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How does this book compare to others you have read?
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1. Keep it polite, respectful, and focused.
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4. Stay on topic: our purpose is to discuss literature.
2. No text-talk: writing style counts.
3. DON'T YELL WITH CAPITALS!
4. Stay on topic: our purpose is to discuss literature.
Contributors
- Alex Quint
- Amy Gelhorn
- Annah Coleman
- Barscello
- Breanne
- Brooke
- Cristina Bras
- Daniel Boswick
- DannyG
- Doug
- Dylan
- Gurdeep Sangha
- HaileyBuhler
- Harjinder Sidhu
- Harley Masyk
- Hayley
- JESSIE PANCHHI
- Jen Yu
- Jeremy Allard
- Jordan Soloway
- Jordan
- Jordyn Weselake
- K-A
- Karlee McKenzie
- Kelly Feniuk
- Kelsey
- MPanchhi
- Madison Langton
- Maria Zarrillo
- Martina
- Michaela Publicover
- Ms. McMaster
- Ryan Rogocki
- Stephanie A.
- Taylor Caryk
- Tyrenn Bauer
- Vicki La
- Vicky Ngo
- alexlucyshen
- kayla b
- kirstin bilous
- lttle.fireball
- steph
I really like that Death is really descriptive with everything. It helps me picture and feel everything better. It is also good that he can describe what everyone is going through not just one person like how a novel written in first person would be.
ReplyDeleteI really liked on page 357 how Death was describing Liesel drinking champagne. "The bubbles ate her tongue. They prickled her stomach. Even as they walked to the nest job, she could feel the warmth of pins and needles inside her."(Zusak, 357). I could almost feel bubbles inside of me and I really like when books can do that.
For me i enjoy having Death narrate the novel and sometimes it can confuse me as well. Death narrating the book gives a different perspective while reading usually the narrator often ends up being a character in the novel for me death is what mostly the people said Death was some type of shadow. Having death narrate the book ruined it for me it would give to much info on what was going on For example on page (241) death clearly states a small statement about Rudy Steiner "He didn't deserve to die the way he did" in that sense it ruined it for me ,because now i know Rudy was going to die
ReplyDeleteI agree with Eskender that Death sometimes ruins the novel when it says things before they happen. Death is like a shadow it follows you everywhere and when the time is right it comes and gets you. On page 309 Death is described as a "he" this made me read the novel from that point on with a different perspective. I also was wondering throughout the whole novel whether Death was a "he" or a "she". Death is what makes this novel interesting and nail biting. You want to continue to read this book when it comes into it. It does ruin the book a little when Death tells you what is going to happen. Death on page 307 shows a different side when it says "And I don't have those skull- like facial features you seem to enjoy pinning on me from a distance." That really made me think that Death is not a bad person, it just does its job like all of us do. It comes when it has to and it has no choice. We always make our pictures look scary when it's Death and when it’s something like "light" we have bright colors to represent it. Death truly is the engine that makes this novel run and so far I really have enjoyed this novel.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with Eskender and Gurdeep about it ruining what might happen, but I also find it more intriguing, and I think that the author might have done that on purpose to make the readers more interested, and keep them reading. I think that it’s really cool how the Point of View is from death, because we do get to find out things before they happen, but also some things that are said, almost seem more powerful. For example, on page 106, when death is talking about some facts about Stalingrad, death is talking about how he is carrying the souls, and hearing from a narrator that isn’t actually human, we have a wider knowledge of things that are going on everywhere, since death is everywhere. If the story was being told by an actual person, we wouldn’t be able to find out about things that are going on in other parts of Germany; we would just be restricted to one person’s story. Sometimes throughout the story, I forget that death is the narrator, until he either predicts something, or starts talking about taking souls from people. I think that this is a cool way of telling the story, and props to the author for coming up with that idea.
ReplyDeleteI really didnt like how death told us that Rudy dies before he did. It completely ruined that part of the book for me. With all of this foreshadowing he is doing he makes you angry. Sure its cool to have these clues but at the same time its like death shut your mouth. It really made me mad to know about his death before it happened. When i was reading i actually thought that death was telling us about Rudys death in the actual moment. Then he said it was rude to have told us and that he ruined a part of the book. I am not a fan of his foreshadowing techniques.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI don't think Death, by giving us spoilers throughout the book at random points, is ruining the story. To be honest, it is actually compelling me to read further. Normally, I would complain about it and state that it's anti-climatic to ruin a part of the story so early, but it allows new questions like, “How/Why/When did it happen?” to emerge from the reader. These questions also arise when Death tells us about a new part of the plot (eg. Pg 83-84, Liesel obtains The Shoulder Shrug) and then backing up to tell the whole story (eg. 85-122, how she steals it and what happens in between). Although I don't read a lot of books, this POV is really an interesting feature to the novel.
ReplyDeleteI was reading the character comments and Vicki said something about Hitler haunting Max. This made me think of how Death reminded me of being a shadow. He always seemed to have all the knowledge as if he had been watching from a corner the whole time, like your shadow is always there whether or not you can see it. This puzzles me as Zusak has created a Death quite the opposite of who I believe Hitler was, so why this similarity? If Death was who I stereotypically imagined him to be I could understand this parallel between characters but being as it is not so it leaves me wondering what message am I supposed to gain from that. Perhaps it is a reference to the theme about good and bad, and its existence in everybody or maybe our narrator is not who we think he is.
ReplyDeleteI think it is interesting how Death gives hints about what is going to happen sometimes and straight out tells you others. Its like some things are just left to the unknown but other it seems inportant to ruin what will happen. For example Death tells you that Rudy is going to die of hypothermia, but just hints that max will die from the sickness.
ReplyDeleteDeath being the narrator is starting to get really confusing. At times, he is following around Liesel, so the things that you read about are some how connected to Liesel. Occasionally, he jumps to another person’s story, like he did with Max. He tells Max’s life story, and then he jumps back to Liesel. This is very confusing. As I already said, he tells us how Rudy dies, but not when. It has been mentioned quite a few times, but Rudy has not died yet. I got the impression that Rudy died after he retrieved the book from the river for Liesel, from hypothermia. That scene has come and gone though, but Rudy did not die. I’m thinking I may have interpreted that wrong, but I don’t really know. I guess I’m going to have to keep reading to find out what happens. I’m hoping that at the end of the book, Death will make sense of all the little things he has been revealing to us.
