Book Thief by Markus Zusak ~ March Book Club Online

[JoanP]

The Book Club Online is  the oldest  book club on the Internet, begun in 1996, open to everyone.  We offer cordial discussions of one book a month,  24/7 and  enjoy the company of readers from all over the world.  everyone is welcome to join in.

 

The Book Thief -  March Bookclub Online
Everyone is invited to join in!  

"Fortunately, this book isn't about Death; it's about death, and so much else."   "Some will argue that a book so difficult and sad may not be appropriate for teenage readers. "The Book Thief" was published for adults in Zusak's native Australia, and I strongly suspect it was written for adults. Many teenagers will find the story too slow to get going, which is a fair criticism. But 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 Book Thief is a complicated story of survival that will encourage its readers to think." (Bookmarks Magazine) "How can a tale told by Death be mistaken for young-adult storytelling? Easily: because this book's narrator is sorry for what he has to do. The youthful sensibility of "The Book Thief" also contributes to a wider innocence. While it is set in Germany during World War II and is not immune to bloodshed, most of this story is figurative: it unfolds as symbolic or metaphorical abstraction. "The Book Thief" will be widely read and admired because it tells a story in which books become treasures. And because there's no arguing with a sentiment like that." (New York Times)

Discussion Schedule: March 1-2 ~ Prologue March 3-7 ~ Part I & II (the gravedigger's handbook; the shoulder shrug) March 8-14 ~ Part III & IV  (mein kampf; the standover man)         March 15-21 ~ Part V & VI (the whistler; the dream carrier)                 March 22-28 ~ Part VII & VIII (complete duden dictionary; the word shaker) March 29-April 4 ~ Part IX & X (the last human stranger; the book thief)

Some Questions for Your Consideration

March 15-21 ~ Part V & VI  (the whistler; the dream carrier)

1. Will you  share with us some of the images and metaphors that captured your attention and made you pause while reading these two sections?  

2. Did Death spoil the story for you by revealing in advance "the three stupid things" that will be Rudy's downfall in two years' time?   Why do you think he did that?

3. Can you explain what was meant by "the seventh side of a die?"   How do you think Germany's invasion of Russia would affect the people on Himmel Street?  Do you detect a change?

4.  Can you forgive Liesel for the way she retaliated against the Mayor's wife? How can her anger be explained in the context of the growing tension between the poor and the upper class at this time?

5. What is it about the  the  second drawing in Max's book that  frightens Liesel? (p.280) What is he trying to express?
 
6.   Death  searches for beauty in Germany at this time, 1942.  Do you think he succeeded?  Is that what this book is all about?

7.  Who do you see as the "Whistler" in Liesel's stolen book?  What is it about this book that makes Liesel shiver when she reads it?  Whose book do you think it had belonged to?

8.  Do you believe the library window was left open on purpose?  Why did Liesel want to steal "The Dream Carrier"?   Do you remember what it was about?

9.  Max and Liesel dream often in these chapters.  Are they  premonitions?  What happened to Max in Liesel's dream?  

10.  Death's diary - Auschwitz, Mauthausen -  June 23, 1942  Your comments on Zusak's writing in this chapter?    

Relevant Links:
Readers' Guide Questions: Prologue; Parts I - IV ;   A Brief History of German Rule;   Dachau;   Mein Kampf;   The Book Thief Metaphors ~ Our Favorite Zusak expressions;
  
  

Discussion Leaders:  JoanP & Andy

[ANNIE]

Jackie
I am not familiar with any authors who are writing about Germany and WWII and your authors' names don't ring a bell.  Buuuuuuuuuut, while I was looking around at titles for this subject look at what I found on Amazon and do search the pages of the book and look at the titles for these stories.  Very familiar topics after reading TBT.
http://www.amazon.com/Sixty-Years-Somewhere-Germany-Contemporaries/dp/059540135X/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1268671171&sr=1-6

[JoanP]

Annie, I would love to read that book - I  treasure the eye witness accounts of those who lived inside Germany during those war years, especially towards the end of the war.  That's why your account of what you lived through is so appreciated, Traudee.  Priceless information.  Have you ever put this information you are sharing with us  in writing?  I hope so.   I  marvel at your bravery during this time - can't decide what took more courage -  participating in the cell, knowing how dangerous this was for you and your cohort - or incurring the wrath and punishment from your own mother.  I can't understand how you have been able to come through such an experience.  

