The extraordinary #1 New York Times bestseller that is now a major motion picture, Markus Zusak’s unforgettable story is about the ability of books to feed the soul.
It is 1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier, and will become busier still.
Liesel Meminger is a foster girl living outside of Munich, who scratches out a meager existence for herself by … existence for herself by stealing when she encounters something she can’t resist-books. With the help of her accordion-playing foster father, she learns to read and shares her stolen books with her neighbors during bombing raids as well as with the Jewish man hidden in her basement.
In superbly crafted writing that burns with intensity, award-winning author Markus Zusak, author of I Am the Messenger, has given us one of the most enduring stories of our time.
From the Hardcover edition.
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My favorite book EVER! I felt that i was in the middle of the book walking around right behind the main characters……the descriptions are so unbelievable and the story wonderful!
Now I get why reader friends of mine were so astonished that I hadn’t even heard of “The Book Thief.” What rock had I been hiding under??
First, I had never read a story told from such an intriguing angle, where Death was the narrator who had seen it all, literally. Having seen it all, Death is not easily impressed. But Liesel’s story caught his attention and his admiration when she came across his path while making his rounds. Death is not swayed by injustice, but you could tell through Death’s narrative where his sympathies lay, and who he was secretly rooting for throughout the story, despite his mission.
There is so much I loved about this engaging story—Death’s reverence for life and his sacred duty to carry the departed to the Great Beyond; Death’s use of words as they were never intended, yet he still manages to get his point across, like a visitor to a foreign land getting the language confused in a charming way; Death’s sly sense of humor and his understated way of delivering the news to the reader, both tragic and comical.
Just like millions of other readers around the world, I was so wrapped up in the Book Thief’s story, I carried my Kindle with me everywhere, ignoring much of what was going on around me. I think what struck me most was the way the author managed to convey the tragedy of Hitler’s maniacal crusade to rid the world of Jewish people and dominate all nations while juxtaposing the lives of those in a small German town, innocents caught up in a tempest of rabid hate and raw, wholesale murder.
There were several times when I had to stop reading and just absorb the text and let if sift through the layers of my mind. It truly is a breathtaking novel of enormous proportions, and I think it’s a story that will never get old. It will only become more significant with time.
I love getting book recommendations from others and then finding a treasure in a book that I might not have otherwise read. The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak is one such treasure. This book was so amazing that I’m ordering myself a copy from Amazon. It’s one of those that I want on my shelf to refer back to and read again. Zusak has a talent for describing things and showing emotion that I’ve never seen before. When I began reading the book, I wondered a bit if it would hold my attention–after all the narrator is death–how weird is that? But my goodness, as I continued to turn the pages I found gem after priceless gem of intricate storytelling from Zusak in a way that made each and every scene come alive.
Everything about this book is different. The point of view, the descriptive metaphors, even the names of the chapters make you stop and think about what the author is trying to tell you.
I enjoy reading about the history of World War II and since this is the time period of the book, perhaps that is another reason I was so drawn into the story. It’s a thick book, so don’t be scared about the length. Once you allow yourself to experience the magic of “The Book Thief” you’ll be forever changed. This book has humor, action, danger, strung-out emotions–all the things I love in a story but is written as a type of literature that is fantastic.
If you’ve read The Book Thief, I’d love to hear what you thought. Have you read any of Zusak’s other books? If so, what did you think? I haven’t heard too much about the others but am certainly going to put them on my “to read” list.
One of the best books I have ever read.
This is one of those books that will stay with me forever. It was so well written and poignant. It tore at my heart in all the right ways. The poetry of the prose was appealing, and the way the narrator painted those human aspects of each character and even made the setting feel alive. I can’t properly put into words how tragic this book is and yet how lovely in its own way…how it serves as a big reminder that we should never forget this aspect of our history. That we ought to always see value in human life and having empathy, love, and compassion. These are things to hold dear and even fight for.
This is probably one of my favorite books of all time. I read it every September and I love it more each time.
I was given this book by a friend, who thought I might like it because I write books! I haven’t seen the film (although I might watch it now, to see if it does the book justice) but I thought it would be nice to read something that wasn’t a research book for a change!
I’m really glad I did. It’s a wonderful book, in every sense of the word. The characters are beautifully drawn, the story is really interesting, and it manages to deal with both a dreadful and much-written-about event (World War II) in a unique and often positive way. It’s set in a small town in Germany, and the narrator is Death, who focusses on the story of a young girl who lives with a foster family, and on the other people living in her street.
Some of the writing is absolutely breathtaking, (such as this, narrated by Death: ‘I’ve seen so many young men over the years who think they’re running at other young men. They are not. They’re running at me.’) but it’s very easy to read and become completely invested in the lives of Liesel, her foster parents, her best friend Rudy and others.
Very highly recommended!
There are those books that have such a uniqueness to them they don’t quite fit anywhere else. That’s where the Book Thief falls for me. It balances tender with tension and beautiful prose with a touch of snark.
About the story:
This is a holocaust book. But – don’t despair. The purpose of the book isn’t to showcase the horrors of that time period, but rather to give voice to a girl who lived it and how the books she stole made it possible to survive. What’s interesting and makes this book very different is that it’s told through the eyes of a rather unusual narrator – death.
Liesel Meminger steals her first book at the graveside service for her brother and carries it with her to her new home and foster parents, the Hubermann’s. Death has been watching her, as he does all people he finds interesting, and chooses to share the different scenes he’s witnessed of her life through the eternal lens of his own experience. The book is what seals her love for her foster father, Hans, as he uses it to help her cope with the nightmares that haunt her and teaches her from it.
