Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

198 reviews

puffins's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense 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: Death, Antisemitism, War, Genocide, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Blood, and Child death

Minor: Suicide

patchedspines's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective relaxing 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Abandonment, Death, Blood, War, Grief, Suicide, Cursing, and Death of parent

fuzzygazelle's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

Such a beautiful and timely book. I knew it was going to make me cry once I started getting attached to the characters but I didn't think i would ugly sob. But everyone is so lovable, the character progression of the Huberman family, Liesel and Rudy's growths, Liesel's relationship with everyone. It's funny at times and it's light-hearted when we are just seeing their lives and it makes it real. The narration is also really nice and unique and Death's propensity to spoil things just makes it even more tense. It's so beautifully tragic and sad.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Violence, War, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Xenophobia, Suicide, Racism, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Genocide, Death, Child death, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Medical content, Death of parent, and Hate crime

Moderate: Abandonment, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Slavery, Bullying, and Gore

Minor: Alcoholism and Alcohol

raspberryjelly's review

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

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

4.5

Really great book, a few of the characters didn't have much to too them literally and figuratively.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Cursing, War, Murder, Death of parent, Death, Genocide, Racism, Religious bigotry, Antisemitism, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Blood, Gun violence, and Hate crime

Minor: Suicide, Deportation, Abandonment, Bullying, Child abuse, and Alcohol

smolone13's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful 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? No

4.5

 

Ratings:

Goodreads: 4/5

Storygraph: 4/5

My Rating: 4.5/5

Synopsis:

The narrator, Death, follows a young girl, Liesel, on her journey where she becomes a book thief set in World War II.

My Review:

Starting off with the first character we are introduced, Death. Death is an interesting choice for a narrator. You would think Death as cruel but Zusak writes Death as a being that is sympathetic when it comes to people’s times. Death is intrigued by humans and is haunted by humans. Death finds Liesel to be an interesting human and can’t help breaking away from her and follows her around as she becomes a book thief. Liesel is a young girl who witnesses her six-year-old brother’s death, her mother leaving her at a foster home, and even at the end witnesses her crush and foster parents die. Liesel first steals a gravedigger’s book, and although she can’t read she becomes fascinated with the thought of reading. Her adopted father helps her learn how to read and although her adopted mother seems harsh at first, she is actually a huge softy towards Liesel. Once Liesel learns how to read, she is not only given books but also steals books, until she is given a book by a Jew. A book that he created himself. Later she wrote her own book titled the book thief.

The book is set in World War II, Germany. The setting shows how it was for Jews, Germans, and even the poor Germans who were witnessing the genocide that was happening in their front yard. The entire story of their family dynamic is depressing. They are a poor German family who end up losing a majority of their business not only because of the war but because they don’t immediately join the Nazi party. In which case they end up suffering even more and work off of scraps. When the Jews are being taken away, more of their money is gone. The family witnesses people being committed for something that makes no sense. Off of just who they are and their religion. People being sent to war and a number of their friends and neighbors dying.

The plot is Liesel discovering herself. Even though she steals a few books, it is really her learning about what makes a family a family. What makes books so special and the significance words hold. What making connections can do. She begins to learn what happiness is. She learns about community. The entire book is her discovering herself. However, it is also her realizing how cruel the world can be as she starts to lose everyone in just a short period of time. Through the bad, some good did come out of it. She discovers her true self, finds a home with a father who lost his entire family in one night, is reunited with the Jew that lived in her basement, and moves away to start her own family.

This entire book was a roller coaster. It wasn’t even a turn of events, it was just all emotion. It started off depressing for Liesel just to pick her up and have her believe that her life was good to crash down in a single night. I think it not only shows what was going on in World War II in Germany, but also what is currently happening to some families in other countries. What could happen in just a short amount of time and how we should appreciate every experience. I love World War II books, and although this wasn’t my favorite, it was something I truly enjoyed reading and would probably pick up again.

 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Genocide, War, Suicide, Child death, Death of parent, and Police brutality

dutchessofbooks's review against another edition

4.0

Ugh that ending was way too bloody heartbreaking :(

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Content Warnings

Minor: Suicide

te_ss_i's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Cursing, Confinement, Classism, Bullying, Suicide, Emotional abuse, War, Medical content, Antisemitism, Abandonment, Torture, Racial slurs, Misogyny, Child death, Child abuse, Hate crime, Genocide, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Racism, Murder, Gun violence, Gore, Violence, Terminal illness, Grief, Forced institutionalization, Death, Cultural appropriation, Physical abuse, Body shaming, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail

cc_shelflove's review

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism, Abandonment, Violence, Death of parent, Suicide, War, Confinement, and Classism

whatamidoing_rn's review

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-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? It's complicated

5.0

This book made me cry and books don’t often do that. It was an amazing read and I think everybody should read this at least once in their lifetime.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Child death, Antisemitism, War, and Death of parent

Minor: Grief

julaeva's review

dark emotional lighthearted reflective sad medium-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism

Moderate: Child abuse, Violence, Slavery, and Physical abuse

Minor: Injury/Injury detail and Suicide