ReplyDeleteI really like Death's final statement in the book, "I am haunted by humans." At first, I thought it was a negative remark. I thought it meant that, because of all the things that Death sees humans do, that the human race appalls, frightens and therefore, haunts him. But after thinking about it a bit more, I came to the conclusion that his last statement is meant to give the readers hope. At the beginning of the book, Death says that it's the survivors whom he can't stand to look at. I think that when he says that he's haunted by humans, he means that there are and always will be survivors left in the world and there is always hope for human life.
ReplyDeleteDeath values colors throughout the book as a means of expressing the scene. It is the best way it can describe the emotions and the feeling of what is happening.
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ReplyDeleteI can’t really say that I truly like the fact that the narrator of the story is Death, but I agree that this fact gives a novel its uniqueness. All the books that I’ve read before were always told from the person’s point of view( except the books from childhood of course) but having someone, who does not physically exists in the world tell the story about human life is very special. I mean, it is always interesting to see how someone other than human sees the world and the human race with it. It gives you a different view on everything around you, like an overall perspective of someone who just sees people as human beings, without breaking them up into different categories by race, skin color, gender or background.
ReplyDeleteI really like how Death uses special word choices and always refers to colors when he describes or explains something. It does give me a little bit of frustration because I do not always understand what he means, but it mystifies and absorbs me deeper into the story, making me not just read, but actually try to analyze and understand the ideas behind the chosen words.
ReplyDeleteI like how death usually puts those little bolded notes in the book. Sometimes when he's explaining something in the story, he'll make a note in bold that signifys he wants you to take note of something important or to simply give you a translation of a word. To me these are useful and can sometimes help you with the understanding. It's also quite different because i haven't read any book with something like this, so this is just another thing that makes this point of view unique.
ReplyDeleteI think that for a book about the Holocaust, it is told by an odd point of view. It’s not the fact that “Death” is the point of view, but that it is told about a German family. Most books from this era are told about a Jewish family who is struggling to survive, but I really like it how this one is still about a German family, but still manages to tell a story about a Jewish person and his struggles. My only problem with the point of view is that sometimes it seems like Death shouldn’t be telling the story. What does Death have to do with Liesel at all? On page 168, Death tells us that he will put Liesel and Max together, but to just give him a few pages. In my opinion, Death should be telling the bad parts of the story. To me, it almost seems as if “Fate” might be telling the rest.
ReplyDeleteI don't think Death ruined the story by hinting towards Rudy's death, it just made me quite upset. Rudy and Liesel are such good friends, I don't even want to have to picture them apart. Of course, I know they aren't real people, but I think that when Death does his little foreshadowing he really plays with our emotions. If he hadn't told us Rudy would die, we would look at the story differently. There wouldn't be the urgency for Liesel to hurry up and give him his first kiss and so on, which all in all makes us get into the novel more. It also makes us appreciate their friendship better because we have already pictured what it would be like without Rudy. In this way, I think Death makes what is happening in the present time of the novel so much more important by foreshadowing and forcing us to consider what it would be like a different way.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I am not all for the "all knowing" narrator I have began to find death telling the story a little bit easier to follow and it really is contributing to the novel. I do find deaths view very unique due to the fact that he does not influence the events of the story directly. Do not think by my last comment that death does not contribute because without him adding small definitions and observations the book would be much more difficult to follow and probably less interesting.(Spoiler Alert) Not until the very end of the book does the narrator become involved in the story when he of course comes and retrieves a much older Liesil Meminger's soul.
ReplyDelete@ Martina,
ReplyDeleteI really agree with you on the fact that by foreshadowing Death only makes the story more interesting and special in its own way. He does play with our emotions by doing so; he allows a certain bond to form between the reader and character and he really creates an idea of dramatic irony where the reader knows what is going to happen but the character doesn’t. Personally it gets me more involved with the story; it makes me really worried about character’s future and very eager to find out what is going to happen and how all of that will turn out.
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ReplyDeleteSome people have said they like that Death gives clues on the events in the story and others have said they think it spoils the story for them. Personally I like that Death gave hints or clues about what was going to happen later on in the story. I am the kind of person who is impatient when it comes to reading. In this book I didn't feel impatient because parts were the suspense was high didn’t feel as high because I had some idea of what was going to happen already however, I really liked that! I found the hints would make me read more because I had the hint of what was going to happen but didn't know exactly what happened. I think Markus Zusak made a very unique story and I am not fully done but have actually enjoyed whole theme of this book.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoy having death as the narrator, it's different from anything I've ever read before. However I do not like how he chooses to spoil certain things I think it really takes out the suspense from the story.
ReplyDeleteWhile having Death, who is typically portrayed in a negative fashion and is kind of a non-entity, as a narrator is certainly unique, I think what really separates The Book Thief from other books about the events of the Holocaust is that it focuses on a German family (even if they aren’t typical Hitler-loving Germans) as opposed to the cliché Jewish family. However at the same time, there is Max, a struggling Jew who has to hide in the Hubermann’s basement which still allows us to see the difficulties Jewish people had to overcome during this time without actually focusing on a Jewish family.
ReplyDelete@Brooke
ReplyDeleteI think you made a really good point there about the bolded facts Death gives us drawing our attention to important details. In most books, it’s easy to read the whole thing and not really understand anything, and because everyone interprets things in their own way, it’s easier than you might think to focus on the wrong thing and skip over facts that while unimportant at the time, may be important later. Without Death’s little hints of ‘Hey, this is important! Pay attention to this!’ some aspects could have been overlooked or ignored, but by forcing us to pay attention to that fact, it forces us to retain information we might not otherwise, and to pick out important details about a person or situation.
I must say that I really like that Death is the narrator, though it was rather difficult adjusting to the idea of death telling you a story. It really adds something to it. I must disagree with Cristina about how Death spoils certain events. I don’t think that he spoils anything, because he never does tell you when it is going to happen, he (I think of Death as a guy) just hints at the fact that it is going to happen, but we the readers must wait for it to actually happen. It adds suspense to the story and makes you want to keep reading, at least for me anyways. The only thing that I would have to say that I have against Death being the narrator is that I personally think that he tends to jump subjects quickly leaving me a little confused at some points as to what just happened in the story.
ReplyDeleteNear the end of the book Death talks about his job. The last line of the book Death says that he is haunted by humans. I find this funny because the whole way through he dosen't show any signs of being haunted by humans. He says other things about humans but haunted. Death also tells you the last things so that they are tied up but i won't spoil the ending.
ReplyDeleteAnother thing with this point of view i find is that there seems to be little secrets to it. I mean there is in the actual story between the characters, but usually death seems to put things right out there. For example foreshadowing events. In most books the narrator doesn't say things that help or contribute to the understanding of the story, they just tell it as it is. Though, i find death tells it differently. He puts things in his own perspective to make us view the book in another way. To make us clue in on important facts and to realize there's more to it then what we read.
