The Book Thief

I just finished reading The Book Thief and absolutely loved it. The only thing I do not understand is why it is billed as a 'young adult' novel. The content is serious and often quite disturbing. At no time did I feel like I was reading a 'teen' book. This is something that should be read by teens and adults alike.

I won't give a summary of the story - you can read that on the description of the book above. Just know that this is a beautiful book. I loved the writing style and how it was narrated by 'Death'. So cleverly written. This is a book that I want to press into the hands of everyone I know and say "Read this!" Bravo, Mr. Zusak, well done.

This is the best book I have read in years, and I am an avid reader. There are stunning bits of poetry on nearly every page. The "word pictures" as my 8-year-old calls them are elegant & positively evocative of the characters and setting. It was fun to recognize so many German phrases. And Hans is perhaps my favorite hero of fiction. My heart broke reading this book, not just because of tragedies, but because of the kindness and humanity of Hans Hubermann. I have recommended this book to everybody I know, my husband loved it, and I know that I will read it again.

This is an unusual book. The sentence structure, the frequent bold print announcements, and the copious German language profanity were quite unexpected. The early chapters were a bit slow, and the perspective was so strange that it took me a while to get used to it. This novel did not hold my attention unfailingly, but in the end I was glad that I read the whole thing. It is a wonderful and worthwhile story.

I became fond of Liesel, papa and Rudy. They are fully believable, fully human characters. The author writes that they were the first characters he actually missed when the writing was done. I certainly miss them since I finished the story. Their love for each other was a wonderful thing to experience. The feelings between Liesel and Max were especially poignant. Zusak describes them in a realistic and heart wrenching way.

The choice of death as the narrator gave the book a unique flavor. While sergeant death is actually quite morbid at times, he or she is a sympathetic and understanding observer of human nature. In the early chapters I found this narrator to be a little too judgmental. I thought that some characters were typecast before I had a chance to know them. However, as the book progresses, these characters are revealed in more complex and realistic fashion. Zusak is a capable writer.

By the end of this book i was Sobing like a baby!! and yes that is a good thing! i read books like no tommarrow but there are only a few which i can truly say are a work of art that all my friends should read! when i got done with this book i imidiently called my friend and barrowed them the book. All in All 10 outta 10

An interesting take on the Holocaust, with Death taking a staring and sympathetic role. A young girl without family is taken in by a couple who become her only mother and father. Her interactions with the children of the town and its adults, especially the mayor's wife, shows a maturity beyond her years.

She arrives at her new home with a book about grave digging that she has retrieved from the cemetery where her brother was buried. Not being able to read the book her new father teaches her to read. This occurs nightly when she awakens after having nightmares and he spends the nights in her room to comfort her.

The horror of the Holocaust becomes real when a young Jewish man comes to their house to hide. The two become friends and reading and writing becomes integral to both of them as they seek some sense out of the disaster happening around them.

Over time she pilfers more books, most of all from the Mayor's library with the tacit approval of his wife, who suffers from the death of her son in the previous war.

The book offers a somewhat sympathetic portrayal of German townspeople caught up in the war and the extermination of the Jews. Some, including her father, are sickened by what they see and try to help but are ostracized and sent to fight in the war. Others caught up in the government propaganda against the Jews show how easy it is to debase their own humanity.

I do recommend the book, it's written for the young adult audience but older readers would find much to value in it as well.