Normally, I would fill the long hours with tons and tons of roleplaying with my favorite roleplay partner. However, she randomly disappeared hours ago after only 19 minutes, which isn't like her. I hope everything is okay. I guess I could go look for more roleplays, but I've become so pessimistic over the years that I don't even want to bother with that site anymore. I'm content with the roleplays--more like roleplay-- that I have. It's fun, it's interesting, and it entertains me at all hours of the day whether we're actually roleplaying or if I'm simply sitting in class learning about the World War II.
Speaking of World War II, this brings me to the topic that I wish to discuss while I wait out this storm--The Book Thief. Once again, I am rereading this captivating story, but I haven't gotten that far into it. I recently finished the prologue, and I will talk about that for today. As I continue I will post my thoughts on this story.
Narrated by Markus Zusak's personification of death, The Book Thief tells the story of a young girl named Liesel Memiminger and her life in Germany during World War II. Let me tell you that this is not a very happy story. At the very start of the story, Death let's the reader know that of the three times he saw The Book Thief a.k.a. Liesel Meminger, and he tells the reader those instances.
Zusak's personification of death is a fairly interesting narrator. He isn't the Grim Reaper that has become so popular in mainstream media. Zuzak's Death sees his reaping duties as a job, and he hates his job. Seeing the pain and suffering of "the people left behind" takes a toll on him and constantly reminds him of the dark burden he must carry. He doesn't even get vacation days. Instead, he makes his own vacation by making a point to notice the different colors. Passionate reds, lemony yellows, and cotton candy pink. Death notices them all, and he cherishes each and every one. His love of colors is apparent during his narration of the story. Death gives detailed accounts of the color of people's eyes and hair. For example: he constantly compares Rudy's hair to the color of lemons.
Colors also play a huge part in the three times he saw Liesel Meminger. According to Death, the first time he saw Liesel everything was white. It was winter, and her brother had recently right in front of her and her mother. The second time he saw Liesel the color was black. More specifically, the sky was black. Finally, on that third time, everything was firey red from the bombs that had dropped on Liesel's hometown.
White, black, red.
Even Death notices the irony.
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