The Book Thief- A book report by Michael McKenzie
Liesel Meminger- A book thief
Rudy Steiner- A track star
Hans Hubermann- An accordion player
Rosa Hubermann- A foul-mouthed mother
Max Vandenburg- A jew
Ilsa Hermann- A rescuing mother
Frau Hotzapfel- A grieving mother
Death- The narrator
A review
An opinion
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, is a novel taking place during World War II (1939-45). The narrator of the story is death, which doesn’t make sense at first glance, but it becomes more and more clear why this made sense. It is about a young girl, Liesel Meminger, and her love for books and how they got her through tough times. The novel had a surprising number of noteworthy characters.
Liesel Meminger- A book thief. She lost her brother before moving to a foster home on Himmel Street in Germany. She began stealing books when her brother died on a train and she saw a book titled The Grave Digger’s Handbook. She began reading it with her foster father at night when she would wake up from a recurring nightmare about her brother on the train tracks where she witnessed him die. She then began stealing more books from Ilsa Hermann’s library such as The Whistler, The Dream Carrier, and a German dictionary. During air raid scares, she would read The Whistler in the shelters. She would be the only one to survive the bombing of Himmel Street.
Rudy Steiner- A track star. He was the first kid on Himmel Street to welcome Liesel, and quickly fell in love with her. He would play soccer with her and the other kids, went with Liesel when she would go on a stealing spree, and constantly did things for Liesel in an attempt to get her to kiss him. He had an incident when he was younger when he was caught trying to act like Jesse Owens when he won 4 gold medals during The Olympics. Rudy would win 3 gold medals during the Hitler Youth events, and when he was about to start his 4th event, he was too worn out to compete in the event and withdrew.
Hans Hubermann- An accordion player. He was a war veteran and an excellent accordion player. When Liesel first arrived on Himmel Street, and when she would wake up from her nightmare, he would enter her room and play his accordion. He helped teach her many things, like how to read and roll a cigarette. He helped a jew by hiding “it” in his basement and was called upon to serve in relief efforts of air raid attacks on Germany. He broke his leg during a truck ride to the site of the air raid and was allowed to return home early from the war. Shortly after his return, he died in the bombing.
Rosa Hubermann- A foul-mouthed mother. She was not fond of Liesel upon her arrival. She made her do washing and ironing and often cursed her out for making small mistakes. As time passes, Liesel is given more responsibility by Rosa, but Rosa becomes closer with Liesel. The two really come together with the departure of Hans. She also helped Hans hide a jew in their basement. She made the jew food and helped “it” stay out of danger by keeping him away from Nazi Party members when they inspected the Hubermann’s basement for air raid shelters.
Max Vandenburg- A jew. He appeared at the Hubermann’s looking for somewhere to be safe from the Nazi’s. The Hubermann’s took him in and hid him for a while. He grew a close bond with Liesel over books and nightmares. She first spoke to him about the book he was reading, Mein Kampf. He tore out the pages as he sifted through the book and painted his own story on the back of the pages. He also wrote a short story titled The Word Shaker for Liesel before he left out of guilt of putting the Hubermann’s through so much trouble. He reappeared to Liesel after the bombing on Himmel Street.
Ilsa Hermann- A rescuing mother. She caught Liesel stealing a book from a fire of burning books that were burnt for not having to do with Hitler’s greatness. She welcomed Liesel to her library and let her read various books. She told Liesel some heartbreaking stories about her son and how he died. When the Hermann’s fired Rosa, Liesel lashed out on Ilsa before leaving the library. When Ilsa found out Liesel was stealing books from her library, she laid out a dictionary for Liesel to steal, and when she stole it, Ilsa was shocked. She also survived the bombing, and took Liesel in.
Frau Hotzapfel- A grieving mother. She lost her first son during World War II, and lost her second son to suicide. She heard Liesel reading in the shelter during the first air raid scare, and wanted Liesel to come over to her house every Monday and Friday to read to her. After losing her second son, she would remain in her kitchen during the entire air raid scares.
Death- The narrator. The story is told from the point of view of death. The narrator tells the story different from classic novels people may have read. Death gives away most key plot twists before they happen, giving the story more of a human feel. He describes the moments when he was there and when he wasn’t, because, as he describes it, he was in most places during the time the story was set (1939-45).
The novel was broken up into a prologue, 10 parts, and an epilogue, all of which serve the purpose of compartmentalizing the life of each of the characters. This was helpful in following along with the book, which was of great length and helped to understand the developement of the story altogether.
In the prologue, Liesel and her brother are on a train to Molching to meet their foster parents. During one of the train’s stops, Liesel’s brother dies on the train tracks. While grave diggers carry her brother’s body out, Liesel picks up a book titled The Grave Diggers Handbook, the first book she had stolen.
During part one, Liesel arrives on Himmel Street, where her foster parents lived. She refused to go inside the house, which caused a scene where her foster mother, Rosa Hubermann, cussed out the crowd that had gathered around them. She grew fond of her foster father, Hans Hubermann, more. Hans would come into Liesel’s room and soothe her with his accordion when she would wake up from a nightmare she would have nightly about her brother. After Liesel told him about the stolen book, they began reading that after the nightmare. Liesel also met Rudy, who would become her best friend. Rudy, though, fell in love with her and would constantly ask for a kiss from her. She denied every time.
In part two, Liesel began helping Rosa carry the washing and ironing they did together for other people to those people’s houses. She received 2 books for Christmas, Faust the Dog and The Lighthouse. During Christmas, Hans got into a political argument with his son Hans jr., during which Hans jr. decides to not come back home for any holidays. He eventually joins the German military during WWII. Liesel also stole another book from a fire of books which were burned in honor of Hitler on his birthday. It was titled The Shoulder Shrug.
