The Book Thief: Reviews by 2016 Reading Challengers

[Winter, Group Reads]

Tell us what you thought of the book! You can leave your review here. Even if you read the book outside of the group, please feel free to let us know what you thought of it.

Please make sure to mark your spoilers by typing "[spoiler]" at the start and [/spoiler] at the end but replacing the []s with <>s.

[Barbara]

I didn't like it so much. I think it was really hard to get into Liesel's world and mind. And sometimes she was pretty annoying for me.

The good thing is (view spoiler)[ that I finally understood the point of view of the German people during the war. They also suffered. My favorite character was Death. I got goose bumps while reading her narration. (hide spoiler)]

[Sheeni]

I have read this one a really good read.. brilliantly written, and a different viewpoint

[Stephanie]

I read this earlier in the year and while I enjoyed it, I really didn't like that it was written from the perspective it was written. From the get go you knew awful things had happened and that kind of ruined it for me. That said, I still enjoyed it well enough. There are some very powerful moments, for sure. I really liked that it let you see the war from the perspective of normal Germans who were just trying to get by. I am really looking forward to seeing what everyone else thought of it!

[Kara]

Five stars from me

What a beautiful, beautiful book. I can't think of anyone I wouldn't recommend this to.

I don't want to write much about the plot for fear of giving something away, but I will say that I unexpectedly loved that this was narrated by Death. Zusak pulled this off in a classy way--it wasn't gimmicky at all.

I'll admit it: I cried. "Cried" might not be a strong enough word. I wept. It's been a long time since a book made me feel this much. I thought all of the foreshadowing (Death constantly gives away what will be happening later in the book) would lessen the impact of the events when they finally came around; it did not.

Read this one.

[Zara's Retreat]

Kara wrote: "Five stars from meWhat a beautiful, beautiful book. I can't think of anyone I wouldn't recommend this to.

I don't want to write much about the plot for fear of giving something away, but I will sa..."

I couldn't agree more with you Kara about this book. It's really good.

[Jewel]

I read this book earlier in the year so I won't be rereading it this month, but I really LOVED this book. I listened to the audiobook and the narrator really brought the book to life (and helped with the German pronunciation!!).

I was most interested to hearing Death's POV and the beginning was just beautiful with the description of colors. I enjoyed how Death just told the reader who died because that is just not normal in a book and I found myself wondering when the character would die.

[Andrea]

I've owned this book for a long time, and started reading it once before, but didn't get too far. I do not like the narrator: Death. I find his comments extremely distracting from the story. I loved the characters, but I do not like the way they address each other with insults. It slowed down my appreciation of Rosa, who turned out to be a very compassionate person, but disguised it well behind her gruff exterior. The Book Thief is the third book I've read this year that deals with the Holocaust

[Taylor C]

Do we find out who the narrator is early on in the prologue? Because I totally didn't catch that and now I'm honestly not excited about this book anymore.

[Ania]

Kara wrote: "Five stars from meWhat a beautiful, beautiful book. I can't think of anyone I wouldn't recommend this to.

I don't want to write much about the plot for fear of giving something away, but I will sa..."

I read this book a couple of days before joining this group and I must say, your review Kara is exactly what I would say about The Book Thief. A wonderful, powerful and very special book. 5 stars from me (although I cried at the end ;) ) !

[Zara's Retreat]

My daughter and I did some research on Markus Zusak and discovered that his mother's name was Elisabeth and as far as we're aware Liesl is a German name for Elisabeth. The more we investigated the more we felt that the book, although fictional, was in fact the story of his mother's life during the second world war. Not sure if this is the case but if it is it just highlights how gifted this author is. It's a really powerful book.

[Winter, Group Reads]

That's very interesting Zara! Liesl can very well be a Gernan variant of Elisabeth.

[Taylor C]

Zara wrote: "My daughter and I did some research on Markus Zusak and discovered that his mother's name was Elisabeth and as far as we're aware Liesl is a German name for Elisabeth. The more we investigated the ..."

One of my friend's name is Liesl, and she has confirmed the meaning behind her name. :) Her mom just liked the name, but she has said in that past that it stands for an oath.