Log #1 - Prologue and Part 1

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Summary

The novel begins with a very unique narrator: Death. Death explains himself—even though inhuman, Death refers to himself as "he"—and his work, notably how he wants to distract himself from the living left in the wake of all he takes away. His distraction is telling the reader the story of the book thief, a young girl who he had seen three times, in the hopes of proving to us that "you, and your human existence, are worth it" (Zusak 15). 

This book thief is nine-year-old Liesel Meminger, who lost her brother while she, her brother, and her mother were traveling to find the children a foster family. The broken family is on the move as a result of the Second World War; Liesel's father was a Communist and was taken from the family while her mother is very ill. As mother and daughter buried the young Werner in a town along the way, Liesel picks up a book one of the gravediggers drops: The Grave Digger's Handbook. 

Liesel soon after arrives at her destination, a suburb of Munich, Germany called Molching. Liesel's new foster parents, Hans and Rosa Hubermann, live on Himmel Street, and each has their own feelings about her. Hans is a very welcoming foster father, teaching Liesel to roll cigars for him and playing the accordion for her. Rosa, on the other hand, consistently refers to Liesel as saumench, or "pig girl" and consistently berates her. The Hubermanns still care for her and slowly make her a part of the community and family. They enrolled her in the Hitler Youth so that she can learn what all the other children of the community to in regards to the German government and leader. Rosa makes Liesel her delivery girl for her laundry business, which is where she meets her next-door neighbor, Rudy Steiner.

Rudy is a competitive, enthusiastic boy obsessed with African-American track star, Jesse Owens, to the point where he impersonated the start by running the local track with charcoal all over his face. The neighborhood thinks he is a bit crazy as a result, but he and Liesel become fast friends over an argument about a soccer game. Rudy is quickly smitten with Liesel, even challenging her to race him and kiss him if he wins. 

Nighttime is a much more sad scene for Liesel, though. Liesel is plagued by nightmares of her dead brother every night, and each night, Hans Hubermann comes to comfort her when she wakes up crying or screaming. One night, Liesel's nightmares cause her to wet the bed, and as Hans changes the sheets, he finds the first book she stole, The Grave Digger's Handbook. This leads to the revelation that Liesel can barely read, and Hans becomes her mentor. He begins by teaching her the alphabet, and soon, the pair begins studying by the river every afternoon. However, Liesel mistakenly recites a memorized passage of The Grave Digger's Handbook in front of her class, invoking the wrath of Ludwig Schmeikl, a school bully. Liesel fights back, however, beating him up in the schoolyard, and she continues to misdirect her anger and sadness on Tommy Müller, assuming he was also laughing at her. Liesel is overcome by all that has happened to her and breaks down, which gave Rudy the chance to comfort her.

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Notable Moments

What stood out to me most was the choice of Death as the narrator. Death is ironically characterized as a sensitive, thoughtful entity, rather than a grim and ominous figure. The use of his asides, or moments where he addresses the reader directly with a key point, shows how death is a feeling and almost tragic entity. He speaks of the colors of the sky and of people as he carries them away, and he remarks often on how he is not trying to be cruel. He says himself, "I am not violent. I am not malicious. I am just a result" even though many people are angered by and afraid of death (Zusak 6). It strikes me as ingenious that Zusak employs the personified Death as an omniscient narrator and constructs a personification that is conscious of how humans perceive him and that makes every effort to establish himself as trustworthy, kind, and human-like. 

Irony further ensues in Liesel's perspective. Though we are guided by the omniscient narration of Death, readers see things from her limited nine-year-old perspective. Through Death's flash forwards and our own understandings as readers from the future, we are aware of and can conclude many things she cannot understand. Liesel does not seem to fully comprehend the travesties that took place under Hitler's regime, such as taking people away from their families and sending them to concentration camps. Liesel can see that people like her father are disappearing, but her scope is limited. We are already worried about what Liesel may see in future parts of the story because her conflicts now seem quite limited to her own personal life.

Reactions & Questions

I find myself asking several questions:

• Will Liesel come to understand the gravity of the war around her? 
• If she does come to understand the broader scope of things in her society, how will she play a role?
• How will knowing the final moments of Liesel's story affect my perception of her and the other characters as I read? Will I become distant, knowing that tragedy awaits them, or will I come to cherish them, knowing that their fragile lives are finite?
• Is that one of the lessons Zusak aims to teach us? 

I sense that Zusak's tone about the events of this story is one of sad acceptance. It's difficult to write about such a dark time in human history, but portraying it through the lens of Death seems to me that the author was a way of showing us that we must learn from the loss of life and accept it as inevitable. As Death says about telling Liesel's story, he wants to prove that "you, and your human existence, are worth it" (Zusak 15). I have learned much from young Liesel thus far (tenacity, courage, and the weight of loss), and I can only wonder what she and I will learn next.

Book Citation

Zusak, Markus and Trudy White. The Book Thief. Alfred A. Knopf, 2006.