When the story of the goal was complete, there was silence for a good few minutes, until Max looked slowly up. “Would you do something for me, Liesel?” Still excited by her Himmel Street goal, the girl jumped from the drop sheets. She did not say it, but her movement clearly showed her intent to […]
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When he was pushed out by the rest of his family, the relief struggled inside him like an obscenity. It was something he didn’t want to feel, but nonetheless, he felt it with such gusto it made him want to throw up. How could he? How could he? But he did. “Bring nothing,” Walter told
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Certainly, something of great magnitude was coming toward 33 Himmel Street, to which Liesel was currentlyoblivious. To distort an overused human expression, the girl had more immediate fish to fry:She had stolen a book.Someone had seen her.The book thief reacted. Appropriately.Every minute, every hour, there was worry, or more to the point, paranoia. Criminal activity
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She remained on the steps, waiting for Papa, watching the stray ash and the corpse of collected books.Everything was sad. Orange and red embers looked like rejected candy, and most of the crowd had vanished.She’d seen Frau Diller leave (very satisfied) and Pfiffikus (white hair, a Nazi uniform, the same dilapidatedshoes, and a triumphant whistle).
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The rot started with the washing and it rapidly increased.When Liesel accompanied Rosa Hubermann on her deliveries across Molching, one of her customers, ErnstVogel, informed them that he could no longer afford to have his washing and ironing done. “The times,” heexcused himself, “what can I say? They’re getting harder. The war’s making things tight.”
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He took her to Hubert Oval, the scene of the Jesse Owens incident,where they stood, hands in pockets. The track was stretched out infront of them. Only one thing could happen. Rudy started it.“Hundred meters,” he goaded her. “I bet you can’t beat me.”Liesel wasn’t taking any of that. “I bet you I can.”“What do
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I entered the train. My feet stepped through the cluttered aisle and my palm was over his mouth in an instant. No one noticed. The train galloped on. Except the girl. With one eye open, one still in a dream, the book thief—also known as Liesel Meminger—could see without question that her younger brother, Werner,
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