In part three, Liesel finds out that the mayor’s wife, Ilsa Hermann, had caught Liesel stealing The Shoulder Shrug from the fire. Ilsa invited Liesel to enter her library when Liesel brought over the washing that Rosa had done. Everytime Liesel went over from that point forward she would sit down and read various parts of different books. Liesel and Rudy join a group of kids who steal apples and other fruits from nearby farms and perfect the art of stealing. Then we are introduced to Max Vandenburg. He is a jew who has decided to leave his family and go to safety with the Hubermanns.
In part four, we learn that Max had learned about Hans through his accordion playing. He played with Max’s father during a day of battle during WWI. Max and Liesel slowly become good friends through their love of books. When Max first arrived, he held Mein Kampf in his hand. Liesel asked him about the book, and he said it changed his life. The Hubermanns allowed Max to stay in the basement. Max and Liesel had something in common, they both had nightmares. Max’s was about when he left his family for the Hubermanns. Liesel and Max bonded over their nightmares, where they told each other the visions they had during the night. One day, Liesel found a short story Max had been writing on the back of the pages of Mein Kampf that he would tear out. It was about how he always had a standover man in his life. Whether it was his father or Hitler.
In part five, Ilsa and her husband, the mayor, fire Rosa, and Liesel tells Ilsa off after she offers to still let Liesel come into the library and read. Rudy had a tough time at Hitler Youth because of his leader, Franz Deutscher. He would constantly make him run for even the littlest of things. A short while after Liesel stopped going to the mayor’s library, she went back and stole the book she had been previously reading, The Whistler, with Rudy. In the winter, Rudy saves The Whistler for Liesel when she accidentally drops it into a river.
In part six, the Hubermanns and Max have fun in the basement and build a snowman during the winter. When spring arrives, Max becomes very sick from being in the freezing basement all winter. Max asks Liesel what the sky looks like when he is awake, and she describes it to him, even when he falls asleep for a long time. Liesel brought Max 13 presents while he was asleep and also described the sky to him. During this, Liesel stole another book from the mayor’s library titled The Dream Carrier. She would read it to Max at night, even though he was asleep. When Max woke up, Rosa went to Liesel’s school and made up an accident to tell Liesel that Max had woken up, just as Liesel had asked her to do.
In part seven, Hans gets some jobs as a painter to paint some houses, as the threat of an air raid was increasing. One night, the sirens that indicated that an air raid is coming close went off, and everyone ran to the nearest basement that had been named an air raid shelter. When Liesel was in her nearest air raid shelter, she read parts of The Whistler to the other people in the shelter. One of the women in the shelter that night, Frau Hotzapfel, made an offer that Liesel would come over and read The Whistler to her on Mondays and Fridays and in exchange for her coffee ration. The offer was accepted. During a jewish parade, Hans had thrown a couple pieces of bread to the Jews, and was then beaten for it. Max then disappeared from Himmel Street and left a note for the Hubermanns saying “You’ve done enough.”
In part eight, it is uncovered that Rudy was chosen to be taken to a school for an elite group of German citizens after he had won 3 races at the Hitler Youth carnival. His parents did not let him go. Instead, Alex Steiner, Rudy’s father, accepted the punishment of being drafted into the German Army. Hans was also drafted. Alex was sent to an army hospital outside Vienna, while Hans was given a position on the LSE (Air Raid Special Unit). During one of the Jewish parades, while Liesel had searched to see if Max had been captured, Rudy appeared with six pieces of bread for him and Liesel to throw to the Jews. Once they were caught doing so, they ran away from a soldier running after them. Rosa then gave Liesel Max’s sketchbook which contained a story for Liesel to read when she was ready. It was about word shakers and how powerful Liesel and her words could be.
In part nine, Hans breaks his legs during one of his truck rides to an air raid location and is allowed to return home. When the news came to Rosa and Liesel, they were thrilled. They shared the news with the Steiners, and they were happy as well. But Rudy was a little upset that it had been Hans to return first and not his father, Alex. Hans returned in April and went on for hours about his experiences with the LSE in the kitchen with Rosa and Liesel.
In part ten, Ilsa gave Liesel a little black book with no words in it. Ilsa wanted Liesel to write her own story. Liesel wrote about herself and how she stole books. One night while working on the story in the basement, there was an air raid on Himmel Street. Liesel’s foster parents and most of her close friends died in the bombing. When she saw Rudy, she begged him to wake up. Before his body was taken away, she finally gave him a kiss. Then she saw Rosa and Hans. She first went over to Rosa and recalled the memories she had with her. She then couldn’t bear to look at Hans. Once she worked herself up to do it, she envisioned him standing up and playing the accordion one more time. When he stopped, Liesel went over to him and wept over his shoulder while she hugged him. Liesel left her story titled The Book Thief and it was picked up by death.
In the epilogue, Alex Steiner was allowed to go back home after hearing the news of the bombing. While Liesel was with Alex one day, Max reappeared and reunited with Liesel. This was a surprise since he was a Jew in the concentration camp in WWII. It is not revealed how he survived. It is revealed that Liesel lived a long life, had children and grandchildren, and when she died, death handed her the story she wrote so long ago, The Book Thief.
Personally, I didn’t love the story. I felt that the narrator introduced too many moving parts at the same time. He introduced Max Vandenburg in segments while he is also trying to tell how Liesel stole her second book. There were so many characters and too many storylines to follow at the same time, in my opinion. Maybe if the parts that were told in segments were told at the same time, I would have enjoyed the book more. Though I didn’t love the novel, I didn’t think it was very bad, either. I did learn some important history as it relates to WWII.