Reviews - The Book Thief | The StoryGraph

35.6k reviews for:

The Book Thief

Markus Zusak

4.46 AVERAGE

im_karen's review against another edition

5.0

emotional sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Loveable characters: Yes

nfricke's review against another edition

4.5

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious 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: Complicated

tyatwood's review against another edition

2.0

I’m torn and a little bit baffled. I don’t know if my expectations were too high or if I really just didn’t enjoy this book. I’m confused by all of the reviews that suggest it’s well written, because the writing is truly terrible. The language did absolutely nothing for me except make me cringe. The underlying story has merit, but I was often too distracted by the awkward syntax (ugh the passive voice!) and overwrought (read: utterly meaningless) descriptions to focus on what was actually happening. Death as narrator was contrived and cheesy and didn’t work for me. Why make Death a character if it has no agency? Don’t get me started on the side notes in bold. The characters were admirable and sometimes endearing, but overall the execution was so thoroughly underwhelming it felt like an actual chore to get through all 550 pages of this book. So disappointing.

evelynne23's review against another edition

5.0

dark emotional sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Content Warnings

pipparobin's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

yuli_vd's review against another edition

5.0

emotional informative 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: No

This is an amazing book. I read it my sister read it and I recommend it to anyone who will listen. The characters are lovable. It gives an insight to the tragedies and the struggles of the time and the narrator makes the story more personal as if he were talking to you directly.

gabbyroarty's review against another edition

5.0

emotional funny reflective 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

I think as we see shifts in international and American culture, the theme of criminality and what is a crime (against humanity versus “the law”) ring sooo true.