Publication: 2005
P: What effect does the chosen narration of the book have on the story overall?
R: The book is told from the point of view of Death. Zusak takes this concept of death and has personified it making it a speaking character in the novel. By making Death the narrator, he has set the tone for the story from the beginning to be slightly frightening presenting death as a theme throughout the tale. This of course is appropriate considering the story takes place during the Holocaust. Death also in this story represents misconceptions that one may make by prematurely judging a person or concept. As in "Black Man in Public Space" by Brent Staples which we read in the Bedford Reader, Brent was prematurely judged by his so called "victims". Death has had the pleasure of having this negative affiliation placed on him as well. What we don't understand, according to Zusak's character, is that death does not want to be this person taking souls. He feels for the victims and he treats them with tender care. Something we may also not expect from Death is his avid appreciation of colors. In the very first pages he compares a normal person's attention to colors lies at the beginnings and ending of days while he has learned to see the thousands of vivid colors throughout. By making Death the narrator of this tale we are given from the beginning an idea of a recurring theme that is to come through out the tale while also giving us a character that we can follow and will continue to develop through out the story.
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