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.
more
It is different.
Another WWII drama whose main character is a 9-year-old girl whose mother gives her up to be raised by someone else.
Every once in a while, a book comes along that’s so brilliant you can’t explain it to people. It’s just something you have to experience for yourself.
Words can hardly give this book review justice with its brilliant prose and heartbreaking story. Of course, I will not let my family alone until each one of them has read it as well.
This historical fiction takes place in the heart of Nazi Germany –with our protagonist, Leisel, merely 13, a foster child, being raised on the poor side of the town of Molching. While the tale is full of colorful characters (complete with rude yet lovable neighbors) and with animated language (peppered with German insults), it’s also fraught with danger since Leisel’s foster family is hiding a Jew. Oh – and of course, the tale comes equipped with a full-scale villain. Amazingly, author Zusak didn’t have go very far into the depths of his imagination to create Adolph Hitler.
Of course, this story is sad. How can it not be? We all know the tragedy and horror that took place in World War II. (Did I mention the narrator is Death? He really seems quite endearing.) However, there is much beauty in this book. One of the themes that struck me most has to do with the power of words. Of course, Hitler used words to bring together an economically depressed country to obliterate an ethnicity in the most dastardly of ways. But there were a few quiet and courageous ones, like Liesel who used words in only the best of ways. And while “The Book Thief” seems a negative connotation, it wasn’t. Leisel Memminger was only attempting to keep true to herself in Nazi Germany by immersing herself in books. Eventually, words, reading, and books helped Liesel to save others and their sense of themselves in the darkest of times.
This book is listed in the Young Adult genre. It’s very deserving of the awards and accolades it has received. And it was very deserving of my tears that I shed when the cruelty and heartbreak of World War II became real. Sometimes we push horrors to the back of our mind. But words should never let us forget.
I think this is an excellent book to give insight into the lives of those affected by the devastation of war. It demonstrates the strength of the human character to overcome obstacles. It shows that there is good and evil as well as strength and weakness in all of us.
This is the story of Liesel Meminger who is living in Munich Germany in 1939. Her mother took she and her brother on a train to a foster family to keep them safe during the war. Her brother got sick and died on the journey, so Liesel is all alone when she shows up. Her foster father is kind and generous, and her foster mother is hard and stubborn. Each night, Liesel wakes with nightmares and her dad comes in to comfort her. Eventually she shows him a book that she stole when they buried her brother called “The Grave Diggers Handbook”. This starts Liesels love of books and her father starts to teach her to read.
Over the course of her years with her foster family she steals several more books, is invited to the Mayors house to read whenever she wants, watches bombs fall on her city, and helps her parents hide a Jew. In a time when all books were being burned by Hitler and the Nazis, Leisel was trying her best to save them.
I loved this book. LOVED it. Probably one of the best reads I have read this year. It was well written, and had a great message. I have read a lot of WWII books, and this was among the best.
Don’t miss it.
Loved the descriptive writing, very different from most. Enjoyed the story.
This was a new look at a story often told. A snapshot of a residential neighborhood during WWII. Well told by an unexpected narrator.
One of the few books I can read more than once.
I read this book with my daughter and granddaughter and was overwhelmed by sadness. As I contiued on with the story I felt sadder and sadder. This is a winner of a book even with the cloak of imense saddness that goes with the story.
Set in WWII Germany, this book tells a different story than we’re used to. These are the villagers who joined the Nazi Party for a variety of reasons, with a variety of outcomes. Told by a young girl who can’t understand the forces around her, she can only react to them. I couldn’t put it down.
Great original story that you couldn’t put down
The historical perspective is wonderful. Characters are unforgettable. Fabulous read.
It’s a great book.
Loved this book!!
I loved it except for the very end which was a bit disappointing.
I truly enjoyed this book not only because of its detailed descriptions of people, places, and feelings, but because it gave a multidimensional look at human beings and what they can do to and for one another. I loved so many of the characters in this book – Hans, Max, Liesel, even Rosa. I laughed and cried with them and they have stuck with me long after I read the final page. Excellent book!
I read this book several years ago when it was recommended for my granddaughter…….I read it first and could not put it down—–loved all the characters —–I recommend this book both for teens and adults —-esp to those who are interested in the Holocaust——the narrator of the book is unique—-he is Death—–a must read—–
Loved it
Gives another side of WWII …that of Germans who were not followers of Hitler. Having Death speaking to us was enlightening and original.