It is this book and these late-night teaching sessions that starts the embers glowing of what will turn into a fire within Liesel for the written word. All the while, World War II is tearing the country apart. The Hubermann’s must protect the son of a family friend by hiding him in their basement at great personal risk.
Liesel takes a special interest in him and shares the one thing she has, her love of words. First, by sharing with him what the day is like outside, then by sneaking him newspapers, then by reading and writing their own books together.
I won’t ruin the ending for you by telling what happens, suffice it to say that it is a survival story, and Liesel survives.
Recommendations:
I recommend this book to anyone who loves expert level wordsmithing. The lyric nature of the prose is gorgeous and surprising in all the right ways. Also, it’s a strong historical fiction as well and portrays Nazi Germany in a very realistic and unsensational manner. Because of its unique narrator and style, it should also appeal to those who appreciate non-conventional stories.
I would not recommend this for people who prefer clear and direct language in their stories. This book borders on poetry at times and often veils the truth with metaphor, or pulls back into the point of view of death and away from Liesel’s experience. It’s also a long book, so it might be harder work to get through because of how language is used.
The Book Thief is still one of my all time favorite books. The story was inspired by Zusak’s mother’s life as a young citizen living in Germany, trying to survive Nazi control during World War II. It’s a chilling account (although fictionalized) of what life was like for those who had no choice but to endure Hitler’s dictatorship or face dire consequences. I became so attached to some of the characters that I cried in the end when the inevitable destruction and deaths occurred. It’s a great story.
Absolutely amazing!!! This is my FAVORITE book ever and I’ve read it twice! Love it and definitely recommend it
Was recommended by a friend-I quickly was caught up in the story and would read late into the night. A story of suspense, sadness, fear, some happiness and hope that we have learned the horrible lessons of war. There can be light in darkness. I loved the book and highly recommend it.
Just beautiful.
Much better than the movie!
Read this awhile ago. It was a great book.
I had a love-hate relationship with this novel while reading. The overall story is terrific, and the characters wonderful, and the details of “ordinary” lives during wartime were great. I had already enjoyed the story and characters in the well-cast and well-made film. However, the way the text is written and presented in the novel really *really* annoyed me. And in the Kindle format, the presentation made some parts clumsily bad and other parts unreadable. I expect a better effort from the publisher – any publisher – on this latter point!
The annoying part of the text was the cute little call-outs, asides and lists. All in bold, too, so they really insist on your attention. But there was no need for them, and they didn’t add anything at all to the POV voice. Some of them were absolutely pointless, containing no real info, and seemed to be included just because there hadn’t been one for a while. All of them took me, the reader, out of the story. All of the info could have been included as prose within the story as told. Plus the formatting didn’t allow the text to flow, and so the Kindle presented each with the line breaks clumsily forcing single words onto new lines, and so on. Chapter titles and other headers were presented likewise. I’m sure it worked just fine for the print book, but certainly not for an eBook version.
On the plus side of the presentation, I did love the first facsimile of a book handmade by Max, with drawings and text. That was beautiful. So it’s not like *everything* needed to be in regular prose narrative. However the pages of the second facsimile book were too large, with writing too small, to read on my Kindle screen. Not happy, Jan! Again, it looked beautiful, and significant, but I was too annoyed to get up from bed (at midnight) and boot up the computer to see if I could read it on the larger screen.
Zusak’s choice of words was sometimes… unusual to say the least. Again, some of this was charming and some of it off-putting and annoying. I loved, for example, “Sorrow and desolation were clouted across his face.” Perfect. That “clouted” brings such depth and effect. While “His thick blond hair massaged his head” just makes me go “Ew…!” and “Huh? Really…?”
It’s no secret that the story is told from an unusual POV – that of Death. This is handled well and much of the time doesn’t intrude. There are also a few wonderful bits that result from this, for example that Death *always* knows how the story ends, so he’s far more interested in the journey. “It’s the machinations that wheel us there that aggravate, perplex, interest and astound me.” Excellent. As a result he indulges in a spoiler or two, but these are well-handled and increase the stakes, so I didn’t mind at all.
The story itself was good, though I don’t think I’d have bothered to keep reading if I hadn’t had the film’s imagery and story already in mind. I’d have given up by a third of the way through, annoyed by yet another cutely stupid list. I’m glad I kept going, though, as I felt the latter parts of the story really came into their full strength. If it had all been written in regular prose, I’d have been very happy to get there the long way.
So, yes. Loved it and hated it. YMMV, but if it sounds interesting to you then definitely give it a go!
A wonderfully written, heart-breaking story told from an interesting point of view. I thoroughly enjoyed all of it!
So many books our now that focus on WWII. This is one of the best.
This book follows the story of Liesel Meminger and her journey through World War 2. This story is set in Nazi Germany and has a wonderful cast of characters each of whom bring a new angle to the story. The most interesting thing about this book is that it is narrated by Death. That concept itself is amazing. This is a slow paced book and it takes time to get absorbed into the story but once you do you are bound to love it. This is a story of family and friendship and it definitely made me value my relationships. It is a heart wrenching story which left me devastated. I finished this book on 1 am and I remember crying for 45 mins. It’s a story which sticks with you after a long time.
I read this book after I had seen the movie so that some of the plot twists and devises were “spoiled.” Notwithstanding that, I found the “Book Thief” to be and exceptionally smart in well written novel. The plot (that is excellent) and the characters (that are well drawn, interesting and true to life) look at the lives of ordinary germans who are not part of the nazi regime but only trying to live their ordinary lives as best they can. Also, watching the characters change and grow is engaging. Summaries of the plot are contained elsewhere — I wanted to share my experience with the book. Now its up to you.
One of the best books I’ve read, it leaves you with a sense of hope despite the world in which it’s set. The writing is excellent and tells the story from a different perspective. I literally read it in one sitting.