ReplyDeleteThe point of view in this novel is what is keeping me interested. Death likes to give little hints about things that might happen, this gets you thinking and keeps you in the book. I like the idea of him knowing about everything that is happening cause you dont just get to read the book through one charactor. The reason is he knows about each person and each person gets a little story.
ReplyDeleteThe way the author personified Death, makes him seem a lot less foreboding than most people would think. Death has a sense of humour, he has a heart, he trys to be fair and he seems, more or less, normal. Death handles people carefully and he can be kind. When all those people were suffering in the concentration camps, Death was a blessing when he took them. Also, Death felt bad taking Rudy and the teen girl mentioned on page 337. Throughout the book, there were times when Death made me laugh, for example when he talked about white being a colour. Death spoke like any other regular human being. He complained about his job and how he desperately wanted a vacation. I think the author portrayed Death matter of factly and in the right light. Because, if you think about it, Death shouldn't always be seen as a heartless black omen. Death can be awful and sad, but it can also be a blessing to people who are suffering or to people who are simply just tired.
ReplyDeleteDeath is very interesting in this novel. Death always has comments towards the novel. He always gives hints to what is going to happen. He also tells you what is happening in the novel. Death also tells what actually happened in Germany during that time and relates it to the novel. Death also shows his feelings when he has to and is not afraid of doing so. A lot of people start dieing and Death always tells us that he pities on all the Jewish bodies and sometimes he cries. Death really narrates the story well. It was hard to adjust to Death but, now that I'm far into the novel I just got used to it and thought of Death as another character and as another narrator that I have read in another novel before. On some occasions Death really confuses me by saying weird things but, after a while they show up and I understand why he said that. I really lie that the Point of View in this novel is Death because it is unique from what I have read before. Death is very descriptive about what he says. He always adds colors, items, nouns, and adjectives to the object to better enhance the picture that we imagine in our head about it. Death really knows how to sum up the events in the novel.
ReplyDeleteI mentioned before that I found it interesting that the story was about a German family during World War II instead of the classic everyday story about a Jewish family during the war. By this I do not mean I like what the Nazi's did or how the Germans acted during the war but it is nice how they tell the story about the Hubbermans. Instead of making them Powerful and Rich they make them a poor German family that is probably almost though of as being as low as the Jewish people. Also I thought it was interesting how they put them though heart-ships and in the end even death. Although I was very sad when they died it definitely put a spin on the book. Lastly I would point out that this book truly shows that not all German people were crazy Nazi worshipers who hated Jews, in fact a lot of families did not have the same views as Hitler and book helps to prove just that.
ReplyDeleteMy initial impressions of Death as the narrator; that being that he somewhat ruins the element of surprise in the novel, is changing, slightly, very slightly. His hints are not as in your face as at the beginning it seems, which for me, was what I disliked. Not to say he is growing on me much in the novel. The way he describes things, colours of the sky, or specific qualities of things or people, doesn't agree with how the persona of "Death" would be for me. In this novel, he seems too 'smooth' almost, his words almost project a feeling of trying to see the best in everything, which, although works very well with the themes of the novel, doesn't fit with how I would like to think of Death, if he were to have an actual personality.
ReplyDeleteI do feel like I'm nitpicking the heck out of this book, and I don't particularly know why exactly, but something about the diction of the novel, just aggravates me. I still feel like I'm reading a book that was made specifically for me/my age group, and as I mentioned before, too many of the words used are somewhat inappropriate for there purpose. I find that bigger words than necessary words are used for the context, making, as I mentioned before, the book feel like it's trying to make the reader feel smarter than they are, which is offensive to me.
The basic idea of this post was to say that death has too bright of an outlook too blend with what is known to be shadowy figure... in my opinion.
As I kept reading the book I noticed that having Death as a narrator made my reading experience very unique. I noticed that although Death does tell the readers what’s going to happen before it happens, he still keeps them guessing, at least that’s what happened for me I noticed that it made me wonder and think of so many what ifs. I also noticed that once you get to the point of the novel that Death said would happen he describes it in full detail, and I found that very fascinating because it created some sort of image in my head which made my reading experience so far unique from the rest although I have read some novels that were as informative.
ReplyDeleteSomething that I like about the way this story is told is that Death knows that he’s talking in a book. For example, on page 243, Death says: “I’m spoiling the ending, not only of the entire book, but this particular piece of it,” (page 243). Once again though, I didn’t like the fact that you found out things before they ever happened. On page 241, we find out that Rudy is going to die, and it kind of changed the way that I look at Rudy after that. We know that he has two years left to live, and that he doesn’t deserve to die the way that he does.
ReplyDeleteDeath describes everything so well it's as if it was happening right in front of my eyes. I've become so attached to this book, when somthing happens to a character, whether its good or bad, I feel like its also affected me. When Max became sick, it made me really sad it was as if I could feel everything that was going through Lisel's body at the time.
ReplyDeleteI have finished reading the novel and overall Death being the narrotor was really amusing. I think he spiced up the novel quite a bit with all of his random posts he made to describe something or explain someone. He did sometimes get confusing how he moved from scene to scene but he was a really good narrator. He was really descriptive and I enjoyed that he knew everyones prespectives. At the beginning of the novel one of the first statements he said was "Here's a small fact - You are going to die."(Zusak,3) This really intrigued me to read the novel. Infact, almost everything Death said made me want to read more and more. One of my favorite lines that Death said was "It kills me sometimes, how people die."(Zusak, 464) This is very ironic because someone dies and it hurts Death that they died eventhough it is his job. I also thought this was an interesting like "Perhaps it's so they can die being right."(Zusak, 469) Death is probably correct, everyone wants their last second of life to be good so they say something intelligent. I really liked that Death knew how humans acted and what they wanted. It was interesting to hear his opinions throughout the novel and made the novel really excellent. Some of the things that Death said i found really amusing but I didn't quiet understand them fully. Like the line "Still, they have one thing I envy. Humans, if nothing else, have the good sense to die."(Zusak,491) I don't really understand the line but it made me want to read more and more and to get to know Death as a narrator more. The last point that Death made is very ironic. He says he fears us but we are also afraid of him. I love irony and this made me really like having him as the narrator. Overall Death was a really affective narrator and has been my favorite narrator in a book so far.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Cristina. Death does describe things very carefully. The images are very vivid in my head while I am reading, and you don't get that with many books. Along with all the emotions. When you can feel what the characters are feeling in the book, you know that it was writen carefully. it gives you a whole new experience reading the book. I most certainly think that Death was the best narrator from the story, and it makes sense that it was from his point of view considering the fact that the amount of people who died in that particular war, no one would understand it better then Death.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Alex. While reading this book i can picture everything in my head. The house, the streets, the Amper river, everything. Also while i read it does fill you with many emotions. Not many books that i've read have really come alive to me which is probably why i havn't enjoyed reading very much but i do like this book because i can image it clearly.