Thank all of you for the book recommendations and the links.  I've spent the last hour reading through the links and feel I know so much more than I ever did.  Thank you!

Babi, after reading the link you provided about attempts to rescue Jews outside of Germany, I was curious to go on to look for more information about  harboring  Jews within the country at the time.  As Traudee told us, the punishment was death...hanging or beheading, so hiding a young Jewish man like Max Vandenburg was highly unusual.   But some must have risked  this to protect friends and neighbors.  Here is a site I found -

"Throughout Nazi-occupied Europe as well as in Germany, ordinary citizens, even strangers, hid Jews from the Gestapo, often at great personal risk.

Historian Marion Kaplan of Queens College and City University in New York, states that between 10-12,000 Jews went “underground” as the deportations began in Germany; only 25% survived. These “submerged Jews” frequently shuttled from one safe house to another while others tried to blend into society. Kaplan’s study emphasizes the lives of Jews in Berlin.

Kaplan, writing about German Jews, comments that, “The Germans who hid them showed compassion and daring, revealing the possibility of resistance to genocide.” Ordinary citizens knew the potential costs of hiding Jews. In most cases, this meant death for the entire family. Sharing meager food supplies, especially as the war progressed, added to the strain."
http://german-history.suite101.com/article.cfm/hiding_jews_during_world_war_ii

You have to wonder what motivated Hans Hubermann to risk the lives of his entire family to save Max, don't you?  Was it more than a feeling of indebtedness to Max's father?  

[JoanP]

Today we begin Part Five - to find the building stress of the war and the "occupation"  taking its toll on those who live on Himmel Street.

As Andy says, we are told by the narrator "right off the zip" in this chapter  that Rudy will receive his first kiss from Liesel at the time of his decimation.  He also tells us his death will take place in two years.

I guess my question is "WHY"?  If he, Death, has such a heart, why break ours before we even come to it.  What can possibly be gained in the telling of the story to let us in on this bit of information now?

[joangrimes]

I have Sarah's Key on my Kindle but have not read it yet.

I think I will start it soon.  Joan Grimes

[JudeS]

I guess I'm different than most of you in that I have read everything I could get my hands on about WW2.
 
For a quick insight into life in those days in Germany (if anyone is interested) I would suggest  watching some films made about  that period in German.  Here are some titles:  Europa Europa
                                                                The Final Days
                                                                Downfall
                                                                The Tin Drum*
* The Tin Drum is based on a book by the Nobel Prize winner Gunter Grass. This amazing author , in his autobiography,
reveals that he himself was drafted into the German Army at the age of 16 towards the end of the war. His books, especially, The Tin Drum, give insight into the German world during the rise of Hitler.

If by chance anyone is interested in Germany after the war there is the German Oscar Winning foreign film from two
years ago: "The Lives of Others". It deservedly beat out every other foreign film.  It is about the life of a German Stassi agent who spies on others and how this affects his own life.

 

[Ella Gibbons]

JUDE, you are different.  My husband was in the Pacific in WWII on a cruiser, saw some terrible things, wouldn't talk about it, but I haven't read any books that have been written from a German point of view until this one.  Well, I have read the Diary of Anne Frank, probably some that I can't remember.  I'm not sure that I want to read any of them or watch the films.  I've seen just a few films about WWII, enough!  I hate war, I hate that I am still around to see America involved in another!

JOANP, to answer one of your questions I wonder, also, why the author (Death) tells us in advance of Rudy's death.  The book, actually, is about death, it's all around Liesel, from page One until the end.  Truly, truly sad!

Did Zusak get some of these stories from his mother?  They sound so real - of course, he writes well, but the stories sound so real.

I had to put the book away after reading a few chapters.  It's too much. 

[Ella Gibbons]

The Russian front and how it affected Himmel Street?  I don't have the book in front of me, but I think Hans/Rosa's son is fighting in Russia?  I kept thinking while reading the book that the author can't find much to be happy about in his characterization; he even has to tell us that Hans' two children are not close to their parents.  Trudy, the daughter!  Forget her, why put her in the story? And their son!  I can't find the words.

Hitler's war probably split generations, don't you think?  Older people, for many reasons, were very tired of war, even, though, I know how the Versailles Treaty affected the country.  We discussed that treaty for a month a few years ago, I'll find the title in the archives and bring it here.  It was a very good discussion and we learned a great deal.

