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Book Review of The Book Thief

The Book Thief
The Book Thief
Author: Markus Zusak
Genre: Literature & Fiction
Book Type: Paperback
kacey14 avatar reviewed The Book Thief on + 47 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 4


This is a powerful story that grabbed me at the first page, and didn't let me go until the last page. I'm surprised it's classified as a Young Adult book instead of Adult fiction because of the complexity of the story line. But hey, I haven't qulaified as a Young Adult reader for quite awhile, and the wider the audience this book gets, the better!

Death is the narrator of this book, and it's set in a suburb of Munich Germany during WWII. Liesel is the 'book thief' and the story revolves around her harsh experiences during the lead-up to and during the war.

The story is engrossing and harrowing. Each chapter has word images that will stay with me a long time. Foster parents, close neighbors, a Jew hidden in the basement all form a new family for the original one that Liesel loses in the opening pages of the story. The writing is just stunning, and the pace moves quickly.

I highly recommend this book for anyone that wants to understand the toll WWII took everyday folks in Germany. There are villians and heros alike, just as there are in life. It was an amazing book!