August 14, 2025 • 34 mins
Death has never been so captivated by a human as he is by Liesel Meminger, a young girl navigating the treacherous landscape of Nazi Germany with stolen books as her compass. When Death first encounters Liesel at her brother's gravesite, he watches her pilfer her first treasure – The Gravedigger's Handbook – marking the beginning of her journey as the Book Thief.
Words become Liesel's salvation in a world determined to burn them. After arriving at the home of her foster parents, Hans and Rosa Huberman, she finds an unexpected ally in Hans, who patiently teaches her to read in their basement during late-night sessions. As Nazi ideology tightens its grip on their small town of Molching, Liesel's hunger for books grows. She begins stealing them from wherever she can – Nazi book burnings, the mayor's wife's library – each stolen volume a small act of rebellion against the regime that took her biological mother.
The stakes escalate dramatically when the Hubermans hide Max Vandenburg, a Jewish refugee, in their basement. The dangerous secret creates an unbreakable bond between Max and Liesel, united by their understanding of words' power to both destroy and heal. While Hitler uses language to incite hatred, Max and Liesel exchange stories to survive. Their friendship becomes the emotional heart of both Markus Zusak's acclaimed novel and its 2013 film adaptation starring Sophie Nélisse, Geoffrey Rush, and Emily Watson.
Though the film makes several notable changes – simplifying some relationships and softening certain blows – both versions powerfully illustrate how literature provides refuge during humanity's darkest hours. The story culminates in the devastating bombing of Himmel Street, a moment that transforms everything for Liesel but cannot destroy the stories she's collected. Through Death's unique narration, we witness how words, whether stolen, shared, or written, ultimately save Liesel when nothing else can. Discover why this tale continues to resonate with readers and viewers alike as we compare the book to its film adaptation and explore which version most powerfully delivers this unforgettable story.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Books vs Movies, the podcast where I set
out to answer the age-oldquestion is the book really
always better than the movie?
I'm Yuvia, an actress and booklover based out of New York City
, and today I will be talkingabout the Book Thief by Marcus
Zusak and its 2013 adaptation,the Book Thief, starring Sophie
Nolese, jeffrey Rush anddirected by Brian Percival.
(00:21):
Okay, hi everyone, I did notagain.
I meant to record the bookthief and have it ready to go
immediately after Two Kisses forMaddie, but I had to wait for
the diggity to come in from thelibrary and then, once it did
come in, I kind of put watchingit on hold until the play was
(00:42):
over.
I spent all of last week justfocusing 100% on the play.
So that's what I did, and nowthat it's over, I'm really sad.
I had such a good experience,like a really, really great
experience working on that show,and I'm really sad that it's
over, like more sad than I thinkI have been for shows closing.
(01:05):
Like I'm always sad when theyclose, but this time, like I'm
really really feeling that postshow low and I know the reason
for that, but I'm not going toget into it here because this is
not the time or the place, butI just wanted to share that.
It went really really well.
We got really really goodfeedback.
People seemed to really enjoyit, and so this was my first
time playing a mom.
(01:26):
I usually play like muchyounger than me or someone not
too much, but definitely notlike a mom and a lot of people
totally bought that I was a mom.
So that's like such acompliment and it's one of those
things like when people wouldsee me next to Danny, who played
my son, they'd be like you guyslook like your siblings, but
(01:50):
when you were on stage I totallybought that you were his mom.
So it's like, well, that's good.
But anyway, yeah, I'm justreally looking forward to
working with Terry, theplaywright, and Catalina, the
director, and Molly and Danny myfellow actors again, and I am
willing this into existencebecause I really want to work
with all of them again and it'sgoing to happen.
(02:11):
It's going to happen.
But anyway, let's go ahead andget started with the Book Thief.
So the Book Thief by MarkusZusak was first published in
2005.
And it starts off in 1939, naziGermany, and we are following
death, yes, literal death.
Death is the narrator of thestory, but our main character,
(02:34):
more so than death, is actuallyLiesl Memminger.
Death first meets Liesl afterher brother dies.
He goes to the gravesite topick up her brother's soul, and
he sees her steal her first book, called the Gravedigger's
Handbook.
It is with this first booktheft that Liesel starts her
love of books and reading andwords, and once she arrives at
(02:59):
her foster parent's house, herfoster father teaches her how to
read, and soon enough, she'sstealing books from Nazi book
burnings, the mayor's wife'slibrary pretty much anywhere she
can find a book.
She steals it.
This is Nazi Germany, though,and while her foster parents put
up a front, they are not in100% agreement.
(03:22):
They're not in agreement,actually, actually at all with
the Nazis.
They have to put up a front,otherwise their lives are in
danger, but they actually takein a Jew and hide him in their
basement, and it is this Jewthat turns Liesel's life upside
down.
This is a beautifully writtenbook.
It's one of my favorites, andI'm so excited to be bringing it
(03:45):
to the podcast today.
The 2013 adaptation of the BookThief is directed by Brian
Percival and stars SophieNelisse, jeffrey Rush and Emily
Watson, and this takes placeduring World War II Germany.
A young girl named LiseMemminger finds solace by
stealing books and sharing themwith others.
Meanwhile, in her basement, aJewish refugee is protected by
(04:10):
her and her adoptive parents.
So overall, this is it's not abad adaptation, it's a pretty
faithful adaptation.
This book is, I want to say,500 pages.
It's about 500 pages, yeah, andthe film is two hours long.
So it fits a lot, but it stilldoes not fit a lot of.
(04:31):
There's still only so much youcan fit with a 500 page book.
Like 500 pages is a lot to tryto fit into a two hour film.
And they do manage to slip in alot, but they don't slip in
everything.
So let's go ahead and getstarted.
So yes, our narrator for boththe book and the film is death,
(04:53):
actual death, literal death, andhe gets, I mean, it makes more
sense.
It's easier for him to narrateall of the book from his point
of view because it doesn'tdetract from our main
protagonist, which is Liesel.
In the film he does, do you dohear him narrate the story, but
he pops in and out a lot lessfrequently than he does in the
(05:16):
book.
Like the book is literally toldfrom his point of view, but the
film can't really do that,since our main character is
Liesel and we kind of need tofocus on just her.
But anyway, so, yes, rosa, whois Liesel's foster mom, adoptive
mom, I guess it's technicallyher foster mom, but I don't
think Liesel ever getsofficially adopted.
(05:38):
But for all intents andpurposes she is adopted, maybe
not legally, but she is adoptedby the Hubermans, rosa and Hans
Huberman and in the book.
Well, in both.
Rosa does laundry.
That's how.
Hans is a painter, so he goesaround painting buildings.
Rosa does laundry for the townand she has select customers.
(05:59):
Little by little they all fireher because this is Nazi Germany
.
Times are tough financially, sopeople start letting her go.
The last person to let her goin the book is the mayor's wife,
and it's kind of like everyoneelse.
The mayor kind of just decideswe can't afford laundry service
anymore.
(06:19):
It doesn't matter that I'm themayor, the richest man in town
can't afford laundry service, sowe're canceling it.
So that's how Rosa ends uplosing her job.
It comes very unexpectedly.
No one ever would have thoughtthat the mayor and his wife
would cancel their laundryservice.
But they do.
In the film, though they make itseem more like.
So the mayor's wife and Lieseldo strike up a friendship in
(06:42):
both the book and the film.
But in the film the mayorcatches Liesel in the library.
So after Liesel starts stealingbooks the mayor's wife lets her
into the library and Liesel'sallowed to come over whenever
she wants and just read from thebooks in the library.
And in the film the mayorcatches or finds Liesel in the
(07:03):
library and is kind of like whatis the meaning of this?
And the mayor's wife is like ohyou know, just no reason.
And then so he ends up firingRosa after that.
So it's kind of hinted thatLiesel like he's not comfortable
with Liesel spending time withhis wife in his home, in his
home library.
So that's why Rosa gets fired.
But in the book there really isno rhyme or reason.