ReplyDeleteOn the same wavelength as Amy, I think one of the interesting elements of the narrator was the way the author personified Death. He cast down the archetypical image of a haunting robed figure with a scythe and transformed our conception of Death to a more human one. Like our unusual narrator pointed out on page 307, “I do not carry a sickle or scythe. [...] You want to know what I truly look like? I’ll help you out. Find yourself a mirror while I continue.” which really shows that he is not the “person” we typically view Death as being, that he’s just another guy like you or me. Telling us to look in a mirror was really powerful symbolism to say not that he *is* the reader, but that he’s just *like* the reader: a non-descript, run-of-the-mill person.
ReplyDeleteHe makes numerous remarks throughout the story to the effect of “Even death has a heart” (p. 242) and that he was glad “to be fought off in that dark little room.” (p. 318) when Max was on the brink of death, but remained outside Death’s clutches. He certainly does have a certain sense of humour, if a little twisted at times – but hey, what do you expect from Death?
I too was puzzled by Death's last comment: I'm haunted by humans.
ReplyDeleteAfter giving it some thought I think Death is still trying to prove that he is not the heartless creature, the ominous thing we fear meeting at the end of our lives but someone who cares. When Death says he's haunted by humans I think he's referring to how he feels our pain, he remembers all of the horrendous stories but also the good moments too. We're something he can't get out of his head; he can’t forget how we act when we're alive, the different emotions we are capable of feeling and how we die.
Zusak changed my stereotypical view of Death for the better; this different point of view changed a lot of my opinions on the Holocaust and Death itself, while provoking me to think and then understand this interesting novel.
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ReplyDeleteIn parts of the novel the German perspective of the Holocaust is voiced. Liesel notices Rosa Hubermann mentions the word "they". Liesel does not understand. She asks herself "Who are they?" after Rosa says, "Who knows what they have done to her?" This accurately represents the German people at the time who didn't know what was going on outside of their towns. They of course as we know refers to Hitler and the Nazi Party. Some German people at the time didn't know how brutally Hitler was treating the Jewish people. All they knew was that Jews were bad and must be disposed of.
ReplyDeleteI find myself starting to think that the person telling us the story is just that: a person. He has an unfortunate job, but unless Death says things like men are running towards him, not other men, I consider him to be a person named Death. The concept of death and the narrator are so utterly different for me that I can hardly see them in the same light. Death does not kill people, he's not bloodthirsty, moreover he's kind. I definitely cannot picture the concept of someone dying as something kind. Because of this, the narrator seems so much more human, and I think that Death is quite a bit easier to connect with in his friendly state.
ReplyDeleteAt first i barely even noticed death.But when you see the bold print you know it is him giving you important pointsmakeing the book easier to understand,I find these points helpfull and i like how he will sometimes describe the character giving you a better understanding of what they are like,but sometimes annoying because he will give away things that are going to happen later on in the book.
ReplyDeleteDeath is an extremely different narrator. I really like how he (he is a he right?) always talks about colours. It makes me feel connected to the book in some way or another. But I do think that it is really weird that he tells us random stories before they're actually relevent to the story and we have to always keep the information in the back of our minds and then when it actually comes up in the story and the characters interact with the information, I keep thinking things like "wow I knew this such a long time ago, why did it take this long to come up" and such. I wish there was a little bit more of the connections coming up sooner and less ruining of the book. When death told me that Rudy dies. I was heartbroken. Some things should just be left secret.
ReplyDeleteThe one thing that I did not like about the narrator Death was that he told the reader that Rudy was going to die in a month. When I read that then kept reading all I could think about was how was Rudy going to die? And why?
ReplyDeleteWhile I read the book it feels to me as if it Death is not the narrator but just a man or woman telling the life story about Liesel. I have to remind myself that it is Death who is telling the story. The only time I really remember that it's death telling the story is when it tells us that he is going to take someones soul from them.
ReplyDeleteAs I come near the end of this book, I start to think that death’s point of view isn’t as different as I first thought it was. I thought that he would have a bit of a different way of telling this book, which he does. But underneath it all it just seems like he’s a regular person who’s just telling the story. This is probably due to the fact that death isn’t what you think death would be like. The typical death wouldn’t be so sympathetic and treat taking the souls of humans as a stressful job. So, my first impressions of having death as the narrator were almost the complete opposite of what it really was like.
ReplyDelete@Tiffany
ReplyDeleteI liked both comments you made, the one about how you didn't like when death told us Rudy was going to die i found kind of sad because i like Rudy he was a funny kid.
I also like how you mentioned you didn't even notice that death was death, i thought the same thing it just kind of seemed death was just an ordinary person.
This was the first book i have ever read were the narrator was death, and at first i didn't really like it i don't really know why but i just found it weird but now i kind of find it interesting. It's a really unique narrator especially considering the theme of the story because death plays such a big role during the holocaust. My opinion was that the author chose the perfect narrator to tie the hole book together.
ReplyDeleteI really like how Death is always so descriptive and how he always explains everything that might make the reader confused. My favourite thing about Death is that he seems to have a dark sense of hummer. Im not sure why I like that but I just do. Another l thing that I really think is good is how it actually seems like an actual person is telling the story. One thing that I don't understand about death though is how he always talks about the colours of the sky. I don't really see the importance in that.
ReplyDelete@Jordyn
ReplyDeleteI feel exaxtly the same way, except I myself enjoyed the entire idea of Death being the narrator. It gives us a new perspective on what was going on during these tough times, he always gives us his opinion, which is both good and bad. It is good because even though he is a fictional character, we make an instant connection and formulate am opinion on him because he is Death. It is bad though because he often tends to foreshadow for us which is not always the best thing, for a novel such as this. But, i feel personally he is a greta narrator he gives us a unique pint of view and really gives the story an interesting perspective, never before used in any litterature I have personally read.
I agree with Madison, that Death is very descriptive and ties up all loose ends so the reader can understand better. I also think that he seems just like an actual human being, and I like how Zusak gave him human qualities. We got to see him as an actual character in the novel, and not just a narrator or the “fate” that you meet at the end of your life. About his colours though, I think they might be Death’s emotions or feelings. Instead of using just black and white words, he mixes in colours to help the reader see mentally what is happening, and they give the story other dimensions.
