The Book Thief, By Markus Zusak

A hero is someone who is willing to worry and think about others before themselves in tough situations. There are many heroes in the story, but there are only three who stood out the most. The first hero is Rudy Steiner. The second hero that stood out was Liesel Meminger. The last hero who stood out the best and didn't care for himself was Hans Hubermann. A hero might also sacrifice their life to help others.

The Book Thief (2013), directed by Brian Percival, is about a young old girl living in Nazi Germany (between 1939 and 1943) in the fictional town of Molching, Germany. Death narrates the story of the main protagonist, Liesel Meminger, beginning when she is nine years old and suffering from the death of her brother and separation from her mother. Liesel then goes to live with Hans and Rosa Hubermann (played by Geoffrey Rush and Emily Watson). When Liesel arrives, she is illiterate and is made fun of in school by the other children. Hans, a painter and accordion player, teaches her how to read, using the book Liesel took from her brother's burial: The Grave Digger's Handbook. Over the course of the movie, Liesel develops a love for reading and decides to steal books because of the economical hardships associated with World War II. Liesel's foster parents also decide to help a young Jewish man named Max, whose father fought with Hans as in World War One as German soldiers. The Book Thief illustrates a different perspective in regards to the Nazi Regimen and its effects on the German people, specifically children.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak is a story set in Germany during World War 2. This novel follows the life of Liesel Meminger, a girl who develops greatly. With Death as the all knowing narrator of the story, the reader has the ability to see various perspectives. It tells the story of oppression, portrays the power of words, and shows the human ability for kindness or cruelty. I chose to do option four, in which I have chosen important sections from the novel.

3. What are the best parts of this book? Why? What are the worst parts of this book? Why? Give details with page numbers from the book to explain.

City of Thieves starts off with Lev Beniov sitting atop his roof, on a firefighting detail, under the German siege of Leningrad in Kirov, Russia. As he sits on top of his building’s roof with his friends Vera Osiponva, and the Antokolsky twins they listen to anti-aircraft fire, and they see a paratrooper falling to the ground. The group hops the Kirov gate, and runs towards the paratrooper’s landing sight, realizing he is drifting to the ground dead. They began looting his body, and as Lev got a German knife from the man, the GAZ turned on Voinova Street, and they had to run. While running back to Kirov, Vera slipped, and Lev had to go and get her. As he helped her over the fence, the GAZ grabbed him. Since it was after curfew, he believed execution was inevitable. He was taken to “Piter”’s prison called the Crosses with no light or sound. Soon, a Russian officer named Kolya was thrown in the cell with him. In the morning, the two prisoners were taken to a mansion with NKVD officers in it. The Colonel had a mission for the prisoners. He took their ration cards, and told Kolya and Lev they had until Thursday to get one dozen eggs. On that Saturday morning, Kolya and Lev had left their lives on the line for a dozen eggs.

“I wanted to tell the book thief many things, about beauty and brutality. But what could I tell her about those things that she didn 't already know? I wanted to explain that I am constantly overestimating and underestimating the human race-that rarely do I ever simply estimate it. I wanted to ask her how the same thing could be so ugly and so glorious, and its words and stories so damning and brilliant.” (Zusak 550) Markus Zusak wrote “The Book Thief” which is a historical fiction novel about a young girl named Liesel Meminger growing up in Germany during World War II. Zusak has German-Austrian parents who were children during World War II. His perspective helps us to be more empathetic towards Germans in the book because he explains to us: German children didn’t understand what Hitler was doing, not all Germans hated Jews, and Germans cared about each other deeply and helped each other out.

The Book Thief is about a young German girl named Liesel Meminger as she goes through life while living in Germany in 1939. Liesel and her foster parents live a normal life on 33 Himmel Street. There is only one difference between their family and the others, they are hiding Max Vandenburg (a Jewish man) in their basement during the time of the Holocaust. This story, narrated by Death follows the life of Liesel from her first step into 33 Himmel Street, until the day she died in Sydney, Australia.

In the Novel the Book Thief by Markus Zusak and Breaking Prejudice from National Radio, we see there to be a change in perspective due to insightful personal discoveries. We see this occur for the better and the worse, on a smaller scale in the case of the Book Thief and on a larger scale in Breaking Prejudice, which serves to demonstrate to the reader the many levels on which insight can affect perspective. In the Book Thief, Liesel’s initial perspective of both her foster mother Rosa, and Hitler, change as a result of a moment of realisation caused by their actions. Similarly, we see a change of perspective in Breaking prejudice that sprung from an insightful discovery, however one that is more dramatic. Zelda Le Garange, a wealthy, white girl who grew up in the richer part of South Africa, had a conditioned perspective on black people, completely transformed through meeting the loving Nelson Mandela.

If someone were to imagine a world where all keepsakes were removed, one might barely notice a difference. Beyond their missing stuffed animal, which reminded them of their family, or a tabletop globe given during one of their proudest moments, they wouldn’t imagine much else disappearing. One would only notice their objects disappearing. Why do you need to be a member? Well, because, to them, not every ordinary object carries the weight of being a keepsake.

Imagine yourself being alone in the world, isolated from everyone else. You have no friends or family and are discriminated against by the rest of the world. Now, imagine the things you would do to escape this isolation. If you are anything like the characters in Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief, then you would take great risks, even if they can result in your death, to get away from this solitude. In the novel, isolation plays an important role in the character’s lives as it causes a great deal of pain, creates life changing moments, and affects the character’s actions in such a way that causes them to take dangerous risks in order to escape this isolation.

We have all had someone whom we have considered our hero. We call them our hero because they have exhibited certain characteristics that make us feel safe or protected in harmful situations. A few books demonstrate heroic characteristics masterfully through their characters. Beowulf portrays a strong, self-sacrificing hero. Canterbury Tales shows us a wise and caring hero. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight displays a flawed, loyal hero. These three men give us some of the attributes it takes to be considered a hero. These books tell us that to be a hero, you have to sacrifice, have wisdom, and loyalty.

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.

There are many books that will teach you important lessons. In The Book Thief by Markus Zusak there are many lessons to be learned. Some of the lessons that the book teaches is that courage is the key to achieve anything, fear can be distracted, and Death’s kindness. These lessons are important to learn.

Liesel most definitely could have trusted Rudy with the secret of having Max hidden in her basement. Rudy was clearly Liesel’s best friend and partner in crime when Liesel was doing her acts of thievery stealing the books from the mayor’s wife bookself. The devotion to Liesel Rudy also had was strong and I believe Liesel could have trusted Rudy.

In life, there is that one person who is ambitious enough to save someone’s life. There is only one character that plays that role in the book, The Book Thief. Hans Hubermann, a veteran who served in World War 1 and saved his country. The different examples Hans shows was when he hides Max, a Jewish man who does not want to go to the concentration camps. As a character, he reflects that anyone can help someone in this world.