(07:24):
It's just things are toughfinancially even for the mayor
and his wife, and so Rosa getsfired before all this.
So what happens is, as I said,liesel does steal the
gravedigger's handbook when,after her brother dies and the
second time she steals a book isactually at a Nazi book burning
.
So the whole town gathers forHitler's birthday and they have
(07:48):
a book burning in his honor andLiesel finds a book that was not
engulfed by the flames.
So she steals that.
The only person to see hersteal the book is the mayor's
wife.
And that is what the mayor'swife sees like whoa, this girl's
risking her life to read a bookand that's what prompts her to
befriend Liesl and invite herinto the library.
But in the book, or in both,liesl starts recognizing, before
(08:12):
the book burning happens, oneof the Nazi leaders is giving a
speech denouncing communists andcommunism, and that's a word
that Liesl recognizes thatpeople were using against her
mom or was being used todescribe her mom.
So she kind of puts two and twotogether, like, oh, my mom is
not with me anymore because shewas a communist.
(08:33):
And so she asks her father likeis my mom a communist?
Is she not here because of hercommunism?
And Hans admits that that's thetruth.
And so obviously Liesl getsupset and she says I hate Hitler
, I hate him.
And this prompts Hans to slapher and say you are never to say
(08:54):
that out loud, ever again,don't you dare say that.
You are only allowed to sayHeil Hitler.
And he teaches her how tosalute properly and he tells her
basically never to say that shehates Hitler again and to only
say Heil Hitler, and in the filmthis does not happen.
Hans does not hit her.
Yeah, this is just not like hefinds her and she asks the
(09:17):
questions and everything, but hedoesn't physically punish her
for expressing her opinion.
So I mean, hans is definitelythe more lenient parent between
him and Rosa, but I kind of wishthat they had kept this.
I don't want to see a childgetting beaten on screen.
But the reason why he hits heris important.
It's literally to protect her.
To protect her from gettingsent away, from getting killed.
(09:40):
So this is the only time heever puts his hands on her and
it's because he's scared thatshe's going to say this in front
of someone that she shouldn't.
And she's dead, she's gone,she's killed, whatever.
So, yeah, I did miss thatmoment in the film.
So Max is the Jew that comes tolive with them and hide out in
(10:01):
the basement, and that story isthat Hans served with Max's
father during the first worldwar.
They met, they became friendsand then he was like you know,
if you ever need anything, afavor or anything, just find me
and I will help you out.
Max's father ends up dying andbut he ends up telling like his
wife, like, if you ever needhelp, like, reach out to my
(10:22):
friend, this is his name blah,blah, blah.
And so that many, many yearsdown the line, max is the one
that ends up getting hisfather's debt repaid from Hans,
or by Hans, or yeah, however,whatever the correct phrasing
for that is.
So that's how Max ends upliving with the Hubermans in
their basement and again, it'sone of those things where Hans,
when Max shows up, he tells Lisalike it, anyone, you cannot
(10:48):
tell anyone that this man isstaying here with us.
It's extremely dangerous.
And she promises and she keepsthat promise.
By the time she ends upbreaking the promise and tells
Rudy, her best friend, that theywere hiding Max.
Max is long gone.
So there comes a point in whichHans well, max has to go away
at some point.
I will bring this up when weget there, but in well, I guess
(11:10):
I'll bring it up now.
So Liesl tells Rudy about Maxin the film, when Max is still
staying with them.
So she breaks her promise inthe film.
In the book she doesn't breakher promise, she keeps it until
Max is no longer there, andthat's because Rudy gets
suspicious.
So what happens is that Max hasto leave in the book.
(11:32):
So this takes place in Molkingin Germany, which is, I believe
it's made up for the book.
But this takes place in a towncalled Molking and it's kind of
on the way to the concentrationcamp Dachau.
So sometimes Jews will bemarched through the town on
(11:52):
their way to Dachau and in thebook one of the Jews falls down
and he's not getting up and he'sgetting whipped by one of the
Nazi officers.
And Hans can't take it anymoreand he helps the Jew up and so
he gets punished.
He starts getting whipped forthat and obviously this is a
(12:12):
huge mistake.
Hans has just put him and hisfamily in danger by helping this
Jew out.
They also have Max hidden intheir basement, like this is him
doing?
This is basically himconfirming that he's a traitor
to Nazi Germany, and so he'sexpecting someone to come to
their house and search everynook and cranny to continue
(12:33):
proving that he's a traitor, sothat they can therefore punish
him.
So Max is sent away.
The plan is for him to be sentaway for a few days and then,
once their home is inspectedfrom top to bottom by these
German officers that they thinkare going to show up, then
they're going to bring Max backto the basement and he can
continue hiding out.
However, max is like leaves anote where they told him to wait
(12:56):
and he says you've put yourlives in danger for me too much
already and I'm just going tohead out on my own.
Thank you so much for hiding mefor as long as you did.
So he leaves and so in the film,like Rudy, he finds Max's like
fake passport that he used toget him from where he lived.
I believe he's originally fromBerlin, germany.
(13:16):
So he finds Max's fake passportthat allowed him to travel from
Berlin to Malking.
It's obviously fake, notidentifying him as a Jew or
anything.
So Rudy finds this andconfronts Liesel and Liesel at
that point admits that they'rehiding a Jew in their basement.
So she, as I said, she breaksher promise and ends up telling
(13:36):
Rudy in the film, but in thebook she does not.
So in the book she does end uptelling him only after Max is
long gone, because now everysingle time Jews are marked
through molking on their way toDachau.
She runs up and down the grouplooking at every face, just
trying to see if Max is amongthis group of men being taken to
Dachau.
(13:57):
So the first time after Maxleaves and the first set of Jews
are marched on their way there.
She's doing this and she getsin trouble with German officers,
obviously because they're likewhat are you doing in there?
Get away from there.
And so Rudy's like what thehell are you doing?
Like why are you?
Like?
You're like what are you doing?
Like why are you running intothis group of Jews?
(14:18):
And like you're clearlysearching for something or
someone, like what was thatabout?
At that point Liesl says,listen, we were hiding a Jewish
man in our basement and I just Icouldn't help but look for him
now that he's not with usanymore.
And so Rudy's like all right, Igotcha, that makes so much
sense.
Like a lot of things, lookingback, make a lot of sense now
(14:41):
because of the way you acted orreacted towards certain things.
So that's what happens.
That's how Rudy ends up findingout about Max.
So, yeah, in one of them hefinds out well, well, max is
technically still there, buthe's a good boy and doesn't tell
anyone.
And in the actual book, lieselkeeps that secret until Max is
gone.
So yeah, so that's how Hansgets in trouble in the book.
(15:03):
He assists a Jew that falls asthey're being marched to Dachau
In the film.
How he ends up getting introuble, though, is that there
is a man who lives in the townof Mokhin and he has a shop.
He's a shopkeeper, and theNazis show up one day and start
arresting him because they findout that he forged documents.
(15:25):
And it turns out that he's aJew.
And so they show up to arresthim, and he's begging all the
townspeople like please help me.
Like you know who I am.
Like yes, I'm a Jew, but youalso know who I am.
You know, you know me, you knowwho, like you've lived with me
all these years and you knowthat I'm a good person.
You know they haven't doneanything wrong.
You know that I don't deserveto be treated this way just
(15:47):
because I'm a Jew.
And the only one that stands upfor him is Hans Huberman.
So that's how Hans gets introuble in the film.
So he's assisting a friend, asopposed to a stranger In the
film.
Alex Steiner, who's Rudy'sfather, is conscripted to go in
the army, and there isn't reallyany other reason other than
he's been tasked with joiningthe military.
So he has to go, and other thanhe's been tasked with joining
(16:08):
the military, so he has to go.
In the book what ends uphappening is that Alex, so
there's just like a group oflike Nazi doctors, I guess, that
show up to Liesel and Rudy'sschool and they're there to
examine Rudy and some other boysthat have shown a lot of
promise, whether that bephysically, mentally, basically
(16:30):
like the cream of the crop, likethese are the boys that, should
they pass the inspection, arelike the perfect example of Nazi
youth and they're going to besent away to continue their
training.
