The Book Thief Chapter 81 Summary

Confessions

• Afterwards, Liesel can't talk. Instead of going home, she goes to the train station to wait for Hans.
• Rudy comes too, but Hans won't be in for another six hours, so he goes to get Rosa.
• By the time Rosa gets to the train station, she's figured out what happened, from the details Rudy gives her.
• Hans is so angry when he hears.
• They are all without appetite, and even the accordion is no comfort.
• Liesel is in bed for three days, and each day Rudy comes to look for her.
• After four days, she goes to get him, and they walk out to where they'd put bread in the road for the Jewish people walking to Dachau.
• She says, "I should have told you earlier" (81.8).
• She wants to thank him for everything, but she doesn't say the words.
• After making him promise to tell no one, Liesel tells him the story of the accordion and the story of Max.
• She shows him a page in The Word Shaker that features him.
• He asks Liesel, "You told him about me?" (81.30).
• Liesel can't answer. She realizes she loves him, that maybe she always has. She wants to kiss him. She wants him to kiss her.
• He's grown from a scrawny kid to a star athlete. He has one month to live.
• She says, "Of course I told him about you" (81.33).
• Death tells us, "She [is] saying goodbye and she didn't even know it" (81.34).