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pjmbyul's review against another edition
5.0
In early 2014, my family rented The Book Thief movie and watched it on a Friday night, merely hours after my mom had purchased the book. It was merely coincidental, my father renting the movie not knowing that my mother had bought the book and planned to read it. She decided to watch the movie with us despite not having yet read the book, and I'll be honest: The movie was okay. It was a very simple story, but nothing spectacular. My mom then decided to not read the book because the ending of the story was far too depressing for her.
For over two years, The Book Thief novel sat upstairs on a lonely bookshelf full of old college textbooks and Bible devotionals.
Until five days ago.
I had nothing to read due to having finished my last book and waiting for my recent order of books to arrive, so I decided to read The Book Thief out of simply needing something to read.
This book is now one of my favorite books, deserving the five stars I'm giving it and all of the awards and love it's already received.
The Book Thief follows Liesel Meminger from ages nine to fourteen, years 1939 to 1943 in a fictional town called Mulching in Munich, Germany. Yes, if you weren't aware, this is a World War II novel. But, unlike others, it is narrated by that of which surrounded WWII: Death. No, not Death like a hooded gray man with a sharpened scythe as a weapon.
I do not carry a sickle or scythe.
I only wear a hooded black robe when it's cold.
And I don't have those skull-like facial features you seem to enjoy pinning on me from a distance. You want to know what I truly look like? I'll help you out. Find yourself a mirror while I continue.
Death tells this very story, adding a different and unique bone-chilling factor to a heart wrenching period of time. Like I said about the movie, the story is simple, but it's the writing, the beautiful yet uneasy narration that makes this story so beautiful and so melancholy at the same time. The narration is spectacular, making this book a new favorite of mine.
Death is said to be best friends with war, but that's not the case in this book. Death is tired of his job, speaking of his occupation of carrying away souls as weary and exhausting. He isn't friends with war. One thing Death is known for in this book is his thoughts on humans.
I am haunted by humans.
His perception of the human race is so beautifully written, so moving. Examples:
I guess humans like to watch a little destruction. Sand castles, houses of cards, that's where they begin. Their great skill is their capacity to escalate.
Please believe me when I tell you that I picked up each soul that day as if it were newly born. I even kissed a few weary, poisoned cheeks. I listened to their last, gasping cries. Their vanishing words… I watched the sky as it turned from silver to gray to the color of rain. Even the clouds were trying to get away.
Sometimes I imagined how everything looked above those clouds, knowing without question that the sun was blond, and the endless atmosphere was a giant blue eye.
They were French, they were Jews, and they were you.
I wanted to explain that I am constantly overestimating and underestimating the human race-that rarely do I ever simply estimate it. I wanted to ask her how the same thing could be so ugly and so glorious, and its words and stories so damning and brilliant.
The human heart is a line, whereas my own is a circle, and I have the endless ability to be in the right place at the right time. The consequence of this is that I'm always finding humans at their best and worst. I see their ugly and their beauty, and I wonder how the same thing can be both. Still, they have one thing I envy. Humans, if nothing else, have the good sense to die.
Liesel Meminger is the main character of this story. Her mother, unable to take care of her children any longer, is on the way to drop off her two children when her son, Liesel's brother, dies on the journey. Liesel arrives to her new home, 33 Himmel Street (Himmel translated=Heaven), to meet her new foster parents, Hans and Rosa Hubermann, and she's utterly alone.
Slowly, she comes close to her new parents, specifically her accordion playing papa who comes to her room every night when she wakes from nightmares and ends up teaching her how to read, starting with her first stolen book, The Gravedigger's Handbook. She also becomes friends with her neighbor and schoolmate, Rudy Steiner, a lemon-haired boy who constantly is seeking a kiss from Liesel, and who also is obsessed with gold medalist Jesse Owens, going as far to paint himself black with charcoal to be more like him. There's also the mayor's wife, who after catching Liesel steal a book from a book burning rally, invites her to read in her library.
Last on the list is Max Vandenburg, a twenty four year old Jew who ends up hiding in the Hubermann's basement. He and Liesel become very good friends, their love of knowledge of words bringing them together.
Max lifted his head, with great sorrow and great astonishment.
"There were stars," He said. "They burned my eyes."