Yeah, so they're gettingphysically examined.
Rudy's chosen as like this islike he's blonde, he's blue eyed
(16:53):
, he's very physically fit, he'slike perfect, we want this kid
to come join our Nazi academyand the Steiners say no, he's
not going.
And so, in punishment for themdenying Rudy, alex is then
forced to join the military andgoes off into the war.
So, yeah, in the film it's kindof just like.
(17:14):
It kind of just happens he'snot really being punished, from
what I saw, but in the book it'sdefinitely a punishment.
And those Nazi officers do endup coming in the film as well,
but they don't do the inspection, they just show up and they're
like we're going to take yourson.
And it's just Rudy's mom, mrsSteiner, there and she's just
like she can't really doanything except say yes.
(17:34):
So Rudy is expected to leave atthe end of the summer in the
film but in the book he's never.
His parents do not givepermission for them to take
their son, so he's not at riskof leaving at the end of the
summer.
So at some point the threat ofMalkin getting bombed increases.
So they start inspectingpeople's basements and kind of
(17:56):
determining like this is a goodfallout shelter, this is not a
good fallout shelter.
And so they determined that theHuberman's basement is not a
good fallout shelter.
So they, anytime there's like abomb warning, they have to go
to one of their neighbor's houseand in the book Liesl carries a
book with her everywhere shegoes.
So at one point people arereally starting to panic and
(18:18):
Hans tells Liesl to read herbook to distract everyone and
keep them calm.
So that's what she does.
She reads to them In the bookthey go into like bomb shelters
several times, but they keep itto just twice.
The first time they go down tothe bomb shelter, hans takes his
accordion with him and he playsthe accordion to keep everyone
(18:38):
distracted.
So the second time they end upin the bomb shelter.
So Hans does end up gettingpunished for helping the Jew out
and his punishment is also tohe's forced to join the military
.
But he's on bomb cleanup duties.
He's just as much in danger asif he were in the front lines,
basically because he's cleaningup bombs, but like a bomb can
fall on him at any time, butanyway.
So at this point in the filmhe's already gone, he's enlisted
(19:00):
, he's off cleaning up bombssomewhere, not in Malking and
Liesel remembers how hisaccordion playing kept everyone
calm.
So she decides to tell a storyand in the book, as I said, she
actually reads from the booksthat she takes from the mayor's
wife's library.
But in the film she makes up astory and she just continues
(19:21):
adding to the story until it'ssafe for everyone to leave.
So that's what happens.
And in the book Hans and Rosahave two children, trudy and
Hans Jr, and they're not likethat important.
So I can see why they're notincluded in the film.
But they do add a nice conflictbecause Hans and Rosa are, as I
said, they're not, they don'tagree with the Nazis and Hans Jr
(19:44):
is very much like a huge Hitlerfan.
So this causes a lot of tensionbetween him and his father and
at one point Hans Jr ends upcutting off all contact with his
parents and this breaks Rosa'sheart because at the end of the
day, that's still her son.
So yeah, they're not reallyimportant, but just something I
wanted to add, because Hans Jrdoes add that little bit of
(20:06):
drama due to his and hisfather's differing political
beliefs.
So after Rosa is fired, in thebook, liesel one day angrily
confronts the mayor's wife andcalls her a coward and is like
how could you fire my mother?
Like it's not cool that you didthat.
You're weak, but you're like anawful woman, blah, blah, blah.
And so after, like, liesel ispissed off at the mayor's wife
(20:28):
and after she confronts her iswhen she starts stealing books
from the mayor's wife.
And after she confronts her iswhen she starts stealing books
from the mayor's wife.
And eventually the mayor's wifefigures out what's going on,
because she starts looking forcertain books and she can't find
them.
And then Liesl goes.
In order not to make any noise,liesl takes off her shoes.
So Elsa, the mayor's wife,starts seeing like footprints on
the floor, and then she's likeshe puts them two together and
(20:53):
she's like okay, liesl is comingin and stealing books for me
and at one point she leaves adictionary as bait, making it
really easy for Liesl to steal.
So Liesl steals the dictionaryand inside there's a note from
Olsen and it basically says likestop stealing my books.
Like you're still welcome.
I know like you don't respectme.
You think that I'm a coward,you think that I'm weak for
firing your mama.
I'm sorry that I had to do that, but I hoped that you would
(21:15):
have a lot more respect for me,just like I have a lot more
respect for you and you're stillwelcome to come into my library
anytime you want.
So I would appreciate it if youstop stealing my books.
But if you just cannot helpyourself and you have to keep
stealing my books, like at leastcome in through the front door,
just knock, come in, take abook and leave, stop like
sneaking in through the window.
So Liesel's like so there doesend up being a sort of
(21:39):
understanding after Liesel readsthis note from the mayor's wife
and there's like that mutualrespect from this point on
between Liesel and the wife andso in the book while Max is
still there.
So one of the ways that he getsinto molking is that Hans buys a
copy of Hitler's book MeinKampf and cuts out some of the
pages and in the hollow pagearea he puts a key to his house,
(22:04):
so that way Max can just likeonce Max shows up, he doesn't
need to knock, he doesn't needto do anything.
So in the film he does knockand Hans lets him in, but in the
book he's given a key so he canjust let himself in.
And then, once he lets himselfin, they still have the
conversation of like.
The code word is like do youstill play the accordion?
And that's how they know thathe's found the right place and
Hans knows that that's the rightperson that he's set out to
(22:27):
help.
But while he's there, max andLiesl end up becoming really
good friends and for oneChristmas Max ends up taking the
copy of Mein Kampf and theparts that are not hollowed out.
He paints over them with likejust one of Hans Huberman's
white paint that he has.
He paints over all the pages,he paints them white and then he
(22:48):
writes his own story for Lieslin Mein Kampf, and that's what
he ends up giving Liesl as aChristmas present.
In the film, though, he doesthe same thing.
He still paints out the pagesof Mein Kampf and then he gives
it to her as a blank notebookand he tells Liesl to write her
own stories.
The person who actually givesLiesl the notebook is Elsa, the
(23:10):
mayor's wife.
So Liesl shows up at some pointand Elsa's like you have such a
like you love reading so much,you should try writing your own
story.
So she gives Liesl the notebookso Liesl can write her story in
her own words.
So, yeah, I kind of wish thatthey had kept Max as giving her
a book that he wrote, because hewrites.
It's one of those things wherewhen he first arrives, he gets
(23:32):
very, very sick and he's kind ofout of it for several days and
they're scared that he's goingto die and so he hears a lot of
things that Liesel says todescribe him, but she doesn't
realize that he's overhearingher and so he writes down this.
It's very personalized towardsLiesel and the things she's said
about Max.
So I kind of wish they had keptthat and I really wish that
(23:54):
they had kept it as the mayor'swife giving Liesel the book,
giving Liesel the notebook,because there is that mutual
respect and understanding andthere is a friendship there
between the two of them that'sformed.
So I feel like you just don'tsee as much of the friendship
Like.
The friendship between Max andLiesel is very, very strong in
the film the way it is in thebook, but it isn't that strong
(24:15):
between Elsa and Liesel and Ikind of wish that they had kept
it, because, well, here's why.
So now we have reached the major, major, major, major spoilers
of this book, slash film, andthat is, I mean, this takes
place in Nazi Germany, middle ofWorld War II, and we I mean
there's a reason I kept bringingup bomb shelters.
(24:36):
So Liesl's street ends upgetting bombed and she is the
only survivor and she survivesbecause she's in her basement.
So the basement is kind of hersanctuary.
That's where Hans teaches herhow to read and he teaches her
how to write.
When Max is initially, when Maxfirst arrives, as I said, he's
very sick, so he's sleeping inthe same room as Liesl in a
(24:58):
separate bed, and then, oncehe's well enough to like go to
the basement.
He then lives in the basementuntil he has to leave.
