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The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
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The Book Thief (original 2005; edition 2007)

by Markus Zusak

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingConversations / Mentions
44,661211834 (4.35)4 / 2095
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.
Member:drriidurab
Title:The Book Thief
Authors:Markus Zusak
Info:Alfred A. Knopf (2007), Paperback, 576 pages
Collections:Your library
Rating:
Tags:death, worldwar2, Munich

Work Information

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (2005)

  1. 649
    The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank (alalba, PghDragonMan, Anonymous user)
    PghDragonMan: Both side of hiding during the Holocaust
    Anonymous user: Both are about Holocaust. The Book Thief is from German girl's perspective whereas The Diary of a Young Girl is from a Jewish girl's perspective.
  2. 445
    To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (paulkid, Anonymous user)
    paulkid: There are many similarities between these books. For example, a strong father-daughter relationship, where the father teaches by example by taking the moral high ground in protecting a persecuted minority - also kids that break down the barriers between secluded and socially awkward neighbors through books and sundry shenanigans.… (more)
  3. 332
    The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne (Booksloth, frsantos)
  4. 282
    Night by Elie Wiesel (Smellsbooks, Morteana)
  5. 269
    Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut (weener)
  6. 181
    The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom (PghDragonMan, avidmom, rhshelver)
  7. 204
    I Am the Messenger by Markus Zusak (whymaggiemay, rosylibrarian)
  8. 120
    Maus II: A Survivor's Tale: And Here My Troubles Began by Art Spiegelman (kaipakartik)
  9. 90
    Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer (TessaSlingerland)
  10. 90
    The Chosen by Chaim Potok (avidmom)
  11. 101
    The Devil's Arithmetic by Jane Yolen (whoot, booklove2)
  12. 91
    Number the Stars by Lois Lowry (sleepykid00)
    sleepykid00: Both taken place during WWII, but in different perspectives.
  13. 103
    The Reader by Bernhard Schlink (lucyknows)
    lucyknows: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak may linked with The Reader by Bernhard Schlink using the themes of reading, Nazi Germany and death. You could also pair it with the graphic novel Maus by Art Spiegelman. Atonement by Ian McEwan could work as well because of the young protagonists, war, and reading.… (more)
  14. 61
    The History of Love: A Novel by Nicole Krauss (Ciruelo, heidialice)
  15. 40
    Edelweiss Pirates: Operation Einstein by Mark A. Cooper (davidparsons, jacobwilliams007)
  16. 51
    The Librarian of Auschwitz by Antonio Iturbe (_eskarina)
    _eskarina: Similar setting (WWII), similar emphasis on the power of the books.
  17. 63
    Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself by Judy Blume (Runa)
  18. 41
    The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway (mrstreme)
  19. 20
    Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow by Susan Campbell Bartoletti (tiltheworldends)
    tiltheworldends: Nonfiction about BDM that Liesel was required to attend and Hitler Youth group that Rudy belonged to.
  20. 31
    City of Thieves by David Benioff (avalon_today)
    avalon_today: Kolya reminds me of Rudy, a bit older but none wiser, with his self-assurance and confidence, ok maybe he has lost some of his sweetness, but I still see the humor and zest for life.

(see all 46 recommendations)

Europe (9)
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Showing 1-5 of 1991 (next | show all)
For how tragic and emotionally heavy this book is, it was such an enjoyable read. I guess that's because majority of the book is very light hearted; the author explores childhood, friendship and bonding. A very good read, but a tad bit too lengthy. ( )
  buddhawithan.n | Feb 29, 2024 |
What can I say about this book? Before I begin, let me say that I have no inclination of spoilers, so POSSIBLE SPOILERS are ahead, read at your own risk.

I wasn't sure what to think when I started this book. I was worried I wouldn't like it, but then Death started to narrate the story and I was already hooked because I do love the one we call "the Grim Reaper". I didn't know how the story was going to go because I didn't read the synopsis before starting this book - crazy, I know.

I've never considered myself a history buff - history is quite boring to me most of the time, but seeing the words of this story laid out before me, even though it's fiction, describing what once took place so long ago in Germany... I feel wrong saying it intrigues me because I know many people suffered, but I'd be lying if I said otherwise. As an avid reader and writer, I felt a connection to Liesel as she struggled to learn how to read and write, before soon taking books and making them her own children. I became attached to the characters - I could feel them, as if they were standing before me, their stories and lives playing out like a movie before my eyes.

