The Book Thief - A Response to Ptolemy

I agree with you very much. At first I was annoyed with Death because I thought it ruined the ending for me! But as I read further I realized that knowing Rudy's fate made me look closer at his character and as I grew more emotionally attached to Rudy it pained me even more to know his fate. It also intrigued me that an author would think to give away the ending in the middle of the book. Usually people read books for a surprising ending that they didn't see coming so I thought it was an interesting and different way to lure in readers.

"He had not seen the outside world for twenty-two months"

One event in The Book Thief that will stick with me is in Part Seven when the air raid begins and the Hubermans are forced to leave Max in the basement as they leave for the bomb shelter. This part of the book really shows what Max is really like. When the Hubermans arrive home Max immediately apologizing, while they were gone Max made his way upstairs and through the crack in the door he looked out at the night sky and looked at the stars. This part of the book really shows how genuine Max is, he feels guilty for doing something so simple. It also shows how important the simple things are to Max. Going upstairs was something Max was willing to take a great risk for.