As I remember reading from somewhere, the older military men had contempt for Hitler for quite awhile until they were forced by his brownshirts to face up to his power.  It's difficult for some of us when we hear those rants of his to understand how anyone could have come under his influence, and some never did.  Zusak is good to remind us of that fact in writing this book.

[Ella Gibbons]

"MacMillan disputes that the Paris arrangements led directly to WWII; decisions made afterward, she argues, were more significant. The peacemakers made mistakes, she concedes, but "could have done much worse."  -   PARIS 1919 by Margaret MacMillan/b]

http://www.seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/archives/nonfiction/Paris1919.html

[ANNIE]

  It's difficult for some of us when we hear those rants of his to understand how anyone could have come under his influence, and some never did.  Zusak is good to remind us of that fact in writing this book.

Excellent point, Ella.  Yes, we need to be reminded of what happened in Germany before WWII.   Even some people here in the US thought he was right and they supported him through the German Bunds that were pretty prolific around our country.

[PatH]

Jude, I haven't managed to tackle "The Tin Drum", but I read another of Grass' books, "Cat and Mouse", much less complicated.  I don't remember details, since I read it when it came out (1961, yikes! where has the time gone?) but it deals with adolescents, and come to think of it has some of the same tone as "The Book Thief" does when it's talking about Liesl and her friends.  My husband Bob read a lot of Grass--his German was better than mine, and he read them in the original.  There was a 1958 movie, Wir Wunderkinder, Aren't We Wonderful in this country, dealing with life in Germany before, during, and after WWII.

[Laura]

I have to say, I did not like Part Five.  I just found it a bit boring and uninteresting.  However, I thought Part Six was wonderful.  Phew!  I got a little concerned that the book was going to bog down.

Alf asked:  We learn right off the rip that Rudy finally receives that first kiss from Liesel and sadly it is at the time of his "decimation."
Do you believe what Zusak says -"Even death has a heart?"

Yes, I do believe death, as personified in this book, has a heart.

There is death.
Making his way through all of it.
On the surface: unflappable, unwavering.
Below: unnerved, untied, and undone.  (pg. 309)

[ALF43]

laura- That's why I love to read with othr people and discuss a book.  I loved Part V.  I could feel the arm of the Germans getting stronger and stronger.  I loved the fact that Liesel stole newspapers for Max and bathed his life with sunshine by merely describing the weather and the clouds outside of his view.  They bonded by drawing pictures together and "sharing the words" of a book even if noone read aloud or spoke.  "When he was alone, his most distinct feeling was of disappearance."  Oh that saddened me when I read it- a young man of 24 years drawing a picture in his mind of beating the hell out of the Fuhrer.  In his hallucination the referee was "willing to turn a blind eye" to Hitlers tactics.  That was no different than what was going on outside in the streets.  "The Fuhrer pounded away at the punching-bag Jew."
What about that number 7?  The seventh side of the die?  Bad luck-  Liesel wondered when looking at the Mayor's door, after loosing their employment, why did they need so much space to get thru a door?  Here is poor Max and the Hubbermanns crammed tightly together and she realizes to her amazement just how large was the width of the door.
She finally spoke aloud with venom and spite to Ilsa Hermann when dismissed.

[ALF43]

Part V also gives a hint as to what may have happened to our Rudy.  It seems as if Franz Deustcher- the irate Hitler Youth leader  and Viktor Chemmel were all over poor Rudy and Tommy as Rudy lost all of the time in his dealings with Chemmel, enduring problem after problem at the Hitler Youth.  I didn't feel it etting bogged down but ominous.  WE know something bad is about to happen.  AND- it IS the Ides of March today.

[JoanP]

Guten Morgen!

It is interesting to read the varying reactions to these chapters.  Some find the chapters on Liesel's life on Himmel Street during the war "uninteresting" and  others find the details of her life so real - too real to read in one sitting.  Ella, yes, in several interviews the author relates that the stories came from his mother, who spent the war years as a young girl in  Germany - I assume that much of what we are reading is autobiographical.  

As we move from chapter to chapter, we are are also moving forward inn time.  We see Liesel growing up.  We read of the increasing poverty, the hunger and the cold.  And we also see that for some, conditions are worse.  The priest is "fat,"  the Mayor and his wife live on in their big warm house on the hill.  The Hubermann's continue to subsist on Rosa's meager soup which is shared with Max - and Rudy.

