The Book Thief by Markus Zusak Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Book Thief
Book Review: "Beautiful moments in ugly times"
Summary: 5 Stars
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak is a brilliantly crafted and gorgeously written piece of historical fiction. Narrated by Death (who does not carry a scythe by the way, but is otherwise tickled by the oft used description), it is a story about a young girl growing up with foster parents on a poor street outside Munich during Nazi Germany.
This is a story that reminds us that war and death are best friends, people are not always as they seem, and simple acts of kindness sometimes change the world. Please, do yourself a favor, read this book. Simply magnificent!
Book Review: "My Heart Is So Tired"
Summary: 5 Stars
I just finished this book last night staying up later than normal because I just could not put it down. I'm the type of reader who finishes everything they start and, I have to admit when I began this book, I wasn't sure I was going to be able to continue no less finish it. Thank goodness I plowed on because after thirty pages or so, I was hooked. Like many other reviewers have commented, I don't understand why there is a "young" adult sticker right on the front of the book. I think that's poor marketing and, if it wasn't for word of mouth, the average "old" adult reader would not be purchasing this book. Be that as it may, I'm just thankful that so many reviewers here raved about it enough to pique my interest.
There's so much that can be said about this book but the common denominator will always be "words". The main character is a little girl named Liesel (Zusak giving her a pretty name which conflicts with the atmosphere of the book) and right away he adds something to the experience by this word. In a world of war and bombing and fear, we have the word "Liesel" to even things out and give the reader some pleasure every time they say her name. Like the bombs falling on Germany, Liesel is dropped off at the home of the Hubermann's who will become her foster parents. The foster mother Rosa is a big mouth and someone to be feared if it weren't for the fact that she has a huge heart. The foster father Hans is the kind of father every girl should have and it is he who teaches Liesel how to read. Her love of reading and her love of "words" will get her through one of the hardest times in German history.
Showing another side of Nazi Germany, Zusak relates how it wasn't only the Jews who died at the hands of Hitler. There were also so many Germans who died because of this monster. They either had to join the Nazi party or get taken away with the Jews. Those who weren't taken away had to face the bombing of their towns by the Allied forces. At a time when Hitler was destroying people with his words, Liesel found a way of saving them with hers. She learned from Max, a Jew they were hiding in their basement, how to steal these words back from the "Fuhrer" and just how powerful this could be.
To say she was a thief is really stretching it but her obsession with the written word forced her to covet any book she could get her hands on. The goodness of an unexpected woman brings something into Liesel's life that no one else could......a world full of words right at her fingertips.
The most unusual part of the book is the narrator "Death" which might turn the reader off at the onset. But deep into the book, you almost come to love this character and how gently he lifts the souls out of the dying bodies with such care and love. As the saying goes, "Death waits for no man" but this narrator did wait until they were ready to come to him. As you can imagine, this was a very busy time for death himself as war and death are best friends. The narrator (death) explains that war is like the boss at your shoulder wanting more and more until death (the character) becomes very weary. It's almost funny to think of death as a character in this book but you come to forget that he's not real.....or perhaps he's more real than life itself.
I could go on and on about The Book Thief. It's one I won't soon forget and I encourage you to read it no matter what your age. And a note to the publisher....take that stupid "young adult" sticker off the cover!!!
Book Review: "The Book Thief"
Summary: 4 Stars
A different type of story about a young girl alone at the begining of WW2 in Germany. How she survives and what life was like during that time. The author has done a good job in describing the characters in the book. Anyone who lived through this historic period probably knows about the war and the battles but little about how people survived on the home fronts. The book held my interest but I am not sure I liked how the book ended.Book Review: "The Book Thief" is Beautifully Written
Summary: 5 Stars
"The Book Thief" is a fantastic book, beautifully and creatively written, about a story balanced by dramatic highs and lows. From the plot, to the narrator, to the themes, this book is clever and insightful towards humanity. I was touched, laughing and crying throughout.Book Review: "The Book Thief"- from the Perspective of a High School Student
Summary: 5 Stars
The Book Thief
By: Markus Zusak
Illustrated. 576 pages
Alfred A. Knopf. $8.63
(Ages 13 to 18)
Neil Sheth, HLW- 2
Ms. Hagberg- Cohen
02/16/10
Markus Zusak, an innovative and poetic novelist, tries to compel the reader with his mesmerizing and creative story along with implementing poetry and suspense in this historical fiction novel.
Zusak, an Australian author, grew up hearing stories about Nazi Germany and knew it was a story he wanted to express through his poetic language. "But there were still rebellious children and people who didn't follow the rules and people who hid Jews and other people in their houses. So there's another side to Nazi Germany," says Zusak. Through his implementation of suspense, the so- called literary phenomenon is almost an unfolding path in the reader's mind.
Although Zusak brings about a novel that brings a story to life in one's mind, the message that the submerging narrator, Death, imposes is somewhat unclear. The purpose of incorporating a narrator with a different perspective is an innovative pizzazz to the story, but the message still lies vague. In this historical fiction novel, a moral of some kind is what perfects the comprehension of the time- period, and of the writer's abilities.
Creative writing is one of Markus Zusak's strengths, especially evident in The Book Thief. Zusak presents a myriad of accounts from his mother in Germany, and compiles these small explanations of human interactions into an amazing masterpiece of historical fiction. Tying together these stories is what needs to be reinforced for the reader to grasp the meaning of the story. The love that the family and the Jew create is binding even through the pages of the novel. Zusak entices the reader through suspense, sorrow, and exuberance in this composition.