The Book Thief

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Didn't Quite Steal my Heart - Rated
An interesting ploy to have DEATH narrate this quaint tale of a young German girl stumbling upon and stealing various books whilst World War 2 and the holocaust is buzzing all around her.

For me it didn't quite hit home as a GREAT, but nonetheless it has a certain charm - and worth a run if you've got the time; at 560 pages you're going to need it as the events are fairly pedestrian.

Oh, give it a go...then tell me I'm wrong!

Death makes a fabulous narrator!! - Rated
I actually started to read this book with reluctance. It's everywhere in the book shops, always on some sort of offer, everyone appears to have read it. This puts me off! I don't know why. A need to be different I guess. But it had excellent reviews and for once I wasn't going to let my stubbornness get the better of me.

So I started to read The Book Thief. It's narrated by Death, different I thought, but it worked. Yes you know who's going to die before you actually read about it, but why do we have to be surprised by death! I feel that if Death hadn't prepared me for the ending of this book it would have felt a bit OTT, or I would have been so overcome with emotion I wouldn't have appreciated how life affirming this book is. The book would not be the same without the narrator.

It was an easy read. I found I'd made it through a hundred pages in no time at all, always a nice feeling. But my entire outlook on the book changed when Max's first book is given to Liesel. I was hooked; I couldn't put the book down!

The Book Thief made me laugh, and for the first time whilst reading a book, it made me cry! Some people have said that they haven't enjoyed it as it was depressing. Yes it's sad, but I feel completely enlightened having read it. It's set in a tragic time, it's narrated by death, it's going to be depressing. But above all this, it is beautiful and extremely thought provoking. It is interesting to be reading a war story from a German point of view. I think it's very easy to forget that thousands of German people lost their lives during WWII and this book is a stark reminder of this.

I have read that they are going to be turning this book into a film. If it is done well the film should be amazing! If the book made me cry I cannot imagine the mess I would be in by the end of the film. Read this book, it's important!

One of my favourite books - Rated
It is original and touching. A beautiful story which made me cry, a rare event.

unforgetable - Rated
This book is so different from any thing else I have read. The plot is original and unforgetable, the writing is brilliant. Read this book it will stay with you for a long time after you've finished it.

Quite frankly, a masterpiece - Rated
The Book Theif is amazing. If you're going to read about WW2, you need to do it this way. Narrated by Death, you might expect it to be hugely harrowing, but it's not - Death is suprisingly quirky and human about things. It's a beautiful story about friendship , defiance and, of course, World War Two. It's the story of a German girl, Liesel Meminger, displaced and alone. She's taken in by bad-mouthed Rosa and Softly-spoken Hans Hubermann. Then they hide a Jew in their basement, and Liesel's world is turned upside-down as she stuggles to maintain a 'normal' lifestyle in the face of danger.
It's a fresh way of looking at the war - from the eyes of the German civillians.

It's a must for everyone. It's harrowing (I cried A LOT) but so rewarding and enlightening that it's very much worth it. And, hey, if it can make you cry, it's a sign of a good book!