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Copy/paste the text below into your blog. <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/19063.The_Book_Thief?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=blog_review" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="The Book Thief" border="0" src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/photo.goodreads.com/books/1167189036m/19063.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/19063.The_Book_Thief?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">The Book Thief</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/11466.Markus_Zusak">Markus Zusak</a><br/><br/> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/20643794?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review"><h3>My review</h3></a> rating: 5 of 5 stars<br/>Sometimes I read books so wonderful I think, "wow, I should never try to write anything because it will never be as good as this book." That happened when I read this. It happened over and over. And then, when I finished, I read the author's notes and discussion questions. That made me love it even more--he's so passionate about his characters, which is completely obvious when you read this book. <br/> <br/>Joyce Carol Oates, though I don't read as much of her as I ought to, has some of the most amazing chracter development I've ever read. The Book Thief is a very, very worthy oponent. I read Oates and am always amazed by how...hm...realistic, of course, the characters are, but, it's just a different sort of conciousness than we're used to, I think. Granted, we're all inside our own heads all the time, but with Oates and with this book, you get a taste of being inside the head's of many, and without that totally obtrusive, too close feeling. (ie: sometimes the more I get to know someone, the less I want to, but that's not the case with Liesel, Papa, Rudy, Max and Mama.) <br/> <br/>Second, books on World War II are usually something I find very intriguing. I honestly found this book without knowing much of the plot or outline, but I was pleasently suprised to find it was in league with Elie Wiesel's Nuit and Lois Lowry's Number the Stars (my WWII picks of yester-year closely followed by Lowry's autobiographical Autumn Street, which is different of genre simply because while it deals with WWII, it's set in The US rather than Europe). I have to say, the awareness of childhood as a mirror for books of this nature, it's so stark and...maybe helpful? At some level, the horrors of WWII are easier to take with such an innocence, they're also just as awful, if not twice as appauling--and this book took on an even more substancial edge, because Liesel and her foster family are all German's, rather than neutral or Jewish. This book provided a much needed and appreciated alternate view--you see how Germany wasn't necessarily supportive of the Fuher, but what else can you do? So, it was a nice, new perspective rather than those ridiculous psychological tests from the 1960s to see if German's might have been susceptible to authority and lack of questions...etc. <br/> <br/>And, lastly: the narrator is death. Let's talk about what a totally AMAZING, innovative, creative, intreguing narrator! AHHH! SO good! And, Death is someone you actually like: he's very to the point, he's clearly busy, he understand's human nature, though he seems to deal with aspects of it with a sigh and a nod, like an understanding parent. He is often reluctant, but never uncompliant himself, which was a nice compliment to the entire WWII situation. <br/> <br/>I loved reading about Death's metamorphisis throughout this book--originally he was too unfeeling, to callous, but eventually the right Death was found. In short, I just loved this book. I did. It was great. <br/><br/><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/219514?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">View all my reviews.</a>