The Book Thief - December 2008

A book club for those of us without the time to go to meetings. Take our suggestion for the month. Read along. Post comments to this blog if you'd like to answer the questions below with your thoughts.

Now Reading - The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Liesel Meminger is only nine years old when she is taken to live with the Hubermanns, a foster family, on Himmel Street in Molching, Germany, in the late 1930s. She arrives with few possessions, but among them is The Grave Digger’s Handbook, a book that she stole from her brother’s burial place. During the years that Liesel lives with the Hubermanns, Hitler becomes more powerful, life on Himmel Street becomes more fearful, and Liesel becomes a fullfledged book thief. She rescues books from Nazi book-burnings and steals from the library of the mayor. Liesel is illiterate when she steals her fi rst book, but Hans Hubermann uses her prized books to teach her to read. This is a story of courage, friendship, love, survival, death, and grief. This is Liesel’s life on Himmel Street, told from Death’s point of view.

Questions to ask while you read:
1. What is ironic about Liesel’s obsession with stealing books? Discuss other uses of irony in the novel.
2. Explain Rudy’s reaction when he discovers that Liesel is a book thief. How does stealing books from the mayor’s house lead to a friendship with the mayor’s wife?
3. How does she equate love with abandonment? At what point does she understand why she was abandoned by her mother?
4. Death says that Liesel was a girl “with a mountain to climb.” (p. 86) What is her mountain? Who are her climbing partners? What is her greatest obstacle?
5. How does it take courage to oppose Hitler?
6. How does Zusak use the literary device of foreshadowing to pull the reader into the story?

Questions from readinggroupguides.com