CRY.
challenging emotional reflective sad 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
emotional fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
inspiring reflective sad tense fast-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: No

4.5
I am glad I read this now and not when I was in high school because I would not have appreciated it then.
An absolutely remarkable and heartbreaking work of art, but you already knew that.
The amount of love radiating from Himmel Street, even amidst the tragedies of war, was an extremely well written undertone throughout the story. I felt very connected to pretty much every character, which is a compliment to Markus Zusak’s writing.
I wanted the best for everyone in this story and to be honest, I feel like it was delivered in a much different way than expected. With the exception of Liesel of course, but even her ending was one that I felt good about.
I shed many a tear in the last 15% of this book, but that’s how these well written historical fiction books always hit me.

p.s. shoutout Alex for letting me borrow his copy from 9th grade honors english

Even when I was in the middle of reading it for the first time, I told people that this was my favorite book. And it still is, 4 years later. It's just so beautifully written, even when it breaks your heart, it leaves you wanting more.

Good story, interesting characters, a good dose of emotion. The narrative style sounds pretentious at times.

Made me cry, damnit.
dark emotional inspiring sad 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

What can I even say about The Book Thief? It’s such a powerful and beautiful book. Moving, emotional, and unforgettable. Truly a masterpiece.

I have read a book that brought tears to my eyes after so long.
Narrator : Death
Protagonist : 14 year old girl who steals books in Nazi Germany

The book will make you hate Hitler and sympathize with the souls of every single person born in the 1940s Germany. The Jews. The common people who lost their sons and husbands to the war. Others who lost their entire world and begged for death.

The experiences of a 14 year old girl in those times makes many of our lifetime experiences put together seem minuscule : "She had seen her brother die with one eye open, on still in a dream. She had said goodbye to her mother and imagined her lonely wait for a train back home to oblivion. A woman of wire had laid herself down, her scream traveling the street, till it fell sideways like a rolling coin starved of momentum. A young man was hung by a rope made of Stalingrad snow. She had watched a bomber pilot die in a metal case. She had seen a Jewish man who had twice given her the most beautiful pages of her life marched to a concentration camp. And at the center of all of it, she saw the Fuhrer shouting his words and passing them around."

The book talks about how the war took away lives of entire families. Lives that could have been woven into complicated beautiful stories. All of them. Gone. Leisel's story and those of everyone around her will make you feel the pain of each and every single person among the millions who lost their lives in the battle.

While the scheming politicians sit in their offices giving orders, so many lives that meant so much to so many people are laid down in the name of the nation.