History Literature / TheBookThief

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: Himmel Street is bombed. [[RocksFallEveryoneDies Everybody except Liesel dies]]. Max lives through the concentration camp and comes back to Liesel, however and that Liesel herself lives a long and fulfilled life. She marries, has children, and dies happily in her Manhattan apartment. Death also returns her book of memoirs.]]

* {{Blackface}}: Rudy, earlier in the book. But it's an homage to Jesse Owens and Rudy's father sets him straight. It should be noted that the issue here isn't that [[{{DeliberateValuesDissonance}} anyone's concerned about offending black people,]] it's that Rudy's a boy growing up in UsefulNotes/NaziGermany and this kind of behavior could get him in serious trouble.

* {{Blackface}}: Rudy, earlier in the book. But it's an homage to Jesse Owens and Rudy's father sets him straight.
** It should be noted that the issue here isn't that [[{{DeliberateValuesDissonance}} anyone's concerned about offending black people,]] it's that Rudy's a boy growing up in UsefulNotes/NaziGermany and this kind of behavior could get him in serious trouble.

* MaybeEverAfter: [[spoiler: Liesel and Max ''might'' have gotten together at the end. Or not. In the film they remained close friends for the rest of their lives. WordOfGod from Markus Zusak is that he, personally, believes [[http://zusakbooks.tumblr.com/post/45944163316/liesel-and-max-do-they-remain-together Liesel and Max don't get married]] - but, in the end, he states that's just his opinion and that every reader can have their own belief about how things turned out.]]

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler: Himmel Street is bombed. [[RocksFallEveryoneDies Everybody except Liesel dies]]. This might verge on a BittersweetEnding, though, considering that Max lives through the concentration camp and comes back to Liesel, and that Liesel herself lives a long and fulfilled life.]]

Set in WWII-era Germany, The Book Thief tells the story of a twelve-year-old girl called Liesel Meminger, the eponymous book thief, living with her foster parents, Hans and Rosa Hubermann. This book is entirely narrated from the perspective of Death--[[LemonyNarrator who has surprisingly witty and dry sense of humor]] (and uses beautiful metaphors a lot). Written by Markus Zusak. A film adaptation was released in 2013, starring Sophie Nélisse as Liesel and Creator/GeoffreyRush and Emily Watson as the Hubermanns.

->''"It's just a small story really, about, among other things:

->''It's just a small story really, about, among other things:
->*A girl
->*Some words
->*An accordionist
->*Some fanatical Germans
->*A Jewish fist fighter
->*And quite a lot of thievery
->I saw the book thief three times.

* HappilyAdopted: Liesel.

* OddFriendship: Liesel and Max end up bonding over a number of things, including fists, trains, words, and their respective dead relatives.

Set in WWII-era Germany, The Book Thief tells the story of a twelve year old girl called Liesel Meminger, the eponymous book thief, living with her foster parents, Hans and Rosa Hubermann. This book is entirely narrated from the perspective of Death--[[LemonyNarrator who has surprisingly witty and dry sense of humor]] (and uses beautiful metaphors a lot). Written by Markus Zusak. A film adaptation was released in 2013, starring Sophie Nélisse as Liesel and Creator/GeoffreyRush and Emily Watson as the Hubermanns.

* AdaptationDistillation: What did you expect? The movie cut out some lesser elements from the book, and the main plotlines featured in the film were simplified. It also cut a few of the minor characters out. Most notably, Franz Deutcher had a much larger role in the film, it being a compression of several minor characters.

* ForegoneConclusion: About half way through the book, Death accidently spoils that [[spoiler: Rudy dies]] because he is bad at mystery. It's still a TearJerker.

* MaybeEverAfter: [[spoiler: Liesel and Max ''might'' have gotten together at the end. Or not. In the film they remained close friends for the rest of their lives. WordOfGod from Markus Zusak is that he, personally, believes [[http://zusakbooks.tumblr.com/post/45944163316/liesel-and-max-do-they-remain-together Liesel and Max don't get married]] - but, in the end, he states that's just his opinion, and every reader can have their own belief about how things turned out.]]

* ProductPlacement: Near the end of the movie, an AppleMacintosh computer can be seen in Liesel's home.

* DemotedToExtra: Death, who's the book's narrator, only has a few voiceovers through the film (the beginning, the end, and a few TimeSkips).

* CurseOfTheAncients: A meta example: taking place in the 1930s and 40s, the terms "Saukerl" and "Saumensch" get thrown around a lot, insults that have largely become obsolete in modern-day German.

* WorldWarTwo

* [[RocksFallEverybodyDies Bombs Fall, Everybody Dies]]: [[spoiler:Himmel Street gets flattened by a British bombing raid near the end of the book and everyone except Liesel is killed]].

[[quoteright:233:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/book_thief.jpg]]

* CoversAlwaysLie: A lot of versions of the cover depict a scythe-wielding hooded Death. Y'know, ''exactly'' like how Death specified he/she DIDN'T look like?

* MaybeEverAfter: [[spoiler: Liesel and Max ''might'' have gotten together at the end. Or not. In the film they remained close friends for the rest of their lives. WordOfGod from Markus Zusak is that he, personally, believes [[http://zusakbooks.tumblr.com/post/45944163316/liesel-and-max-do-they-remain-together Liesel and Max don't get married]] - but in the end that's just his opinion, and every reader can have their own belief about how things turned out.]]

* NaziGermany

** It should be noted that the issue here isn't that [[{{DeliberateValuesDissonance}} anyone's concerned about offending black people,]] it's that Rudy's a boy growing up in NaziGermany and this kind of behavior could get him in serious trouble.

* MissingMom: Liesel's mother. In the movie, it's said that she is a refugee from Communist Russia, implied to have chosen for her children to be brought up in Germany.

-->Rudy Steiner was one of those audacious little bastards who actually ''fancied'' himself with the ladies. Every childhood seems to have exactly such a little juvenile in its midst and mists. He's the boy who refuses to fear the opposite sex, purely because everyone else chooses to embrace that fear...

I saw the book thief three times.

->''It's just a small story really, about, among other things:\\
* A girl\\
* Some words//
->* An accordionist//
->* Some fanatical Germans//
->* A Jewish fist fighter//
->* And quite a lot of thievery//
->I saw the book thief three times.''