Ella, I'm still puzzling about the revelation that Rudy is going to die in two years' time.  Death reveals this information so abruptly - I really wasn't prepared for this, were you?

***A SMALL ANNOUNCEMENT***
ABOUT RUDY STEINER
He didn't deserve to die the way he did

What did the author achieve by this revelation?  Will we start viewing Rudy in a different light now?  Are we suddenly made aware that the war is going to affect these children on Himmel Street within the next two years?  Liesel?  Max?  Do you see other another reason?  Does Death know in advance when each will die?  Or is the story told in hindsight and Death, so overcome with the memory, let's it slip out?

Andy, please help me, I am still hung up on the implications of a seven-sided die.  I understand it means bad luck -  but I can't visualize a seventh side.  Don't dice just have six sides? The author  describes each of the first six sides, which seem to me to deal with daily life on Himmel St. while the war is going on somewhere else - Max's haircut, dreams, painting pictures -  but the seventh side (?) "is no regular die" - You've known all along it had to come...this small piece of changing fortune is a signal of things to come."

Jude -  I read the The Tin Drum so many years ago, (40?) I remember that it was set in Germany during Hitler's rise.  I remember him as a sexually precocious little boy and quite defiant of authority - of German authority.  I remember being more interested in this boy and  in Gunther Grasse's writing, than in the reality of his environment. I think I'm going to pull it off the shelf and give it another try.  I've had enough of Mein Kampf.

[ALF43]

JoanP- Luck is interpreted and understood in many different ways.
In this instance, thus far, the Hubbermann's and Max have been winning, repeatedly against significant odds.  Their luck is about to change- the laws of probability are going to catch up with them.

but I can't visualize a seventh side.  Don't dice just have six sides? The author  describes each of the first six sides, which seem to me to deal with daily life on Himmel St. while the war is going on somewhere else - Max's haircut, dreams, painting pictures -  but the seventh side (?) "is no regular die" -
 

Yes, there is no 7th side to the die, but that will soon change, as will their luck.

[PatH]

Yes, the usual die with square faces has to have six sides.  I took the seventh side to be a deliberately surreal touch--now we are going into strange territory.

[Frybabe]

There is such a thing as a seven sided die. Apparently it was invented to use with a variant game of chess. This article also provides a link to an extensive Wikipedia article. I had no idea there were so many different kinds of dice. I didn't see anything regarding a seven-sided die being unlucky, but then I just skimmed the articles for now.

http://www.maa.org/editorial/mathgames/mathgames_05_16_05.html


Regarding the announcement of Rudy's future demise, it was that particular announcement that gave me the impetuous to read ahead. I really wanted to know how he died. So now I am done with the book and have to be careful not to give anything away.

[PatH]

As anyone whose children played Dungeons and Dragons is aware, there are plenty of dice with different numbers of sides (in D & D it's 4, 6, 8, 12, 20).

If you scroll down a fair way in this Wikipedia article, there are pictures and a table of many different shapes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dice

[PatH]

Frybabe, we were posting at the same time.  Your article is better than my article.

[Frybabe]

PatH, I went back and added a bit to my post. The author of the article I posted said the Wikipedia article is excellent.

[Ella Gibbons]

Gosh, you guys are into that "seventh side" business.

Was it ALF who stated that the children's life on Himmel Street was rather normal until their luck out.  Yes, they liked soccer didn't they and what an adventure stealing books.  And, of course, they could not have got away with that without Ilsa Hermann's cooperation.  Leaving the window open, didn't she leave the Dictionary on the window sill?

And Rudy got a kiss, how very sad!

Frybabe:  I finished the book also, and to tell the truth I was rather glad to put it down.  And it was a very good book, but all of it was depressing I thought! 

Perhaps I was the only one that thought so!  But I had to finish it.

Did anyone think it went on a bit much at times?  Am I supposed to talk about the whole book yet? 

JOANP:  Yes, I think you are correct. Death knows when people in the book are to die and how they are to die and gives the reader notice of that; perhaps, as you say, it is to move us forward in time?  As the poverty and hunger progress, Death creeps closer.  Just as the Jews die in the concentration camps.

The images of the Jews being marched through the city! 

But I think I am ahead of the chapters.  I must stop!

