind and empathetic person. Despite his many experiences of unfairness, he did not take a change for the worse. Hans defended what he believed was right by being a selfless individual who was willing to sacrifice to help those who were in need.

Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief contains many memorable and important characters -- Liesel Meminger, Rosa and Hans Hubermann, Rudy Steiner, and Max Vandenburg, to name a few. However, one character that is crucial to the plot (and to Liesel’s survival) is the long suffering mayor’s wife, Ilsa Hermann. Ilsa and Liesel meet for the first time when Liesel was picking up the washing. Ilsa, “who never spoke, simply stood in her bathrobe, her soft fluffy hair tied back into a short tail” turns out to be the person who saves Liesel from Death (Zusak 132).

Throughout The Book Thief, the readers are shown how the characters achieve great things through their will to survive. The readers can see from Liesel, Hans, and Max how this is done. Germany in 1934 was hard to survive due to the bombings and fear. The author, Markus Zusak, writes about the Hubermanns hiding a Jew and how they take care of each other. The theme of reaching great things while surviving becomes very clear through the setting, plot, and characters.

Markus Zusak's novel is set during 1939 in Nazi Germany. The Book Thief is a best seller novel as well as an award-winning motion picture. Death, the narrator of the story, depicts a young German orphan who is sent to live with Hans and Rosa Hubermann in a small town, shortly before World War II. After her stepfather discovers she can not read he teaches her, sparking Liesel's life long love for books. Keeping a promise to the family of the man who saved his life, Hans agrees to hide a Jewish fugitive named Max in his basement. Little did they know how great of a bond Max and Liesel would share. Zusak forges history, setting, character, and language to illustrate the survivors duty of living after death,

In The Book Thief, Markus Zusak shows different contexts with the same similar message. Zusak is revealing to the reader that words can be very powerful. The societal statement “power is knowledge” can be linked to the book by how knowledge creates power.The setting of Nazi Germany within the book burnings event, the basement with Max, and Liesel defending herself by her choice of words are all relevant to this societal statement since it demonstrates the idea of knowledge in numerous ways, and how powerful words were at these times.

There are always two sides to a story, one that you don’t know and one that you don’t want to know. One shall always enhance the good and the evil, because they both hold their own beauties and uglies. One can see these profound universal life conclusions in a paradox. A paradox is a self contradictory statement that approves two opposite conclusions at the same time; a paradox can be discovered in everyday life situations if carefully observed. One basic example can be when one is told something disgraceful by their mother and the emotion of hate can wither through their persona, yet miraculously one will always love their mother no matter what occurs between them. In the novel, The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak, he appoints Death as the narrator and portrays glory and horror compacted within humanity from his perspective. Death outlines the life of a young girl named Liesel during the time period of World War II. Due to poor conditions, Liesel has to move in with a foster family; surprisingly she feels a quick connection between her foster dad whom she often refers to as “Papa.” Papa teaches Liesel how to read and write and later on as her life proceeds Liesel is exposed to the reality of life. Liesel blames “words” for the current situation of Germany and the poor treatment of Jews. She has always loved to read and write however at the same time she has built hate upon those identical “words.” She believes that Hitler, the current ruler of Germany in 1930s, has earned his

Hey everyone. For those of you who don’t know me, I am Markus Zusak, author of The Book Thief amongst other books. Every book that I write has its own journey that comes with it and this applies for the Book Thief. This journey includes things like the writing process, my inspiration for the particular novel and the lessons that I hope my audience learns. More often than not, this journey is a more personal than public experience for the author, but today I thought it would be interesting if I share some parts of this journey with you. But before I get into all of that, let me start with a brief overview of the book.

After reading Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief, and watching the film adaptation, I strongly believe that my peers should read the book before watching the film. The Book Thief was originally intended to be read, therefore it is necessary to properly understand the film. Because the film was created after the book, some scenes that occur in the book were cut from the film, disrupting the themes. Finally the book is narrated by Death, providing an unusual insight that is missed in the film. Markus Zusak wrote The Book Thief in 2005, the film adaptation premiered 8 years later.

In the book thief written by Markus Zusak the book is narrated by Death. Liesel Meminger a 9 year old German girl is on a train with her mother and dead brother on their way to the town of Molching. Hans and Rosa Hubermann are there waiting for her and her brother so that they can foster them and get paid for it. When they first arrived they were expecting for both the boy and the girl but the boy turned out to be dead. Liesel finds a book at the cemetery that her brother was buried in and decides to keep it. In her new foster home she hides the book under her mattress. She didn’t do a very good job of hiding it because she had nightmares every night about her brother and her foster father Hans came in and comforts her finding the book after