Today, I found myself thinking about the book more in light of the brief discussion about the book last night. The significance of the cover of the book (a picture of a finger about to push over the first domino in a chain) was brought up by someone. She hadn't finished the book and someone explained that there was a brief part in the book where some of the children were playing dominos (the way children do - lining them up and then knocking one down to make them all fall). Someone commented that it was a weird choice for the cover seeing as how dominos weren't central in the novel. The conversation moved on from there and it wasn't revisited. 

I won't go into too much detail here, but it occurred to me that the dominos were probably symbolic. Set in Nazi Germany, the story focuses on a girl and her foster parents during the war. There are a few pivotal events in the plot that greatly affect the fates of the characters. Many of these events result from decisions made by the characters themselves as a response to the issues they are confronted with. Despite having to cope with forces beyond their control, the characters have some autonomy - they are not simply pawns or victims. In The Book Thief, the author bestows some power to the characters by putting them in situations where they must make hard choices. And the choices made by the characters altered their fates.

Without stating it explicitly, I think that the author was drawing a parallel between the falling dominos and the course of one's life: a singular event or decision can have (often unforeseen) ramifications down the line. Although the choices in the book were non-trivial, it makes me wonder if trivial choices I make every day - like whether I should walk home along Robson or along the quieter residential streets - could affect my life somewhere down the line.