So Liesel spends a lot of timedown there getting to know him
and befriending him, and so it'sher sanctuary.
So when Ilse gives her thenotebook to write her story, she
writes in the basement andthere are no sirens, there's
absolutely no warning.
(25:19):
No one expects these bombs to gooff and kill everyone, but
Liesl just so happens to be inthe basement.
She falls asleep while she'swriting and, despite the
basement being labeled as tooshallow, it ends up being
perfect because she survives.
She's the only survivor of herentire street.
So in the book she finds a pipethat she starts banging on and
(25:44):
that's how the cleanup crewfinds her.
In the film the accordion isclose to her, so she starts
making noises on the accordionand that's how they find her.
But yeah, in the book it's bypipe.
So when Liesel is pulled out ofthe basement, everyone is dead
Her parents, rudy, her bestfriend, everyone on her street
is dead, and in the film shejust Rosa and Hans are dead.
(26:09):
And then she sees Rudy gettingpulled out of the rubble and
he's still alive, and then hestarts to tell her something and
then he dies before he can tellit to her.
But in the book he's alreadydead.
So she doesn't get to interactwith anyone.
She doesn't get to say goodbyeto anyone after she is rescued.
So yeah, and that's how thebook thief ends.
(26:30):
So it is a really, reallypowerful book and it's one of
those things that I actuallyread it when I was in high
school and I did not like it.
I was like, oh gosh, what isthis Like?
This seems like something Ishould really really like and I
don't like, I hate this.
This is awful.
And then I had to read it againin undergrad because I took a
(26:51):
young adult fiction class justas a random elective.
So I was like I was like thissounds fun.
I get to read a lot of books.
I need to be a full-timestudent in order to keep my
scholarship, so let's do it.
So I took that class for funand we had to read the Book
Thief and I remember initially Iwas dreading it.
I was like ugh, I did not likethis book.
And then I reread it for theclass and I ended up absolutely
(27:14):
loving it and now it's one of myfavorite books.
So yeah, and I remember I wrotethat in my essay when I was
talking about the Book Thief.
And so after we read a book, wehad to write an essay for my
English class Makes sense, and Iremember mentioning it in my
essay, like I hated this bookwhen I students and even middle
school students, and I think,despite its young adult label,
(27:35):
it's a little bit too nuancedfor a lot of high school
students and especially formiddle school students.
So I think I have to agree withher because I really just did
not.
It did not speak to me at allas a high school student.
(27:57):
Maybe I'm not saying it doesn'tspeak to any high school
students out there, but I thinkit's definitely.
Despite its young adult label,I feel like it's definitely a
lot more adult and there's somany things I missed reading it
in high school that I understoodas an adult and I mean I wasn't
like too much older than I waswhen I initially read it, but I
(28:22):
mean those several years likedid make a difference in my
understanding the book.
So just want to throw that outthere.
But yeah, one of the big, bigreasons I really missed the
friendship between Elsa andLiesel in the film is because
after Malking, himmel Street onMalking is bombed and so Himmel
means heaven in German, and it's.
This is stated in the book, butin the film, for whatever
(28:43):
reason, they straight up namedit Heaven Street.
It's not Himmel Street, it'sliterally called Heaven Street.
So I don't know, I feel likethey could have added it.
It could have been like Himmelmeans heaven and then kept the
street name as Himmel, butwhatever, but anyway, yeah, so
after Elsa finds out thatthere's one survivor and then
it's a girl on Himmel Street,she rushes to Himmel Street to
(29:05):
see who the survivor is, andwhen she sees that it's Liesl,
she's very relieved and happythat it's Liesl.
And so Liesl ends up gettingtaken in by the mayor and his
wife and she lives with themfrom that point on.
So I really in the film, likeElsa and the mayor do show up to
Himal Street or to HeavenStreet and they take in the
(29:26):
rubble and the damage, and thenLiesl goes up to her and hugs
her and then she gets in the carand it comes out a little bit
more out of nowhere, like, yes,it is established that there is
this connection there.
But it's also like if I waswatching the film without having
read the book, I would.
I mean, I guess you could saylike any good person would take
in a child who just losteverything.
(29:47):
No matter, I don't care who youare, you would do that, but
it's still in the book.
There's just that addedconnection of, like.
Liesl lost everyone andeverything and Elsa is now the
only person that she has left,so it's a lot more powerful, I
guess, to know that she's notalone.
Yeah, so the acting isfantastic.
We have Sophie Nelis.
(30:07):
I know her most recently fromYellow Jackets, if you've seen
that on Showtime.
It's about the group of femalesoccer players that get stranded
in the woods and eventuallyhave to turn to cannibalism.
That is not a spoiler, it'srevealed in the first episode,
but anyway, but yeah, so I knowher most recently from that.
But this was my first timeseeing her ever in the Book
(30:28):
Thief.
So in the Book Thief it'sinteresting because it's one of
those films that, like was notadvertised at all when it came
out in 2013.
It was one of those thingswhere I was like looking at the
movie times because I've alwaysloved going to the movies and I
think my mom was like I don'tknow if I invited my mom or my
mom invited me, but we both lovegoing to the movies.
So my mom was like, well, gopick out a movie, and I happened
(30:52):
to.
It was just listed there underthe movie times.
It was like the book thief andI was like there's a film
adaptation of the book thief,what?
So I was like, well, we'redefinitely watching that.
And we did, and we both really,really liked it.
And then, of course, I boughtthe DVD.
But the DVD is back in Texas soI had to check it out from the
library here.
But yeah, it's reallyinteresting because there was no
(31:13):
advertisement for this.
Like I had no idea there wasgoing to be a Book Thief
adaptation.
I kind of like I said found itby chance, because my mom was
like, do you want to go to themovies?
And I said sure, and I saw it.
And like I wasn't even sure ifit was going to be the Book
Thief adaptation, but I was likeI feel like the probability of
this being an actual adaptationare pretty high.
(31:33):
I highly doubt there would be afilm called the Book Thief that
has nothing to do with the book.
So there was that.
But yeah, so I really reallyliked it and this is, I mean,
despite the things I said, it isa pretty faithful adaptation.
Yeah, and then yeah, so that'show I ended up watching it.
I did watch it the year it wasreleased in theaters.
Yeah, so this time around, Imean I didn't mind.
(31:58):
It wasn't necessarily somethingthat I intended on bringing to
the podcast at this point intime, but part of this was to
fulfill my pop sugar readingchallenge prompt of read a book
with book and the title or abook on the cover, and this is.
I was like let's go with thebook thief, let's bring it to
the podcast and yeah, so that'show that ended up here.
But anyway, jeffrey Rush andEmily Watson as Hans and Rosa,
(32:19):
like really really great,fantastic casting.
This film also has like prettyterrible critical reviews.
Like I think it has like a 38%critic rating on Rotten Tomatoes
, but it has a 78% audiencerating.
So the audience definitelyliked it a lot more than the
critics did and I can't reallyfigure out why the critics hated
it so much because I think it'sgood.
(32:40):
I mean I really, and like mymom, having never read the book,
really liked it because I thinkit's good.
I mean I really, and like mymom, having never read the book,
really liked it and I showed itto like my brother-in-law and
my sister-in-law and they reallyliked it as well.
So yeah, I don't know, but thisgot like terrible critic
reviews.
But I think, if I mean, ignorethe critic reviews, watch it,
check it out.
If you like the book, check itout as well, because it is
(33:03):
pretty solid.
I mean, I can see why thechanges were made.
I don't necessarily agree withall of them, but I can see why
certain changes were made.
And it's not like it's calledthe Book Thief and it says it's
a book thief adaptation.
And then it's like what thehell is this like?
I don't know the Giver, butanyway, I will bring that at
(33:24):
some point, but I promise, butthat adaptation just fills me
with so much rage I can't even.
I can't even.
Okay, anyway, moving on, soyeah, so I would definitely
recommend both.
So, that being said, I rated thebook four stars and I rated the
film four stars.
Is it a tie?
No, I, despite the fact that Irated them four stars, I do
still think there's a winner andthe winner is the book.
