In Zusak's hands, this narrative device is none of these things. To reveal that the story is told by Death himself may well conjure up images of Terry Pratchett's Death, in the Discworld novels, or even seem distasteful or wholly inappropriate considering the subject matter. The growing relationships between Hubermann and Liesel and, later, Liesel and Max Vandenburg are central to the plot. He and his wife Rosa have also adopted a girl named Liesel, the main character of this tale. One of the reasons why he's hiding this particular man is because Max's father saved his own life when they were both German soldiers in the first world war. In The Book Thief, the man hiding a Jew named Max Vandenburg is decorator and part-time accordion player Hans Hubermann. For I know that if I had been in their place I wouldn't have been capable of such deeds.' It is this sentiment which resonates as one reads Markus Zusak's truly remarkable novel.

I see the savers as true noble souls of the human race, and when I meet with them I feel somewhat inferior to them. In the introduction to his 2002 book The Righteous: The Unsung Heroes of the Holocaust, Martin Gilbert quotes Baruch Sharoni, a member of the committee that recognises the Righteous, as writing 'o many more who could have contributed to the rescue did not. The state of Israel gives non-Jews who saved Jewish lives, or attempted to save Jewish lives, the formal recognition of being Righteous Among the Nations.

The book thief markus