The Book Thief – Discussion 2/3

Just a warning folks, this is the second of three discussion posts for a read-a-long of The Book Thief, being hosted by Suey at It’s All About Books, Kami at Kami’s Library Thoughts, and Kathy at Read This Instead. That means that this post WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS. You have been warned 🙂

1. What emotions have you felt while reading? Are they strong emotions?
   • Oh man, the emotions! Mostly I don’t like to read books that make me sad and I don’t get too emotional about books. But this book… just wow. The part where it’s Liesel’s birthday and poor Max is feeling so worthless and left out and she hugs him made me cry. And cry again telling my boyfriend about it. It was just so sad and so happy all at the same time!
2. What do you think of The Standover Man aka the book Max wrote for Liesel?
   • I thought having the drawings from this book actually included was very interesting. I’m not sure how I feel about the book itself. It seemed strange to mix such dark serious topics with the joke about Max looking like a bird.
3. How do you feel about knowing who is going to die in the end and what are some of your predictions?
   • As with the strong emotions the book evokes, I’m extremely surprised that I don’t dislike the foreshadowing. I actually really appreciate it because I feel like it helps me prepare myself for what I know is going to happen. This is such an emotional book that if they just killed characters off out of nowhere, I’m not sure I could take it. At the same time, this might be such an emotional because because of the constant, poignant awareness that Liesel has some hardships to face ahead and I like that as well.
4. What do you think of Rudy’s rebellious attitude? 
   • I think he needs to be more careful, he’s making me nervous! It’s nice of him to stand up for the other kid, but it doesn’t seem like he’s actually helping.
5. Is Rosa growing on you?
   • I actually liked Rosa from the beginning but I do like her even more now! At the beginning, I could tell that her gruff exterior hid the fact that she really loved Hans and Liesel. Now that she’s so calm about risking her life for them, I think she’s very impressive.
6. Why do you think Liesel is so determined to steal from the Mayor’s library?
   • I think she probably wanted to finish the book, but more than that, I think she wanted some small revenge for what she saw as a betrayal of her friendship with the mayor’s wife.
7. What really stands out to you in the story and why?
   • The scene were Liesel hugs Max has impacted me far more than anything else in the book. I also think the imagery of the fight between Max and Hitler in which all the German people are on Hitler’s side, as well as Max’s feelings of worthlessness show what Hitler’s actions took away from even the Jews who survived. I just want to cry for Max and for how bad he feels about surviving.
8. If you were in Hans’ position, would you have helped/hid Max?
   • I hope so, since I think it was an incredibly heroic thing to do. However, with a family to protect, I could certainly understand having made a different decision.