Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

42 reviews

a_novi's review

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dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense 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

4.75

This story is amazing, it’s not a feel-good story. It’s tragic and heart wrenching. There’s realism in the telling of a WWII story from the perspective of a young German girl who was too young to understand the evil involved. We watch her grow and learn of it though, and as the reader we can feel the pain, agony, fear, and grief if only just a fraction. It is even more nauseating to read this during the genocide of Palestine. The bombings still haven’t stopped and I can’t help but relate it to this story. How dare we as humans allow history to repeat in this way? The scene in this book when she steals a banned book from a book burning inspired me to finally research the banned books in my country. As expected, I’m appalled. Everyone should read this book and everyone should resist censorship and fascism. Everyone thinks if they were alive during the holocaust  that they would have hid a jew in their basement like the Hubermans but the truth is: whatever we are doing right now while we are watching a genocide take place today in Gaza is exactly what we would be doing. The answer is: not enough. 

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te_ss_i's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0


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crina12's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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? Yes

5.0

I just finished this book and I cannot stop crying. This book gave me so many different emotions throughout. The writing is absolutely amazing. The Book Thief truly is revolutionary.

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cc_shelflove's review

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challenging reflective sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

I have a lot of mixed emotions surrounding this book. First things first: I wish I could have protected Papa at all costs! 🥺 The relationships between Zusak’s characters felt strong and true. Papa and Liesel’s bond was so strong he entrusted the 10-year-old girl with his largest secret: he was hiding and helping a Jewish man, Max, in his basement. Oh, and the gift Max made Liesel for her birthday… 😭 Yet another strong connection featured in this book!

Where I struggled with this bestseller was its third-person point of view. Personally (and please don’t come at me for this), I wasn’t a fan of Death being the narrator, but I commend the author for his originality. Death’s recollection of events lacked emotion at times, and I wished I could see certain happenings through Liesel’s or Max’s eyes instead. Death also often referred to events that hadn’t happened yet, which was a bit confusing for this reader. I would much rather have read Liesel’s ‘dusty black book.’

A central theme in The Book Thief was the power of words. I enjoyed watching Liesel use a tome to bring neighbors together in a bomb shelter, in a time of uncertainty and fear. The author did a nice job of bringing this theme to a close in the epilogue as well. Overall, it’s possible I might have enjoyed this more if I hadn’t read The Little Liar so recently; that novel will reign superior in my mind. 

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pandemonicbaby's review against another edition

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dark emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-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

Wow. I just bawled my eyes out with the last few chapters.
I should've known. The subject of death always makes me cry.

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samcsmith's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0


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corvicore's review

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dark emotional hopeful 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

5.0


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lindasoderlundd's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0


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paddy_chh's review

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

4.5


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jg34's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional funny sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

Sorry I can’t write a review yet bc I’m still crying my eyes out 

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