Markus Zusak is a true wordsmith. He brought life to words on a page, gave them feeling and a home. I didn't feel like I was reading a book, I felt as if I were there, experiencing it in real-time alongside the characters. What a magical experience it was. I worried when I first started the book because I had 7 days to read it, and it's quite a thick one - over 550 pages long. I feared it would be boring and I'd struggle to finish it in time, but my worries proved to be nothing more than just that. I didn't want to stop reading. I kept thinking about the book and the characters as I did other things. It feels as if I just started the book. It doesn't feel as if I just read 550 pages full of words.

I won't lie - this book hit me hard and I did cry. As I've said before, it doesn't take much to make me sob like a little bitch, but even so, it was like this book shot straight into my heart, clutching at it and holding it softly in its arms, just as Death had with all those he took during his time. I'd like to end off with a chopped up quote, but it isn't from the book itself, but from an addition from the author at the back. Even so, it hit me hard because I didn't even consider this as I read through this part of the story.

"The text of Mein Kampf bled through to show the story of Max and Liesel's friendship strangling the words of Hitler. He would paint over the pages. He and Liesel would write stories of friendship over Hitler's words of hate."

Words can not even express how this book touched me. An absolutely breathtaking read and highly recommended. ( )
  AnnoyingTiger888 | Feb 21, 2024 |
War
  BooksInMirror | Feb 19, 2024 |
War
  BooksInMirror | Feb 19, 2024 |
Definitely a re-read in the future. Made me tear up in the last 20-30 pages. Don't want to give away too much since the book is so good, but here some remarks.
-Loved Rudy, loved Hans, and Ilsa (the library lady/mayor's wife) was awesome
-Max's character development is beautiful
-The black book is legendary
-Saumensch, saukerl (degrading words for females and males respectively), arschloch (asshole) ( )
  siamm | Jan 31, 2024 |
Showing 1-5 of 1991 (next | show all)
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.
 
The book's length, subject matter and approach might give early teen readers pause, but those who can get beyond the rather confusing first pages will find an absorbing and searing narrative.
 
"The Book Thief" attempts and achieves great final moments of tear-jerking sentiment. And Liesel is a fine heroine, a memorably strong and dauntless girl. But for every startlingly rebellious episode... there are moments that are slack.
 
Writing fiction about the Holocaust is a risky endeavor. Most children learn about it in history class, or through nonfiction narratives like Eli Wiesel's "Night." Zusak has done a useful thing by hanging the story on the experience of a German civilian, not a camp survivor, and humanizing the choices that ordinary people had to make in the face of the Führer. It's unlikely young readers will forget what this atrocity looked like through the eyes of Death.
 
The Book Thief is unsettling and unsentimental, yet ultimately poetic. Its grimness and tragedy run through the reader's mind like a black-and-white movie, bereft of the colors of life. Zusak may not have lived under Nazi domination, but The Book Thief deserves a place on the same shelf with The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank and Elie Wiesel's Night. It seems poised to become a classic.
added by stephmo | editUSA Today, Carol Memmott (Mar 20, 2006)
 

» Add other authors (12 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Markus Zusakprimary authorall editionscalculated
Corduner, AllanNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Ernst, AlexandraTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Girod, Marie-FranceTraductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Giughese, Gian M.Translatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Lodewijk, AnnemarieTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
White, TrudyIllustratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed

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People/Characters
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Important events
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Epigraph
Dedication
For Elisabeth and Helmut Zusak,
with love and admiration
First words
First the colors. Then the humans. That's how I see things. Or at least how I try.
Quotations
Five hundred souls, I carried them in my fingers, like suitcases; or I'd throw them over my shoulder. It was only the children I carried in my arms. For some reason, dying men always ask questions they know the answer to. Perhaps it's so they can die being right.
In Liesel's mind, the moon was sewn into the sky that night. Clouds were stitched around it.
When the train pulled into the Bahnhof in Munich, the passengers slid out as if from a torn package.
A bathrobe answered the door. Inside it, a woman with startled eyes, hair like fluff and the posture of defeat stood in front of her.
The reply floated from his mouth, then moulded itself like a stain to the ceiling.
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Information from the Italian Common Knowledge. Edit to localize it to your language.
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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.

No library descriptions found.

Book description
It is 1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier, and will be busier still.

By her brother's graveside, Liesel's life is changed when she picks up a single object, partially hidden in the snow. It is The Gravedigger's Handbook, left behind there by accident, and it is her first act of book thievery. So begins a love affair with books and words, as Liesel, with the help of her accordian-playing foster father, learns to read. Soon she is stealing books from Nazi book-burnings, the mayor's wife's library, wherever there are books to be found.

But these are dangerous times. When Liesel's foster family hides a Jew in their basement, Liesel's world is both opened up, and closed down.

In superbly crafted writing that burns with intensity, award-winning author Markus Zusak has given us one of the most enduring stories of our time.
Haiku summary
An accordion
There was once a strange, small man
Liesel Meminger

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