The Book Thief

"Powerful and beautiful! Some moments are heartbreaking "

"An astonishing book. Just finished, wiping tears as I write this. I started The Book Thief during the Library of Congress’s Great American Read. I almost put it down, but it began to captivate me. I am touched beyond words. Liesel is the beating heart of this book. She and her foster parents, Max, Rudy, Ilsa Hermann and a raft of compassionate human beings add immeasurable depth, joy and yearning to this tale of Hitler’s Germany. Zusak’s choice of Death as the narrator is a masterstroke. I will read this book again, once I dry my tears."

"Dnf 75% of the way thru<br/><br/>Sadly I believe this book wasn't for me or maybe I just didn't have the patience to finish it. Although the opening was disastrously beautiful. It started off so well. And I have watched the movie but couldn't remember the gist of it.<br/><br/>The characters were relatable and likable really I enjoyed parts of this book immensely. It was just you had to wade thru a lot of non essentails. I think I'm just not in the right mind set to read this story. It has great character build and other things but it gets a little tedious when this great things make up only a small portion. So as a whole I did not like this book.<br/><br/>And if you have read any of my reviews you know that if there is symbolism or anything if that nature it flies over my head. I believe that made up a lot of this story so that too could have been a key to it's demise for me."

"SO. GOOD. SO. PAINFUL."

"This is the best and worst book I've ever read. It's sad, engaging, beautiful, and intriguing. It definitely gives a sense of the horror of the Holocaust that we should all remember as to never repeat though it also gives a sense of the perspective from the people involved. Liesel is such an insightful girl and you can learn a lot from the way she responds to the situations presented to her. The perspective of the narrator is also something that really grips you as a reader. I definitely recommend this book if you like historical fiction but I do not recommend it if you have a soft heart and get phased by death and tragedy easily. (Like I do) I cried a lot towards the end but I certainly appreciate the wording and figurative language used in the writing of this book. Ok, so long story short, this is a super good book. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (5 stars)"

"long yet such a captivating book"

"This book omg this book🥹😭"

"They say the bigger or heavier the event, the smaller you write. That's precisely what Zusak decided to do when tackling a topic as dark as the Holocaust. Rather than write about the battles, politics, or the camps, Zusak focused on everyday people. Following the life of Liesel Meminger takes a very long time, and we see both snippets of her past, present, and future before it all comes together in the end. The narrator, which is fittingly Death himself, even tells you the ending before you get to the end. But it still hit me like a train, which shows that Zusak is an excellent writer who builds up all the small stuff to truly capture just how heavy WWII was for the people experiencing it. His writing style was unique, and I think it was meant to have more gravity than it did for me. But overall, a very meaningful read that I couldn't stop thinking about long after I finished it."

"I could never get into the style of the book. Felt more like homework to me than reading for fun. "

"I have a list of books I've not read since I was a teenager (I didn't get goodreads until like 2021 according to my profile) that I plan to do full rereads of and annotate and write in depth reviews of. I even have Harry Potter on that list, and I will be buying a Hufflepuff set (that's my house) from eBay because I hate Rowling. This book though - this book deserves ZERO stars and will never be reread and I hope my mom threw it away. I would like to start off with mentioning I'm literally half jewish ethnicity wise. I was raised culturally Jewish but no pressure to practice the religion. <br/><br/>This book trivialized the holocaust so heavily it's <i> disgusting </i> the author I believe doesn't even have any connection to the holocaust other than "well my mommy saw the Jews be marched off to the trains to go to the camps so I get to write this book." Well, sorry to say it, but you don't. <br/><br/>The only times I will ever be ok or comfortable with Goyim writing a book about the holocaust is if they are Romani, gay, or disabled or mentally ill because those people were also killed - maybe not in the same numbers but they were included. And if a goyim who has none of these connections has like a history PhD and writes their dissertation or something like that on the holocaust then fine because at least you care enough to do the research. This is the closest I will ever get to rereading in order to write a review. <br/><br/>I'd also like to point out that from what I've seen of the people I'm friends with on here, the majority of those who liked this book are goyim themselves. Every Jew I talk to today hates it and feels the same as I do - those in my personal life. No hate to those who enjoyed this book, but these are my thoughts and things I'd like to point out."