The figure of Death in The Book Thief is much more complex than is usually portrayed. This isn't some creepy one-dimensional character we're dealing with here; he's much more recognizably human. And it's Death's human qualities that draw him into the lives of real humans, which he finds an endless source of fascination. What makes human life, in all its rich variety, so inexhaustibly fascinating to Death is the fact that he can observe it at a distance without becoming directly involved.
As for Liesel's life, it's fascinating to Death because it provides him with a brief respite from all the misery and suffering with which he has to deal on a regular basis and which really gets him down from time to time. For in Liesel's life, despite its many hardships and troubles, Death also sees great hope. Such hope shines like a beacon, cutting through the moral darkness and misery of life in Nazi-occupied Europe. Although Death may be destined to be haunted by humans, he's not destined to be haunted by despair. And for that, he has Liesel to thank.
Death is fascinated by Liesel when he watches her at her brother's funeral. She seems small to Death, helpless, and lost. As Death deals with the overwhelming task of picking up the dead who are the military and civilian casualities of the war, he comes back to Liesel on multiple occasions. She and Rudy represent the last moments of adolescent innocence before a young adult chooses his or her own belief system and worldview--before they will have to officially choose a side. Liesel is a symbol of hope as she continues to find small victories and joys in daily life amidst one of humanity's lowest moments. Liesel's learning to read using the grave digger's handbook is also ironic to Death because it is a topic of which He is very familiar, yet it is not a topic one would choose to read about outside of that profession. Her love of reading supercedes the topic, and her strange reading "textbook" is both odd and relevant to the world in which she lives. Death is weary of the hate, loss, and senseless violence. Liesel is a human whom Death can hope will make different choices in life; and perhaps, tell her story to future generations to promote peace over war and human violence.
In The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, Death describes himself as extremely overworked and weary of the things he has seen humanity do to themselves. Death is fascinated with Liesel, the protagonist of The Book Thief, because she continues to live and to celebrate life and freedom in others, even loving other people despite her circumstances. To say that Liesel is living in dire circumstances would be an understatement. When Liesel is introduced in the novel, she has been put on a train in Germany to travel to a small town close to Munich in the winter of 1939. Her father has disappeared. Her brother dies of illness and exposure on the train, and her mother disappears, leaving Liesel to bury her brother. She does not want to trust anyone but gradually learns to trust her foster parents, Hans and Rosa; Max, a friend of the family; and Rudy, a neighbor boy. Despite her enormous grief and loss, Liesel learns to read and write and begins writing her own novel. Everyone that she loves (except Max, who is conscripted into the army) is killed in an explosion. Yet, Death tells the reader that Liesel leads a happy life full of love, memories, and family. Through her enormous pain and loss, Liesel represents a triumph of the human spirit, an ability to recover from trauma and a will to live that fascinates Death.
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