The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Title: The Book Thief
Author: Markus Zusak
Availabily in school library: No
Genre: Young Adult, Historical Fiction,

Blurb: 1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier. Liesel, a nine-year-old girl, is living with a foster family on Himmel Street. Her parents have been taken away to a concentration camp. Liesel steals books. This is her story and the story of the inhabitants of her street when the bombs begin to fall.








Are you looking for a good, light read? Something you could go through on one sitting? A book that will easily allow you to hop on to another while you're finished?

This is not what you're looking for.

Do you want to read a book that will leave you shaken, staring into a wall?

Congratulations! You're in the right place.

When I started reading The Book Thief  I didn't know what to expect. I just knew everybody seemed to love it. Book narrated by death? Cool. A young girl stealing books? Interesting. But how good can it possibly be? The answer: absolutely and infinitely great.

This is one of those books that you have to read slowly, pay attention to the smallest details and sometimes even go back a chapter or two to reread. If you don't do those, sooner or later you'll get lost. The Book Thief throws you into a future, pulls you back to the present and then kicks you into past for a while. It's a little disorienting but it's one of many things that makes it so unique and loved. While reading the book, I became really attached to the characters, not only the infamous book thief. That's why the last 100 pages were so devastating. I was fascinated and angry, laughing and crying all at the same time. Because of that, I ended up loving this book like so many others.

Now, there comes the reason why I won't give this book full five stars. The reason was the character of Death itself. A) I just can't imagine Death breathing. It was mentioned several times and I don't comprehend that. I associate breathing with something alive, something physical so for obvious reasons I think it shouldn't have been mentioned in relation to Death. B) I don't like the fact that Death is a 'he'. I also don't think it should be a 'she'. The only logical choice for me would be if Death were an 'it'. Those are the only two things that I thought could have been different.

At this point I can say that the hype and praise for The Book Thief is absolutely deserved. It's raw, it's honest and it's beautiful. It can't be described in any other way. I'd recommend it for anybody and advice not to get too comfortable in their seat 'cause this book is surely going to shake them.