(33:44):
It has to be the book.
The film is still really,really great and if you are
reading a verse, you shouldstill check out the film and get
the story in this way.
But if you love to read, Ihighly recommend the book.
There's just so much morenuance and juicy bits and things
that cannot be added to thefilm, that are in the book.
It's just so good, highly,highly, highly recommended.
(34:07):
But that is it for this episodeof Books vs Movies.
I am in the process of readingtwo books well, a book and a
series of books for upcomingepisodes.
So I am still working on it,but it won't be next week.
It won't be like an episodethat comes out next week, but
anyway, thank you for tuning in.
If you like this podcast,please leave a rating and a
(34:30):
review.
Let me know what you think,share with all your friends.
Let's spread the word for thispodcast.
I really want to increase mylistenership and it helps a lot
if you let your friends know allabout it.
That being said, that's it.
I will see you next time.
Bye.
Welcome to Books vs Movies, the podcast where I set
out to answer the age-oldquestion is the book really
always better than the movie?
I'm Yuvia, an actress and booklover based out of New York City
, and today I will be talkingabout the Book Thief by Marcus
Zusak and its 2013 adaptation,the Book Thief, starring Sophie
Nolese, jeffrey Rush anddirected by Brian Percival.
(00:21):
Okay, hi everyone, I did notagain.
I meant to record the bookthief and have it ready to go
immediately after Two Kisses forMaddie, but I had to wait for
the diggity to come in from thelibrary and then, once it did
come in, I kind of put watchingit on hold until the play was
(00:42):
over.
I spent all of last week justfocusing 100% on the play.
So that's what I did, and nowthat it's over, I'm really sad.
I had such a good experience,like a really, really great
experience working on that show,and I'm really sad that it's
over, like more sad than I thinkI have been for shows closing.
(01:05):
Like I'm always sad when theyclose, but this time, like I'm
really really feeling that postshow low and I know the reason
for that, but I'm not going toget into it here because this is
not the time or the place, butI just wanted to share that.
It went really really well.
We got really really goodfeedback.
People seemed to really enjoyit, and so this was my first
time playing a mom.
(01:26):
I usually play like muchyounger than me or someone not
too much, but definitely notlike a mom and a lot of people
totally bought that I was a mom.
So that's like such acompliment and it's one of those
things like when people wouldsee me next to Danny, who played
my son, they'd be like you guyslook like your siblings, but
(01:50):
when you were on stage I totallybought that you were his mom.
So it's like, well, that's good.
But anyway, yeah, I'm justreally looking forward to
working with Terry, theplaywright, and Catalina, the
director, and Molly and Danny myfellow actors again, and I am
willing this into existencebecause I really want to work
with all of them again and it'sgoing to happen.
(02:11):
It's going to happen.
But anyway, let's go ahead andget started with the Book Thief.
So the Book Thief by MarkusZusak was first published in
2005.
And it starts off in 1939, naziGermany, and we are following
death, yes, literal death.
Death is the narrator of thestory, but our main character,
(02:34):
more so than death, is actuallyLiesl Memminger.
Death first meets Liesl afterher brother dies.
He goes to the gravesite topick up her brother's soul, and
he sees her steal her first book, called the Gravedigger's
Handbook.
It is with this first booktheft that Liesel starts her
love of books and reading andwords, and once she arrives at
(02:59):
her foster parent's house, herfoster father teaches her how to
read, and soon enough, she'sstealing books from Nazi book
burnings, the mayor's wife'slibrary pretty much anywhere she
can find a book.
She steals it.
This is Nazi Germany, though,and while her foster parents put
up a front, they are not in100% agreement.
(03:22):
They're not in agreement,actually, actually at all with
the Nazis.
They have to put up a front,otherwise their lives are in
danger, but they actually takein a Jew and hide him in their
basement, and it is this Jewthat turns Liesel's life upside
down.
This is a beautifully writtenbook.
It's one of my favorites, andI'm so excited to be bringing it
(03:45):
to the podcast today.
The 2013 adaptation of the BookThief is directed by Brian
Percival and stars SophieNelisse, jeffrey Rush and Emily
Watson, and this takes placeduring World War II Germany.
A young girl named LiseMemminger finds solace by
stealing books and sharing themwith others.
Meanwhile, in her basement, aJewish refugee is protected by
(04:10):
her and her adoptive parents.
So overall, this is it's not abad adaptation, it's a pretty
faithful adaptation.
This book is, I want to say,500 pages.
It's about 500 pages, yeah, andthe film is two hours long.
So it fits a lot, but it stilldoes not fit a lot of.
(04:31):
There's still only so much youcan fit with a 500 page book.
Like 500 pages is a lot to tryto fit into a two hour film.
And they do manage to slip in alot, but they don't slip in
everything.
So let's go ahead and getstarted.
So yes, our narrator for boththe book and the film is death,
(04:53):
actual death, literal death, andhe gets, I mean, it makes more
sense.
It's easier for him to narrateall of the book from his point
of view because it doesn'tdetract from our main
protagonist, which is Liesel.
In the film he does, do you dohear him narrate the story, but
he pops in and out a lot lessfrequently than he does in the
(05:16):
book.
Like the book is literally toldfrom his point of view, but the
film can't really do that,since our main character is
Liesel and we kind of need tofocus on just her.
But anyway, so, yes, rosa, whois Liesel's foster mom, adoptive
mom, I guess it's technicallyher foster mom, but I don't
think Liesel ever getsofficially adopted.
(05:38):
But for all intents andpurposes she is adopted, maybe
not legally, but she is adoptedby the Hubermans, rosa and Hans
Huberman and in the book.
Well, in both.
Rosa does laundry.
That's how.
Hans is a painter, so he goesaround painting buildings.
Rosa does laundry for the townand she has select customers.
(05:59):
Little by little they all fireher because this is Nazi Germany
.
Times are tough financially, sopeople start letting her go.
The last person to let her goin the book is the mayor's wife,
and it's kind of like everyoneelse.
The mayor kind of just decideswe can't afford laundry service
anymore.
(06:19):
It doesn't matter that I'm themayor, the richest man in town
can't afford laundry service, sowe're canceling it.
So that's how Rosa ends uplosing her job.
It comes very unexpectedly.
No one ever would have thoughtthat the mayor and his wife
would cancel their laundryservice.
But they do.
In the film, though they make itseem more like.
So the mayor's wife and Lieseldo strike up a friendship in
(06:42):
both the book and the film.
But in the film the mayorcatches Liesel in the library.
So after Liesel starts stealingbooks the mayor's wife lets her
into the library and Liesel'sallowed to come over whenever
she wants and just read from thebooks in the library.
And in the film the mayorcatches or finds Liesel in the
(07:03):
library and is kind of like whatis the meaning of this?
And the mayor's wife is like ohyou know, just no reason.
And then so he ends up firingRosa after that.
So it's kind of hinted thatLiesel like he's not comfortable
with Liesel spending time withhis wife in his home, in his
home library.
So that's why Rosa gets fired.
But in the book there really isno rhyme or reason.
(07:24):
It's just things are toughfinancially even for the mayor
and his wife, and so Rosa getsfired before all this.
So what happens is, as I said,liesel does steal the
gravedigger's handbook when,after her brother dies and the
second time she steals a book isactually at a Nazi book burning
.
So the whole town gathers forHitler's birthday and they have
(07:48):
a book burning in his honor andLiesel finds a book that was not
engulfed by the flames.
So she steals that.
The only person to see hersteal the book is the mayor's
wife.
And that is what the mayor'swife sees like whoa, this girl's
risking her life to read a bookand that's what prompts her to
befriend Liesl and invite herinto the library.
But in the book, or in both,liesl starts recognizing, before
(08:12):
the book burning happens, oneof the Nazi leaders is giving a
speech denouncing communists andcommunism, and that's a word
that Liesl recognizes thatpeople were using against her
mom or was being used todescribe her mom.
So she kind of puts two and twotogether, like, oh, my mom is
not with me anymore because shewas a communist.
