Deception, ironically, can sometimes help bring to light the incoherent or uncanny. In the novel “The Book Thief”, Zusak deceives or lies to the reader in an effort to make them grasp the enormity and impact of the Holocaust. Furthermore, Zusak is trying to get the reader questioning human ethicality. The story follows a working-class German family as opposed to an American pilot or war-commander which gives us a sense of the horrors and internal conflict faced by the individual. In a way, the Holocaust was just one large-scale, sick, social experiment, and the book can be seen as a psychological horror novel. Zusak wants the reader to question if an event just like this could happen in the future.

From the onset, we are prompted to question everything just by the nature of the book alone. The beginning is narrated by Death, which is an excellent choice as it breaks the monotony and captivates the reader by introducing a new idea, something vastly different to what we would usually expect from a war novel. The book, after all, begins with “You are going to die”. Seeing from Death’s perspective is unsettling as her perspective is so different from ours. Her perspective comes from a place of reason, and not from a place of emotion. She carries out his tasks and only breaks away from his usual callousness when Death’s curiosity tempts her to follow the story of the book thief. This choice of narration not only broadens the expectations of the reader, but it also lays down, a sense of doubt. As we can’t be sure if Death is accurately retelling.

Zusak, nearing the middle of the book, not only foreshadows but gives us a wild description of Rudy’s death. This might be an unusual technique as to keep the reader thrilled but rather i think it’s to let us know the author is omniscient and is withholding information from us. This also nods to the fact that Death’s existence is non-linear and she can be everywhere at anytime. This peaks curiosity as to who truly is the author. In this segment it almost seems as death is watching the whole story unfold. Later we are told of the book Liesel writes about her own story. It seems as if Zusak is compiling multiple perspectives into one final work. The very writing of the book seems paradoxical in nature.

“The buildings appear to be glued together, mostly small houses and apartment blocks that look nervous. There is murky snow spread out like carpet. There is concrete, empty hat-stand trees, and grey air”. This picturesque description gives us no reason to question the legitimacy of the setting, along with the fact that everything is somewhat familiar to us as it’s set in historically accurate Germany, 1939. To solidify this further, Zusak tells us its place relative to non-fictional Munich. Zusak makes his fictional town of Molching incredibly believable by encompassing in a setting which we know for ourselves is real. This is the one glaring lie that Zusak gives us. It’s subtle so it doesn’t disrupt the first reading however will be found by anyone who conducts any research. Perceptive readers will be prompted to doubt from the first few chapters.

How is it the German population allowed for such a system to take place, and is it that many other countries also followed suit? Fear, mostly, but also the pack mentality us humans live by. We are social creatures and have evolved as such to have people to rely on when we are injured or sick. This is how we got ahead as a species. Today, being socially capable is 1000 times more important than being proficient with a spear. This encourages conformity. Opposing ideas comes with the fear of being the only one to hold that opinion. Censorship and threat are enough to hush a population, segregate ideas and avoid an uprising. Those who have nothing to lose are often those who speak up. Hans wants to keep Liesel so that’s why he slaps her following the book burning.

“The human heart is a line, whereas my own is a circle, and I have the endless ability to be in the right place at the right time. The consequence of this is that I’m always finding humans at their best and worst. I see their ugly and their beauty, and I wonder how the same thing can be both.” Death gives this quote after the incident concerning the death of the enemy fighter pilot. Death further differentiates herself from us humans, now really making us question the accuracy of the retelling. By reflecting on the fact that humans are capable of such good and such evil, Death (Or Zusak who is orchestrating the idea) is making us ponder on human moral.

Zusak is asking us to question everything. By not giving us the whole picture, Zusak is making use of his often mentioned “power of words”. This is the same technique Hitler used to convince an entire nation to condemn certain groups. Zusak, same as Liesel is using this power for good. Perhaps the truth is being twisted, and the reader manipulated, but this can often be necessary for the reader to get more out of a book. Deception is an essential part of what makes “The Book Thief” a work of magical realism.