“The Book Thief” written by Markus Zusak, falls mainly under the genre of realism, as the events and settings are very much believable when compared to the real world. However there is an element of the text that gives it more of a magical realism effect, and it comes from the fact that the narration is from the point of view of Death.

The purpose of adding a magical element to a realistic text is to challenge the readers previous and assumptions/judgements about the idea of death. In “The Book Thief” the character Death compels us to believe that he is a kind, reliable character. I am not violent. I am not malicious. I am a result. instead of us blaming it for death it changes to make us believe we are responsible for our own deaths and it is just the result of our actions