[ANNIE]

My son played and still plays war games starting out with Dungeons and Dragons in 1970's.  And there are 7 sided dies used for playing.
From Wikipedia:

Some dice are polyhedral other than cubical in shape. Both seven– and eight-sided dice of modern format are stated in the 13th century Libro de los juegos to have been invented by Alfonso X in order to speed up play in chess variants.[11][12]
In more recent times around the early 1950s,[citation needed] they have become popular among players of wargames and have since been employed extensively in role-playing games, German-style board games, and trading card games. Although polyhedral dice are a relative novelty during modern times, some ancient cultures appear to have used them in games (as evidenced by the discovery of two icosahedral dice dating from the days of ancient Rome, currently on display in the British Museum). In modern times, such dice are typically plastic, and have faces bearing numerals rather than patterns of dots. Reciprocally symmetric numerals are distinguished with a dot in the lower right corner

[PatH]

Ella and Frybabe, it's good of you not to give anything away for those of us who haven't read ahead.  It's hard, though.  Last week I accidentally read ahead a few pages, enough to let me know that Rudy would die, and it was hard to keep muzzled.

I presume that Death is telling the story at a later time, after it's all over, and that's why he knows everything.  I don't think he knows ahead of time when a person will die.  What do you think.

[JoanP]

Ella, PatH  , I remembered something from the beginning of the book - so I just went back to check to be sure.


Death:

..."often I am reminded of her, and in one of my vast array of pockets, I have kept her story to retell...It is one of the small legion I carry, each one extraordinary in its own right. Each one an attempt - an immense leap of an attempt - to prove to me that you, and your human existence are worth it.

Here it is.  One of a handful.  The Book Thief.  
If you feel like it, come with me.  I will tell you a story.  I'll show you something."

So it seems that Death is looking back, already familiar with the story he is about to tell.  Is it because he has a heart then, that he cannot help himself from blurting out that Rudy is going to die?

Ella, a number of us have not finished the book - so please try really hard to not go beyond Part VI in your book.   I know it's difficult now that you know what's going to happen - but we're a large group and  a number of us haven't read ahead. Thank you too, Frybabe!
But please don't go away.  We need your viewpoints and input!

[JoanP]

The seven sided die

Well, who knew there was such a thing as a seven-sided die?  Obviously some of you did.  My boys never got into Dungeons and Dragons.  I'm thinking though, that Markus Zusak may have. He's 35 - just the right age for such imaginative play.   What do you think?  Times like this, I wish we had him in on this discussion.

My first thought when Andy said there was no such thing and PatH thought the reference meant we were getiing into strange territory with the shift in alliance, Britain bonding with Russia- just as Germany invaded Russia. I think that's what Zusak might have been saying.  A 7 sided die is not what one expects to fall.  Something unusual, but possible as we now see.

Things had been chugging along with a sort of sameness in Molching -  and suddenly the town fills with Nazi soldiers checking basements for suitable bomb shelters.  

I've a question.  At some point, Max says he plans to give his book of drawings to Liesel - "when all this nonsense is over."  Do you think the German people really believed the war would be over some day, some day soon - and that Germany would be victorious and life would resume with some degree of normalcy?  Did they have any idea that they were in immediate danger, that bombs would actually fall in their streets and playgrounds?  \
From what we are reading here, don't you get the impression that the people feel that if they can just hold on, their situation will improve?  Of course for Max, if Germany did succeed, things would not improve for him.  What was he thinking when he spoke about the time all this nonsense was over?

[salan]

I have been trying to re-read this book according to our schedule..  It's been hard to keep my opinions to myself, because I am not sure how much I am remembering and I am trying not to jump ahead and give anything away.  It's much better to let others form their own impressions and come to their own conclusions.  I thought this was a very insightful book and that the characters were excellently drawn.  I had distinct visual images of a number of them.  Wow! Now that is good writing (imo). 
It has also been interesting because many of you are pointing out things I missed the first time around.  That just proves to me that really good books are worth re-reading--quickly, the first time to get the story and then again to savor the language.
Sally

[Ella Gibbons]

OH, I'M SORRY!!

I just lent my book to a neighbor, so I shall not misbehave again.  

JOANP, yes, the Germans thought the war would be over, but victorious?  I don't think so, they were just surviving until the end of it as best they could.  I keep thinking of Rosa's soups that they were subsisting on, were the soups three meals a day?  

