The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
The Book Thief
Markus Zusak
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
Release Date: March 14, 2006
Pages: 550
Source: Read For Class
Rating: 4 stars
It’s just a small story really, about among other things: a girl, some words, an accordionist, some fanatical Germans, a Jewish fist-fighter, and quite a lot of thievery. . . .
Set during World War II in Germany, Markus Zusak’s groundbreaking new novel is the story of Liesel Meminger, a foster girl living outside of Munich. Liesel scratches out a meager 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 before he is marched to Dachau.
This is an unforgettable story about the ability of books to feed the soul.
The Book Thief was a book that I had been hearing about for ages. I had heard an enormous amount of praise for it, and had been meaning to get to it. My YA Lit class gave me an excuse to read it and I really did enjoy it. I didn’t find it amazing or anything, but certainly a book worth reading.
I loved Death being the narrator. I thought this was so unique and made the story so much better. I loved how the past, future, and present were sort of woven into one. If any other character had narrated, I really don’t think the book would have been as powerful and moving.
The story was different than what I was expecting. But I really liked where it went. I loved the color imagery that Marcus Zusak used throughout the book*. The Book Thief was extrodinarily well written – one of the best written books I have ever read.
I think the thing that kept me from loving it was the length. There were so many times where nothing really happened and the story was slower. That’s okay on occasion, but I felt these passages were too frequent for me to truely love it.
The Book Thief is a truely powerful book. It demonstrates the power of words and their impact. It will make you think a lot, and even after you finish the last page, the ideas and words will still be turning in your head.
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*It was super fun – in my YA Lit class we actually got a day where we got to pick one example of color imagery and paint it however we wanted on these huge sheets of posterboard!
Other people who have reviewed The Book Thief
Ticket to Anywhere The Book Thief was acutally Gail’s #1 read of 2008!
Bookmarked Reviews
The Boston Bibliophile
I want to read this book oh so badly! It's sitting on my shelf, so I will read it eventually. Glad to know you liked it though :)
This is supposed to be such a fantastic book! Great review!
I wish I could have taken a YA lit class. That sounds so fun.
I really liked this book, but I know what you mean about dragging at parts.
I actually listened to it and loved the audio. It was a beautiful book.
I have seen so much hype for this book, and I really want to check it out sometime.
This book is in my pile on my bookshelf, I can't wait to get to it.
I hope that the slow parts aren't too long, because I can't stand slow books.
Nice review, can't wait to read it.
This one sounds really unique…definitely different than I initially thought. Thanks for the review!
This book was amazing. I cried for 30 minutes at the end because it was sad and well written!! Great review :)
Great review! I have this book but have been putting it off because it seems so serious and I'm constantly looking for lighter and fluffier. That is pretty awesome that they made you read it for class though! I need to take a class that actually assigns good books :P
I saw this book but I didn't get it. I think I should! Great review!
I loved the book. It's a shocker, and Max was one of the characters I loved in the book. Before The Book Thief, I had read another book by Markus Zusak, the I Am the Messenger. Both books Markus are amazing which makes it one of my favorite authors.