David Zusak's The Book Thief

There are millions of books written about the Second World War and Nazi Germany, but not one has the storyline like “The Book Thief.” Just looking at the book cover it gives you such deep meaning to what the story is gonna tell inside. The dominoes lined up on the cover of the book resemble the falling bodies of the jews during this time. The title “The Book Thief” also hase a very strong meaning throughout the book. The main character Liesel stealing behavior represent the struggles she has gone through in her life. In “The Book Thief,” identities are constantly being questioned. In this time period in Germany, your identity was crucial to you because it either saved or killed you.
Zusak 's basis for writing this book was his parents influence in Germany and Austria during World War II. The stories his mother would tell him stuck in his head and that’s where the book started. Zusak states in one of his interviews, ”I was inspired by the acts of kindness I heard about that took place during those very dark times in Europe, …show more content…
The different individuals that Liesel meets throughout the story all share something in common with her, death. When a spider builds a web it attaches every strand perfectly together so the string all fit in place to make a strong foundation for itself. In this novel Zusak used the theme death as his foundation and built off of that.
I think one of the most important lessons, or the overall take home message of this novel is the power of words. The idea of words and reading are initially a mystery to the main character that she sets out to unlock. The power of words result in friendships, education, and Liesel 's comfort. She becomes more powerful with the more words she learns and reads. Hitler used the power of words to influence people, and he used that power for evil and