Changing the way you learn

Literary Genre

dark subject matter and intimidating length (550 pages) ask a lot of young readers but teenagers and adults alike have read and loved its endearing tale of a young girl trying to survive in a very adult world of war and chaos
First-person (limited) narrator; choppy, often-interrupted narrative
1. Death, as narrator, often interrupts the storyline to insert all-knowing asides, background information and witty or insightful commentary
  1. the effect is a story that is not cohesive, but rather patchy
however, unique style of narration is easy to adjust to and can be forgiven within the framework of a heartrending tale of friendship and suffering
novel's strength lies in its endearing characters and the unique bonds that are formed as they all struggle through the difficulties and tragedies of war
1. Liesel is gutsy, plucky and smart, memorably strong and dauntless, and she is surrounded by equally likeable and dynamic characters
  1. strength of the appealing story carries readers through any hiccups in the format
Death carries the difficult task of relating the story as he goes about the grave work of being the Grim Reaper
1. some find the narration stark, inconsistent, overly-poetic or too glib to treat the serious nature of war and its atrocities
2. some find Death's narration entertaining, sardonic, sympathetic and profound
while relating the tragedy and horrors of war, the novel also manages to infuse the undercurrent of misery with moments of joy and happiness
1. because of this, the reader appreciates the novel and gains a greater understanding of an important time in history
Zusak needed a narrator who could provide Liesel's point of view but also provide information that Liesel, as a young girl in a relatively isolated town, wouldn't know about
1. needed a narrator that could give snapshots of the WWII outside of Himmel Street; by using Death rather than a third-person narrator, Zusak is able to offer a unique perspective on all the death and dying occurring during this historical period
Death is not omniscient; he gets his information from his personal experiences and from what he hears and reads about others
1. his chief source is "The Book Thief", the book Liesel writes about her life
  1. for Liesel's story to make sense, Death needs to tell us about what's going on in other parts of Germany, Poland and Russia during WWII, to provide us with details Liesel would have no way of knowing at the time she's writing her book
    1. dying is one of the main things going on; Death interweaves this larger context with the story of Liesel and the people she loves and loses
Quote from Markus Zusak: "Well, I thought I'm writing a book about war, and there's that old adage that war and death are best friends, but once you start with that idea, then I thought, well, What if it's not quite like that? Then I thought, what if death is more like thinking, well, war is like the boss at your shoulder, constantly wanting more, wanting more, wanting more, and then that gave me the idea that Death is weary, he's fatigued, and he's haunted by what he sees humans do to each other because he's on hand for all of our great miseries." Source: www.npr.org
writing style includes foreshadowing, spoiling, illustration, a book-within-a-book-within-a-boook
1. Death uses boldface text to relay certain information
  1. these sections contain foreshadowing and plot-spoiling
2. Death is aware of his habit (says so after he reveals Rudy's imminent death)
3. we cannot fully trust Death; he fools us into thinking there are no surprises left for us at the end; the foreshadowing makes us let down our guards and we are surprised at Max and Liesel's reuniting after the war
4. the novel contains two complete illustrated stories by Max: The Standover Man and The Word Shaker, both written on painted-over pages of Hitler's book, Mein Kampf

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	Created by mcglynnsiobhan about 8 years ago