(08:33):
And so she asks her father likeis my mom a communist?
Is she not here because of hercommunism?
And Hans admits that that's thetruth.
And so obviously Liesl getsupset and she says I hate Hitler
, I hate him.
And this prompts Hans to slapher and say you are never to say
(08:54):
that out loud, ever again,don't you dare say that.
You are only allowed to sayHeil Hitler.
And he teaches her how tosalute properly and he tells her
basically never to say that shehates Hitler again and to only
say Heil Hitler, and in the filmthis does not happen.
Hans does not hit her.
Yeah, this is just not like hefinds her and she asks the
(09:17):
questions and everything, but hedoesn't physically punish her
for expressing her opinion.
So I mean, hans is definitelythe more lenient parent between
him and Rosa, but I kind of wishthat they had kept this.
I don't want to see a childgetting beaten on screen.
But the reason why he hits heris important.
It's literally to protect her.
To protect her from gettingsent away, from getting killed.
(09:40):
So this is the only time heever puts his hands on her and
it's because he's scared thatshe's going to say this in front
of someone that she shouldn't.
And she's dead, she's gone,she's killed, whatever.
So, yeah, I did miss thatmoment in the film.
So Max is the Jew that comes tolive with them and hide out in
(10:01):
the basement, and that story isthat Hans served with Max's
father during the first worldwar.
They met, they became friendsand then he was like you know,
if you ever need anything, afavor or anything, just find me
and I will help you out.
Max's father ends up dying andbut he ends up telling like his
wife, like, if you ever needhelp, like, reach out to my
(10:22):
friend, this is his name blah,blah, blah.
And so that many, many yearsdown the line, max is the one
that ends up getting hisfather's debt repaid from Hans,
or by Hans, or yeah, however,whatever the correct phrasing
for that is.
So that's how Max ends upliving with the Hubermans in
their basement and again, it'sone of those things where Hans,
when Max shows up, he tells Lisalike it, anyone, you cannot
(10:48):
tell anyone that this man isstaying here with us.
It's extremely dangerous.
And she promises and she keepsthat promise.
By the time she ends upbreaking the promise and tells
Rudy, her best friend, that theywere hiding Max.
Max is long gone.
So there comes a point in whichHans well, max has to go away
at some point.
I will bring this up when weget there, but in well, I guess
(11:10):
I'll bring it up now.
So Liesl tells Rudy about Maxin the film, when Max is still
staying with them.
So she breaks her promise inthe film.
In the book she doesn't breakher promise, she keeps it until
Max is no longer there, andthat's because Rudy gets
suspicious.
So what happens is that Max hasto leave in the book.
(11:32):
So this takes place in Molkingin Germany, which is, I believe
it's made up for the book.
But this takes place in a towncalled Molking and it's kind of
on the way to the concentrationcamp Dachau.
So sometimes Jews will bemarched through the town on
(11:52):
their way to Dachau and in thebook one of the Jews falls down
and he's not getting up and he'sgetting whipped by one of the
Nazi officers.
And Hans can't take it anymoreand he helps the Jew up and so
he gets punished.
He starts getting whipped forthat and obviously this is a
(12:12):
huge mistake.
Hans has just put him and hisfamily in danger by helping this
Jew out.
They also have Max hidden intheir basement, like this is him
doing?
This is basically himconfirming that he's a traitor
to Nazi Germany, and so he'sexpecting someone to come to
their house and search everynook and cranny to continue
(12:33):
proving that he's a traitor, sothat they can therefore punish
him.
So Max is sent away.
The plan is for him to be sentaway for a few days and then,
once their home is inspectedfrom top to bottom by these
German officers that they thinkare going to show up, then
they're going to bring Max backto the basement and he can
continue hiding out.
However, max is like leaves anote where they told him to wait
(12:56):
and he says you've put yourlives in danger for me too much
already and I'm just going tohead out on my own.
Thank you so much for hiding mefor as long as you did.
So he leaves and so in the film,like Rudy, he finds Max's like
fake passport that he used toget him from where he lived.
I believe he's originally fromBerlin, germany.
(13:16):
So he finds Max's fake passportthat allowed him to travel from
Berlin to Malking.
It's obviously fake, notidentifying him as a Jew or
anything.
So Rudy finds this andconfronts Liesel and Liesel at
that point admits that they'rehiding a Jew in their basement.
So she, as I said, she breaksher promise and ends up telling
(13:36):
Rudy in the film, but in thebook she does not.
So in the book she does end uptelling him only after Max is
long gone, because now everysingle time Jews are marked
through molking on their way toDachau.
She runs up and down the grouplooking at every face, just
trying to see if Max is amongthis group of men being taken to
Dachau.
(13:57):
So the first time after Maxleaves and the first set of Jews
are marched on their way there.
She's doing this and she getsin trouble with German officers,
obviously because they're likewhat are you doing in there?
Get away from there.
And so Rudy's like what thehell are you doing?
Like why are you?
Like?
You're like what are you doing?
Like why are you running intothis group of Jews?
(14:18):
And like you're clearlysearching for something or
someone, like what was thatabout?
At that point Liesl says,listen, we were hiding a Jewish
man in our basement and I just Icouldn't help but look for him
now that he's not with usanymore.
And so Rudy's like all right, Igotcha, that makes so much
sense.
Like a lot of things, lookingback, make a lot of sense now
(14:41):
because of the way you acted orreacted towards certain things.
So that's what happens.
That's how Rudy ends up findingout about Max.
So, yeah, in one of them hefinds out well, well, max is
technically still there, buthe's a good boy and doesn't tell
anyone.
And in the actual book, lieselkeeps that secret until Max is
gone.
So yeah, so that's how Hansgets in trouble in the book.
(15:03):
He assists a Jew that falls asthey're being marched to Dachau
In the film.
How he ends up getting introuble, though, is that there
is a man who lives in the townof Mokhin and he has a shop.
He's a shopkeeper, and theNazis show up one day and start
arresting him because they findout that he forged documents.
(15:25):
And it turns out that he's aJew.
And so they show up to arresthim, and he's begging all the
townspeople like please help me.
Like you know who I am.
Like yes, I'm a Jew, but youalso know who I am.
You know, you know me, you knowwho, like you've lived with me
all these years and you knowthat I'm a good person.
You know they haven't doneanything wrong.
You know that I don't deserveto be treated this way just
(15:47):
because I'm a Jew.
And the only one that stands upfor him is Hans Huberman.
So that's how Hans gets introuble in the film.
So he's assisting a friend, asopposed to a stranger In the
film.
Alex Steiner, who's Rudy'sfather, is conscripted to go in
the army, and there isn't reallyany other reason other than
he's been tasked with joiningthe military.
So he has to go, and other thanhe's been tasked with joining
(16:08):
the military, so he has to go.
In the book what ends uphappening is that Alex, so
there's just like a group oflike Nazi doctors, I guess, that
show up to Liesel and Rudy'sschool and they're there to
examine Rudy and some other boysthat have shown a lot of
promise, whether that bephysically, mentally, basically
(16:30):
like the cream of the crop, likethese are the boys that, should
they pass the inspection, arelike the perfect example of Nazi
youth and they're going to besent away to continue their
training.
Yeah, so they're gettingphysically examined.
Rudy's chosen as like this islike he's blonde, he's blue eyed
(16:53):
, he's very physically fit, he'slike perfect, we want this kid
to come join our Nazi academyand the Steiners say no, he's
not going.
And so, in punishment for themdenying Rudy, alex is then
forced to join the military andgoes off into the war.
So, yeah, in the film it's kindof just like.
(17:14):
It kind of just happens he'snot really being punished, from
what I saw, but in the book it'sdefinitely a punishment.
And those Nazi officers do endup coming in the film as well,
but they don't do the inspection, they just show up and they're
like we're going to take yourson.
And it's just Rudy's mom, mrsSteiner, there and she's just
like she can't really doanything except say yes.
(17:34):
So Rudy is expected to leave atthe end of the summer in the
film but in the book he's never.
