The Book Thief By Markus Zusak

In The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, there were countless examples that showed the author using a poetic writing style to describe the story of Liesel Meminger. The remarkable use of Death as the narrator intrigued me as a reader due to the fact that the story was about the holocaust. I loved the frequent use of foreshadowing; the bold type drew attention and would almost act as a spoiler in the story. This made me feel as if I was watching a black and white movie; it was both unsetting and unsentimental. Mark Zusak did not sugar coat anything in his writing making the story seem very cold and almost deathly which basically captured everything because the narrator is death and Mark makes you feel exactly that way. Zusak included every detail

if not clearly, vaguely, ultimately putting you in the position of the characters.
There should be no struggle found in reading this book, because of the flow of the story. This book makes you feel as if you cannot put it down because it is so intriguing and entertaining. The characters in this book face tons of obstacles along with having the constant fear of starvation or being beaten by their mothers or other members of the family. For example Liesel had many conflicts throughout the story one being during the beginning; she had to face the challenge of living with a completely different family, let alone not being able to read. She constantly faced the fear of losing her new friend Max Vandenberg. On top of that she did not get along with her
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new mother Rosa.

Liesel was called a saumensch, and not only that but she was also frequently beaten. Later on in the story when Liesel becomes older , her and Rosa become better friends, she got used to living with her new family because her new father made her feel welcome and helped her resolve her reading problem by practicing to read every night. Her new father Hans had many conflicts as well. He was made fun of because of his reason for not joining the Nazi party. The most hurtful insult being from his son. Once he saw that Hans had a lack of allegiance to the Nazi party, Hans Jr. his son, discontinued speaking to Hans, Eventually Hans developed a great relationship with Liesel and learned to accept the way his son felt. Rosa whom is Hans’ wife faced conflicts too; Rosa was risking her entire family’s wellbeing to save one man, a Jew who was living in her basement (Zusak 141). His name was Max Vandenberg .Rosa constantly lived in the fear, and her problem was never resolved Max faced conflicts as well. One of the biggest ones Max had to face was the fact that he was a Jew during World War II. He had to constantly keep hidden from the Nazi party, in hopes he wouldn’t be sent to a concentration camp. And he never was sent back. Rudy Steiner faced only one conflict, and that was that Liesel wouldn’t kiss him. His conflict was never resolved either. The author displays the characterization both directly and indirectly some parts he leaves the reader to find out about the

character and put the pieces together themselves. And others the author is very direct with whom the character is, he includes feeling and thought throughout the book.
The Author includes a large amount of foreshadowing, leaving hints about what will happen later, for example in the prologue (Zusak 3) he introduces all of the characters as what they were in character. (Zusak 2) The book thief being Liesel, and the colors being all the characters. The Author also displays that to Death, colors are a distraction from the run down survivors of the
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dead. “I do however try to enjoy every color I see – the whole spectrum. A billion or so flavors, none of them quite the same, and a sky to slowly suck on. It takes the edge off the stress. It helps me relax.” (Zusak 4). Liesel learns throughout the book how important and powerful words can be, and how they can ultimately compel people to commit acts of cruelty and disrespect.
In conclusion I do in fact recommend this book to others; the book leaves you wanting more and more by the chapter. The novel made me feel mislead during the beginning due to the length of the book, but it read so incredibly fast. This book made me appreciate what I have and made me very thankful not to be born in that time frame. Due to all of the struggles everyone in the story had to face. I almost read the story a second time it was so great. Once you pick the book up you will not want to put it down, trust me.