Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

Boktjuven by Markus Zusak

51 reviews

te_ss_i's review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Cursing, Confinement, Classism, Bullying, Suicide, Emotional abuse, War, Medical content, Antisemitism, Abandonment, Torture, Racial slurs, Misogyny, Child death, Child abuse, Hate crime, Genocide, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Racism, Murder, Gun violence, Gore, Violence, Terminal illness, Grief, Forced institutionalization, Death, Cultural appropriation, Physical abuse, Body shaming, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail

crina12's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I just finished this book and I cannot stop crying. This book gave me so many different emotions throughout. The writing is absolutely amazing. The Book Thief truly is revolutionary.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Violence, Racism, Death, Blood, Antisemitism, Gore, Genocide, Forced institutionalization, Death of parent, Confinement, Child death, and Grief

cc_shelflove's review against another edition

challenging reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

I have a lot of mixed emotions surrounding this book. First things first: I wish I could have protected Papa at all costs! 🥺 The relationships between Zusak’s characters felt strong and true. Papa and Liesel’s bond was so strong he entrusted the 10-year-old girl with his largest secret: he was hiding and helping a Jewish man, Max, in his basement. Oh, and the gift Max made Liesel for her birthday… 😭 Yet another strong connection featured in this book!

Where I struggled with this bestseller was its third-person point of view. Personally (and please don’t come at me for this), I wasn’t a fan of Death being the narrator, but I commend the author for his originality. Death’s recollection of events lacked emotion at times, and I wished I could see certain happenings through Liesel’s or Max’s eyes instead. Death also often referred to events that hadn’t happened yet, which was a bit confusing for this reader. I would much rather have read Liesel’s ‘dusty black book.’

A central theme in The Book Thief was the power of words. I enjoyed watching Liesel use a tome to bring neighbors together in a bomb shelter, in a time of uncertainty and fear. The author did a nice job of bringing this theme to a close in the epilogue as well. Overall, it’s possible I might have enjoyed this more if I hadn’t read The Little Liar so recently; that novel will reign superior in my mind. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism, Abandonment, Violence, Death of parent, Suicide, War, Confinement, and Classism

pandemonicbaby's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Wow. I just bawled my eyes out with the last few chapters.
I should've known. The subject of death always makes me cry.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Grief, Death of parent, Death, Confinement, Hate crime, Antisemitism, War, Cursing, Violence, Suicide, Murder, and Child death

Moderate: Torture, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Classism, Abandonment, Panic attacks/disorders, Child abuse, Blood, Sexism, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Addiction, Gore, Bullying, Cultural appropriation, Body horror, Medical content, Alcohol, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Vomit, Racism, and Medical trauma

samcsmith's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol, Body horror, Child death, Physical abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Murder, Violence, Antisemitism, Blood, Death, Medical content, War, Confinement, Car accident, Suicide, Genocide, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

sporemiette's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Antisemitism, Child death, Death, and War

Moderate: Confinement and Death of parent

Minor: Abandonment and Fire/Fire injury

lindasoderlundd's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism, Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, War, Confinement, Death of parent, Hate crime, Genocide, and Child death

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury and Suicide

Minor: Alcohol, Ableism, Blood, Bullying, Car accident, and Classism

paddy_chh's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement and Antisemitism

jg34's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

Sorry I can’t write a review yet bc I’m still crying my eyes out 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Racism, Police brutality, Death, Confinement, Genocide, Antisemitism, Blood, Violence, Racial slurs, and Grief

Moderate: Death of parent, Child death, Suicide, Vomit, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Car accident

A boo set in nazi germany during WWII that does not shy from details

r3ader's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book is hauntingly beautiful. It describes the Zeitgeist of the second world war in Germany perfectly. As a German who has to often deal with the atrocities done by my ancestors, I think it was nice and interesting to read about a family who were living in Nazi Germany and were still not the "evil Nazis" we think of.
The ending was shocking, but at the same time realistic.
Death as the narrator for a story in Nazi Germany is also genius, it felt like a whole 'nother point of view.
The only critique I would have for this book is that some uses of German words are false. For example Pfiffikus never meant a person who often whistles, it is an old word for someone who is pfiffig (=smart). However this did only slightly disturb my reading, so this book is still 5☆.
I would recommend it to EVERYONE. It is truly a must-read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism, Death, War, Death of parent, Grief, and Violence

Moderate: Hate crime, Suicide, Child death, and Genocide

Minor: Alcohol, Confinement, Cursing, Deportation, Homophobia, Fire/Fire injury, and Gun violence