ReplyDeleteAs I got further in the book I noticed of how the vibe Death was sending from the beginning of the book, doesn't really change. By that what I mean is that he doesn't make any of the events of the book seem unrealistic. Having Death as a narrator didn't take away from the seriousness of the book although it had this kind of weird sense of humor in some parts of the book which made it interesting to read, because it gets hard to read a book that is extremely serious; and by saying that I’m not implying that this book didn’t deal with any serious events and issues. I believe that having Death as a narrator has made this book extremely interesting.
ReplyDeleteI finished the book a while ago, and overall I thought that Death acting as commentator/narrator was quite interesting and different than anything else I have ever read. From the beginning of the book, i thought it was cool that a real person was not narrating, and it just made sense to me throughout the book that nothing or nobody else would have been as fitting for a 'point of view' as Death.
ReplyDeleteIt's neat how the book is narrated by death and how he talks about what he does as a job, its just something that he has to do. Plus he is not actually a character in the book, so he doesn't really interfere with the story. Except for when he takes away the souls of the people that die, but it's not like anyone can see him or talk to him. So really he is just telling a story that he observed, which leads to a very interesting way of writing a book. The narrator death also talks directly to the reader at some points, and im not saying that he jumps out and talks to me, for example it says on page 3 it says "Does this worry you? I urge you-don't be afraid. I'm nothing if not fair." While your reading you forget that death is the narrator until there is a little tip/explanation in bolded writing or when he refers back to himself, or the reader. It makes the book more interesting while reading it since it is a very unique and different way of narrating the book.
ReplyDeleteI just finished reading the novel. Now I know why the author of this book chose to have Death as a narrator and it makes perfect sense. Well from the way the story ended I figured that the reason why Death was the narrator of this book is simply because everything that deals with the issues with World War II, and the holocaust deals with Death, misery, scarifies, and losses. I find it kind of surprising that I couldn't figure it out from the start. At the beginning of the book Lisle lost her brother, in other words he died right in front of her eyes (page 19).Than towards the end of the book it all makes sense, the reason I think Death was the narrator is because it was his job to take away all those bodies that remained after the holocaust, and he certainly had to take away all the bodies of the people that died on Himmel street (pages 530-531). Now I know why the narrator Death at times seemed fascinated by Liesle its because she was the only one who survived, in other words she was the only one who Death didn't have to take with him the night that the bombings reached Himmel street(page 534). In conclusion I would like to say that I really enjoyed having Death as the narrator because it made my reading experience different from the rest, and my favorite thing about having Death as a narrator is the fact that he is as real as can be in both the book and in real life so it was great hearing the story from Deaths perspective. My favorite line from death was "sometimes I arrive too early. I rush, and some people cling longer to life than expected." (Page 9) I love that line because it is as true as it can get some people live a full life while some others don’t because their life gets cut short , for example look at the difference of the life span between Liesle’s and Rudy’s. (Page 550).
ReplyDeleteI really enjoy having Death as a narrator, it makes the book stand out against all the other books I have read. The vocabulary Markus Zusak has given him makes me think more about the scene that is being described, and I can look at the book in a completely different view. While Death is narrating, I can see the scene and the actions happening right before me as if it’s really there. This creates almost a scary effect in some parts of the book and it defiantly increases the dramatic toll on the reader.
ReplyDeleteI think Markus Zusak had a creative idea of making death the narrator because death is not even a life form. I like the fact that how he uses different words and refers to colors when he talks about people and other stuff. Death, itself probably is the only time i have seen any author use as a narrator. All i have ever seen are people being used as narrators, but death puts a good twist on this novels story. I actually enjoy parts of this novel because the narrator makes it a little interesting, just because it is not human and looks at the human race in a different format.
ReplyDelete@ Doug
ReplyDeleteI like the way you have looked at Death being just another narrator and he also just happens to be almost a “by stander” to the story. He does carry away the souls of the dead, but he doesn’t really interfere with the events, although since it is a war there is no possible way of getting around death. Narrator or not.
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ReplyDeleteI really like the relationship between Max and Liesel. They always talk, and it seems like they can basically talk about anything. They always tell each other their dreams, which I think is sweet, and when Max was extremely ill, she would stay by his bed, and bring him little gifts she could find. Although Max has put Liesel’s family in danger by staying there, the Hubermann’s care for him a lot. For example, on page 315, during Max’s sickness, Rosa says to Hans: “I didn’t bring this man into my house to watch him die,” (page 315). They take really good care of him all the time and he has basically become a member of the family. Max is really good at looking for the positive side. Despite all that he’s been through, and that now he is living in a basement, he still manages to find some reason to be happy. For example, on page 313, Max says: “Often I wish this would all be over, Liesel, but then some how you do something like walk down the basement steps with and snowman in your hand,” (page 313). I think that since this story already has such a dark, depressing mood to it, it’s good to have a character with positive thinking, even if he is the victim.
ReplyDeleteI thought that it was really interesting how Death mentioned that people die differently. He said that some people welcome him, some fight him, and some accept him. I never really thought about it, but now that he pointed it out I realize that it's true. I am really glad that the author made that observation, it really makes the reader think. Although, I disagree with the statement where Death says, "His soul sat up and met me. Those kinds of souls always do-the best ones." I think that sometimes the best souls do accept death, but often the best souls fight death as well.
ReplyDeleteI find death very interesting. I find that he actually cares about Lisel, or it could be more of an obsession with her. he could have done a story about anyone in that family but he decided to focus on her.
ReplyDeleteMy favourite thing about having death narrate the novel was that he always hints at what is going to happen next to one of the main characters. I like this because in other books that i have read the narrator usually says whats going to happen next. In a way thats what death is doing, I just like the way he hints at it better.
ReplyDeleteI personally like the fact the Death tells us about what is going to happen before it actually happens. It adds the bit of suspense that can keep you reading. Yes, it does spoil a lot of things, but you don’t know how long it will take you to actually reach that part in the novel. It could be 2 pages, or maybe 2 chapters. No one knows but Death. All we know is that it is going to happen at some point. Then there is the occasional hint at what is going to happen, and he leaves it to your mind to actually think about what he means by that. Everything in this seems to be about your imagination. You have to think while you are reading; remember what Death is telling you so that it makes sense when it gets to the new part that ties into the old part.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, I’m not a huge fan of the narrating style, either. Like, yes, it’s different, and sometimes different is good, but it’s not really my thing. I don’t like how he just gives away the ending at the beginning, and pretty much throughout the entire book. It’s like, well then, what’s really the point of continuing on reading? I already know what’s going to happen. It’s like when you mention to a friend that you want to see a certain movie, and then they just tell you everything that happens. Like, “No, I don’t want to know, you just took the joy out of watching it.”