The Book Thief is not for fast readers, those who have simple minds who wish to plow through a book or who like tons of action rather than figurative language. The story is slow, yet entirely gripping. It's a sad ending, let me tell you right now. Death doesn't care for mystery, so why should I?
Of course I'm being rude. I'm spoiling the ending […]. […] I don't have much interest in building mystery. Mystery bores me. It chores me. I know what happens and so do you. It's the machinations that wheel us there that aggravate, perplex, interest, and astound me.
The ending is very sad, but it very much shows one of the main points of this book: The Germans didn't like Hitler either. The German were affected too. Of course, nothing could ever compare to the Jews and their concentration camps, but what this story does such a good job showing is that the commoners of Germany weren't living it up. Their lives weren't colorful and free, they were equally as gray and trapped. You were whipped and enlisted in the army if you even so much as dropped a piece of bread on the ground for a Jew. You were poor and hungry, you were chained and unable to speak. You were silent.
This book's ending is ironic. It's everything Hitler didn't want.
It's unwanted death and unwanted survival.
Hopefully that doesn't spoil you too much, but you are to be spoiled in this book. Like Death said above, he doesn't care for mystery and surprises.
The bombs were coming—and so was I.
With the tragically beautiful narration and lovely story from the point of view of a German child during WWII, this book is one of the best books I've ever read. I highly recommend it for anyone, for everyone.
Even death has a heart.
For over two years, The Book Thief novel sat upstairs on a lonely bookshelf full of old college textbooks and Bible devotionals.
Until five days ago.
I had nothing to read due to having finished my last book and waiting for my recent order of books to arrive, so I decided to read The Book Thief out of simply needing something to read.
This book is now one of my favorite books, deserving the five stars I'm giving it and all of the awards and love it's already received.
The Book Thief follows Liesel Meminger from ages nine to fourteen, years 1939 to 1943 in a fictional town called Mulching in Munich, Germany. Yes, if you weren't aware, this is a World War II novel. But, unlike others, it is narrated by that of which surrounded WWII: Death. No, not Death like a hooded gray man with a sharpened scythe as a weapon.
I do not carry a sickle or scythe.
I only wear a hooded black robe when it's cold.
And I don't have those skull-like facial features you seem to enjoy pinning on me from a distance. You want to know what I truly look like? I'll help you out. Find yourself a mirror while I continue.
Death tells this very story, adding a different and unique bone-chilling factor to a heart wrenching period of time. Like I said about the movie, the story is simple, but it's the writing, the beautiful yet uneasy narration that makes this story so beautiful and so melancholy at the same time. The narration is spectacular, making this book a new favorite of mine.
Death is said to be best friends with war, but that's not the case in this book. Death is tired of his job, speaking of his occupation of carrying away souls as weary and exhausting. He isn't friends with war. One thing Death is known for in this book is his thoughts on humans.
I am haunted by humans.
His perception of the human race is so beautifully written, so moving. Examples:
I guess humans like to watch a little destruction. Sand castles, houses of cards, that's where they begin. Their great skill is their capacity to escalate.
Please believe me when I tell you that I picked up each soul that day as if it were newly born. I even kissed a few weary, poisoned cheeks. I listened to their last, gasping cries. Their vanishing words… I watched the sky as it turned from silver to gray to the color of rain. Even the clouds were trying to get away.
Sometimes I imagined how everything looked above those clouds, knowing without question that the sun was blond, and the endless atmosphere was a giant blue eye.
They were French, they were Jews, and they were you.
I wanted to explain that I am constantly overestimating and underestimating the human race-that rarely do I ever simply estimate it. I wanted to ask her how the same thing could be so ugly and so glorious, and its words and stories so damning and brilliant.
The human heart is a line, whereas my own is a circle, and I have the endless ability to be in the right place at the right time. The consequence of this is that I'm always finding humans at their best and worst. I see their ugly and their beauty, and I wonder how the same thing can be both. Still, they have one thing I envy. Humans, if nothing else, have the good sense to die.
Liesel Meminger is the main character of this story. Her mother, unable to take care of her children any longer, is on the way to drop off her two children when her son, Liesel's brother, dies on the journey. Liesel arrives to her new home, 33 Himmel Street (Himmel translated=Heaven), to meet her new foster parents, Hans and Rosa Hubermann, and she's utterly alone.
