The Book Thief Chapter 78 Summary

The Ninety-Eighth Day

• Hans has been home for 97 days and everything is OK for Liesel.
• Things change on the 98th day.
• A few days before this, another procession of Jews comes through Molching.
• This time they are coming from the death-camp Dachau, on their way to do some clean-up that was too awful even for the LSE men.
• They proceed through the town on their way back that evening.
• Max is not among them, but in August, he will be.
• When he comes he'll be looking for Liesel, and she will be looking for him.
• Before this, on the 98th day, Liesel is looking for him, too.
• On July 24, something bad happens.
• Death comes to Himmel Street for Michael Holtzapfel, who hangs himself at around six in the morning on July 27, 1943.
• Death doesn't see Liesel on this day.
• Death is very busy right now and doesn't have time to stay on Himmel Street.
• Death doesn't see Frau Holtzapfel collapse in despair on the street.
• But, Death reads about these things in a few months, in a book called The Book Thief.
• In this book, Death reads that Michael kills himself because he feels guilty for being alive.
• Liesel will learn that Michael had stopped sleeping.
• He leaves a note, apologizing to his mother. He loves her, but needs to be with his dead brother Robert.
• Hans is the person who tells Frau Holtzapfel about Michael. It's about six months after Robert's death.
• After she gets the news, she runs up Himmel Street, crying, until she can't move anymore and sits in the street.
• Hans sits down next to her and holds her hand while she screams.
• Later, he walks her gently home.