Zusak, to my recollection, does not give us a clue as to what they expected at the end.  And bombs on their street?  The must have known; they knew of bomb shelters, didn't the Nazi soldiers declare Hans/Rosa's basement too shallow for one?

Weren't they all afraid to talk of defeat?  Someone could overhear!

[countrymm]

Traudee said:"People lived in a climate of fear and intimidation, worried about their daily existence - the empty shelves of grocery stores and useless ration cards."

A 75 yr. old friend of mine has lived in the US for approximately 38 tears.  However, she grew up in Germany at about the time this book took place and endured such food shortages and frightening events that she still keeps one quart of whole milk in her refrigerator at all times.  She doesn't even like milk.  I believe it just reassures her that she's going to be safe today and that she will not go hungry.

Traudee, can you relate to this?

[countrymm]

Ella Gibbons said:
"I hate war, I hate that I am still around to see America involved in another!"

I feel exactly the same way and so do my grown children.  WHY does war persist?  Aren't there better ways to mediate conflict?  How much longer will it take the world to learn to talk to each other without destroying each other?

[countrymm]

JoanP said:

"You have to wonder what motivated Hans Hubermann to risk the lives of his entire family to save Max, don't you?  Was it more than a feeling of indebtedness to Max's father?"

I believe it was much more.  He was just a very empathetic, loving man.  I don't think he could have stopped himself from helping a person desperate for shelter and protection.  He could not stand to see starving Jews paraded through the street. He had to offer at least one of them some food.

One of our earliest discussion questions was something like 'why do you think Rosa and Hans were attracted to each other'?  I wondered about this a lot.  Of course since the book is fiction, I think we need to consider Zusak's purpose in creating any of his characters.  In this case, I feel he put Rosa and Hans together to demonstrate to his readers that it might take both softness and caring (Hans) as well as toughness and hardness (Rosa) to survive a harrowing revolution.

[countrymm]

RE: NEXT MONTH'S BOOK DISCUSSION

Next month we will be discussing Lynne Olson's book "Troublesome Young Men".

I just noticed that she has a new book for 2010 which might interest us.  My local library has ordered 3 copies.

The title is "Citizens of London : the Americans who stood with Britain in its darkest, finest hour".

[JudeS]

Something jumped out at me while reading ALF's post. She said "a seven sided Die"
Could the seventh side really mean Death (Die)?
Although my son played Dungeons and Dragons and I am familiar with the various different numbered Dice , every symbol  in the book points to death.The author is preoccupied with death and dying. His narrator is Death itself.  No wonder some people are feeling overwhelmed.  I too have to escape to a different kind of book to clear it of some of the horror.
I have turned to a non fiction book to read before sleep. Something long ago and far away -with a happy outcome. "Longitude" by Dava Sobel. The story of the uneducated man who discovered the way for sailors to measure Longitude so that their ships would not break up on rocky shores.
What an antidote to Nazi Germany!

[ANNIE]

JudeS
I think we read a Dava Sobel book on the old SN, many moons ago.  Here's a link to our 1998 discussion of "Longitude"!!  This was when our beloved LJ was with us. And Walter and Tom Hubin.  Didn't we meet them in NY and Chicago?   It was many many moons ago.  Enjoy!

http://www.seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/archives/nonfiction/Longitude.html

AND
Here's a link to the Nova program about Longitude from Oct 6, 1998
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/longitude/

[marcie]

Today we begin Part Five - to find the building stress of the war and the "occupation"  taking its toll on those who live on Himmel Street.

As Andy says, we are told by the narrator "right off the zip" in this chapter  that Rudy will receive his first kiss from Liesel at the time of his decimation.  He also tells us his death will take place in two years.

I guess my question is "WHY"?  If he, Death, has such a heart, why break ours before we even come to it.  What can possibly be gained in the telling of the story to let us in on this bit of information now?

It was a shock to read at the beginning of this section that Rudy is going to die. But he doesn't die in the next couple of sections. We still get to savor Rudy's life and get distracted by other characters for a while. That sort of seems true to life for me. We all know that we are all going to die but (for good or ill) we're able to suppress the fact and live on.

I also think it was sort of a kindness that Death told us that Rudy would die. It was a great shock but it lets us prepare somewhat for when Rudy actually dies in the book.

[ALF43]

Oh Marcie- well said. 

We still get to savor Rudy's life and get distracted by other characters for a while. That sort of seems true to life for me. We all know that we are all going to die but (for good or ill) we're able to suppress the fact and live on.

