That was a rather interesting turn of events. As Liesel is playing soccer in the fields, she gets informed that the men looking through houses down the street are members of the NSDAP, looking for possible bunkers for future air strikes. Thinking quickly, she decides to run into one of the bigger players, as a way to get home without being suspicious. I think this was a wonderful idea, especially when you take into account the fact that she had about 30 seconds to think about this. After the injury, she managed to attract attention from all around, including the man inspecting the streets. This was when Liesel said she needed to get home, and, as always, Rudy steps in to help her.
This is probably his downfall. Somehow, Liesel convinces Rudy that she does not need to be taken home by anyone, but instead Rudy should get Hans Hubberman, which I thought to be very impressive, considering how stubborn Rudy is. When Hans got there, he takes Liesel home, only to find that the NSDAP are coming to search basements. Hans then tries to formulate a plan to get Max into the bedroom unnoticed, and hopefully survive. This plan fails immediately because the man knocks at the door as he finishes the idea. He quickly comes up with a new idea, which was to do nothing. I think the quick and unique way everyone does things in this family is very amazing, because not only do they come up with unique ideas, but the ideas are also very effective yet minimal. The man then proceeds to search the basement, somehow not noticing Max, and then leaves. This was very intense and kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time.
Following this series of events, comes Rudy. Immediately after the searching of the house, Rudy comes along just to continue to keep me on the edge of my seat. This was because of the way Markus wrote this part, as it just said "another knocker", instead of something like "then came Rudy" or "someone unimportant knocked at the door". Rudy arrives and proceeds to check on Liesel, to which she said she was okay and closing the door on Rudy.
"Death's Diary: The Parisians" was not fully comprehensible to me, as it dealt too much with abstract concepts that I could not grasp, but I got that there was more death as well as cold and shivering Jewish souls.
Tim-I so appreciate your thought and effort on your posts. Such wonderful insight! Several people have discussed the ability of these characters to make quick decisions under pressure. I try to imagine living like this. Living with so much on the line everyday...where life and death hang in such a delicate balance.
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