The Book Thief in Aussie Readers

Aug 16, 2009 Mon rated it liked it

Shelves: ya

I was quite torn between giving The Book Thief a 3/5 and a 4/5. After all, you can't 'rate' a book, it is not a scale you can measure and there is no checklist where you can count the boxes you have ticked. There are only fragments of emotions and revelations that hollow and haunt once you complete it, and those are the only things left you can judge on.

It probably deserves a score more than 3/5, at least for its effort of getting my younger cousins to read something other than the Twilight sag ...more

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Feb 16, 2013 Paperback Princess rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: reviewed, library

Originally posted at Paperback Princess to view in it's entirety pls click here.

During world war 2 a little girl and her brother are being escorted by their Mother to Himmel Street where they've been adopted by an older couple, Rosa and Hans Hubermann. On the train trip there the little boy dies and Death comes for him and notices the little girl...this is her story, narrated by Death.

The little girl, Liesel Meminger, on the day of her Brother's funeral finds a book "A Gravedigger's Guide" and s Originally posted at Paperback Princess to view in it's entirety pls click here.

During world war 2 a little girl and her brother are being escorted by their Mother to Himmel Street where they've been adopted by an older couple, Rosa and Hans Hubermann. On the train trip there the little boy dies and Death comes for him and notices the little girl...this is her story, narrated by Death.

The little girl, Liesel Meminger, on the day of her Brother's funeral finds a book "A Gravedigger's Guide" and steals it as a remembrance of her brother's death a tangible item of remembrance and hence the title "The Book Thief".

This story tells of Liesel Meminger's life as she arrives at Himmel Street, as she is taught by Papa (Hans) to read her guide book, as she befriends Rudy Steiner who paints himself black to be like his idol, Jesse Owens an African-American Olympic champion, she befriends, fights and steals from the Mayor's wife, as she meets Max and befriends him and have the happiest time of her life with all four of them under one roof, up to the time that she was the only one left standing on Himmel Street, alone.

This novel is quite long but it's not a tedious read so persevere. Despite it's length it is a very entertaining and heart wrenching book filled with a mixture of laughter, joy, heart ache and tears. It also taught me many things about the war.

To be honest I do not know what else or how else to tell people about this book, it's brilliancy simply cannot be put into words. Hence, all I can say is that it's a must read for all and one that you are unlikely to ever forget once you've read it. Each part/chapter consisted of memorable story that added to the plot, I didn't feel that any parts of this book was a pointless tale, all contributed to the overall story. This is a beautiful book that all would appreciate. I do not normally read war books nor even have interest in war and I fell in love with this book. I personally think it should be written up to be a "classic" that's how good it was. ...more

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Sep 18, 2010 Jennifer rated it it was amazing

I loved this book, its imagery, its poetic turn of phrase, its poignancy, its honesty. It was recommended to me by Sarah Davis, illustrator of our book "Mending Lucille". I'm very glad she did! :) ...more

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