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cathwolfiereads's review against another edition
- 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
3.5
Graphic: Abandonment, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Medical trauma, Religious bigotry, Mental illness, Murder, Racial slurs, War, Death, and Grief
a_mac422's review against another edition
- 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? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Death, Abandonment, Genocide, Antisemitism, and War
ali_k0's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Genocide, Child death, Violence, Hate crime, Grief, Cursing, Antisemitism, Death, War, and Abandonment
nebulasaurus's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Moderate: Child death, Grief, War, Xenophobia, Religious bigotry, Cultural appropriation, Abandonment, Death, Antisemitism, Genocide, Hate crime, and Death of parent
hoarde_of_words's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Violence, Blood, Child death, Antisemitism, Death of parent, War, Cursing, and Death
Moderate: Abandonment, Alcohol, Forced institutionalization, and Genocide
burnt_amber89's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
The poetry of the text is incredible, it is so poignant, and yet extremely accessible. The fact that we know from the very beginning that the ending will be terrible doesn't make it any less dramatic, which is the sign that the book is beautifully written and that the characters are particularly believable. I honestly felt something akin to grieving at the end, and even several times throughout the book.
I had seen the movie prior, and even though I loved it, I can honestly and easily say that the book is far superior, in the sense that words convey so much more meaning than simply images. Words are actually almost a character in their sense, and they play an important role in the story, that I don't think I grasped while watching the movie.
In the book, you get to know the characters intimately, spend a lot of time with them, accompany them through some life-changing events in a way that is even more touching than in the film. The little details, the mundane observations, the everyday poetry really had an effect on me. It gripped me from the very first sentences to the very last ones, and my throat still aches now that I think about it again a few days after I finished this wonderful book. As far as I'm concerned, it's an easy 5*.
Graphic: Grief, War, Genocide, Violence, Abandonment, Antisemitism, Child death, Death, and Death of parent
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Cursing, Mental illness, Physical abuse, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Fire/Fire injury
sarahaf712's review against another edition
2.0
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Death, Death of parent, War, Antisemitism, Child death, Confinement, Racism, Medical trauma, Abandonment, Police brutality, Violence, Emotional abuse, and Grief
Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Gun violence, Sexism, Xenophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, and Suicide
Content warnings: Holocaust; Nazis; SS and Gestapo; death marches; bombing; corpseschloeloi's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Genocide, Grief, Death of parent, Cursing, Antisemitism, Death, War, and Violence
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Hate crime, Religious bigotry, Child death, and Suicide
Minor: Abandonment
bhagyasree's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Hate crime, Confinement, and War
Moderate: Death, Torture, Slavery, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, and Violence
Minor: Abandonment, Child death, and Death of parent
joan_salder's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
It tore me apart!
That is not all I would say about this book.
I am astonished by the context and perspective of the story, as it is told by someone we have never met: Death. Death says he's haunted by humans, and I believe he's right. We are born to die or we die to be born again, I don't know, secrets are still secrets. The souls, the people, we make links with them, we love them, knowing that one day none of us will exist, not only on earth, but also in the minds.
A reassuring announcement: Please, be calm, despite that previous threat. I am not violent. I am not malicious. I am a result.
Papa (Hans Hubermann), just blew my heart away as he died. His death was more tragic than the rest. Oh dear Rudy. Do you have any idea how much Liesel loved you? Don't you know how she feels about your death? Oh no! All you cared about was that kiss you never received from her. Is that so? Eh? The tragic deaths of all the people around and death tells so peacefully, as if it sedated them. I cannot help but love every character, even death. Everything is beautiful in this book. The kiss, the theft, the mini-stories of Max, the presents given to Max by Liesel, the accordion, the insults of Rosa Hubermann (Mama) and everything. The accordion breathes as Papa breathes, Papa is the accordion. He is the sweetness of music and the taste of music, the keys and the notes because he is the accordion.
One opportunity leads directly to another, just as risk leads to more risk, life to more life and death to more death
The accordion and the book, they bought the characters together. Papa with Rosa, Liesel with Papa, Rosa with Liesel, Liesel with Rudy, Papa with Max and Max with Liesel. It is unbelievable that two normal things which are often found in the world could bring people together and save someone's life, but life is surprising in its many ways.
Hitler truly deserved the death he received in my view because he is a whore
'When death captures me,' the boy vowed, 'he will feel my fist on his face.
One story I cannot deny is "The Word Shaker." Words have the power to destroy us, to rebuild us, to convince, to reject and to even capture the world. Liesel, at such a young age, has understood something years of experience cannot and that means she has experienced the world in these few years?
'After all,' he said, 'you should know it yourself - a young man is still a boy, and a boy sometimes has the right to be stubborn.'
Papa is heaven and anyone cannot prove it to be wrong that that is why he lives in Himmel Street. He is a teacher, a friend, a best friend, an uncle, a husband and a father. Liesel may have seen or not seen her father but Papa is the only true father she had.
Mama. What could I say about her? She is a coconut: hard on the outside but soft in the inside. My opinions changed about her when she hugged Liesel for the first time after she had a bath. I can say nothing more because she is heaven's wife.
'His hair is like feathers.'
The Jew fist-fighter is the one that broke my heart for the first time in the book when he left Liesel and Papa and Mama with the thought that they would get caught because of him. No, he shouldn't have, but yes he should have because that is how he survived.
The lovely Rudy Steiner is the little miracle that happened in Liesel's life. He is like a pure golden chain that when tugged at, breaks. Oh dear Rudy.
Liesel Meminger hated herself for being in the basement, writing her stupid story, but no, it was not her fault at all. It was the stupid Fuhrer that did all that happened.
It is my favorite book of all time and I loved it more than anything out there, just like Liesel.
A Masterpiece
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Grief, Physical abuse, Blood, Abandonment, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, and Slavery
Minor: Cursing, Alcohol, Violence, and Bullying