Tittle           : The Book Thief

Author        : Markus Zusak

Pub Date    : September 01, 2007

Pages          : 552

My Rating   : ★★★★

The Summary

You listen to Death's tales when they are told.

It is 1939. Hitler's Germany. The nation is gasping for air. The afterlife will continue to be busy than it has ever been.

Foster child Liesel Meminger, who lives outside of Munich, scrapes by on a limited income by stealing whenever she comes across something she can't resist: books. She learns to read with the aid of her accordion-playing foster father, and during bombing raids she gives her neighbors and the Jewish guy hiding in her basement her stolen books.

Award-winning novelist Markus Zusak, the creator of I Am the Messenger, has provided us with one of the most compelling tales of our time in masterfully constructed prose that burns with fire.

My Review

In historical fiction, the book is without a doubt a treasure. The book itself is narrated by the dead, which I find odd but also fascinating.

I adore the way this book forces us to see the viewpoint of those who lived in Nazi Germany in 1939. Of course, there won't be a rainbow, but we learn that these folks aren't actually all that horrible. They may have managed to flee and appear to be well protected, but they are nonetheless surviving in a state of squalor.

War will always cause suffering in people, but who are these people? These defenseless folks. No matter where you're from, I believe this book highlights that more than anything else.

The pages are just too long, despite the fact that the plot, characters, and setting are all excellent. Some sentences, in my opinion, don't really need to be described, and the story would still make sense without them.

Absolutely not everyone will enjoy the story, and I can see how some people may both love and despise it. Whatever it is, this book does a fantastic job of conveying the experience of living in that era.

My ratings score:

★★★★★ Fantastic! Made me go through a lot of emotions & the entire book is incredibly beautifully done! 

★★★★ Memorable! Despite its shortcomings, this book was incredible and taught us a lot. 

★★★ Good work! Nothing particularly remarkable, but still nice.

★★ Meh... Mediocre with great room for improvement.

★ Extremely Poor.