The Book Thief Reflection

In the novel The Book Thief you realize that some parts of the book are based on or similar to actual historic events that have happened. The author (Markus Zusak) really has a great and strong understanding of past historical events because he mentions many of them in this book. I believe this because he talks about World War II along with Hitler and the Nazi’s. It also seems like he is really fascinated by this event because he writes a great book on it, with such amazing detail. With such great detail you could think or can believe this story was true. At some points in the book the author could make you feel or imagine, if you were Liesel and make you think if you were in her position or in the same situation what would you do or react. At some points I had to stop reading and put my book down to think about Liesel and her feelings and imagine what she is going through. The author Markus Zusak makes it somewhat easy for you to connect and/or relate to many of the main characters in this novel. One character that stands out the most that most would say they relate too would be Liesel. In the beginning of the book, the reader learns that Liesel sadly is separated from her family. Her little brother dies on the train and she is forced to leave her mother. During this part of the book, some can relate to either having no choice but leave someone they loved and cared. But like the saying goes, "everything happens for a reason" if she hadn't left her family, she wouldn't have met her vest friend Rudy, Max, Rosa or Hans. But Liesel is just one of the many characters the reader(s) can connect/relate too in The Book Thief.  

After reading The Book Thief I asked or thought to myself on why the author chose this specific time (World War II) to have this as one of the major events and/or settings in the book. I think that the author chose this part of history/time for the novel because, it makes everything happening in the book seem more realistic. An example would simply be Hitler (Furer) ruling/taking over Germany. During the parts of this novel where World War II is mentioned, or even where an important event is happening in World War II, it's so much alike to the actually World War II that took place decades ago. One thing that I thought of that made it seem like a great connection; the only reason Liesel didn't die at the ending of the book is because she was reading her book. This automatically made me think of  Anne Frank, just like in World War II she went in to hiding with her family, and being that Liesel was reading her book in the basement is nearly the same situation as Anne Frank.