His parents do not givepermission for them to take
their son, so he's not at riskof leaving at the end of the
summer.
So at some point the threat ofMalkin getting bombed increases.
So they start inspectingpeople's basements and kind of
(17:56):
determining like this is a goodfallout shelter, this is not a
good fallout shelter.
And so they determined that theHuberman's basement is not a
good fallout shelter.
So they, anytime there's like abomb warning, they have to go
to one of their neighbor's houseand in the book Liesl carries a
book with her everywhere shegoes.
So at one point people arereally starting to panic and
(18:18):
Hans tells Liesl to read herbook to distract everyone and
keep them calm.
So that's what she does.
She reads to them In the bookthey go into like bomb shelters
several times, but they keep itto just twice.
The first time they go down tothe bomb shelter, hans takes his
accordion with him and he playsthe accordion to keep everyone
(18:38):
distracted.
So the second time they end upin the bomb shelter.
So Hans does end up gettingpunished for helping the Jew out
and his punishment is also tohe's forced to join the military
.
But he's on bomb cleanup duties.
He's just as much in danger asif he were in the front lines,
basically because he's cleaningup bombs, but like a bomb can
fall on him at any time, butanyway.
So at this point in the filmhe's already gone, he's enlisted
(19:00):
, he's off cleaning up bombssomewhere, not in Malking and
Liesel remembers how hisaccordion playing kept everyone
calm.
So she decides to tell a storyand in the book, as I said, she
actually reads from the booksthat she takes from the mayor's
wife's library.
But in the film she makes up astory and she just continues
(19:21):
adding to the story until it'ssafe for everyone to leave.
So that's what happens.
And in the book Hans and Rosahave two children, trudy and
Hans Jr, and they're not likethat important.
So I can see why they're notincluded in the film.
But they do add a nice conflictbecause Hans and Rosa are, as I
said, they're not, they don'tagree with the Nazis and Hans Jr
(19:44):
is very much like a huge Hitlerfan.
So this causes a lot of tensionbetween him and his father and
at one point Hans Jr ends upcutting off all contact with his
parents and this breaks Rosa'sheart because at the end of the
day, that's still her son.
So yeah, they're not reallyimportant, but just something I
wanted to add, because Hans Jrdoes add that little bit of
(20:06):
drama due to his and hisfather's differing political
beliefs.
So after Rosa is fired, in thebook, liesel one day angrily
confronts the mayor's wife andcalls her a coward and is like
how could you fire my mother?
Like it's not cool that you didthat.
You're weak, but you're like anawful woman, blah, blah, blah.
And so after, like, liesel ispissed off at the mayor's wife
(20:28):
and after she confronts her iswhen she starts stealing books
from the mayor's wife.
And after she confronts her iswhen she starts stealing books
from the mayor's wife.
And eventually the mayor's wifefigures out what's going on,
because she starts looking forcertain books and she can't find
them.
And then Liesl goes.
In order not to make any noise,liesl takes off her shoes.
So Elsa, the mayor's wife,starts seeing like footprints on
the floor, and then she's likeshe puts them two together and
(20:53):
she's like okay, liesl is comingin and stealing books for me
and at one point she leaves adictionary as bait, making it
really easy for Liesl to steal.
So Liesl steals the dictionaryand inside there's a note from
Olsen and it basically says likestop stealing my books.
Like you're still welcome.
I know like you don't respectme.
You think that I'm a coward,you think that I'm weak for
firing your mama.
I'm sorry that I had to do that, but I hoped that you would
(21:15):
have a lot more respect for me,just like I have a lot more
respect for you and you're stillwelcome to come into my library
anytime you want.
So I would appreciate it if youstop stealing my books.
But if you just cannot helpyourself and you have to keep
stealing my books, like at leastcome in through the front door,
just knock, come in, take abook and leave, stop like
sneaking in through the window.
So Liesel's like so there doesend up being a sort of
(21:39):
understanding after Liesel readsthis note from the mayor's wife
and there's like that mutualrespect from this point on
between Liesel and the wife andso in the book while Max is
still there.
So one of the ways that he getsinto molking is that Hans buys a
copy of Hitler's book MeinKampf and cuts out some of the
pages and in the hollow pagearea he puts a key to his house,
(22:04):
so that way Max can just likeonce Max shows up, he doesn't
need to knock, he doesn't needto do anything.
So in the film he does knockand Hans lets him in, but in the
book he's given a key so he canjust let himself in.
And then, once he lets himselfin, they still have the
conversation of like.
The code word is like do youstill play the accordion?
And that's how they know thathe's found the right place and
Hans knows that that's the rightperson that he's set out to
(22:27):
help.
But while he's there, max andLiesl end up becoming really
good friends and for oneChristmas Max ends up taking the
copy of Mein Kampf and theparts that are not hollowed out.
He paints over them with likejust one of Hans Huberman's
white paint that he has.
He paints over all the pages,he paints them white and then he
(22:48):
writes his own story for Lieslin Mein Kampf, and that's what
he ends up giving Liesl as aChristmas present.
In the film, though, he doesthe same thing.
He still paints out the pagesof Mein Kampf and then he gives
it to her as a blank notebookand he tells Liesl to write her
own stories.
The person who actually givesLiesl the notebook is Elsa, the
(23:10):
mayor's wife.
So Liesl shows up at some pointand Elsa's like you have such a
like you love reading so much,you should try writing your own
story.
So she gives Liesl the notebookso Liesl can write her story in
her own words.
So, yeah, I kind of wish thatthey had kept Max as giving her
a book that he wrote, because hewrites.
It's one of those things wherewhen he first arrives, he gets
(23:32):
very, very sick and he's kind ofout of it for several days and
they're scared that he's goingto die and so he hears a lot of
things that Liesel says todescribe him, but she doesn't
realize that he's overhearingher and so he writes down this.
It's very personalized towardsLiesel and the things she's said
about Max.
So I kind of wish they had keptthat and I really wish that
(23:54):
they had kept it as the mayor'swife giving Liesel the book,
giving Liesel the notebook,because there is that mutual
respect and understanding andthere is a friendship there
between the two of them that'sformed.
So I feel like you just don'tsee as much of the friendship
Like.
The friendship between Max andLiesel is very, very strong in
the film the way it is in thebook, but it isn't that strong
(24:15):
between Elsa and Liesel and Ikind of wish that they had kept
it, because, well, here's why.
So now we have reached the major, major, major, major spoilers
of this book, slash film, andthat is, I mean, this takes
place in Nazi Germany, middle ofWorld War II, and we I mean
there's a reason I kept bringingup bomb shelters.
(24:36):
So Liesl's street ends upgetting bombed and she is the
only survivor and she survivesbecause she's in her basement.
So the basement is kind of hersanctuary.
That's where Hans teaches herhow to read and he teaches her
how to write.
When Max is initially, when Maxfirst arrives, as I said, he's
very sick, so he's sleeping inthe same room as Liesl in a
(24:58):
separate bed, and then, oncehe's well enough to like go to
the basement.
He then lives in the basementuntil he has to leave.
So Liesel spends a lot of timedown there getting to know him
and befriending him, and so it'sher sanctuary.
So when Ilse gives her thenotebook to write her story, she
writes in the basement andthere are no sirens, there's
absolutely no warning.
(25:19):
No one expects these bombs to gooff and kill everyone, but
Liesl just so happens to be inthe basement.
She falls asleep while she'swriting and, despite the
basement being labeled as tooshallow, it ends up being
perfect because she survives.
She's the only survivor of herentire street.
So in the book she finds a pipethat she starts banging on and
(25:44):
that's how the cleanup crewfinds her.
In the film the accordion isclose to her, so she starts
making noises on the accordionand that's how they find her.
But yeah, in the book it's bypipe.
So when Liesel is pulled out ofthe basement, everyone is dead
Her parents, rudy, her bestfriend, everyone on her street
is dead, and in the film shejust Rosa and Hans are dead.
