Reviews

This book!
When I fall in love with a book, the language and characters, I read at a moderate-to-quick clip, enthused to move on. When I near the end of such a book (The Prince of Tides, Peace Like a River, The Book Thief) I slow for those last twenty or so pages, hoping to elongate the reading experience. Wanting to hold on the created world and the inhabitants. This was true with The Book Thief. I loved the use of language, the unexpected dimension of the narrator and the brightness of The Book Thief and her friendships. Her deep love for people propped into her life at age nine is more the hallmark of her story than her blessed thievery.
Sitting with her in Nazi Germany caused me to listen more acutely to the ideas and difficulties posed, especially in such an unpredictably cruel world.
This book is exceptionally well-crafted.

laavelify's review against another edition

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emotional sad 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

5.0

drew_c's review against another edition

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emotional reflective 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? It's complicated

4.5

emilyrj's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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? No

5.0

miss_bct's review against another edition

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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

4.0

deeptichawla's review against another edition

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slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

susuuuu's review against another edition

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5.0

'if only she could be so oblivious again, to feel such love without knowing it, mistaking it for laughter and bread with only the scent of jam spread out on top of it. it was the best time of her life.'

i love this book so much it hurts to write this review.

a girl and her love for words, a man and his accordian, a woman and her curse words, a jewish fist fighter and his art, a boy and his love for his neighbor.

i love them all so much, they all touched my heart in different ways. i didn't think i'd love a historical fiction this much but this is going to live in my heart forever.

'i have to say that although it broke my heart, i was, and still am, glad i was there.'

set in the time of world war 2, in the time of nazi germany- liesel is sent to live with a foster family because her mother can no longer care for her, she moves to himmel street and lives with rosa and hans hubermann. she becomes best friends with rudy steiner. later comes max, my favorite- thinking about him makes me cry. their little family is the cutest and saddest. max is jewish and asks the hubermanns to let him take refuge in their home (knowing it's dangerous and regretting it but needing it)

everyone in the hubermann family had a role in max's life and that alone makes a bitch cry. i can't think about them without crying. him doing what he did to keep them safe???? kill me now.

➤ rosa & hans- opposite in every way but love each other so fiercely. rosa and her curse words- so misunderstood. hans and his kind, kind heart <3

'remember that she was the woman with the instrument strapped to her body in the long moon-slit night. she was a jew feeder without a question in the world on a man's first night in mulching. and she was an arm reacher, deep into a mattress, to deliver a sketchbook to a teenage girl.'

➤ liesel & rudy- best of friends. my babies, they deserve the world <333

'rudy steiner was scared of the book thief's kiss. he must have longed for it so much. he must have loved her so incredibly hard. so hard that he would never ask for her lips again and would go to his grave without them.'

➤ liesel & max. that's it. them <3

"often i wish this would all be over, liesel, but then somehow you do something like walk down the basement steps with a snowman in your hands."

the snowman, the weather reports, the gifts, the crosswords, the 13 presents, the books, the illustrations, the word shaker, the accordian, the reading, the learning, the basement wall, liesel's bed, the fireplace, the kitchen, ilsa's library, the cookies, the bikes, the soccer ball, the stealing, the genuine love.

A DEFINITION NOT FOUND
IN THE DICTIONARY
not leaving: an act of trust and love,
often deciphered by children.

.·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:·.

➻ 'and it would show me, once again, that one opportunity leads directly to another, just as risk leads to more risk, life to more life, and death to more death.'

➻ 'don't make me feel happy. please, don't fill me up and let me think that something good can come of any of this. look at my bruises. look at this graze. do you see the graze inside me? do you see it growing before your very eyes, eroding me? i don't want to hope for anything anymore.'

➻ 'certainly, war meant dying, but it always shifted the ground beneath a person's feet when it was someone who had once lived and breathed in close proximity.'

➻ 'the words were on their way, and when they arrived, liesel would hold them in her hands like the clouds, and she would wring them out like the rain.'

➻ 'usually we walk around constantly believing ourselves. "i'm okay" we say. "i'm alright." but sometimes the truth arrives on you and you can't get it off. that's when you realize that sometimes it isn't even an answer- it's a question. even now, i wonder how much of my life is convinced.'

➻ 'sometimes i think my papa is an accordian. when he looks at me and smiles and breathes, i hear the notes.'

i have hated the words and i have loved them, and i hope i have made them right.

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