ReplyDeleteHowever, slightly contradictory to my previous comment, I enjoy Death as a character. I really like his/her/its personality. He’s quite sarcastic and frankly, quite honest. Like, brutally honest. For instance, pretty much on the first page, he just bluntly tells us that we’re going to die. I mean, we all already know that, but no one really wants to think about it.
ReplyDeleteI also like how at once point he kind of gives away what he looks like (I’m just saying “he” because that’s what I’m assuming), and I also noticed that throughout the book, he’s slowly giving away more and more about himself. His views, beliefs, etc. It kind of helps the actual reading experience become better for me. Now that I think about it, I think I’m actually more interested in the character of Death than the story he tells. Say, if the point of view was the same as from To Kill a Mockingbird (And older Liesel telling her childhood story), I’d probably be dying of boredom every time I read 2+ pages.
I also really like how Death throws in the random inserts in bold. It’s kind of like a “just to make sure you didn’t misunderstand me, I’ll put it in plan English for you.” Another example of his bluntness.
Kelly, i sort of agree with your first blog on march 25th. I enjoy the narrators personality, however i hate how he gives hints, that for me, ruin the book. The book theif deffinetely has a unique style of narration however i'm not a big fan of him giving away a large portion of the book. I do like how he's sometimes sarcastically fuuny and his personality seems to entrigue me in the sence that he's mysterious, but says somewhat random things that don't necessarilly need to be said.
ReplyDeleteI really like having death as a narrator in this book. He shows every side of the story from every angle. Since he is death he sees everthing that happens which is more enjoyable then seeing one side of each character
ReplyDeleteMy favourite thing about having death as a narrator is that he always up front and honest, he tells the story from a perspective that has never really been used. I like his analogies on how people regard death. I like how he says that people deal with him in three ways. They beg for him to arrive, they fight against him at all odds and then finally there are those that accept him, but do not want him. The only problem I have is that he says that the best souls sit up and await him, until he takes them away without a fight. Now for him as a character this may be true, but in reality this not true. I feel that the best souls are those that fight until the time in which they can no longer win, but even when they know they are defeated they strive to best the possible people they can be.
ReplyDeleteI think having Death as the narrator was a good idea. I mean, can you imagine if a teenage girl was narrating it and she had observed so many terrible things that surround her? She wouldn't have been as calm and collected like Death. If she was narrating, I think the book would be all over the place and messy, crammed with thought after thought. Death just makes it more clear to read and he 'softens the blow' for you sometimes by foreshadowing it. Liesel could not have foreshadowed any events if she was writing things as they happened.
ReplyDeleteWhile death is describing how people are going to die I feel as if he see's the world from one angle, which is in fact death. I feel as if he is looking through a spy glass. It is a different feel and is interesting at how he envisions the world.
ReplyDeleteThere has only been one point in this book so far where Death’s unique from of narrating bothered me. When Rudy jumps into the river to retrieve a book, Death foreshadows “he was not deserving of the fate that met him a little under two years later,” (p.242). Reading this was like being punched in the stomach. It was just so blunt and unexpected. It didn’t kill the suspense for me; in fact, it actually created more. Now I’m anxious to arrive at the point where Rudy dies, to find out what happened to cause this. But although it created more suspense, I wasn’t happy to read it. Now I know that at some point in this book, Rudy dies. This book takes place during a war, so it’s not that I didn’t expect most people to end up dying. I just didn’t expect to be informed so quickly of the death of a kid who makes the story so much brighter and happier.
ReplyDeleteI find it funny when some characters think that they can fight off death and he just thinks it's such a joke. I personally do not think that the people can fight off death because he comes when he wants and their is no stopping him when he's there.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I don't like about having death as a character is that it gives away parts of the story. When it told us that Rudy had died half way through the book i really didn't like it. He gave away the ending now as I continue reading I have to pretend that Rudy is still alive even though I know somewhere along the road he is going to die.
ReplyDelete@ Tiffany
ReplyDeleteI agree with you. This happened throughout the entire book with many different characters. They all thought that when they would see death they would "beat him up" (like that was even possible). When death comes for you there is no stopping it. But then there's the exact opposite people who wanted Death to come for them but then he never did come or didn't come for a while. The character Death didn't jump at the chance to take those people's lives which shows you that Death doesn't enjoy taking away the lives of people.
Something that I like about Death being the narrator is that he’s so calm throughout the book. Liesel has been going through tragic times from the beginning to end, but Death was able to just tell it as it is and doesn’t show too much sympathy towards Liesel. I would imagine that if any other character from the book was narrating their character would feel a great amount of sadness and sympathy for Liesel. Death is able to explain the book just being himself and occasionally adding a bit of humour. Though, I don’t feel Death takes away from the dramatic and tragic times of this book that make you feel sad, he just expresses it in a different way. This way could be by colours, foreshadowing and just his perspective of the events.
ReplyDelete@Tiffany
ReplyDeleteI agree with you and I also don’t agree with you. First off, I agree because yes death does arrive at any given moment without any sort of introduction. No one in reality can fight off death in the literal sense. Everyone must die eventually, but it is I believe a person’s will power that decides his life not fate. Although fate does play a major role in life, I believe it is one’s choice that decides his final days. A person may have the drive and the will power to stay alive, which may keep them alive if only for a little longer. So yes, no one can fight off Death, but everyone can evade it if only for a small period of time.
I agree with Brooke. Death makes all the situations in the book that Liesel goes through so much calmer than I imagine they would be. It tells the truth and gives his honest opinion. It makes the book seem more real and that these are real life situations. He doesn't give sarcasim or makes it a joke so the book is told honestly and truthfully.
ReplyDeleteAfter Death told about Rudy dying I had a different perspective of him. First off I really didn't like him, and secondly I took on a different perspective of Rudy, I paid more attention to the details of his life and waited and wanted him and Liesel to get together. Now I'm wondering if the author told us early on purpose to make us pay more attention to Rudy's character.
