Mona's L.E blog

   The first chapter of the epilogue briefly explained about Liesel’s life after the bomb dropped on Himmel Street. She lived to a very old age, far away from Molching and Himmel Street. She passed away in a suburb of Sydney, and the house number was fourth-five. Like Hans, her soul sat up. In her final visions, she saw the next few things; her three children, grandchildren, husband, and the long list of lives that merged with hers. Among them, Hans, Rosa, her brother, and Rudy lit like lanterns.    The second chapter talked about where Liesel went, to be taken care of after the  bombing, and meeting Alex Steiner. She sat inside the police station, and three hours later, the mayor and his wife Isla drove her to their home. There, she would sit in the exquisite spare room, and speak and speak to herself, well into the night. She ate very little, and didn’t take a bath. She slept a lot but didn’t dream. On the day of Hans’ and Rosa’s funeral, she still hadn’t ba...

   The first chapter of part ten was about the day Himmel Street was bombed, leaving no one alive but Liesel. Although the time for this scene was still in later times, the narrator explained the scene, as "to soften the blow for later, or to better prepare  myself  for the telling." The sky was dripping, like a tap that was turned off by a child, and so hasn't quite managed to. The narrator stood outside Frau Diller's, and above, he heard the tin-can planes. Then, the bombs dropped out. The narrator says that no one would want to bomb Himmel Street, not a place named after heaven, or would they? Everyone, Rudy, Rosa, Hans, Frau Holtzapfel, Frau Diller, Tommy, all slept, and all died except for Liesel. She had been in the basement, reading through the story of her own life, checking for mistakes. Hours later when the LSE heard something beneath, they rushed to the basement of the Hubermanns. Liesel was hammering a paint can with a pencil. They dug the blocks of cemen...

   The first chapter of part nine took place just after two weeks of Christmas, and they went out stealing the mayor's book again. As always, Liesel entered the room from the window, and Rudy stayed outside, watching to see if anyone would come. When Liesel went inside, she noticed there was a plate full of stale cookies. She introduced the plate to him, and left a note saying "Thank you". She continued searching the room for books, and this time, she picked Die Letzte Menschliche Fremde―The Last Human Stranger. At the window when she was just about to get back out, she heard the library door creak open. Looking back, she saw Isla Hermann standing there. She raised her arm, and said " Heil Hitler". She was just about to leave when a realization struck her; the cookie had been out for weeks, and so the mayor himself must have seen them. (He didn't know that Liesel was coming in stealing books.) With some thinking, Liesel asked if the room was Isla's. She...

   The first chapter of part eight was about the two men talking with Rudy's parents, while Rudy sat in the living room with his sisters, playing dominos. Rudy initially thought that they came to talk about what happened at school the previous week. It was something he had refused to tell Liesel and did not even talk about it at home. From the kitchen table, Rudy could hear her mother, Barbara's voices, saying "Please", or "Not my boy." However, one of the men kept on insisting, saying "The best scores in class, not to mention his athletic ability." Soon later, Kurt, Rudy's older brother arrived into the room and asked what was going on. One of Rudy's sister, Bettina, said: "There are two monsters. They've come for Rudy." Later when the cot men left, Kurt and Rudy went to the kitchen. Barbara and Alex (father) both looked in shock. Kurt asked them if Rudy was going to be taken away, but they didn't answer. If Rudy had stay...

   The first chapter of part seven was about Hans and Liesel. It was the summer of 1942, and Molching was preparing for war. In the unfortunate time though, Hans and his painting job were on good terms. This was because windows were being colored back, for the nights. Thus, he would get requested from people to paint their windows too. (Especially people with blinds.) As black paint was running low in stores, he would make his own, using coal dust, and stir it through. On some workdays, Liesel would go with him. He would paint people's windows for free if the family seemed to be going through hard times. He would pain them for a piece of cookie or tea, and even half a cigarette was enough. The other half, he would enjoy smoking with the owner. Every day when they worked together, Hans would tell her stories too, about the Great War, or how he met Rosa. During their break time, Hans would play his accordion for her too. On one of his workdays when Liesel followed along, they we...

