{"id":269,"date":"2011-03-28T07:00:13","date_gmt":"2011-03-28T14:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/?p=269"},"modified":"2011-03-27T19:42:52","modified_gmt":"2011-03-28T02:42:52","slug":"mark-reads-the-book-thief-ch-17-18","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/2011\/03\/mark-reads-the-book-thief-ch-17-18\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Reads ‘The Book Thief’: Ch 17-18"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the seventeenth and eighteenth chapters of The Book Thief<\/em>, Liesel witness\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s her father\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s heartbreak and then experiences some of her own as well. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read The Book Thief<\/em>.<\/p>\n

CH 17: HITLER\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S BIRTHDAY, 1940<\/strong><\/p>\n

Against all hopelessness, Liesel still checked the mailbox each afternoon, throughout March and well into April. This was despite a Hans-requested visit from Frau Heinrich, who explained to the Hubermanns that the foster care office had lost contact completely with Paula Meminger. Still, the girl persisted, and as you might expect, each day, when she searched the mail, there was nothing.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
I was actually kind of surprised that Liesel persisted in this routine, given the end of the last chapter, since I felt that Liesel had finally gotten some emotional closure on the idea that her mother was never coming back. But she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s got a fickle, hopeful heart, and I mean that as a compliment. Liesel is quick to forgive and even quicker to forget. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s why what happens in this chapter and the next are even harder to tolerate.<\/p>\n
Molching is the scene of a dazzling and unsettling display of propaganda power when Hitler\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s birthday arrives in the spring of this small German town. Further building on the idea presented earlier, the German obsession with fire will play a large part in this parade honoring the F\u00c3\u00bchrer<\/em>\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s birthday in 1940. As soon as death mentioned that men and women were knocking on doors to see if residents had anything \u00e2\u20ac\u0153they felt should be done away with or destroyed,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I knew we were about to come to the second time that Liesel would steal a book: at a public burning. The local paper confirms this, that there would be a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153celebratory fire\u00e2\u20ac\u009d in the center of town, not only to celebrate Hitler\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s birthday, but to further the propaganda of the Nazi party by burning materials associated with the enemy.<\/p>\n
As we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve progressed through The Book Thief<\/em>, Zusak certainly hasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t avoided discussing the realities of the non-fictional world this fictional account is set in. However, I feel that chapters seventeen and eighteen are the first time that the setting becomes so much more blatant. I think it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s sort of unavoidable at this point, so I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not saying this as a criticism of where this story is going at all. But the reality of living in Nazi Germany during World War II is painfully evident here, and I certainly didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t expect how much it would play into shaping Liesel\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s life.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll come for us,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Mama warned her husband. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll come and take us away.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d They. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We have to find it!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
I like that Zusak expands yet again on this idea that some unnamed \u00e2\u20ac\u0153they\u00e2\u20ac\u009d has power in Liesel\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s life and I enjoy it even more that he doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t make her fully knowledgeable at her age about what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going on around her. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s far more realistic to me that she maintains that there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s some sort of entity working against her in this case. Sadly, though, she soon begins to discover that this is not really the case.<\/p>\n
Very late in the book, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re finally introduced to the Hubermanns\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s other kids in a much more comprehensive way. Trudy takes after Rosa in physical appearance, but Death describes her as having \u00e2\u20ac\u0153a quiet voice,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d which she surely got from her father. Hans Junior, on the other hand, is much more like her mother in terms of his righteous anger and fury, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the first chance we get to see someone besides Frau Diller who is completely consumed by Nazi propaganda. Well\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to resort to reducing the entire history to something that simple, that people simply \u00e2\u20ac\u0153bought\u00e2\u20ac\u009d propaganda, because there were certainly so many more reasons why a person followed Hitler or, at the very least, obeyed what was going on in the country.<\/p>\n
What\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also fascinating is that Hans himself is very open about the fact that he is not a Nazi supporter at all and how that contrasts with how vocal and frightening his son is. We see that contrast pretty blatantly in Death\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s bolded aside about the two Hans\u00e2\u20ac\u2122, as Death says:<\/p>\n
Everyone knew you weren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t supposed to paint over slurs written a Jewish shop front. Such behavior was bad for Germany, and it was bad for the transgressor.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Which puts the earlier scene of Liesel going through that part of town into an entirely new (and entirely terrifying) context. It doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t seem like Liesel actually knows this herself, but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m interested to learn more about the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153story\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Death refers to about Hans was \u00e2\u20ac\u0153on the verge of joining the party.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d What broke Hans, who is so defiant here?<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Well, have you even tried again? You can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t just sit around waiting for the new world to take it with you. You have to go out and be part of it\u00e2\u20ac\u201ddespite your past mistakes.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Thanks for the brooding condescension, Hans Junior. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s truly stunning.<\/p>\n
He looked now for some reason at the girl. With her three books standing upright on the table, as if in conversation, Liesel was silently mouthing the words as she read from one of them. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153And what trash is this girl reading? She should be reading Mein Kampf<\/em>.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Well, Hans Junior sure is subtle, isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t he?<\/p>\n
But Hans Junior wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t finished. He stepped closer and said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re either for the F\u00c3\u00bchrer<\/em> or against him\u00e2\u20ac\u201dand I can see that you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re against him. You always have been.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Liesel watched Hans Junior in the face, fixated on the thinness of his lips and the rocky line of his bottom teeth. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s pathetic\u00e2\u20ac\u201dhow a man can stand by and do nothing as a whole nation cleans out the garbage and makes itself great.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Which takes this from an uncomfortable, presumptuous conversation to one filled with fright, for everyone involved. The silence that Death describes here feels so palpable, beyond awkwardness into the kind of fear you hope to never experience in a family setting like this. I was completely floored (and not in the good way) that Hans Junior was the first to respond to this unbelievable confrontation.<\/p>\n
