From the Bookshelf of Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge…

The Book Thief

Markus Zusak,

Trudy White (Illustrator)

Start date: February 14, 2017

Finish date: March 8, 2017

Discussion: 2017 Read Harder Challenge

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2017 Read Harder Challenge

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What Members Thought

Aug 15, 2009 Astrid Lim rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, young-adult, tragedy, world-war, europe, lovely-heroine, popsugar-2017

Reread this for Popsugar Reading Challenge and it's still awfully good! Heartbreaking, beautiful, and memorable. Death is probably one of my most favorite narrators ever!! And since this is a rereading, I can savor the story a bit more slowly, and true, it's a tearjerker indeed. ...more

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Aug 05, 2008 Jaspreet rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I was excited to be able to pick next selection for the DC area book club I joined when we came to the area. When The Book Thief by Mark Zusak came out a few years ago, I read lots of wonderful reviews around the blogosphere. As I was browsing the Regulator book store in Durham one fine day, I saw the Book Thief had come out in paperback and I made the purchase! I was excited and curious to finally begin this novel to see if it lived up to the buzz. After reading quite a few "okay books," I was I was excited to be able to pick next selection for the DC area book club I joined when we came to the area. When The Book Thief by Mark Zusak came out a few years ago, I read lots of wonderful reviews around the blogosphere. As I was browsing the Regulator book store in Durham one fine day, I saw the Book Thief had come out in paperback and I made the purchase! I was excited and curious to finally begin this novel to see if it lived up to the buzz. After reading quite a few "okay books," I was thrilled that the Book Thief stole my heart immediately and kept me wanting more as I turned the pages. As soon as I started, I was drawn into the book. I found the story of Liesel very compelling. The book made my commute seem short and when we had long flights and a layover on a recent trip to Jamaica, the story made the time go quickly.

One of the things which made the story so compelling to me is that the story is told from the perspective of death. Death gives us insight into Nazi Germany, war, and anti-semitism. However, death makes the experience more human and accessible by sharing with us the story of Liesel. I loved her relationships with her foster parents, her best friend Rudy, and Max, the Jewish person her family hid in the basement. Another central part of the story is Liesel's relationship to books and how learning to read saves her life. I found it so poetic and tear inducing that each book theft was connected to a significant event in Liesel's life. At various points in the book, I found myself crying at the sweetness of interactions between the characters-- Liesel and Rudy, Liesel and her papa, Liesel and her mama, Liesel and Max.

Another aspect of the novel I really enjoyed is the way in which the complexity of the characters is developed. The conflict between wanting to fit in with the majority so as to not be harassed and following your conscious comes across in the decision of Liesel's parents to take in a Jewish person. I also loved the stories that Max shared with Liesel and the scene where she steps into the parade of Jewish people marching through her town is heart breaking. Many points in the book illustrate how even in the worst of times, the best of the human spirit emerges.

I am looking forward to the book club discussion of this book. ...more

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Nov 18, 2007 Ama rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: award-winner-honor, 2007, audiobooks, teen, historical-fiction, printz, sidney-taylor

This must be one of the best audiobooks I have listened to. The narrator was excellent. The story was compelling. I laughed. I cried. The final chapters were intense. Even knowing what is going to happen, I still found myself wanting to weep...not a good idea while driving! Although this is a teen book, I highly recommend it to adults as well.

This is such a wonderful story…full of love, laughter, joy, peace, hate, weeping, sadness and upheaval.

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May 20, 2008 lisa_emily rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fictions

I cried, a lot.

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Jul 14, 2008 Rebecca rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: bookclub-read

On Friday, my book club chose this book for March, and I picked it up on Saturday at the library. It is now Sunday, and I finished the book this afternoon. I was taking a break this weekend before writing two more papers and a take-home final and I thought, it’s been a really long time since I just got lost in a book for a day or so. So I did.

Besides the fact that I do NOT like sad books, I had been putting off reading this book because it was about Nazi Germany and the Holocaust. I feel like t ...more

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Jan 02, 2009 Jen rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, popular-fiction, world-literature

I loved this book. For some reason, even though this book has been on my radar for a while I was always a little hesitant to read it. I think I wasn't in the mood for the heaviness of a Holocaust book. However, I wish I had gotten there sooner. I was finally inspired after I had to read one of Zusak's other books (I Am The Messenger) because it was assigned to my students for summer reading. Growing up I always knew about the Holocaust but I'm not used to hearing a story from the perspective of ...more

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Oct 18, 2009 William rated it liked it · review of another edition

It kills me sometimes, how people die.

At first I thought this was going to be another of those woe-is-me type stories of somebody living with abusive foster parents. Fortunately it turned into something much more than that, although it never reached the heights it could have.

Having Death as narrator was nice although I felt more could've been done with this; at times you completely forget and it's just like a random third person narration.

Things started to tail off into the realms of boredom aro ...more

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Jul 24, 2009 Alison rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, bookclub

An interesting YA novel set at the start of WW2 in Germany. We follow Leisel, a young German girl, and her family. I liked this because it offers another perspective than the Holocaust works I'm familiar with -- we see how it affects regular Germans, as opposed to seeing things from a Jew's point of view. ...more

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May 23, 2009 Megan rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, young-adult, assigned-to-students, historical-fiction

Beautiful and heart-breaking all in one. I've read many books with WWII as the setting, but this one is unique - like nothing I've ever read before. I grew so attached to the characters that I cried on multiple occasions. (I know, ME crying...that has to tell you something!)

Update: Saw the movie and I'm reminded of how much I loved this book. I read it 4 1/2 years ago, and it's still with me. The words: it's all about the images Death (the narrator) gives us - the beauty this outsider sees in hu ...more

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Jan 26, 2010 Wendy E. rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: ya

I listened to this. The narrator was wonderful. I hate stuff about WWII. I really liked this book. The story is staggering. I couldn't put it down. I will recommend it and Zusak's other book, I Am the Messenger (also AMAZING), to many others. ...more

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