The Book Thief in Nothing But Reading Challenges

Jul 05, 2010 Chris rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: youth, young-adult, historical-fiction, fiction, europe, war, literary-fiction

I put off reading this book for years. I am wary of war books. But after loving Zusak's I Am the Messenger, I determined to give it a try. The book is absolutely brilliant, destined to be a classic, and Zusak is an amazing writer.
The idea of Death as the narrator seems gimmicky at first, but I found it to be an intriguing way to tell a story that has been told many, many times before. It sounds trite to say it made me think of death in a whole new way, but it's true.
Leisel sees death for the f I put off reading this book for years. I am wary of war books. But after loving Zusak's I Am the Messenger, I determined to give it a try. The book is absolutely brilliant, destined to be a classic, and Zusak is an amazing writer.
The idea of Death as the narrator seems gimmicky at first, but I found it to be an intriguing way to tell a story that has been told many, many times before. It sounds trite to say it made me think of death in a whole new way, but it's true.
Leisel sees death for the first time as she is traveling with her mother and brother to be handed over to a foster family in pre-war NAzi Germany. Her brother dies aboard the train, and the image haunts her. At his graveside she steals her first book, despite being illiterate. But it is her fascination with words that shape the rest of her life.
Bereft of her brother and seemingly abandoned by her mother, Leisel is forced into the home of Hans and Rosa Hubermann. Rosa is a churlish, cursing bull of a woman. Hans is a sweet and gentle house painter and accordian player. Next door is Rudy Steiner, who will become Leisel's best friend and romantic interest. All around them are the signs of Hitler's Germany. The swastika flags and pictures of the fuhrer. The dessecrated homes of Jews who once lived peacefully in the city. Rudy and Leisel and all their friends belong to the Hitler youth groups.
It makes you think how people must have really lived in these circumstances. As horrible as it may seem now, you have to understand that most people will go along to get along if it means keeping their own families safe.
So it is a huge deal with a young Jewish man shows up hoping Hans will make good on a promise made many years before to help him. The man lives in the Hubermann basement, never seeing the light of die. A deep relationship develops between Leisel and him. And again words and books become a key part of that relationship.
As the war progresses and Allied bombs begin to fall on the city their lives will be shattered in many different ways. The image of Death gently gathering up the souls that emerge from the chimneys at Dachau is seared in my brain.
I also loved the way Death told the rest of the story bringing closure and even a modicum of happiness. ...more

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Dec 29, 2009 Julie rated it really liked it

Who knew Death was such a compassionate soul, who remembers things by it's color, and is fascinated by the life (not death) of 9 year old German foster girl? Through Death's perspective, we watch Liesel Meminger become a thief (of the best kind) as she copes with the world going crazy around her. While losing her family, befriending Jews, living under Nazi rule, and dealing with her best friend, 9 yr old Liesel struggles to put her mind around what is going on with the world.

I am not someone wh ...more

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Feb 19, 2013 Shawna rated it did not like it

I must preface this review by stating that I only made it about 1/5th of the way through. This is one of those stories that I was really looking forward to because of all they hype that surrounded it. However I just kept putting it off because I never seemed to be in the mood to read it. Well I finally decided to just sit down and read the darn thing in preparation for the movie that's coming out later this fall.

As of right now, I'm still considering watching the movie. Afterall, it can only be I must preface this review by stating that I only made it about 1/5th of the way through. This is one of those stories that I was really looking forward to because of all they hype that surrounded it. However I just kept putting it off because I never seemed to be in the mood to read it. Well I finally decided to just sit down and read the darn thing in preparation for the movie that's coming out later this fall.

As of right now, I'm still considering watching the movie. Afterall, it can only be a couple of hours of pain versus the MANY hours this would take to get through. It's not that I don't see the literary merit this story possesses. I do. But reading it reminds me of the days in high school where we'd be forced to read a "great literary work of art" that I would find abysmal at best. (Don't get me wrong, there were a few I enjoyed, just not all.)

I will admit a small part of me wants to keep reading just to see what happens. But a much larger part wants to just wipe my hands clean of it and move onto something more enjoyable. Afterall, this isn't the only WWII/Holocaust set story. Here are a few reasons why I just can't stand to continue this:

1. The writing. As a whole, it's not terrible writing, as previously stated. But when it's bad, it's BAD. Example: "Chocolate-colored sky" Okay, um, pretty sure I've never seen a brown sky. Sure it can get gray and dark, but I have never seen a chocolate sky, even a "dark, dark chocolate" one. This is just one of many. In fact, the entire prologue I had a difficult time understanding what was happening because it felt like words were just mashed together to form some "great literary prose." To be fair, once into part one the horrible bits were less frequent and the story became easily understood, thus helping to make sense of the prologue as well. However a prologue is supposed to draw the reader into the story (at least last time I checked). The prologue did nothing for me, except make me question why it takes 550 pages to tell a story about a little girl stealing three books. Which brings me to my next point:

2. The Plot. And it's pacing. It's not that I didn't know what this story was about going in, because I did. However for the story being wholly fiction I would have expected for more plot to be thrown in to create the need for such a long story. Now granted, as previously stated, I did only make it through 20% of the book. But that's my point, at 20% there should be something going on that holds the reader captive to at least get to the 50% mark. But really all I can say that happens is she steals a book, goes to foster care, learns to read and write, and gets treated like trash. Okay...and? I kept hoping something would happen to hold my attention, but it never did. I felt like the story was going at a very slow pace and I just wanted to get on with it.

3. Death. At first I thought "okay, cool, things from Death's perspective. This should be intriguing considering the time period and at the very least it's different." Having the story narrated by Death wasn't a poor choice on the author's part. It had a definite potential to work really well. But Death's snarky little inputs and the interruptions in the story, just to add the snarkiness, were so distracting and VERY annoying. Also, looking at it from a very realistic perspective, how does Death know all the details of the story if he's so busy collecting souls? You can't expect me to believe he "watched" her entire life go by. How does that work then? Does he just automatically know everything? (I know it's kind petty, but since I'm tearing this story apart anyway, might as well throw that in.)

I could probably go on about why I will never be able to finsih this story, but let's just suffice it to say that this was just not a writing style that I enjoy. I certainly hope this is one of the very few cases where the movie is better than the book. ...more

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Apr 06, 2013 Wendy Kalthoff rated it it was ok

Shelves: could-mot-finish

I hated it. I am not sure, why though. All I know is that I wanted to slap the main charactes constantly. I could not finish it, and I never do that for a book. I foind the main characters to be whinny and annoying. I was hoping it would be another Anne Frank kind of book but it wasn't. ...more

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