Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

60 reviews

bookishperseus's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Deportation

Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Deportation

anindistinctaccountant's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

To be very clear, the book is stellar. Just because I wasn't the biggest fan doesn't mean you shouldn't read it. It's very poignant and picturesque. I simply am not one to connect with so depressing a story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Grief, Death of parent, and War

Moderate: Bullying, Suicide, Violence, Forced institutionalization, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Body horror, Genocide, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

kryolitee's review against another edition

dark emotional sad fast-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? No

5.0

my heart will never recover from this

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Violence, Antisemitism, Grief, Death of parent, Abandonment, War, and Classism

Moderate: Bullying, Genocide, Suicide, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

buzzinfly's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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? No

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Gore, Physical abuse, Slavery, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Deportation

Moderate: Ableism, Cursing, Racism, Torture, Trafficking, and Cultural appropriation

Minor: Biphobia and Homophobia

timmytunter's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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? Yes

4.5

"The Book Thief" by Markus Zusak is a remarkable novel set in WWII-era Nazi Germany, chronicling the life of Leisel Meminger from the age of nine. After being forcibly removed from her communist parents, Leisel is placed with the middle-aged Hubermanns, where she begins a journey of self-discovery amidst immense personal loss and the harrowing realities of the world around her.

The story's unique innovation lies in its narrator: Death, personified. This narrative choice opens up creative possibilities and insights that would otherwise be unattainable. Death's matter-of-fact and somewhat sardonic tone lends an unusual air to the story, particularly in the frequent descriptions of people's deaths. 

Leisel herself is a kind, loyal, and daring girl. Initially defensive and guarded, she gradually learns to trust her foster parents, Hans and Rosa Hubermann, and grows to deeply care for them, as well as her neighbor Rudy and the Jewish fugitive Max. Her compassionate heart and quest for justice, challenging traits to possess in Nazi Germany, are central to her character development. The story is populated with fascinating characters, each contributing to Leisel's growth in some way: Rudy, the German boy who idolizes African American runner Jesse Owens; Max, the Jewish fistfighter; the mayor's tentative wife Ilsa who lets Leisel steal her books; and the fervently Führer-faithful Hans Hubermann Jr, at odds with his parents.

Zusak employs various literary techniques that enhance the narrative, such as occasional sketches and handwritten excerpts, parenthesised announcements for background details, and plot foreshadowing. With regard to the latter, as an example, it is relatively early on that readers are informed of

Rudy's impending death

, and the timeframe within which this will take place. This approach has the effect of there being relatively few unexpected twists in the plot as the narrative progresses, but underscores the inevitability of certain outcomes in a historical World War Two context while maintaining narrative tension.

Leisel's journey from illiteracy to discovering the power of words and books, guided by her papa Hans, is deeply moving. The unique relationship she shares with Max, grounded in a love of words, is embodied in the stories he writes for her, literally rewriting history by writing over torn out pages of Mein Kampf. Zusak’s novel itself is something of a love letter to words and books, a sentiment that resonated profoundly with me as a fellow lover of language. "The Book Thief" is a unique and intriguing reading experience that will remain with me for a long time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Racism, Antisemitism, Grief, Murder, and War

Moderate: Bullying, Suicide, and Injury/Injury detail

jovanh's review against another edition

dark hopeful sad medium-paced

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

3.0

This book was fine. Nothing special or unique. Don't know why Book Tok is in love with it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Hate crime, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and War

Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Racism, and Abandonment

Minor: Sexual harassment

aoifeprettypurplepolkadots's review against another edition

emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Death, Genocide, Hate crime, Racism, Xenophobia, Vomit, Antisemitism, Death of parent, War, and Deportation

delz's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This is an amazing, beautifully written book that centers on one period in history, but is in fact a truth about anytime humanity exists. We saw dangerous words wielded to destroy during the Holocaust/2nd WW. We saw it happen in 40’s/50’s with McCarthyism and we see it now in 2024. The narrator is omniscient, because it’s death. Death sees all the destruction and the beauty and shares snippets with the reader throughout. Death follows the story of a little orphan girl, Liesel Meminger during her life as the foster daughter of Rosa and Hans Hubermann, living on Himmel St, in Molching, Germany. All of the characters feel real, are well fleshed out and as heartbreaking as this story is at times there is still joy to be found within their relationships. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Self harm, Suicide, Vomit, Antisemitism, Grief, Death of parent, and Abandonment

sierraclimbs's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad tense fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

This story was completely enchanting from the moment I pressed play on the audiobook. It somehow takes such a widely known event (the Holocaust) & tells a beautiful and tragic story from a unique perspective, Death. Because the story is narrated by Death, it gives a somewhat neutral perspective on the horrific events which I felt really let the reader experience the time for what it was, rather than a bias narrator. (Not that I think there is any gray area around the right & wrong of the holocaust. More so that it allows you to get in the headspace of just being a human living through that time. Rather than it being a historical retelling where you know what is the right & wrong choice) 
It was a truly raw & human experience reading this book. 
Highly recommend the audiobook. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Abandonment, and War

Moderate: Suicide, Xenophobia, Vomit, and Antisemitism

I find none of the content was excessive or exaggerated for shock value. If anything, it felt very thought out & deliberate to depict a reality of a horrific time period.

fuzzygazelle's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

Such a beautiful and timely book. I knew it was going to make me cry once I started getting attached to the characters but I didn't think i would ugly sob. But everyone is so lovable, the character progression of the Huberman family, Liesel and Rudy's growths, Liesel's relationship with everyone. It's funny at times and it's light-hearted when we are just seeing their lives and it makes it real. The narration is also really nice and unique and Death's propensity to spoil things just makes it even more tense. It's so beautifully tragic and sad.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Genocide, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racism, Suicide, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Bullying, Gore, Mental illness, Slavery, Kidnapping, and Abandonment

Minor: Alcoholism and Alcohol