Reviews tagging 'Police brutality'

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

49 reviews

lostinpaperbacks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

one of the best historical fiction novel's i've ever read

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Police brutality, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and War

neptunereign's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

ferretspies's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Genocide, Police brutality, and War

leocmd17's review against another edition

dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

A few issues with the structure of the novel

such as Death witnessing things he had no way of knowing or any way for Liesel to have known (Hans tripping over the child’s dead body?), and his morbid obsession with Liesel despite only meeting her three times before he finds her book. Why did he stay to watch her cry over her family and friends when he’s never seen doing that before and actively states he doesn’t like to do so. Slight plot issues which bugged me

but overall an emotional and engaging read

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Genocide, Hate crime, Racism, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Murder

isabellaft's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Genocide, Hate crime, Racism, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, and Murder

kweaver_pdx's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny informative sad medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Genocide, Violence, Police brutality, and Antisemitism

Moderate: Grief and Death of parent

booksjessreads's review against another edition

dark emotional sad fast-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? Yes

5.0

Honestly. Wow. I cannot even *begin* to put into words how I feel about this book, so really this isn't going to be a very good review for something of 5 stars.

The first thing I would like to say is that this book made me CRY. Uncontrollably. This is the third book in my life that's ever made me cry but I don't mind since this book was so worth it! It's ripped my heart out and torn it to shreds but until you pick it up yourself you will understand why I felt this pain, and why I say I don't mind.

It's set in Nazi Germany in WWII and gives such a poignant account of life for the main character Liesel. I loved her relationships with Hans, Rudy and Max. They all made my heart so full. And whilst I wasn't Rosa's biggest fan in the beginning, by the end I did really appreciate her.

What I found most interesting about the novel was how it was narrated by Death. Death had dark wit but also told the story in such a moving way. His telling of Liesel's life gives the story even more intrigue. I was just astounded by this element of the book and whilst sad and dark in places, it just kept the story interesting so much so that I just couldn't put this down. It was so poetic, had a powerful narrative and loveable characters.

Normally I go quite in depth with my reviews but this book has taken all the words out of my mouth so I am left speechless. It was truly incredible and I really urge you to pick this book up and give it a read. Make sure you have tissues near by. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Blood, and Death of parent

Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Death, Violence, Police brutality, Antisemitism, and Grief

birdbrainbooks's review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

3.5

This one is tough, because I know this book is beloved by many and I fully expected to love it. I didn’t dislike it—but I also didn’t connect to it the way I hoped and anticipated.

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The choice of having the character of Death serve as narrator is *chef’s kiss* and much of the writing is breathtakingly poetic. But all in all, the story itself wasn’t what I expected—it really consisted of a very long series of vignettes during protagonist Liesel’s childhood in her German town.

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And then, after so much time spent in detail on childhood antics and thievery, the ending was just so....sudden, sad, and bleak. I don’t like when I feel emotionally manipulated by books (looking at you, Kristen Hannah) and I feel like this one took the devastation a bit too far, too close to the end.

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The characters were memorable, but the story overall didn’t accomplish anything particularly new or interesting for me. Perhaps it’s because I grew up reading/watching so many World War 2 and Holocaust stories, and feel that time period is over saturated.

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I wondered if I didn’t fully connect because I listened on audio, but I don’t think that’s it—the narrator was great and I’ve connected with other books on audio. There were certain phrases that were so overused that it started to grate on my nerves. Maybe I just wasn’t the target audience, since it’s YA. But whatever the reason, it was without a doubt a good book but didn’t totally work for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Racial slurs, Racism, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, and Cursing

dune1984's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

As someone who is Jewish, I generally avoid reading about the Holocaust, especially books centered around goyim, but this book is one of the few exceptions. What can I say? It's the Book Thief. If you haven't read it, it's a slice of life from the perspective a girl who's adoptive parents are illegally harboring a Jewish man in Nazi Germany. It allows the Jewish character agency, which is rare (Cough cough, the boy in striped pajamas), and ends somewhat happily. It makes no attempt to empathize with the Nazis, and tells a story that is unique. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Genocide, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Grief, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Racism and Trafficking