(26:09):
And then she sees Rudy gettingpulled out of the rubble and
he's still alive, and then hestarts to tell her something and
then he dies before he can tellit to her.
But in the book he's alreadydead.
So she doesn't get to interactwith anyone.
She doesn't get to say goodbyeto anyone after she is rescued.
So yeah, and that's how thebook thief ends.
(26:30):
So it is a really, reallypowerful book and it's one of
those things that I actuallyread it when I was in high
school and I did not like it.
I was like, oh gosh, what isthis Like?
This seems like something Ishould really really like and I
don't like, I hate this.
This is awful.
And then I had to read it againin undergrad because I took a
(26:51):
young adult fiction class justas a random elective.
So I was like I was like thissounds fun.
I get to read a lot of books.
I need to be a full-timestudent in order to keep my
scholarship, so let's do it.
So I took that class for funand we had to read the Book
Thief and I remember initially Iwas dreading it.
I was like ugh, I did not likethis book.
And then I reread it for theclass and I ended up absolutely
(27:14):
loving it and now it's one of myfavorite books.
So yeah, and I remember I wrotethat in my essay when I was
talking about the Book Thief.
And so after we read a book, wehad to write an essay for my
English class Makes sense, and Iremember mentioning it in my
essay, like I hated this bookwhen I students and even middle
school students, and I think,despite its young adult label,
(27:35):
it's a little bit too nuancedfor a lot of high school
students and especially formiddle school students.
So I think I have to agree withher because I really just did
not.
It did not speak to me at allas a high school student.
(27:57):
Maybe I'm not saying it doesn'tspeak to any high school
students out there, but I thinkit's definitely.
Despite its young adult label,I feel like it's definitely a
lot more adult and there's somany things I missed reading it
in high school that I understoodas an adult and I mean I wasn't
like too much older than I waswhen I initially read it, but I
(28:22):
mean those several years likedid make a difference in my
understanding the book.
So just want to throw that outthere.
But yeah, one of the big, bigreasons I really missed the
friendship between Elsa andLiesel in the film is because
after Malking, himmel Street onMalking is bombed and so Himmel
means heaven in German, and it's.
This is stated in the book, butin the film, for whatever
(28:43):
reason, they straight up namedit Heaven Street.
It's not Himmel Street, it'sliterally called Heaven Street.
So I don't know, I feel likethey could have added it.
It could have been like Himmelmeans heaven and then kept the
street name as Himmel, butwhatever, but anyway, yeah, so
after Elsa finds out thatthere's one survivor and then
it's a girl on Himmel Street,she rushes to Himmel Street to
(29:05):
see who the survivor is, andwhen she sees that it's Liesl,
she's very relieved and happythat it's Liesl.
And so Liesl ends up gettingtaken in by the mayor and his
wife and she lives with themfrom that point on.
So I really in the film, likeElsa and the mayor do show up to
Himal Street or to HeavenStreet and they take in the
(29:26):
rubble and the damage, and thenLiesl goes up to her and hugs
her and then she gets in the carand it comes out a little bit
more out of nowhere, like, yes,it is established that there is
this connection there.
But it's also like if I waswatching the film without having
read the book, I would.
I mean, I guess you could saylike any good person would take
in a child who just losteverything.
(29:47):
No matter, I don't care who youare, you would do that, but
it's still in the book.
There's just that addedconnection of, like.
Liesl lost everyone andeverything and Elsa is now the
only person that she has left,so it's a lot more powerful, I
guess, to know that she's notalone.
Yeah, so the acting isfantastic.
We have Sophie Nelis.
(30:07):
I know her most recently fromYellow Jackets, if you've seen
that on Showtime.
It's about the group of femalesoccer players that get stranded
in the woods and eventuallyhave to turn to cannibalism.
That is not a spoiler, it'srevealed in the first episode,
but anyway, but yeah, so I knowher most recently from that.
But this was my first timeseeing her ever in the Book
(30:28):
Thief.
So in the Book Thief it'sinteresting because it's one of
those films that, like was notadvertised at all when it came
out in 2013.
It was one of those thingswhere I was like looking at the
movie times because I've alwaysloved going to the movies and I
think my mom was like I don'tknow if I invited my mom or my
mom invited me, but we both lovegoing to the movies.
So my mom was like, well, gopick out a movie, and I happened
(30:52):
to.
It was just listed there underthe movie times.
It was like the book thief andI was like there's a film
adaptation of the book thief,what?
So I was like, well, we'redefinitely watching that.
And we did, and we both really,really liked it.
And then, of course, I boughtthe DVD.
But the DVD is back in Texas soI had to check it out from the
library here.
But yeah, it's reallyinteresting because there was no
(31:13):
advertisement for this.
Like I had no idea there wasgoing to be a Book Thief
adaptation.
I kind of like I said found itby chance, because my mom was
like, do you want to go to themovies?
And I said sure, and I saw it.
And like I wasn't even sure ifit was going to be the Book
Thief adaptation, but I was likeI feel like the probability of
this being an actual adaptationare pretty high.
(31:33):
I highly doubt there would be afilm called the Book Thief that
has nothing to do with the book.
So there was that.
But yeah, so I really reallyliked it and this is, I mean,
despite the things I said, it isa pretty faithful adaptation.
Yeah, and then yeah, so that'show I ended up watching it.
I did watch it the year it wasreleased in theaters.
Yeah, so this time around, Imean I didn't mind.
(31:58):
It wasn't necessarily somethingthat I intended on bringing to
the podcast at this point intime, but part of this was to
fulfill my pop sugar readingchallenge prompt of read a book
with book and the title or abook on the cover, and this is.
I was like let's go with thebook thief, let's bring it to
the podcast and yeah, so that'show that ended up here.
But anyway, jeffrey Rush andEmily Watson as Hans and Rosa,
(32:19):
like really really great,fantastic casting.
This film also has like prettyterrible critical reviews.
Like I think it has like a 38%critic rating on Rotten Tomatoes
, but it has a 78% audiencerating.
So the audience definitelyliked it a lot more than the
critics did and I can't reallyfigure out why the critics hated
it so much because I think it'sgood.
(32:40):
I mean I really, and like mymom, having never read the book,
really liked it because I thinkit's good.
I mean I really, and like mymom, having never read the book,
really liked it and I showed itto like my brother-in-law and
my sister-in-law and they reallyliked it as well.
So yeah, I don't know, but thisgot like terrible critic
reviews.
But I think, if I mean, ignorethe critic reviews, watch it,
check it out.
If you like the book, check itout as well, because it is
(33:03):
pretty solid.
I mean, I can see why thechanges were made.
I don't necessarily agree withall of them, but I can see why
certain changes were made.
And it's not like it's calledthe Book Thief and it says it's
a book thief adaptation.
And then it's like what thehell is this like?
I don't know the Giver, butanyway, I will bring that at
(33:24):
some point, but I promise, butthat adaptation just fills me
with so much rage I can't even.
I can't even.
Okay, anyway, moving on, soyeah, so I would definitely
recommend both.
So, that being said, I rated thebook four stars and I rated the
film four stars.
Is it a tie?
No, I, despite the fact that Irated them four stars, I do
still think there's a winner andthe winner is the book.
(33:44):
It has to be the book.
The film is still really,really great and if you are
reading a verse, you shouldstill check out the film and get
the story in this way.
But if you love to read, Ihighly recommend the book.
There's just so much morenuance and juicy bits and things
that cannot be added to thefilm, that are in the book.
It's just so good, highly,highly, highly recommended.
(34:07):
But that is it for this episodeof Books vs Movies.
I am in the process of readingtwo books well, a book and a
series of books for upcomingepisodes.
So I am still working on it,but it won't be next week.
It won't be like an episodethat comes out next week, but
anyway, thank you for tuning in.
If you like this podcast,please leave a rating and a
(34:30):
review.
Let me know what you think,share with all your friends.
Let's spread the word for thispodcast.
I really want to increase mylistenership and it helps a lot
if you let your friends know allabout it.
That being said, that's it.
I will see you next time.
Bye.
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