Similarities

When reading the last assignment, I found a couple of small similarities. First, I found it interesting that Death tells the readers that Liesel's "small story" The Book Thief had 10 parts, not including the prologue and epilogue, just like Zusak's The Book Theif. It made me feel like the novel that I was reading was directly taken from Liesel's story. Also, some excerpts from Liesel's story reminded me exactly of an excerpt from Zusak's story: "A book floated down the Amper River...Saumensch?' he said" (528).

The second similarity that I noticed was a relation back to the beginning of the novel: "Come with me and I'll tell you a story. I'll show you something" (544). This line appears right before the epilogue and a strikingly similar line appears right after the prologue. If the novel was a sandwich, the prologue and epilogue would be the bread, the middle would be the meat/lettuce/main part of the sandwich, and this line would be the mayonnaise or mustard, being on the inside of both pieces of bread, just like it is in the novel. It appears to the reader that Death will tell us another, different story about Liesel, the book thief. Death does not fail to do this, and it sums up the novel nicely.