 We all know that we are going to die- so let us enjoy it while we can.  Rudy, albeit his dislike of Deutscher and fear his of Viktor always enjoyed himself, particularly when he and Liesel were "thieving."  You had to laugh at their antics (they are children remember) when Rudy left her shoes at the Mayor's house during one of their raids.
It seems he was so often humiliated: he endured swallowing mud, being forced to the ground, undergoing drill sessions, running in the cold, having his hair chopped off by Deutscher, being half strangled and all of the time keeping up his bravado.  He valiantly attempted to protect Liesel when Viktor flung her book The Whistler into the river and waded into the frigid waters or the Amper to retrieve it for her.
Rudy Steiner was scared of the book thief's kiss.  He must have longed for it so much.  He must have loved her so incredibly hard.  so hard that he would never ask of her lips again and would go to his grave without them.
 

[ALF43]

Jude- yes!  Good point, I do think that the 7th sided die could mean death.  Truthfully, I didn't know a seventh sided die even existed and I took the "7" metaphorically- bad luck- a toss of the dice against the evens.
Countrymm-Yes, ma'am I think that you've hit the nail right on the head with the yin and yang of Rosa and Hans.  Loud vs.gentle, demanding vs. acquiesant, ranting and raving vs. a peaceful and calm demeanor.  Each balanced out the other.
Ella- of course this book upset you. You find it difficult to deal with the ugly and detestable.  That is a testimony to your kindness and goodness.  Please stay with us and offer your comments as we go along.
Salan-Like you, I find this book immeasurably better with each reading.  I have never read a book written like this and in part V!- I find myself feeling sorry for our narrator.  He makes himself much more familiar.
I-I-I- he says: Do you want to know what I truly look like?
I'll help you out.
Find yourself a mirror while I continue.  

Any comments about that diary entry ?

[Laura]

Of course I was startled when our narrator revealed that Rudy would die, but death hints at things a lot in the book, usually not this far ahead and this big, but I think it is in keeping with our narrator’s character.

I don’t think death knows who is going to die ahead of time.  When he came for Max, on pages 317-8, “there was a resurgence --- an immense struggle against my weight.  I withdrew, and with so much work ahead of me, it as nice to be fought off in that dark little room.”   It was great to read that death can be fought off (it is one of my favorite tidbits so far), but it also means that he doesn’t have control and, therefore, couldn’t know who was going to die ahead of time.

I can’t imagine Hans not taking in a Jew during the war.  We read of his feelings of strong, though not overt, opposition to Hitler’s teachings, so being covert in his actions to rebel against what he believes is wrong, persecuting Jews, makes sense.

On page 328, there is
* * * A Small Suggestion * * *
Or maybe there was a woman on Grande Strasse who now kept her library open for another reason --- but that’s just me being cynical, or hopeful.  Or both.

This was another favorite part of this section of reading.  The mayor’s wife knew Liesel came into the house and took Whistler, and then left the window open so that she could come again and take another book when she was ready.  A small act of compassion during hard times.

All of these examples are signs of good during bad times and make the book very readable.

[ALF43]

Oh I agree Laura- I am sure there were many more who extended themselves and interceded to lend a hand.
How can one not show charity and coomiseration for the down trodden, I don't know.
I , too,  felt so sorry for the mayor's wife who knew how badly Liesel wanted to read her plethora of books on the shelves.  She knew that they were sneaking into her house, so hey- why not make the "thievery" a little less complicate-  keep the windows unlocked to facillitate entry. Tenderness abounds! 

[trlee]

Hi Everyone!

I'm back after a long furlough.  I just finished Sarah's Key with my local book group, so it was a little difficult to start a new book about the same topic....the Holocaust.  This book is written in a very different style.  I love the way the author hones in on the important points of the chapter.  Sometimes his summaries are humorous, sometimes foreboding.  I admire the character of Liesel, and her foster dad, Hans.  Hans seems like a wonderful man. He is just the kind of person who should be allowed to be a foster parent.  It was great to see how patient and kind he was to the little girl.

 Liesel is such a spirited young girl despite all of the hardship she has been put through.  Her friendship with Rudy is such an unusual, and unique, one, that it is hard for me to see the prediction of DEATH that Rudy won't be with us at the end of the book.  In my opinion, their adventures have kept the story moving.

TRLee