Slowly, she comes close to her new parents, specifically her accordion playing papa who comes to her room every night when she wakes from nightmares and ends up teaching her how to read, starting with her first stolen book, The Gravedigger's Handbook. She also becomes friends with her neighbor and schoolmate, Rudy Steiner, a lemon-haired boy who constantly is seeking a kiss from Liesel, and who also is obsessed with gold medalist Jesse Owens, going as far to paint himself black with charcoal to be more like him. There's also the mayor's wife, who after catching Liesel steal a book from a book burning rally, invites her to read in her library.
Last on the list is Max Vandenburg, a twenty four year old Jew who ends up hiding in the Hubermann's basement. He and Liesel become very good friends, their love of knowledge of words bringing them together.
Max lifted his head, with great sorrow and great astonishment.
"There were stars," He said. "They burned my eyes."
The Book Thief is not for fast readers, those who have simple minds who wish to plow through a book or who like tons of action rather than figurative language. The story is slow, yet entirely gripping. It's a sad ending, let me tell you right now. Death doesn't care for mystery, so why should I?
Of course I'm being rude. I'm spoiling the ending […]. […] I don't have much interest in building mystery. Mystery bores me. It chores me. I know what happens and so do you. It's the machinations that wheel us there that aggravate, perplex, interest, and astound me.
The ending is very sad, but it very much shows one of the main points of this book: The Germans didn't like Hitler either. The German were affected too. Of course, nothing could ever compare to the Jews and their concentration camps, but what this story does such a good job showing is that the commoners of Germany weren't living it up. Their lives weren't colorful and free, they were equally as gray and trapped. You were whipped and enlisted in the army if you even so much as dropped a piece of bread on the ground for a Jew. You were poor and hungry, you were chained and unable to speak. You were silent.
This book's ending is ironic. It's everything Hitler didn't want.
It's unwanted death and unwanted survival.
Hopefully that doesn't spoil you too much, but you are to be spoiled in this book. Like Death said above, he doesn't care for mystery and surprises.
The bombs were coming—and so was I.
With the tragically beautiful narration and lovely story from the point of view of a German child during WWII, this book is one of the best books I've ever read. I highly recommend it for anyone, for everyone.
Even death has a heart.
jakexa's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
beth_books_123's review against another edition
5.0
2nd best book of 2016!
Ranked #2 (out of 18) of my holiday reads
A beautiful story set in one of the worst times known to humanity - 5*
I'm currently sobbing on a sun bed. Thank you very much, the Book Thief. The tears I shed were full of heartbreak and naivety. The time this story is set in, there were obviously going to be deaths and some of the deaths were going to be heartbreaking. I did prepare myself (and the book prepared me) but still I'm sat here and I'm sobbing my little heart out.
The writing is beautiful and the issues dealt with are subtlety and appropriately managed. I might want to wish that this never happened but unfortunately, reality sucks and it happened.
I am fascinated by Germany pre and post WW2 because I think everyone forgets about everyday people (like Hans) that not everyone in Germany during that time were Nazis. Some people still had faith in humanity and cared for people because they were people. I don't know if it's because I'm British but the Germans during WW2 are usually painted in the most awful light (for obvious reasons) but we often forget about those who were not the enemy and wanted it to stop as much as us.
This book was written so well that I'm actually stunned. I'm not used to such well-crafted novels. The use of death as a narrator is so clever and it makes it much more heartbreaking. Yes, I'll admit it: I empathise with death. The narration was so brutal and honest - it was painful for me to read. Everyone has a relationship with death and we either have to accept it (like an old friend) or fight and we all knows who wins...
Anyway, I'm getting distracted. The characters written were full of depth and beauty. I can't even talk about any of the characters because it upsets me too much. (I have a book hangover.)
I don't think I'll ever forget the events of the Book Thief, the things it taught me and the love it showed for everyone and everything.
Truly heartbreaking but a must-read for all.
Everyone needs to understand the power of words and this book shows it beautifully.
I need to read it again.
Ranked #2 (out of 18) of my holiday reads
A beautiful story set in one of the worst times known to humanity - 5*
I'm currently sobbing on a sun bed. Thank you very much, the Book Thief. The tears I shed were full of heartbreak and naivety. The time this story is set in, there were obviously going to be deaths and some of the deaths were going to be heartbreaking. I did prepare myself (and the book prepared me) but still I'm sat here and I'm sobbing my little heart out.