ReplyDeleteAlex, I agree with you that now that I know Rudy is going to die I have been paying more attention to his character and asking myself, "Is he going to die right now?". The author most likely did this on purpose so that we will be anxious to know when and how he dies, so the reader will keep on reading.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I found strange about having Death as a narrator is his fascination, almost obsession with Liesel. This is extremely strange because he is Death, he picks up the souls of those that have died, and yet here he is following around a young girl, describing in detail every point in her lifetime. This is most strange because at this point in time there were so many people dying and yet here is Death just cruising around watching over this one little girl. He worries more about this living girl than he does about all the people that have already died or that are dying at this moment. This is extremely odd.
ReplyDeleteI thought that upon reading the end of the novel, most of the foreshadowing that Death had revealed would be made sense of. This wasn’t really the case in my opinion. I was still really confused about a lot of things when I finished reading. Death didn’t piece everything together, which made me quite confused. I was wondering why the author would want people to be unsure of what happens, but I think it’s because he wants you to be wondering some things. He wants you to sit back and think about what you have read when you have finished it. Overall, Death being the narrator was confusing, but I think that the story would be very different and not as effective if anyone else were to be the narrator.
ReplyDelete@ Josette Jensen
ReplyDeleteI agree with you. I don't think we would have gotten the same detail and effect if we were hearing the story from Liesel or another character's point of view. Even though Death's foreshadowing was annoying and confusing at times, it was different and kind of interesting to see an outside person's perspective of what was going on.
I don't like for the fact that Death just told us that Rudy dies, before the novel even gets to that part. I also would agree with Alex, Josette, and Jordan, this did make me think more about the details of Rudy when I found out he will die before he dies. This is where i lost my interest to say the truth, because I like it when you do not know about something happening but then it just happens happens in an instance or you start to get a feel of something happening and then that happens too. What Death did by telling us really made me lose my interest, otherwise i enjoyed reading this book.
ReplyDeleteDeath telling the story has not ruined anything for me, i think it brings a whole new perspective to the novel. I feel that the author has done a good job by choosing the point of view of death. Us being told what happens before it does in the novel did sometimes ruin it for us but on the other hand it brought more suspense to the novel for me. I wanted to read on so i knew how something happened and why it did. Its a whole new way to read and i loved it!
ReplyDeleteMy favourite part about having death tell the story is how descriptive he is. I love the way that he describes things, it puts such vivid images in my head. The way that death always describes Max is so interesting. I think that my favourite description is when he says that his cheeks were egg shell wight. Whenever he says that I can just picture what his skin must look like.
ReplyDeleteDeath was truly a great part of the story and I will remember this story because of him. He made it very interesting and always kept me on the edge of my seat with his comments. For example when he said, "at least basements were survivable, gas chambers were not. That made me think at least Liesel and the others have basement that they can survive in from the air raids, the Jewish people had no safety from the gas chambers that Hitler put them in. Death was very intriguing and I really liked the way Death told the story. He sometimes ruined it for me when he would tell us before hand what was going to happen but, the author made it this way and you have to adapt to this reading style. Death had some great comments in the novel. He also painted a lot of beautiful pictures in my head from the clouds that Liesel described to Max to the burning star. To sum this up Deaths last comments "I am haunted by humans", was really mind boggling but, I loved it. The Book Thief is edged by Death's thought of the worth of humanity, and Death's failure to settle the remarkable cruelty and the remarkable compassion of which human beings are all capable of doing. Liesel's life story has elements of both, and by the end of the novel, Death seems to be no more capable of judging humanity than at the novel's outset. Thus, Death tells Liesel that it is "haunted" by humans, just as humans are haunted by Death. Death was extraordinary in this novel and I really enjoyed him as the narrator.
ReplyDeleteThis post has to do with the fact that Death sees everything differently than a normal human would, and that is why I found this book so interesting. He sees mostly colours, and there are different meanings for these colours. Most other characters who could have narrated the book would not have had the same sense of what is happening as Death did in this novel.
ReplyDeleteAfter going back and scanning the book, I noticed that at the beginning of the novel, Death says "I saw the book thief three times." (Zusak, 5). But how could he have only have seen her three times, if he knew what happened her whole life, seeing as he was the narrator of her story? Well I guess that this means he only actually met her three times during her life. Once was when her brother died, and he came to pick him up, which is where Death first became intrigued with Liesel. Also at this time, Death saw the colour of the sky and everything around him as white, which can be referred to as the colour of innocence. So because everything was snowy, and an innocent little boy had died, that is the colour Death saw. The next time he met her was when Rudy and Liesel found the man who had died in a plane crash by the Amper River. He described the sky as “a signature black, to show the poles of my versatility, if you like. It was the darkest moment before the dawn.” (Zusak, 9) This shows how dark and gloomy everything was when the pilot died. But it also said that when Rudy gave the man a teddy bear right before he passed, through an act of pure kindness, the darkness of the sky was beginning to fade. I think this shows how even though it was a sad moment for everyone, a small gesture of friendship caused the world to brighten. The third time Death met Liesel was right after Himmel Street had been bombed, and he described the event as, “The last time I saw her was red. The sky was like soup, boiling and stirring. In some places, it was burned. There were black crumbs, and pepper, streaked across the redness.” This is describing how the sky is a bloody red colour from all the people who had just died from the bombs.
If you also notice, the three colours mentioned here are the colours on the Nazi flag, which can relate to the fact that without the impact of the Nazi power, none of these unfortunate events would have taken place, but also there would not be a book about Liesel Memminger, The Book Thief.
Death has had a huge impact on me in this book and I will not be able to forget that he was the narrator of a story. I never imagined someone so powerful could tell such a tale and change me the way it did. I feel that I look at things a little differently now, and I think I might have added some new depth into my values such as friendships, families, and understanding yourself as a capable person. I am afraid to pick up a book because I don’t want to be disappointed with its narrator or lack of explanations. It makes sense that it was told by Death and not Birth or Life because the reader has to understand that this war was real and death was very present during the lives of many people. I was thinking, what if the narrator was Liesel or maybe Fear? It would change the story hugely, and I don’t think that I would enjoy it as much as I did. As much as the side comments by Death bothered me at one point, they helped my piece the whole book and story line together and know I can’t even imagine reading the book differently.
ReplyDeleteI read a little bit more and I am actually starting to enjoy Deaths role in this novel again. When he uses colours to describe things it just puts so much detail into his comments. When Death makes a comment about something i can actually see it happening if I think hard enough about it. But sometimes Death just kills the suspense of the story by telling us what happens before it happens. I also agree with Gurdeep when I was reading I did realize that the 3 colours that were mentioned were the colours of the Nazi flag. These kind of twists that are shown in the book have to be noticed by us as the readers, so we can realize how important some of these things mean, this is one of the reasons why I enjoyed death as the narrator of the story because he would add little twists like these, and describe so much stuff in so little words.
