Author's style in The Book Thief

Markus Zusak, the author of The Book Thief, has a very unique and distinct style of writing. First of all, Death is the narrator. That is a strange, but very interesting, point of view. Death does a lot of foreshadowing in his narration. For example he will say things like: "He already cheated me in one world war but would later be put into another (as a perverse kind of reward), where he would somehow manage to avoid me again" (Zusak 33-34). This statement clearly implies that Hans Hubberman will escape death once more in a later chapter, after being thrown into a second world war as a sick form of punishment (see previous post). Also, Death will put important pieces of information in bold and separated from the other text. For instance it would look something like this:
...I watched their stomachs open and the bombs drop casually out. They were off target, of course. They were often off target.

***A SMALL, SAD HOPE***
No one wanted to
bomb Himmel Street.
No one would bomb a
place named after
heaven, would they?
Would they? (Zusak 497-498)

These off settings of important thoughts, ideas, or simple facts are used quite regularily throughout the book. They help the reader to better understand major events in the book, and to think more deeply about them. Plus, they highlight key ideas and concepts brought forth by Zusak.

Zusak is a very talented writer. He made me experience much emotion while reading this book. Some of these emotions were...
*Dissappointment- Rudy and Liesel never kiss. And then its too late.
*Sadness- Liesel loses people she loves.
*Relief- Max and Liesel are reunited. Hans returns from war.
*Compassion- Rosa and Liesel are torn apart when Hans leaves.
*Anger- Jews were treated worse than dirt. Hitler is a maniac.
These are just some of the emotions I experienced. The book had a very powerful story that had a great impact upon me. Overall I would give it nine and a half stars out of ten. I would definitly recommend this exhilerating book.