Book Overview: The Book Thief By Markus Zusak

Zachary Benhamou

2/14/2017

Book Report

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Publisher: Picador (Australia), Knopf (U.S.)

Published: In 2005

584 Pages

Genre: Historical novel; coming-of-age novel; Holocaust novel

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak is a novel that mostly takes place in the town of Molching, Germany, near Munich, between 1939 and 1943. Death tells the story of Liesel Meminger, starting when she is only nine years old and still going through the pain from the death of her brother and splitting up from her mother. Liesel goes to live with her new foster parents, Hans and Rosa Hubermann at 33 Himmel Street in Molching, Germany. At first when Liesel arrived she was made fun of because she wasn’t able to read. She realized that without words

Erik Vandenburg, Max 's father, saved Hans 's life during World War I and trained Hans to play the accordion. After Max comes to 33 Himmel Street, Liesel is interested about the man in her cellar, but also a little scared of him. Then one night, Liesel takes Rudy to the mayor 's house and receives her title of book thief when she creeps in through the window and takes The Whistler from Ilsa Hermann 's library. After another late-night trip to Ilsa Hermann 's house, Liesel and Rudy take the Duden Dictionary and Thesaurus, which seems to have remained placed beside the window as a present. Liesel discovers a letter inside from Frau Hermann, which stated that Liesel is allowed to come in the front door, as well. Liesel and her family, along with Rudy and his family, take shelter in the Fiedlers ' basement becausethey were told that their basement was not deep enough to protect them from the bombings so they moved, just for their safety. Rosa gives Liesel a book called The Word Shaker, which Max made for her. In it, Max describes a girl who is able to use words like some of Hitler 's most accomplished word shakers, but she uses her words to help her friend and confiscate small bits of hate from a forest ruled by brutality. Liesel returns to Frau Hermann 's library and becomes irritated at the arguments, and how they can fill her up, but can also bring so much hatred to so many people. Ilsa Hermann and the mayor gather Liesel from the police station and take her home with them. Death ends the story by telling us about Liesel Meminger 's death, how she has dwelled a long life in Sydney with her husband, three children, and many grandchildren. Finally, all along The Book Thief was