ReplyDeleteDeath was a very interesting narrator. He always made me think when he made random comments about what was going to happen in the novel. He created a lot of images in my head. I have never had Death as a narrator in the other novels I have read, it was a unique experience. It gave my a different mid set for reading and I adapted to it. You have to read this novel with a different perspective because of Death. I Death sometimes ruined the novel for me hen he old what was going to happen next but, I just tried to ignore it and read it with a different mid set. Death was a great narrator.
ReplyDeleteThis book was actually pretty good, the narrating made it especially unique and different from all the other books I've read. It is neat how Zusak had death narrate the novel, not only is death talking from what he has seen but he is reading a book that Lieisels wrote, so it is like he is giving a third person and first person perspective on the story. It is also neat because if it were just to be the story Liesel wrote we would not have all these other facts since Death is an all seeing character in the book he knows everything that goes on. I was trying to find my L.A notes from the start of the year, but I couldn't find them so I googled "types of narration". To figure out what category this would be classified as. The narration used in this book is a cross between first and third person since death refers to the story as he, she yet first person because he talks about himself as I but First person states that they are also a character in the story. Death is somewhat a character in the story but yet not really, because he can't interact with any other characters. The narration would also be known as Omniscient because it is an all knowing narration. The narration and point of view of this novel is very unique from others since it is quite the mix. It really adds to the book since it is constantly giving us information on what is coming up or explanations of certain things as well as playing around with our minds with all of the colour references. The way death narrates the book often refers to the reader as well, which is quite interesting, it is as if Death is reading Liesels story along with us and explaining it to us and questioning us about it at the same time, and every once in awhile giving his own input.
ReplyDeleteAnother thing about the point of view of this book that I really liked was that it is about a German girls life during WWII and the Holocaust. Throughout the book she isn't to worried about Hitler and the whole Nazi thing she's just trying to live a normal childhood, and even becomes good friends with a Jewish boy living in her basement. It's good how this book was mainly written about a German family that takes in a Jew, because a majority of the information that we hear about the Holocaust is pretty well that all Germans were Nazis and hated Jewish people. But this book is the exact opposite of that, I'm sure a lot of Germans were like that but this book shows the story of a German family that wasn't. Many German families took Jews into there homes when the Holocaust broke out and many people were forced to join the Nazi party like Hans. He also was forced to go into battle, and it's not like he was out there because he was fighting for what he believed in of the Nazi party, he was out there because he had to be. The Hubermanns thought a lot like how we would've today I think in the sense of everyone is equal and what the Nazis did was wrong.
ReplyDeleteThe interesting thing about this novel was how Markus Zusak had many themes in the book and death narrating it which made all the themes tie in together. It made the book just more interesting and more readable for me. It showed the way World War II had affected so many people in so many different ways.
ReplyDeleteDuring the whole book I enjoyed how death used colours to describe most of the scenes. For example he used grey for a gloomy day. The way he described everything was in lots of detail so it really helped me with visualizing what was going on. The only thing that I didn't really like was when Death was describing how someone was going to die. It was annoying hearing how it was going to happen then it happens. Reading the book with Death as the narrative voice was very different because I have never read a book with a narrator being Death. The only time I have seen this before was on Family Guy when Peter had to substitute for Death because he broke his foot. I really enjoyed the experience of a very different narrator throughout the book.
ReplyDeleteAs I kept reading the book I noticed that having Death as a narrator, gave me a very different reading experience. Although Death warns readers the upcoming future, he would avoid exposing critical points of the plot which leads the reader to frequently guess. It also made me wonders and thinks numerous possibilities of different outcomes and for a while I wonder if death was deceitful. I guess because of a different and unique narrator you can’t really trust Death because readers never have had a narrator like Death before. Furthermore, once you get to a point in the novel that Death said it would happen, he describes it in full detail. I found that very fascinating because my predictions and image would transform dramatically and Death generated an accurate vivid image.
ReplyDeleteAn unenthusiastic feedback I must address is the fact that the narrator keeps giving hints of what is to come in the future. It drives me insane but in a way those hints make me more eager to continue reading to discover the outcome. This sometimes affects my reading by reading this book at a faster pace, so I do not have to suffer from waiting so patiently for that moment to take place. It's like a child knowing that his or her parents is going to give them an Xbox for Christmas but that child has to wait 20 days before receiving that gift. In this case, the Xbox would be the event and what’s worst about it, is that readers don’t know when they will receive the goods. Since they are capable of changing the speed of how fast they read, they can easily take advantage of this and read quicker until they get what they want. For me, that news was Rudy's death. In anticipation, I would skip a head to try to find that moment of Rudy’s death but by doing so I consequently would question myself not knowing if I had skipped it, forcing myself to back track and read over the pages I had skipped anyways. Quite different from the books I’ve read in the past.
ReplyDeleteI found it kind of interesting that this story is being told by Death because it makes readers wonder why the author chose Death as a narrator. Death being a narrator was quite different from other books that I have read. It definitely pursues me to read the book and not because I was forced to but because of the uniqueness of this story telling that keeps me interested. The fact that the narrator keeps giving hints of what is to come in the future, drives me insane but in a way those hints makes me more eager to get to a certain event.
ReplyDeleteI liked having Death as a narrator at first and I still do. However, it aggravates me when he ruins the ending, such as the time when he warns the readers that Rudy is going to die. Therefore, every time when Rudy does something risky I would always say to myself "Oh no! Rudy is going to die!! Why is he so stupid like that?" but it turns out he made it alive. Especially on ‘Three acts of stupidity by Rudy Steiner’ I definitely expected him to die on that chapter and I was ready for it. Finally when it was near the end of the novel and after many "Oh no it's time for him to die" moments, I was hoping Death was lying about Rudy’s death but a sudden air raid crashed down and Rudy’s death made Death's words true.
ReplyDeleteDeath confuses me at times. I was debating whether or not a character was officially dead or alive. It was a different way of reading things. It certainly made me wonder throughout the book if it was time for a particular character's death. This book was absolutely not as predictable as I anticipated because when Death tells you that a character is going to die he would sometimes lead or trick you to a different direction making the readers believe that s/he is going to die any moment. This definitely irritates the reader including myself. It makes the reader wait for their favourite character die, but does not know when or how they will die. Rudy was my favourite character and I worry for him because he stole apples and was caught by a farmer. At the end of the book, I expected Rudy to die but for everyone but Liesel to perish, that stunned me. I needed to read and re-read those sentences a few times before they sunk in. I did not see that one coming. Death was definitely unpredictable.
ReplyDelete