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Loading... The Book Thief (original 2005; edition 2007)by Markus Zusak
Work detailsThe Book Thief by Markus Zusak (2005)
Each time I stopped reading this book I was deeply happy knowing that I owned the book and wouldn't have to give it back to a library! god what poetry. what a story. what characters. what hope, and gratification. I want to carry this book tucked under my arm, everywhere I go. (  ) arlongworth | May 22, 2013 |  My VOYA ratings: 5Q, 5P This is, hands down, one of the best books I have read in the last year. It is poignant and powerful and makes the reader fall in love with the characters -- even the unlikely narrator. laureneve | May 16, 2013 | Q5 P4 I enjoyed spending the last week with The Book Thief immensely. I am increasingly interested in creative ways of bringing history to youth, especially stories about World War II. How about a somewhat mysterious and magical telling of a family living and resisting in the “heart of Nazism” by none other than Death himself? The perspectives offered here, both that of Death and our book-stealing hero Liesel, are new and innovative – and I feel they will reach young readers in a way that many non-fiction accounts will not. I think immediately about how the book reinforces the importance of words and stories. I recall Liesel as she reads out loud to neighbors huddled within a basement during a bomb raid, calming the frightened group; or as she dutifully reads to her bed-stricken friend Max, who is Jewish and being sheltered by her foster family, or even the story and images Max composes on the painted-over-pages of Mein Kampf. These scenes, and the power of the book stay with you long after you’ve finished it. I would recommend this book to teens and adults alike and am confident both would fall into its pages with little effort. nhalsan | May 16, 2013 | I ended up enjoying it in the end. About 80 pages in I felt like giving up, but after page 100, I was drawn in more every chapter (by page 400 I couldn't put it down). It is ironic though how in the amazon blurb it is called a "small story" being that it is a 550 page hardback. I would have thought that there didn't have to be as much background stories as the author gave each character, but as it is a story set in the of the rough time period of World War II it softened the intensity. The book, also, is told from the perspective of Death; which sounds horrifying at first, but really gives the story an edge that is intriguing and unique. In the end I gave this book 4/5 stars. (  ) 1110cg | May 12, 2013 | 5Q 4P (my codes) 5Q 4P (actual VOYA codes) Every once in a while, a story breaks out of accepted boundaries and morphs into an indescribable wonder--at once story, encyclopedia, dictionary, narrative, dialogue, metaphor, biography, The Book Thief grips you firmly with its opening introduction by Death and will not let you go. You cannot look away, forget, dismiss--the colors, smells, sights, tastes of Malking, Germany during Hitler's reign will haunt you if you do. They'll haunt you anyway. For this is not just a story of the Holocaust, it's a story of love and its absence, life and its alternative (which often is not death), and people's great capacity for evil and good. Not to mention some soccer, accordion, and slang cleverly woven in. (I listened to this as an audiobook.) ( ) jelizabethmills | May 10, 2013 |
 This over-praised, overlong novel is in trouble before it starts. The acknowledgments open with a tribute to someone “who is as warm as she is knowledgeable” and continue in the same saccharine manner.  Unsettling, thought-provoking, life-affirming, triumphant and tragic, this is a novel of breathtaking scope, masterfully told. It is an important piece of work, but also a wonderful page-turner. I cannot recommend it highly enough.  This is a moving work which will make many eyes brim. Zusak shows us how small defiances and unexpectedly courageous acts remind us of our humanity. It isn't only Death who is touched. Liesel steals our hearts too. The Australian writer Markus Zusak's brilliant and hugely ambitious new young-adult novel is startling in many ways, but the first thing many teenagers will notice is its length: 552 pages! It's one thing to write a long book about, say, a boy who happens across a dragon's egg; it's quite another to write a long, achingly sad, intricately structured book about Nazi Germany narrated by Death itself. This is never an easy read, never a glide. But, in Zusak's ability to imagine and execute, he has achieved a very personal vision that grabs the reader and does not let go.
References to this work on external resources.
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(retrieved from Amazon Wed, 02 Jan 2013 13:45:08 -0500)
Trying to make sense of the horrors of World War II, Death relates the story of Liesel--a young German girl whose book-stealing and story-telling talents help sustain her family and the Jewish man they are hiding, as well as their neighbors. Includes readers' guide.… (more)
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