The writing is beautiful and the issues dealt with are subtlety and appropriately managed. I might want to wish that this never happened but unfortunately, reality sucks and it happened.
I am fascinated by Germany pre and post WW2 because I think everyone forgets about everyday people (like Hans) that not everyone in Germany during that time were Nazis. Some people still had faith in humanity and cared for people because they were people. I don't know if it's because I'm British but the Germans during WW2 are usually painted in the most awful light (for obvious reasons) but we often forget about those who were not the enemy and wanted it to stop as much as us.
This book was written so well that I'm actually stunned. I'm not used to such well-crafted novels. The use of death as a narrator is so clever and it makes it much more heartbreaking. Yes, I'll admit it: I empathise with death. The narration was so brutal and honest - it was painful for me to read. Everyone has a relationship with death and we either have to accept it (like an old friend) or fight and we all knows who wins...
Anyway, I'm getting distracted. The characters written were full of depth and beauty. I can't even talk about any of the characters because it upsets me too much. (I have a book hangover.)
I don't think I'll ever forget the events of the Book Thief, the things it taught me and the love it showed for everyone and everything.
Truly heartbreaking but a must-read for all.
Everyone needs to understand the power of words and this book shows it beautifully.
I need to read it again.
gallant_crony's review against another edition
5.0
From the perspective of children, most societal discrimination is somewhat bleached while their immediate universe is always in focus. When Scout narrated To Kill a Mockingbird, we witnessed a town enveloped in racism but what stayed with us most are the actions of an honourable man and the bylanes of friendship formed between people under unnatural circumstances. Therefore, when Liesel Meminger narrates her story in The Book Thief, it is punctuated with the shadows of a mass genocide but it also, at a visceral level, the story of a little girl. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak is a story about a girl’s life narrated in her own words albeit by Death.
Opening with the death of Leisel’s brother aboard a train across Germany, this book introduces the narrator Death who tells us a “small fact” – You are going to die. Left in the care of the Hubermann’s by her Communist mother, Liesel is plagued by the memory of her brother’s death. While she has a foul-mouthed foster-mother in Rosa Hubermann, her foster-father Hans Hubermann is every daughter’s dream come true. Liesel grapples with routine nightmares of her brother’s death only to be calmed down by her foster-father who then spends a good part of the night reading to his daughter. When this becomes a way of life no one realizes, but Hans spends every night – rather early morning – reading to Leisel and teaching her how to read.
Leisel gets comfortable in her new neighbourhood, and she befriends the boy with lemon coloured hair – Rudy Steiner. Together, they play football, steal eatables, wreak havoc, and even fall in love. In her new way of life, Leisel’s painter father teaches her the alphabet in the basement by painting them on walls, her mother makes awful pea soup for dinner, she hangs around with her best friend Rudy, and she steals books from book burnings and the mayor’s house to satisfy her thirst for stories and more importantly, words. All is well (apparently) until one night, a Jew, Max Vanderberg, comes to the Hubermann household seeking refuge. Neither knowing the consequences nor fully comprehending the fear, Leisel realizes, among other things, that she’s not the only one who has nightmares.
The Hubermann’s lock up Max in the basement and now Liesel has a secret to hide – from everyone including Rudy Steiner. How she goes on to grasp what’s really happening in her life and the bond she develops with Max are some of the highlights of the story. Whether they get caught, whether they are executed, does Max survive, does Leisel survive, are questions that you should answer for yourself when you read this book.
In writing this book and making Death as the narrator, Markus Zusak has employed one of the best literary voices – that of a child. It’s a tad bit easy not to focus on the concentration camps and the grim of Hitler because you’re busy hiding Leisel’s secret with her and describing the weather to Max. It’s relieving to not know the inner workings of Hans’ mind while hiding Max because he’s being the best-ever father and best-ever husband in times of a crisis. Like I said, the horrors are camoflaged by the gears of interwoven relationships. Not to say that they are absent entirely.
