The Book Review: The Book Thief

The Fifth Book Review is on...

THE BOOK THIEF by Markus Zusak

The heartbreaking tale of a young girl finding herself in Nazi German after being abandoned by her mother, and witnessing her brother’s death she must face a new world complete with a different family.

Leisel Meminger finds herself at the door of 33 Himmel Street, a safe place surrounded by a world of words that she soon captures and manipulates to create a story... her story. A story that catches the eye of our narrator, of Death himself, and as World War 2 drags Death all over the world there is one thing that remains with him. The story of The Book Thief, of Leisel Meminger: Her cardboard Mother, accordion playing Father, her best friend with hair the colour of lemons, the Jew hiding in her basement and the mourning Mayor’s wife habituated in an unending library. All these characters and more interact with Leisel supplying her with words and stories that she herself will pass on over her time at 33 Himmel Street.

The Book Thief is inspirationally written, its layout is something I have never experienced before and it is truly magical. The narrator, Death is a character all of his own and brings a completely new level to the storytelling. His images are truly haunting in their subtlety. The characters are so real that by the end of the book you know and feel for each and every one of them.

Markus Zusak is the next Kurt Vonnegut. Do NOT be put off the section [in the store] this book is placed in. It might be a “teen read” but a “teen Book” it is not.

I laughed, I feared and I wept my way through the pages of this book.

Incredible... the one and only word I can use to describe this book... INCREDIBLE!

Read it... you would be CRAZY not to.

ThePoshGurl Rating:

5 JimmyChoos out of 5