How Does Markus Zusak's Story About The Holocaust Impactful

Many would argue that the most impactful part of the world’s history would be the Holocaust. This event killed millions of people and destroyed an innumerable amount of lives. Therefore, when retelling a story about the Holocaust, the author must make it impactful. For instance, Markus Zusak certainly makes a statement with his book, The Book Thief.
Markus Zusak first became known for his work on I am Messenger, but he later became even more popular with his book, The Book Thief. Furthermore, he has won numerous awards for The Book Thief which include the National Jewish Book Award for Children’s and Young Adult Literature, the Kathleen Mitchell award, and the Book Sense of the Year Award for Children’s Literature.
Markus Zusak has his

own creative twist to his works with the one most prominent being his choice of a narrator. In The Book Thief, Markus Zusak created his narrator to be Death, furthermore, it also takes place during the Holocaust which just makes this narrator even more impactful. A description of Markus Zusak’s version of Death states, “I can be amiable. Agreeable. Affable. And that is only the A’s. Just don’t ask me to be nice. Nice has nothing to do with me.”
In addition to his unique twist of a narrator, Markus Zusak likes to introduce deep topics and themes that include topics such as suffering, war, love, words, but many would argue that the most intriguing topic would be mortality. With Death as the narrator, the setting during the Holocaust, and a war happening, this topic appears a lot in this book. The book even states that Death exists not because he brings death, but because people die.
Throughout the book, Death follows around a young girl named Liesel Meminger, and her story starts with her brother dying a train on their way to their new foster parents, Hans and Rosa Hubermann. But as her story went on, it became even more melancholy considering the fact that the Holocaust was happening at the time. Furthermore, the reader cannot help but empathize with the character because of all the problems she had faced.
As many readers may have found, Liesel has a unique way of coping with her losses. As the title might give away, Liesel steals books with her first theft being at her brother’s funeral. Other than theft, she has a knack for fighting boys and disrupting class, but an overwhelming majority found her to be a lovable character.
As brought up many times before, death appears a lot in the story which includes themes, topics, and even the narrator. Although, many would agree that the argument the book makes appears the most. The Book Thief brought up the argument that death would be easier than living without a loved one. The book brought up many reasons to why this would be, but the main reason would be the loss of hope humans had during the Holocaust.
Although the book has many redeeming qualities, one flaw of The Book Thief would be the fact that the book does not pick up until Liesel’s foster parents, Hans and Rosa Hubermann, hide a man named Max Vandenburg who hides from the Nazis. Up to that point, Liesel lives the life of an average kid during the Holocaust, and barely shows any development in the plot. Then from the point where Max Vandenburg shows up the book becomes a roller coaster ride.