In a few places the book winds you up a little. It could have been shorter, true that. However, the descriptions of clouds, the bonding between Hans and Leisel, and Leisel and Max more than make up for the long narration. Also, Rosa Hubermann surprises the reader by becoming the mother and wife that she was all along. It’s a powerful story, written very well, and sends a subtle message – words are powerful. Words can make you live or die, so be careful which ones you choose. Of course, there are references to how Hitler brought a whole nation to its destruction by his words. In sharp contrast, a family gets along day-on-day by using words the right way. The book is titled so because of many reasons, I suppose. The tangible act of theft and the intangible bridge that books create for Leisel to pull through every day in their refuge. The Book Thief is a splendid story about a girl, her family, her friendships, Death, and above all the triumph of the human spirit.
I would have been proud to present this book to Hitler and say, “Dude, they sheltered a Jew. And if I could help them to do it again, I would. What are you going to do about it?”
Originally Written Here: http://bookhad.wordpress.com/2014/03/12/the-book-thief-book-review/
Opening with the death of Leisel’s brother aboard a train across Germany, this book introduces the narrator Death who tells us a “small fact” – You are going to die. Left in the care of the Hubermann’s by her Communist mother, Liesel is plagued by the memory of her brother’s death. While she has a foul-mouthed foster-mother in Rosa Hubermann, her foster-father Hans Hubermann is every daughter’s dream come true. Liesel grapples with routine nightmares of her brother’s death only to be calmed down by her foster-father who then spends a good part of the night reading to his daughter. When this becomes a way of life no one realizes, but Hans spends every night – rather early morning – reading to Leisel and teaching her how to read.
Leisel gets comfortable in her new neighbourhood, and she befriends the boy with lemon coloured hair – Rudy Steiner. Together, they play football, steal eatables, wreak havoc, and even fall in love. In her new way of life, Leisel’s painter father teaches her the alphabet in the basement by painting them on walls, her mother makes awful pea soup for dinner, she hangs around with her best friend Rudy, and she steals books from book burnings and the mayor’s house to satisfy her thirst for stories and more importantly, words. All is well (apparently) until one night, a Jew, Max Vanderberg, comes to the Hubermann household seeking refuge. Neither knowing the consequences nor fully comprehending the fear, Leisel realizes, among other things, that she’s not the only one who has nightmares.
The Hubermann’s lock up Max in the basement and now Liesel has a secret to hide – from everyone including Rudy Steiner. How she goes on to grasp what’s really happening in her life and the bond she develops with Max are some of the highlights of the story. Whether they get caught, whether they are executed, does Max survive, does Leisel survive, are questions that you should answer for yourself when you read this book.
In writing this book and making Death as the narrator, Markus Zusak has employed one of the best literary voices – that of a child. It’s a tad bit easy not to focus on the concentration camps and the grim of Hitler because you’re busy hiding Leisel’s secret with her and describing the weather to Max. It’s relieving to not know the inner workings of Hans’ mind while hiding Max because he’s being the best-ever father and best-ever husband in times of a crisis. Like I said, the horrors are camoflaged by the gears of interwoven relationships. Not to say that they are absent entirely.
In a few places the book winds you up a little. It could have been shorter, true that. However, the descriptions of clouds, the bonding between Hans and Leisel, and Leisel and Max more than make up for the long narration. Also, Rosa Hubermann surprises the reader by becoming the mother and wife that she was all along. It’s a powerful story, written very well, and sends a subtle message – words are powerful. Words can make you live or die, so be careful which ones you choose. Of course, there are references to how Hitler brought a whole nation to its destruction by his words. In sharp contrast, a family gets along day-on-day by using words the right way. The book is titled so because of many reasons, I suppose. The tangible act of theft and the intangible bridge that books create for Leisel to pull through every day in their refuge. The Book Thief is a splendid story about a girl, her family, her friendships, Death, and above all the triumph of the human spirit.
I would have been proud to present this book to Hitler and say, “Dude, they sheltered a Jew. And if I could help them to do it again, I would. What are you going to do about it?”
Originally Written Here: http://bookhad.wordpress.com/2014/03/12/the-book-thief-book-review/
livinglifeliterary's review against another edition
4.0
Such a beautiful, heartbreaking, important story. I can't believe it took me so long to read this. But I'm glad I read it after living in Switzerland and learning German because I feel like it made me appreciate this more.
areejsbookss's review against another edition
5.0
This book was so good but so emotional it was so well written love the plot and the characters
destinyrayburn's review against another edition
5.0
I loved this book. It is about the life of a young girl growing up in Germany during WWII. Her story is told from the perspective of "Death". I would read this book again. :)