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Dramatic,
Insightful,
Beautiful

227 reviews

The Book Thief

by Markus Zusak

Published: 2007-09-11
Paperback : 576 pages

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Recommended to book clubs by 216 of 227 members

It's just a small story really, about among other things: a girl, some words, an accordionist, some fanatical Germans, a Jewish fist-fighter, and quite a lot of thievery. . . .

Set during World War II in Germany, Markus Zusak's groundbreaking new novel is the story of Liesel Meminger, a ...

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Introduction

(It's just a small story really, about among other things: a girl, some words, an accordionist, some fanatical Germans, a Jewish fist-fighter, and quite a lot of thievery. . . .

Set during World War II in Germany, Markus Zusak's groundbreaking new novel is the story of Liesel Meminger, a foster girl living outside of Munich. Liesel scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she encounters something she can?t resist?books. With the help of her accordion-playing foster father, she learns to read and shares her stolen books with her neighbors during bombing raids as well as with the Jewish man hidden in her basement before he is marched to Dachau.

This is an unforgettable story about the ability of books to feed the soul.

From the Hardcover edition.

Editorial Review

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Excerpt

DEATH AND CHOCOLATE

First the colors.
Then the humans.
That's usually how I see things.
Or at least, how I try.

***HERE IS A SMALL FACT ***
You are going to die.

I am in all truthfulness attempting to be cheerful about this whole topic, though most people find themselves hindered in believing me, no matter my protestations. Please, trust me. I most definitely can be cheerful. I can be amiable. Agreeable. Affable. And that's only the A's. Just don't ask me to be nice. Nice has nothing to do with me. ...

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Discussion Questions

From the Author's web site:

•Discuss the symbolism of Death as the omniscient narrator of the novel. What are Death’s feelings for each victim? Describe Death’s attempt to resist Liesel. Death states, “I’m always finding humans at their best and worst. I see their ugly and their beauty, and I wonder how the same thing can be both.” (p. 491) What is ugly and beautiful about Liesel, Rosa and Hans Hubermann, Max Vandenburg, Rudy Steiner, and Mrs. Hermann? Why is Death haunted by humans?

•What is ironic about Liesel’s obsession with stealing books? Discuss other
uses of irony in the novel.

•The Grave Digger’s Handbook is the first book Liesel steals. Why did she take the book? What is significant about the titles of the books she steals? Discuss why she hides The Grave Digger’s Handbook under her mattress. Describe Hans Hubermann’s reaction when he discovers the book. What does the act of book thievery teach Liesel about life and death? Explain Rudy’s reaction when he discovers that Liesel is a book thief. How does stealing books from the mayor’s house lead to a friendship with the mayor’s wife? Explain how Liesel’s own attempt to write a book saves her life.

•Liesel believes that Hans Hubermann’s eyes show kindness, and from the beginning she feels closer to him than to Rosa Hubermann. How does Hans gain Liesel’s love and trust? Debate whether Liesel is a substitute for Hans’s children, who have strayed from the family. Why is it so difficult for Rosa to demonstrate the same warmth toward Liesel? Discuss how Liesel’s relationship with Rosa changes by the end of the novel.

•Abandonment is a central theme in the novel. The reader knows that Liesel feels abandoned by her mother and by the death of her brother. How does she equate love with abandonment? At what point does she understand why she was abandoned by her mother? Who else abandons Liesel in the novel? Debate whether she was abandoned by circumstance or by the heart.

•Guilt is another recurring theme in the novel. Hans Hubermann’s life was spared in France during World War I, and Erik Vandenburg’s life was taken. Explain why Hans feels guilty about Erik’s death. Guilt is a powerful emotion that may cause a person to become unhappy and despondent. Discuss how Hans channels his guilt into helping others. Explain Max Vandenburg’s thought, “Living was living. The price was guilt and shame.” (p. 208) Why does he feel guilt and shame?

•Compare and contrast the lives of Liesel and Max Vandenburg. How does Max’s life give Liesel purpose? At what point do Liesel and Max become friends? Max gives Liesel a story called “The Standover Man” for her birthday. What is the significance of this story?

•Death says that Liesel was a girl “with a mountain to climb.” (p. 86) What is her mountain? Who are her climbing partners? What is her greatest obstacle? At what point does she reach the summit of her mountain? Describe her descent. What does she discover at the foot of her mountain?

•Hans Junior, a Nazi soldier, calls his dad a coward because he doesn’t belong to the Nazi Party. He feels that you are either for Hitler or against him. How does it take courage to oppose Hitler? There isn’t one coward in the Hubermann household. Discuss how they demonstrate courage throughout the novel.

•Describe Liesel’s friendship with Rudy. How does their friendship change and grow throughout the novel? Death says that Rudy doesn’t offer his friendship “for free.” (p. 51) What does Rudy want from Liesel? Discuss Death’s statement, “The only thing worse than a boy who hates you [is] a boy who loves you.” (p. 52) Why is it diffi cult for Liesel to love Rudy? Discuss why Liesel tells Mr. Steiner that she kissed Rudy’s dead body.

•How does Zusak use the literary device of foreshadowing to pull the reader
into the story?

•Liesel Meminger lived to be an old woman. Death says that he would like to tell the book thief about beauty and brutality, but those are things that she had lived. How does her life represent beauty in the wake of brutality? Discuss how Zusak’s poetic writing style enhances the beauty of Liesel’s story.

