This article is about the summary of the film The Girl Who Stole Books which came about through a drama book by Australian author Markus Zusak, released in 2005.

Here, we will tell you about the main features of the movie, the cast, and much more, so check out all the content below.

Summary

The story takes place in Nazi Germany in the year 1939, during World War II. Liesel and her brother are sent to Molching, where a family adopts them out of financial interest, but on the way, Liesel's brother dies in his mother's lap.

In her new home, Liesel takes with her a book called "The Gravedigger's Handbook", since it is the only material reminder she has of her family, and Hans, Liesel's adoptive father, begins to teach her to read, and she begins to recognize the power of words and writing.

After this, Lisel then begins to steal books that the Nazis want to destroy and also to write her own book. And as a result, she begins to share the power of language with Max.

Tragedy

On a certain day, Hans is taken into the army while trying to help a second Jew, but when he returns home, the street where they all lived is bombed and completely destroyed, but Liesel manages to escape the tragedy because she was in the basement writing.

Characters from The Girl Who Stole Books: main characteristics

Liesel Meminger is a shy girl who is guided by words and impresses Death by having survived the tragedy, while her adopted father Hans Hubermann was a painter, an accordion player, and a smoker.

Rosa Hubermann, Liesel's adoptive mother, had the ability to irritate almost everyone she met. Another character who had strange quirks was Rudy Steiner, as he was obsessed with the black American athlete Jesse Owens.

Max Vanderburg, a Jew, lives in hiding in the basement of the Hubernmann house. During his stay, Max eventually befriends the girl Liesel Meminger, as well as having an enormous affection for her "secret friend".

The Girl Who Stole Books: The Book

Throughout the reading, the narration is done by Death (narrator-personage) who is aware of everything about himself, but is not fully aware of the external world around him. In the story, Death tries to convince the reader that in spite of everything, life is worth living.

Zusak conveys a naivety in the middle of the Second World War with a certain mastery, because the story starts from the perspective that Liesel is still a child, so she does not have a certain maturity to deal with the moment in which the world was living.

Just when you think the author has exhausted all his creativity, he surprises with new and unusual reflections and pure lyrical irony. Although the book doesn't explore much of the historical part of the time, it does leave many references for the reader to know how to situate himself. It is also worth mentioning that The Girl Who Stole Books became a bestseller by The New York Times, was translated into more than 63 languages and soldmore than sixteen million copies.

The Girl Who Stole Books: The Movie

Even though the film does not feature Death as the narrator, the film is still thought-provoking and honors the readers' memory. However, the director fails to take as many risks as author Markus Zusak did with his non-linear lyricism, but the film is still worth watching.

The film was released in 2014, even though Fox bought the adaptation rights only in 2006. The film cost around thirty-five million dollars and has an average length of one hundred and thirty-one minutes.

The adapted-to-film story was directed by Brian Percival and scripted by Michael Petroni, while filming was done in Berlin by Twentieth Century Fox.

Cast of the film

The cast brought in big names for the film, such as:

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• actress Sophie Nélisse, to play the role of Liesel Meminger;
• then Liesel's adoptive father, who is played by Geoffrey Rush;
• The adoptive mother is played by Emily Watson;
• The friend Rudy is played by Nico Liersc;
• and the Jew is played by Ben Schnetzer.

Actor Geoffrey Rush said that to play the role better and to be able to enter the thoughts of Liesel's adoptive father, he had to read the book of the same name, because of the extra details contained in the 468 pages.

The actress, who plays Liesel, said she had not studied about the Holocaust in school and was surprised to realize how little her generation knew about what happened, so Nélisse said she had read several movies about it to feel more familiar with the subject.

Final thoughts about The Girl Who Stole Books

Without a doubt, it is a book that is impossible to stop reading, remarkable and absorbing, so it is no wonder that it soon became a classic, because, in a way, it tells the story of the other side of Nazi Germany. A story in which not everyone was together or in agreement with what the regime was.

The Girl Who Stole Books is a sad book, but it is suitable for both teenagers and adults. Furthermore, it is a story that, despite being fictional, adds a lot of value in its readers' perspective of life about that time. This is made clear in one of its most iconic lines: "Sometimes, when life steals from you, you have to steal back".

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