   The first chapter of part six was about the narrator himself. First, he started off talking about the time there in Germany, 1942. He explains that a lot of people were dying, and they would be chasing him. To be specific, he said: "They increase the production of bodies and their escaping souls. A few bombs will usually do the trick. Or some gas chambers, or the chitchat of faraway guns." He explains that there are "homeless everywhere." Although the explanation is not made clear, (I think) he means that there are dead people everywhere, with their souls chasing him everywhere. He also explains that the spirits belong to the Jews. He also explains his views on war, saying that war is like the new boss who has expectations of the impossible.    The second chapter was about Max. On December 24th, there was no major bonus, and Hans Junior did not come to visit, he was simultaneously shooting Russians. On Christmas Eve, Liesel brought snow into the basement, for...

   The first chapter of part five talked about the way Rudy Steiner died. No, he didn't die at this time of the story, but rather in the future, two years later. It starts off with a day by the Amper River. Liesel and Rudy were there together as always, and Rudy took a step inside the river. He picks up a floating book in the water and asks Liesel for a kiss for an exchange. That very same day, he died of hypothermia. the narrator says that "taking a boy like Rudy was almost robbery—so much life, so much to live..." Also, it explains a very Rudy-like side of him, when he says "He'd have been glad to witness her kissing his dusty bomb-hit lips."    The second chapter was about seven events; The Haircut, The Newspaper, The Weatherman, The Boxer, The New Dream, the Painters, and The Showdown, following up from mid-April 1941 to June 24th, 1941. “The haircut” was about Max asking Rosa if she could possibly cut his hair for him since it was starting to get in h...

   The first chapter of part four was two things; first, about Hans’ history, and second, about Liesel seeing the man for the first time. The history of Hans starts dating back from World War One when he met Erik at the base camp. Hans was twenty years old at the time. They became close friends at first simply due to the fact that both of them were not interested in fighting like the other men were. They would roll cigarettes together, and Erik would even teach Hans to play the accordion. However, on the day of the battle, Hans was able to survive, thanks to Erik. That day, a sergeant came into the room and asked for a person with neat handwriting to stay there, as the captain needed them to help him write letters. Erik called out Han's name, and so everyone else except for Hans went to the battle, and no one came back. Later, when he tracked down his house to give the accordion back to his family, he was said to keep it from his wife. There, Hans met Erik's son too, Max, and ...

   The first chapter of part three started with a brief explanation of “ Mein Kampf ”, the third book Liesel had received, saying that the book showed up at 33 Himmel Street perhaps and an hour later Liesel had drifted back from her nightmare. Going back to the end of part three chapter eight, Liesel and Hans were on their back home to Himmel street when Liesel could no longer take it. The book she had stolen from the ash was inside her shirt (as she was hiding it) now burning her skin. She pulled the book out, and Hans grabbed hold of The Shoulder Shrug . There was no explanation needed as it was clear she had stolen it from the bonfire. Hans studies the book probably wondering what kind of threat this book had posed to the hearts and minds of the German people. He handed it back and Liesel asked if he was going to tell Rosa. He asked her why he would, and Liesel answered, “Because I stole again. Hans bent down and stroking her hair, she told her he wouldn’t. Here, the narrat...

   The fourth chapter starts off with a scene of the future Liesel, in 1943 when Liesel had become fourteen years old. She sits in the basement writing in a small dark-covered book, with Hans sitting with the accordion at his feet. He said "you know Liesel? I nearly wrote you a reply and signed your mother's name. But I couldn't. I couldn't bring myself." Here, the flash-forward ends, and we're back in 1940 again. For all throughout January and February, Liesel would search the mailbox for her mother's reply. But the letter just didn't seem to be there. In mid-February, Liesel was given a letter from another ironing customer, the Pfaffelhurvers. It was to announce they would no longer be asking for the washing and ironing anymore. (Probably because people were losing money due to the war.) When her birthday came around, there was no gift prepared for her, simply because there was no money. Though Rosa was arguing Hans that he should've never given ...

   The first chapter of part two was the narrator talking by himself. He talked about the second time Liesel stole a book, called " The Shoulder Shrug ". The book was blue with red engraving on the cover, in addition to a small picture of a cuckoo bird right beneath the words. She got the book at the book-burning, on April 20th of 1940. It was exactly 463 days from the first book she had ever stolen, " The Grave Digger's Handbook ". So what made her do such an attempt? Well according to the narrator, "it was anger and hatred that fueled her to steal it." We won't know what happened to the past four or five months that culminated in such a feeling until later on, but we do know one thing. It's that the book played an important role in her's and Hans's life. For Liesel, "it would provide her with a venue for continued book thievery" and for Hans, "it would inspire him to come up with a plan to help the Jewish fist fighter....