Suggested by Members

How to resist to Nazism?

by AgnesGros (see profile) 04/28/16

go into further detail with the words written before each chapter - there were likes & dislikes

by timothyj4 (see profile) 04/16/15

We used the "official" publisher's questions.

by LadyD918 (see profile) 04/05/15

The book contains very good questions.

by barblibrarian (see profile) 03/01/15

Do you think there is ever a good reason a book should be censored?

by ElizLynch (see profile) 05/16/14

What book would you steal and why?

by char83 (see profile) 05/14/14

Could the Holocaust happen again today?

Would you personally hide a fugitive from ethnic cleansing?

by LibraryMichael (see profile) 12/18/13

Discuss each main character and how they were necessary to the book as a whole

Discuss the theme of abandonment

Discuss why the author named the book

by LJT0001 (see profile) 10/08/13

Did you like the narrator?

Did you like how the narrator told you what happened in advance?

by lizblair (see profile) 08/31/13

The questions in the back of the paperback copies are quite good and facilitate a lively discussion.

by debbie1962 (see profile) 06/20/12

Weblinks

»	Publisher's Book Info
»	Reviews “Brilliant and hugely ambitious…Some will argue that a book so difficult and sad may not be appropriate for teenage readers…Adults will probably like it (this one did), but it’s a great young-adult novel…It’s the kind of book that can be life-changing, because without ever denying the essential amorality and randomness of the natural order, The Book Thief offers us a believable hard-won hope…The hope we see in Liesel is unassailable, the kind you can hang on to in the midst of poverty and war and violence. Young readers need such alternatives to ideological rigidity, and such explorations of how stories matter. And so, come to think of it, do adults.” -New York Times, May 14, 2006
»	Author Markus Zusak's web site
»	Q&A with the Author From the author's web site
»	New York Times review for The Book Thief

Notes From the Author to the Bookclub

Q&A with Author Markus Zusak:

What inspired you to write about a hungry, illiterate girl who has such a desire to read that she steals books?

I think it’s just working on a book over and over again. I heard stories of cities on fi re, teenagers who were whipped for giving starving Jewish people bread on their way to concentration camps, and people huddled in bomb shelters. . . . But I also had a story about a book thief set in my hometown of Sydney. I just brought the two ideas together and realized the importance of words in Nazi Germany. I thought of Hitler destroying people with words, and now I had a girl who was stealing them back, as she read books with the young Jewish man in her basement and calmed people down in the bomb shelters. She writes her own story–and it’s a beautiful story– through the ugliness of the world that surrounds her.

How did you decide to make Death the narrator of the book?

With great difficulty! I thought, “Here’s a book set during war. Everyone says war and death are best friends.” Death is ever-present during war, so here was the perfect choice to narrate The Book Thief. At fi rst, though, Death was too mean. He was supercilious, and enjoying his work too much. He’d say extremely creepy things and delight in all the souls he was picking up . . . and the book wasn’t working. So I went to a fi rst-person narration, a simple third-person narration . . . and six months later I came back to Death–but this time, Death was to be exhausted from his eternal existence and his job. He was to be afraid of humans–because, after all, he was there to see the obliteration we’ve perpetrated on each other throughout the ages–and he would now be telling this story to prove to himself that humans are actually worth it.

Liesel has an uncanny understanding of people and an ability to befriend those who most need companionship . Who do you think is Liesel’s most unforgettable friend?

For me it’s Rudy, but a lot of people will tell me it’s Hans Hubermann, Max, the mayor’s wife, or even Rosa Hubermann. Rudy is just my favorite character. From the moment he painted himself black and became Jesse Owens, he was my favorite. Liesel kissing his dusty, bomb-hit lips was probably the most devastating part of the book for me to write. . . . I was a mess. On the other hand, I’m also drawn to all of the relationships Liesel forms, even her reading with Frau Holtzapfel, and the return of her son. Even Ludwig Schmeikl–the boy she beats up on the playground and reconciles with at the book burning . . . I think the relationship with Rosa is the most unexpected, though. The moment when she sees Rosa with the accordion strapped to her (when Hans is sent to the war) is when she realizes exactly how much love her foster mother is capable of.

Your use of figurative language seems natural and effortless. Is this something that you have to work to develop, or is it innately a part of your writing style?

I like the idea that every page in every book can have a gem on it. It’s probably what I love most about writing–that words can be used in a way that’s like a child playing in a sandpit, rearranging things, swapping them around. They’re the best moments in a day of writing–when an image appears that you didn’t know would be there when you started work in the morning. At other stages, it takes time. It took three years to write this book, and some images remained from start to finish, but others were considered and reconsidered dozens of times, if not more. Often, to keep the workday flowing, I’ll continue writing the story and then come back later to develop an image that hasn’t worked from the outset. I might even take it out completely.

Book Club Recommendations

Recommended to book clubs by 216 of 227 members.

Member Reviews

Overall rating:

by Patti E. (see profile) 12/19/23

Loved

by Sonia M. (see profile) 09/12/23

by Barb K. (see profile) 02/11/23

by LYNN T. (see profile) 01/08/23

This is one of my favorite books of all time!!

by Julianne K. (see profile) 11/26/22

by Mindy K. (see profile) 06/15/22

by Lori S. (see profile) 11/08/21

by Donna G. (see profile) 07/29/21

by Kristin M. (see profile) 06/24/21

by Stacy T. (see profile) 05/26/21

I didn’t want to read another book set in the time of WWll, but I thoroughly enjoyed reading the book thief. Marcus Zusak tells a story of a young girl , Liesel Meminger, and her love for books and reading.... (read more)

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