Minutes July 2007 Book: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (chosen by Gypsy)





Gypsy chose this book on the recommendation of her sister-in-law. She was initially worried that she had chosen too substantial a book (584 pages), but soon realised it was a very quick read.

Markus Zusak was born in Sydney in 1975. He is the son of an Austrian father and a German mother and is the youngest of four children. He is married with one daughter, and lives in Sydney. He started writing teen novels while doing a teaching degree at university and now teaches occasionally, devoting most of his time to writing. (Biographical details from here)

The Book Thief was originally supposed to be a 100 page novel, inspired by stories his mother had told him about life in Munich during the Second World War.


From Markus Zusak's website:

Australian author Markus Zusak grew up hearing stories about Nazi Germany, about the bombing of Munich and about Jews being marched through his mother’s small, German town. He always knew it was a story he wanted to tell.

“We have these images of the straight-marching lines of boys and the ‘Heil Hitlers’ and this idea that everyone in Germany was in it together. But there still were rebellious children and people who didn’t follow the rules and people who hid Jews and other people in their houses. So there’s another side to Nazi Germany,” said Zusak in an interview with The Sydney Morning Herald.

Interesting fact: Zusak traveled to Germany to research some of the detail of book, including the "seasonal habits of apple trees" (see interview with Zusak at teenreads.com for details). While there he carved Rudi and Liesel's names with a coin into a tree by the river he imagined Rudi had jumped into to save Liesel's book.


What we discussed about the book:

• Death is the narrator. What did we think of this approach? Why did we all assume Death was male? What devices had Zusak used to create that impression?
• Was Death judgemental? The character had been personified - was he likable? Did we empathise with him?
• The theme underlying the book that words have power. Words are used to inspire, to lead, to connect, to motivate, to create fear, to escape, to bring hope. Hilter's ability to manipulate words as a propagandist.
• The symbolism of pages of Mein Kampf being painted over and used to create a new book, The Standover Man.
• Zusak's use of metaphor. Often unusual, frequently clever, always beautifully crafted.
• The symbolism of the gifts that Liesel collected for Max (e.g the tin soldier, battered and broken, but still able to stand on his own)
• The significance of the titles of the books Liesel collects/steals.
• The shared humanity of Max and Liesel as described through their nightmare experiences.
• Did Max and Liesel end up marrying?
• Where did Death carry the souls off to?
• The use of colour throughout the book to evoke emotion. Red, black and white seemed to feature (representing the Nazi flag?) Death commences the story by saying, "First the colours. Then the humans. That's usually how I see things. Or at least I try."

Issues we were sidetracked into:

• Gypsy highly recommended If This is a Man & The Truce by Primo Levi, referring to it often during our discussion. In it, Italian author Levi describes his experiences in Auschwitz during WW2.
• The idea of survivor guilt. Which would be easier to live with - knowing you had survived through sheer luck, or through personally-attributed actions ?

And in other news:

• Kensington's baby is due in 10 days.
• KE was sporting a deep-shade-of-bronze tan after a relaxing holiday in Fiji.
• RR (to henceforth be known as T-Rex) is back from her holiday in France and we admired her new haircut (very Katie Holmes).
• Gypsy regaled us with tales from Vietnam, including that of a mono-toothed old woman's fascination with Gypsy's derriere!
• We discussed how cold it had been today (the coldest day in nine years in Melbourne). Who says Melburnians get bored of talking about the weather?
• Is it possible to eat only seasonally-available and locally produced fruit and vegetables -viz. Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle? What would our options be at this time of year in Victoria?
• Are bedbugs the most creepy little pests we could imagine? Are they an issue in hotel rooms?

Ratings
Average: 9.06
Range: 8.5 to 10

Next book: The Women's Room by Marilyn French