The book that changed the way I see the sky. Forever.
“Often you’re told to engage all the senses in the writing. But if you were going to focus solely on sight, you couldn’t go wrong with The Book Thief and being descriptive in the way Zusak is.”
What is The Book Thief?
The Book Thief is a novel by Markus Zusak. It follows the story of Liesel, a young girl who has to move to another home because her mother can’t afford to look after her.
Set during the era of Nazi Germany, she witnesses a number of events unfold. Some upsetting. Some that change the way she sees the world.
How did I come across it?
I’ve met two other people who acquired this book without buying it, which I think is incredibly ironic. This book was a gift, lent out to me by a friend who swore that the story would change me. I remember marveling at the rustic feel of the cover but dreading the sheer length. Longer stories were not my forte, but I was curious to see why it was recommended so passionately.
It recently came into possession again after I lost the book. Also very fitting when you consider the title. But the recent acquisition of the book drove me to review it. Not just to rate the book but to also measure it as a tool for educating how we use descriptive language and how it can be such a powerful writing tool if practiced well enough.
What stood out?
The first line says it all:
‘Here is a small fact: You are going to die. I am in all truthfulness attempting to be cheerful about this whole topic, though most people find themselves hindered in believing me, no matter my protestations.’
What really sets this book aside is the narrator. Death. From the minute I opened to the first page, I was captivated.
Death as a narrator is convincing and elusive. You get the impression very early on that the mysterious figure has seen it all. You quickly learn to trust their ability to draw you in and tell you a story.
Death’s honesty and view of people is staggering. Bitter experience is their focal lens and through their eyes, you learn to become fascinated by the characters and the world in the same way.
“Like most misery, it started with apparent happiness.”
Throughout the book, the book is littered with juxtaposing thoughts and ideas. This creates impact. You want to wrestle with Death’s ideas. This also means you get a very philosophical tale that’ll leave you wanting to stare at the wall for ten minutes, processing every single beautiful word.
The power of its descriptive language
Another powerful feature of the story is Death’s fixation on the colours – namely the sky.
“People observe the colors of a day only at its beginnings and ends, but to me it’s quite clear that a day merges through a multitude of shades and intonations with each passing moment. A single hour can consist of thousands of different colors. Waxy yellows, cloud-spot blues. Murky darkness. In my line of work, I make it a point to notice them.”
Death’s view of the sky tends to emphasise the reds, yellows, whites and blacks. But for the narrator, the variation of the descriptive language is impressive. By using the same colours, but varying the language, the writer can be symbolic in the use of colour while staying true to Death’s powerful and poignant skills in observation. White depicts innocence, yellow is a warning, red conveys horror.
The colour black features too, but interestingly, the narrator avoids the association of black and death where possible. The impact here is that Death becomes a complex character. Death isn’t who we make them out to be. There’s more to the narrator than one shade or colour.
For the reader, the description does more than paint a picture. It’s a measurement. Through it you get a sense of tone and time. The colours are a window into Death’s state of mind and the connections the figure makes between characters and the situations are in.
What can you take away from this book?
Often you’re told to engage all the senses in the writing. But if you were going to focus solely on sight, you couldn’t go wrong with The Book Thief and being descriptive in the way Zusak is.
It just goes to show how much weight we all give to the way things look. But the book’s investment in this goes one step further. And it’s not enough to simply label the colour with one simple moniker. The colours themselves come to life. And take on very specific properties.
Colour ties the entire plot together. And even act as a gateway to the other senses. The way red is used so sparingly, but then conveys the horrors of the war turns it into a sickening stench of a colour. It feels cold. It feels empty. It sounds loud. Or silent.
Red is designed to create discomfort and does so successfully. Combined with an accessible yet powerful vocabulary, it unlocks all of our subconscious associations and takes them for a walk.
Final thoughts
To close the final page of The Book Thief doesn’t feel like the ending. In the ethereal sense, the narrator lives on. So as a reader, it almost feels as though you carry a little piece of the book with you from then on.
Colour is a powerful force that the narrator employs fully in this book. And it seamlessly layers the innocence of growing up with the brutality of the world that Liesel grows up in. This creates some incredibly sorrowful contrasts. But it fuels you to turn the page. Again and again.
While Death was incredibly proficient at naming the colours they saw from one soul to the next, I can’t help but wonder if they’d struggle with how the sky looked when Marcus Zusak finished writing this beautiful story.
Author bio
Adam works as a UK Content Executive for KS1 at Twinkl HQ. Before that, he worked in education as a learning progress assistant and teacher of literacy. He was also a radio producer for a local radio station and a freelance copywriter and is a big believer in bringing the latest industry knowledge to the classroom. In his spare time, he enjoys a countryside stroll, a good book, and every watersport under the sun. But not at the same time.
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