Summary and Analysis
Part 5: The Whistler:
The Floating Book (Part I)
Summary
Death skips ahead in the story's timeline to a moment when Rudy jumps into the freezing Amper River in order to retrieve a floating book for Liesel: The Whistler. He asks for a kiss, and Liesel still won't give it to him. Death then reveals that, in two years, Rudy will die and that he won't deserve to die the way he does, during a bombing. Liesel will be there to weep over his body, which, Death thinks, Rudy would have liked.
Analysis
Death uses this chapter to foreshadow two events: Rudy's jumping in the river to save one of Liesel's books, and, afterwards, his asking her for a kiss. Even Rudy knows how important Liesel's books are to her. The second event is Rudy's death. This chapter also shows us how Death is affected by his work, how he has a heart.