He calls Hans Hubermann a coward. Hans is incredulous at the accusation and chases his son out of the house, but the event is still scarred onto Liesel\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s mind. Still, Death can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t resist giving us a bit of the future:<\/p>\n
Yes, the boy was gone, and I wish I could tell you that everything worked out for the younger Hans Hubermann, but it didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t.<\/p>\n
When he vanished from Himmel Street that day in the name of the F\u00c3\u00bchrer<\/em>, he would hurtle through the events of another story, each step leading tragically to Russia.<\/p>\n
To Stalingrad.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
You know what this style feels like? It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s as if Death is literally sitting on the other side of a dining room table, slightly drunk, relating this story as chronologically as he can, but taking brief trips down tangents and laying groundwork for thoughts and avenues to travel down later. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what this feels like to me.<\/p>\n
When he appeared inside, Mama fixed her gaze on him, but no words were exchanged. She didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t admonish him at all, which, as you know, was highly unusual. Perhaps she decided he was injured enough, having been labeled a coward by his only son.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Just simply heartbreaking. I found it even sadder that after dealing with his shame about his cowardice during World War I and the realization that his son may never come home again, he tells Liesel to forget the incident and then tells her to get ready for the Hitler Youth parade<\/em>. He knows in his heart this is wrong, but the fear and oppression are just too much for him to resist.<\/p>\n
CH 18: 100 PERCENT PURE GERMAN SWEAT<\/strong><\/p>\n
I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think Liesel truly understands what just happened to her, though she knows it upset her father. But Zusak continues in the theme of taking Liesel through life and losing her naivete, time after time, and her own heartbreak follows that of her foster father\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s.<\/p>\n
Chapter eighteen is all about the parade of Nazi youth on Hitler\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s birthday, a deeply serious event aimed at celebrating the F\u00c3\u00bchrer<\/em>. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a small hint towards the future here, when Tommy M\u00c3\u00bcller accidentally walks into the boy marching in front of him, ruining the otherwise flawless march:<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m sorry,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Tommy, arms held apologetically out. His face tripped over itself. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t hear.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d It was only a small moment, but it was also a preview of troubles to come. For Tommy. For Rudy.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Ok, is someone else<\/em> going to mess up? Or is Death referring to something else. (Clearly, do not tell me the answer to this.)<\/p>\n
The parade ends and the youth scatter about the square; Liesel loses sight of Rudy, but the prospect of the upcoming public burning is far too exciting to her to care that much. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t believe that she even thought once about stealing a book. Rather, she just wanted to see the spectacle.<\/p>\n
She couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t help it. I guess humans like to watch a little destruction. Sand castles, houses of cards, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s where they begin. Their great skill is their capacity to escalate.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The scene is absolutely chilling and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hard for me to understand it or fathom it in any realistic way. I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t relate, I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t conceive of it, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s really kind of scary. But Zusak writes about the rally with an unsettling tone. He contrasts the ferocity of the rally and the speaker\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s voice with Liesel\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s desperate attempt to find someone recognizable. It speaks volumes to what is going on in these two worlds, the man on the podium and Liesel in the crowd. And then Liesel\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s world is completely destroyed.<\/p>\n
Halfway through the speech, Liesel surrendered. As the word communist<\/em> seized her, the remainder of the Nazi recital swept by, either side, lost somewhere in the German feet around her. Waterfalls of words. A girl treading water. She thought it again. Kommunisten<\/em>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
And in that moment, Liesel gets a much better idea of what is happening to her and what has<\/em> happened to her and her family.<\/p>\n
She saw it all so clearly.<\/p>\n
Her starving mother, her missing father. Kommunisten<\/em>.<\/p>\n
Her dead brother.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153And now we say goodbye to this trash, this poison.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Just before Liesel Meminger pivoted with nausea to exit the crowd, the shiny, brown-shirted creature walked from the podium. He received a torch from an accomplice and lit the mound, which dwarfed him in all its culpability. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Heil<\/em> Hitler!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
One of the best written bits in this book, complete in its terror and the realization by Liesel that this movement and possibly this leader may have been the one to take her parents away from her.<\/p>\n
GUTTING. THIS BOOK IS GUTTING.<\/p>\n
There is a small moment of hope and beauty amidst the horror of this scene. Ludwig Schmeikl finds Liesel, his ankle crushed by the crowd, and the two help each other to safety at the steps of a church:<\/p>\n
Sitting down, he held his ankle and found Liesel Meminger\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s face. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Thanks,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said, to her mouth rather than her eyes. More slabs of breath. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153And\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6\u00e2\u20ac\u009d They both watched images of school-yard antics, followed by a school-yard beating. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m sorry\u00e2\u20ac\u201dfor, you know.<\/p>\n
Liesel heard it again.<\/p>\n
Kommunisten<\/em>.<\/p>\n
She chose, however, to focus on Ludwig Schmeikl. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Me too.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Ugh, just amazing. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m so happy that they had this chance, despite the horrifying situation. What\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s happening around them is so scary, yet they can still find a chance to forgive each other. Goddamn I love this book.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In the seventeenth and eighteenth chapters of The Book Thief, Liesel witness\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s her father\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s heartbreak and then experiences some of her own as well. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read The Book Thief.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[23,46,45,44],"class_list":["post-269","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-book-thief","tag-mark-reads","tag-mark-reads-the-book-thief","tag-markus-zusak","tag-the-book-thief-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=269"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}