A story set in Nazi Germany from 1939 - 1943 and narrated by death is never going to be a happy one.
“It’s a small story about a girl, an accordionist, some fanatical Germans, a Jewish fist fighter and quite a lot of thievery.”
The Book Thief is Liesel Memiger’s story written in the graffitied cellar of her foster parent’s house on Himmel Street, a place called heaven. The ending is inevitable from the beginning intensifying the pressure cooker tension as events unfold, the final chapters being beyond heart breaking.
Death, books and words. Death is everywhere, releasing the souls of men, women and children, the Allies, the Nazis and the persecuted. Books come in different guises, playing major roles and changing lives - The Gravedigger’s Handbook lifted from the snow, Mein Kampf as a travelling companion and paper source, Max Vandenburg’s Word Shaker that delivers the knock-out blow. Words, painted and repeated on a dank basement wall. Saukerl, Saumensch and Arschloch as both endearment and slur. Words to brainwash a nation, words to describe the weather, words to press into paper.
Death’s narrative is interrupted by asides, facts, definitions, thoughts and translations printed in bold, by hand-sketched etchings and by a reproduction of The Word Shaker. Once I had got used to this quirky format I was hanging on every word. Poignant, moving, brutal, heartbreaking with wooden spoons, lemon-haired Rudy and acts of kindness to make you smile sometimes through tears, The Book Thief is one helluva read. ( )

A novel look at Nazi Germany as it impacted on the life of a German girl and her foster family and small town community. Presented through the eyes of Death as he collected the dead from the various traumatic events happening in German, Poland ad Russia. ( )

Shayla: it was a pretty good book, I read it for school and would recommend if you're looking for a more serious book to read. ( )

Beautiful, powerful and heartbreaking. Young adult historical fiction with an element of magical realism. Brilliant and unique. ( )

Here is what I wrote in 2013 about this read: "Leisel Memeinger is a young, full-of-grit orphan taken in by foster parents in Hilter's Germany. Death is the narrator and we learn that some, special humans endear themselves to him (some especially large, generous souls rise up to meet him at their time). Such a time of death, when words inspired so many to so much evil and wrong; and yet words can do so much good. Believe this tale will be memorable in MGA's mind (especially if you see the movie, dear)." ( )