3 Reasons to Read The Book Thief

Emily Chen

The Book Thief is a historical fiction that follows the life of Liesel Meminger, a young girl who arrives in Nazi Germany to her new foster family-- the Hubermans. She had ridden the train there with her mother, however, Liesel’s younger brother dies on the journey. Though heartbroken over the loss of her family, Liesel slowly begins to adapt to her new life. She begins to bond with her foster parents, Hans and Rosa Huberman, and befriends Rudy, a neighborhood troublemaker. Hans soon discovers a tiny black book hidden by Liesel under her bed, and he slowly teaches her to read, igniting her passion for reading. Just as her life begins to finally settle down, a Jewish man named Max Vanderburg shows up at their door asking for protection. Though they are taking a tremendous risk by hiding a Jewish man from the Nazis, the Hubermans allow Max to stay in their basement. The Book Thief follows Liesel’s journey through the next three years of her life as she continues to mature with the war dragging on around her and her family’s situation growing more perilous by the day.

I found this book to be a captivating novel that is funny, yet emotional and moving. Here are 3 reasons that The Book Thief is such an amazing book.

1. The unique narration style

The novel is told from the perspective of Death, which means that it is narrated by a personification of death. While telling Liesel’s story, Death describes his job, taking souls away from Earth, and mentions all the things he has seen. Throughout the main story about Liesel and her life in Germany, Death constantly interrupts with commentary, interjections, and occasional accounts of what was happening in the war. He tells the reader things that Liesel and the others do not know, but might find out soon. For example, after Liesel thinks she got away with stealing her third book, Death interjects with the following:

“

*** A LITTLE SOMETHING TO ***

DAMPEN THE EUPHORIA

She had gotten away with nothing.

The mayor’s wife had seen her, all right.

She was just waiting for the right moment.

”

This passage gives readers knowledge that the characters do not possess, which adds suspense to the story. We know that Liesel was caught before she does, and the way Death phrases it makes it seem like something awful is going to happen. This keeps readers on the edges of their seats, waiting for the moment that something does occur. It delivers the information in a unique, interesting, and dramatic way.

In addition to adding suspense, Death’s narration style highlights the persistent theme of death and mortality in the story, and allows the narrator to break the fourth wall and communicate their thoughts directly to the reader. Death sets a dark, yet contemplative tone for the story. He points out the mortality of humans and specific characters in the story and says that everyone is walking towards their inevitable death.

“

*** HERE IS A SMALL FACT ***

You are going to die.

”

2. The well-developed characters

The characters in The Book Thief are all well-developed and each has a lot of depth to them. None are one-dimensional. Liesel’s foster mother, Rosa, is initially portrayed as angry, rude, and “[possessing] the unique ability to aggravate almost anyone she ever met.” (35) However, as time passes, it’s clear that Rosa loves Liesel, and is kind and caring. She, as with the other main characters, are likable despite their faults. In addition, the main characters are shown as having imperfect qualities, which serves to show that they are human. This shows that many others like them were stuck in similar situations, grappling with fear and anger. Readers are able to better sympathize with them, and later mourn their deaths, though that is revealed at the very beginning of the novel.

3. The portrayal of Nazi Germany

The novel portrays Nazi Germany in an interesting, realistic light. It illustrates the ways the holocaust affected the lives of Jews and everyday citizens alike. The novel shows how real the fear was and how it slowly snuck up upon the citizens, until it was too late to go back. Towards the beginning of the story, things had not gotten too bad yet; the Jews were more or less living normal lives, and though they were discriminated against, the violence inflicted upon them was not that severe. As the story progresses, it’s shown that the violence and hatred directed at them worsens, to the point where the windows of Jews were shattered and eventually, they were forced away from their homes.

In addition, The Book Thief shows this progression through a child’s eyes. Liesel sees how cruel and unfair the world around her was becoming, especially when she meets and befriends Max and realizes that he is no different than anybody else. She realizes how unfair and awful people were to other human beings. When a group of Jews are prodded along the street by a group of soldiers, “Liesel was certain that these were the poorest souls alive. Their faces were stretched with torture. Hunger ate them as they continued forward…. Others pleaded for someone, anyone, to step forward and catch them in the arms. No one did. [Liesel] could only hope that they could read the depth of sorrow in her face, to recognize that it was true, and not fleeting.” (392)