What a fantastic read - couldn't put it down. Don't let the fact that it's in the young fiction section fool you. It's engrossing.

Think you wouldn’t enjoy a book narrated by Death? Think again. Death is at work in Nazi Germany cleaning up Adolf Hitler’s mess and catching glimpses of the book thief's life. Leisel Meminger’s hard-scrabble life as a foster child has just enough love to balance out the misery, and just enough hope to sustain her through the stresses of life in Nazi Germany. She doesn’t set out to become a book thief, but life—and death—point her in that direction. We like Death in this book. Factual, whimsical, down-to-earth, and reaching for the sky, Death brings the objects and people in the story to life. Zusak creates an amenable voice for Death and manages to make it a sympathetic character. We want to curl up at the feet of this Death and listen to the story. Maybe have a friendly conversation. Zusak plays with language and images, and his pages vibrate with living energy. Sometimes I stopped to admire his turns of phrase. He specializes in personification. When a plane fell from the sky, it was “still coughing. Smoke was leaking from both its lungs.” A destroyed soccer ball was left “twitching on the cold, blistered road.” He uses foreshadowing often and effectively. He tells us what’s going to happen, but we don’t know how, or when, or to whom. We keep reading to find out. Occasionally he over-reaches, tries a little too hard, and the literary comparisons don’t quite work. Boys being examined for admission to a Nazi school “cupped their genitals in their hands and shivered like the future.” What does that mean? You might think a book narrated by Death and set in Nazi Germany would be ponderous and depressing. Zusak describes the horrors of life in World War II and Nazi Germany with unflinching clarity, but his characters are so real, and likeable, and enduring we feel the hope more than the horror.

Before reading the book I was told that people found it slow and couldn't get in to the book but I read it any way, thankfully. I could not put this book down it was so good. It's different than most books set in WWII since it's about a German family. But the thing I like the most about the book is up until the end of the book you don't know who's point of view the book is told from. Although the ending of the book is horribly sad, this book is defiantly a tearjerker I still love it. One the the best books you could possibly read.

This is an amazing book that I could not put down. It is a wonderful historic fiction, though classed as teen is definitely appropriate for any age group. Books almost never make me cry but this one had me in tears by the end.

Adversity is what comes to mind, but the story has a unique take on how the story unfolds/told in Germany during WWII. Whereby you get to meet Death and his thoughts about Liesel, Rudy, Hans and Max, as he takes souls away from this life (to heaven? or ? guess we will never know). Tough subject to write about as there is lots of pain (physical, mental, and psycological), but knowing these characters all come together and show deep respect and love for one another regardless of the circumstances. Love the last paragraph. Highly Recommend

This book caught my eye becuase of all the good reviews I've seen. I was not disappointed. This book was told through a very unique prespective. Death. The book reminded me very much of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird. The foster father, Hans, posessed many qualities I saw in Atticus Finch while the fearless Liesel was a mirror of Scout. This book had many conflicts and the way it all sort of combined together was a talent that Markus Zusak proved he had. The word choices and the excepts from many of the Book Thief's stolen books sounded like magic. The only part I didn't enjoy was the fact that sometimes the book can be a little slow. There were some (very few) parts that I thought Zusak could have taken out. But the final conclusion of this book gave me a good shiver. A very well written and emotional book. Cheers.

The story is written in first person by death (the grim reaper). Two different types of font are used to differentiate between the narration, and death’s personal comments. This made it difficult to read, since it broke the reader’s concentration. The writing style is very clunky. It is written for a young adult audience, so this could have been the reason for that this style was used. The author’s use of suspense, foreshadowing was disappointing. He bluntly informs the reader of what the next event will be, and then 3 pages later, at the most, the event occurs. This book would be good for introducing World War II, foreshadowing, and suspense to a young audience.

The Book Thief is the story of a little girl living outside Munich, Germany during World War II. Nazi Germany. She can't resist books, so she steals them. Her foster father teaches her to read. He plays the accordion. They hide a Jewish man in their basement. People die. I felt like this book tore my heart out. And that's all I can ever think to say when it comes to this book. That it tore out my heart and stomped on it. I can't explain what it is about this book that affected me so much. Maybe because it's so raw and true. Maybe because it's about a little girl. Maybe because it's told from Death's point of view. Whatever it was, it sucked me in and kept me turning pages until I'd read all 550 of them. And I cried. I just had so many conflicting emotions in this book. The way it was written, you knew what was going to happen, you just didn't know when. Death would mention something that was going to happen, but then say it comes later and leave it at that. I always felt like I was tensing for the impact that I knew was coming, but after a little while I started to loosen up, and then BAM! Markus Zusak would just hit me with the reality of it all. Whether it was Rudy or Max or Hans or even Liesel who was affected, it hit me just as hard each and every single time.

The Book Thief is about a young girl, Liesel, and her journey through Nazi Germany. Along the way, she makes the greatest of friends and the deepest of loves. She ties a little piece of her heart to all the characters she meets, from her papa Hans and her mama Rosa, to Jewish fist-fighting Max, to the mayor's wife and to her best friend Rudy. She blooms with each relationship, opening up her past, writing her story, and moving forward. Each book she steals is a memory, each book a reminder, each book an escape from a reality far from what she wanted. Her last book an escape for Death. I loved this book. This may not be one of my very favourites, but it was a wonderful read nonetheless. It took a while to get going in the beginning, but at the same time, it kept me reading. Zusak has a way with words in this novel that left me breathless and nodding my head in agreement. It has so many passages worth quoting and loving. I really liked how Death seemed to not enjoy his job a great deal. It is very different from other portrayals of Death. Made dying a little more light, I guess. I can only say so much about how well written the story is, however it did have its lows. One thing that particularly annoyed me (which was why this didn't get a perfect 5) is the interruptions by Death. They are literally little interruptions and side notes that could have just been written normally along with the text. A little here and there would have all been well and good, but they constantly appear and after a while - when I was really into the story - they became annoying. Maybe it’s not the interruptions themselves but the way they were written, or organized that bothered me. A second thing I was not fond of was that Death told me who died. Death told me, and the suspense was killed off. I really don't know if it was a good move or not, but it bothered me a little bit. However, I can see it as being something that added to the sadness in the book because by knowing, the reader lost all hope that maybe it will turn out differently. The closer I got to the end, the more heartbreaking every sentence seemed to be. Maybe, yes, it's knowing the inevitable, and having no hope that it might turn out otherwise. I loved Liesel, Hans, and Rosa, but Rudy stole my heart. His outgoing personality, his friendliness, his resistance to bullies like Victor Chemell and Franz Deutscher. His completely stupid way of copying Jesse Owens. Even the way he always asks a kiss from Liesel. His unconditional love for her was beautiful to read about. And her clueless love for him was devastating. Rudy was a child, growing into a man, and I loved his character. Even though this book had its lows, it was still a book worth reading for me.

I chose this book as my selection for my bookclub and it was a huge hit with the whole group - not a bad review among the bunch! The characters were so beautifully developed - there was room in my heart for even those who were "the enemy". This book offered yet another perspective to an issue that many of us have been moved by. This book is now without a doubt among my top ten reads of all time. I highly recommend it - and not just to the young adult set, but to anyone.