Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.77 AVERAGE
3.77 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I absolutely adored this book, and it is now firmly my favourite. The book is not without flaws, and the first 50 pages are truly wtf. I could not however put this book down, crying and laughing on every page.
This wholesome book is ultimately uplifting, although you have to suffer some crushingly devastating moments - some of them agonizingly slow burners.
This wholesome book is ultimately uplifting, although you have to suffer some crushingly devastating moments - some of them agonizingly slow burners.
This is an astoundingly beautiful story of familial love. I cried through the majority of the book. It is stuck in my heart. No review can do this book justice.
This was such a let down! Rounding up to 3 stars because I just can’t do it to Zusak but I really didn’t enjoy this. So dull and confusing and just not great.
This is supposed to be poetical and symbolic, but mostly it's just confusing for confusing's sake. I liked the story of Penelope, and her boys, but it would have been so much better in a straight-narrative 250-page book. Not a 500+ page mishmash.
I normally like Markus Zusak's writing style, but here it was just tedious. Every other sentence was a fragment, and it just became very annoying and difficult to follow.
Really is a story told "inside out and upside down", which takes some getting used to but works well. An unusual book.
I loved this book!! Call me biased because Zusak is my favorite author, but man. Those 13 years were obviously worth it. 4 stars because I think I will understand and connect with the book even better in a few years when I get older.
I finally called it. I tried so hard to get into this book, but the writing style was just too eccentric for me. It felt like it was trying to sound cool and clever, but ended up feeling pretentious to me. The writing is choppy and vague, which I suppose is supposed to build intrigue, but i just wanted to yell, “spit it out, Markus!” Add in a whole bunch of unlikable characters, confusing family dynamics and a lot of language and I DNF’d. I feel like the idea of the story has the potential to be beautiful, but maybe in someone else’s writing
I tried to love this, I really did. I loved The Messenger and The Book Thief, but this... was a slog. I could feel Zusak overthinking everything as I read it, if that makes any sense.
The idea of the book was an interesting one, but the plot (if it can be labelled as such) is thin and meanders all over the place with not much of an ending to speak of, which would be fine if the characters were strong enough to hold my interest. But I just couldn't bring myself to care about them or their travails, which was a real bummer, because what I love about Zusak's past works is how richly drawn his characters are.
I'm giving it two stars because I'm fond of the author and there were some funny and lovely bits of writing. I thought the mother's backstory in particular was fascinatingly written and evocative of Zusak's heights as a writer, but he just couldn't sustain my interest over this mammoth brick of a book. Sorry, Markus. I swear I really tried.
The idea of the book was an interesting one, but the plot (if it can be labelled as such) is thin and meanders all over the place with not much of an ending to speak of, which would be fine if the characters were strong enough to hold my interest. But I just couldn't bring myself to care about them or their travails, which was a real bummer, because what I love about Zusak's past works is how richly drawn his characters are.
I'm giving it two stars because I'm fond of the author and there were some funny and lovely bits of writing. I thought the mother's backstory in particular was fascinatingly written and evocative of Zusak's heights as a writer, but he just couldn't sustain my interest over this mammoth brick of a book. Sorry, Markus. I swear I really tried.
It took a while to get into the story, I had no idea what was going on in the first 50 pages. But thank goodness I stuck with it. What a book. Themes focus on family, love, time and forgiveness. Heart wrenching, uplifting, a real journey. Haven’t been this lost in a book for a while. Please read it, and please push through the first 50 pages.