Monday, March 25, 2013
Zusak's Style
Markus Zusak's style pulls the reader in and attaches them to the story. Zusak includes extremely well written foreshadowing, spoiling of the plot, and characters in his writing style. There are two types of point of view that Zusak’s uses. He utilizes both the first person point of view and the third-person limited point of view. He uses Death as the narrator for this story giving the reader a third-person limited on the story about Liesel, and a first-person point of view when Death talks directly to the reader about himself. The author uses death to both foreshadow future events and spoil future happenings. His characters are easy to attach to and they are realistic in a way that fascinates me. A good example of Zusak’s style is located on page 241 “***A SMALL ANNOUNCEMENT *** ABOUT RUDY STEINER He didn’t deserve to die the way he did.” This shows Zusak’s writing style because it tells us that Rudy dies: spoiling the end, it foreshadows the death that is to come, and it shows us the character that is Death. It tells us that Death does not care about keeping the reader guessing. As he says “I don’t have much interest in building mystery. Mystery bores me. It chores me. I know what happens and so do you” (243). Death is one of the more unique characters within this novel and Zusak writes him beautifully. Death is portrayed as just another human in this novel with feelings and wants, but he still stays a mystery to us. The plot spoiling aspect of Zusak’s writing puts the reader in a state of mind that says “Now I know the end I can just enjoy the book,” while surprising the reader in the end anyway. The point of view of death, in both the first person and third-person limited point of view, also gives the reader a new way to, not only look at World War II, but also everyday activities and objects. The style Zusak uses keeps the readers attention and lets the reader melt into the story.
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I agree that Zusak’s style of writing is both fascinating and perplexing due to his use of foreshadowing and plot spoiling; however, it is a beautiful combination. I feel that he kind of has to be a bit of a “spoiler” though, seeing how the narrator is Death rather than a “living” character. Although the way Zusak writes, really brings Death to life because he gives Death tangible emotions and thoughts. I feel because he chose Death as the narrator, the reader is able to view the book in a new perspective and gain a greater appreciation of the way Zusak writes. Death seems to toy with foreshadowing when it comes to revealing one’s fate such as survival or death, which is one thing that makes the book so compelling and really grabs the reader’s attention. However, I feel Zusak’s use of imagery play another major role in his style of writing shown throughout this novel. His use of imagery affects both the mood and tone of the novel due to the Zusak’s remarkable ability to evoke various emotions from the reader throughout the entire novel, which is one of the reasons I find this book so captivating. Let’s take the scene where Death is describing the first and last time Liesel kisses Rudy: “She leaned down and looked at his lifeless face and Liesel kissed her best friend, Rudy Steiner, soft and true on his lips. He tasted dusty and sweet. He tasted like the regret in the shadows of trees and in the glow of the anarchist’s suit collection. She kissed him long and soft, and when she pulled herself away, she touched his mouth with her fingers. Her hands were trembling, her lips were fleshy, and she leaned in once more, this time losing control and misjudging it. Their teeth collided on the demolished world of Himmel Street.” (536) This passage literally made my heart ache because the poor girl has almost now lost everyone she has ever loved and there was no way that she could have prevented it from happening. Zusak has a true talent for writing and I think he well beyond proves that in this novel. -Nichole
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