Do Max and Liesel end up together?

Nobody really knows.....

readers wonder if Max is the man Liesel marries and starts a family with. We think the novel does leave open this possibility. Although the age difference (about ten years) makes this scenario potentially problematic, it's easy to see Max and Liesel becoming a couple in the future. It certainly seems like they can't live without each other, but whether this turns to romantic love, we can only wonder.

We also find it intriguing that Max is the only major character whom Death doesn't describe coming for. Death says he came for Liesel "only yesterday" (85.3). Since the novel was first published in 2005, we can assume that yesterday is sometime in or around 2005. Liesel would be about 76 years old, and Max about 86, so it's possible he's still alive at the end of the novel.