Reviews tagging 'War'

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

448 reviews

artmuseam's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

truly heart shattering and emotional. this book knew exactly how to set fire to my emotions because at the end of the book i could barely read the damn words through my tears. the narration threw me off at first, just because it felt almost satirical, but i got used to it by part 2, and i seriously fell in love with all the main characters. it was so intimate to where i thought i was a part of the family and the town, and i especially loved the emphasis on how powerful words and stories are. this book killed me—in the best way possible. 4.5/5 stars <3

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Violence, and Antisemitism

rabmdbtinkerbelljune's review against another edition

Dark topics very sad 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Antisemitism, War, Gore, Gun violence, Death of parent, Child death, Hate crime, Death, and Grief

etaypoe's review against another edition

challenging sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Xenophobia, War, Death of parent, and Child death

amgarrido's review against another edition

emotional funny inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Death of parent, Violence, War, Genocide, Xenophobia, Racism, Death, and Murder

thegillbird's review against another edition

emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Death, War, and Child death

Minor: Suicide

beelzebub24's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Religious bigotry

Moderate: War

Minor: Death of parent

lyeve's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Beautifully heartbreaking.
As you follow the story of Liesel ("the book thief"), you slowly realize every horror the Holocaust caused, including to the German population. The poverty, the obligation to follow the rules set by Hitler, not knowing what exactly is happening, the helplessness. But also trying to make the best of what they had and living in the moment. 

The use of death as a narrator scared me at first, as it seemed like an almost cliche trope that could easily go wrong. Yet, it surprisingly works. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia and Death

Moderate: War, Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, and Physical abuse

octagon's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Antisemitism, Suicide, Death, Grief, and Police brutality

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Child death, Genocide, and Violence

Minor: Child abuse

lexilovesreadingandlaufey's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I have never cried while reading a book before, but this got me. I cried and this book will forever be in my heart. I, myself, am "Jewish Blood" and it breaks my heart reading this story about Liesel. I definitely recommend to anyone.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Grief, Genocide, War, Death of parent, and Violence

Moderate: Death, Child abuse, and Suicide

a_novi's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

This story is amazing, it’s not a feel-good story. It’s tragic and heart wrenching. There’s realism in the telling of a WWII story from the perspective of a young German girl who was too young to understand the evil involved. We watch her grow and learn of it though, and as the reader we can feel the pain, agony, fear, and grief if only just a fraction. It is even more nauseating to read this during the genocide of Palestine. The bombings still haven’t stopped and I can’t help but relate it to this story. How dare we as humans allow history to repeat in this way? The scene in this book when she steals a banned book from a book burning inspired me to finally research the banned books in my country. As expected, I’m appalled. Everyone should read this book and everyone should resist censorship and fascism. Everyone thinks if they were alive during the holocaust  that they would have hid a jew in their basement like the Hubermans but the truth is: whatever we are doing right now while we are watching a genocide take place today in Gaza is exactly what we would be doing. The answer is: not enough. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Blood, Death, Forced institutionalization, Confinement, Cursing, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Child death, Death of parent, Excrement, Grief, and Antisemitism