Reviews tagging 'Antisemitism'

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

392 reviews

pushik's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, War, Genocide, and Antisemitism

artmuseam's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

truly heart shattering and emotional. this book knew exactly how to set fire to my emotions because at the end of the book i could barely read the damn words through my tears. the narration threw me off at first, just because it felt almost satirical, but i got used to it by part 2, and i seriously fell in love with all the main characters. it was so intimate to where i thought i was a part of the family and the town, and i especially loved the emphasis on how powerful words and stories are. this book killed me—in the best way possible. 4.5/5 stars <3

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Violence, and Antisemitism

rabmdbtinkerbelljune's review

Dark topics very sad 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Antisemitism, War, Gore, Gun violence, Death of parent, Child death, Hate crime, Death, and Grief

amgarrido's review

emotional funny 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? It's complicated

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Death of parent, Violence, War, Genocide, Xenophobia, Racism, Death, and Murder

octagon's review

emotional reflective sad tense 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? Yes

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Antisemitism, Suicide, Death, Grief, and Police brutality

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Child death, Genocide, and Violence

Minor: Child abuse

a_novi's review

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. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Blood, Death, Forced institutionalization, Confinement, Cursing, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Child death, Death of parent, Excrement, Grief, and Antisemitism

livay's review

dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.25

It's a page-turner with an interesting take on storytelling. Languagewise the text sometimes lacks complexity and is sometimes a bit overly dramatic. On the other hand, the drama of course does make sense in the given setting and the author does many times succeed to paint a heartbreakingly 'real' picture of people's thoughts and lives in Nazi Germany. I wish though he would have had the power to keep up the pace  and quality of the story till the end -the last few pages are a poor conclusion for a book this bulky.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism

Moderate: Child death, War, Death, Death of parent, Medical trauma, and Blood

sierraclimbs's review against another edition

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

5.0

This story was completely enchanting from the moment I pressed play on the audiobook. It somehow takes such a widely known event (the Holocaust) & tells a beautiful and tragic story from a unique perspective, Death. Because the story is narrated by Death, it gives a somewhat neutral perspective on the horrific events which I felt really let the reader experience the time for what it was, rather than a bias narrator. (Not that I think there is any gray area around the right & wrong of the holocaust. More so that it allows you to get in the headspace of just being a human living through that time. Rather than it being a historical retelling where you know what is the right & wrong choice) 
It was a truly raw & human experience reading this book. 
Highly recommend the audiobook. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Child death, Death, Child abuse, Bullying, Death of parent, and Abandonment

Moderate: Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Suicide, and Vomit

I find none of the content was excessive or exaggerated for shock value. If anything, it felt very thought out & deliberate to depict a reality of a horrific time period.

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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Antisemitism, War, Genocide, Grief, and Death of parent

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

Minor: Suicide

niki258devil_angel's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful 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? It's complicated

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Grief, Antisemitism, Blood, Death, War, Torture, Physical abuse, Gun violence, Death of parent, Slavery, Fire/Fire injury, Child death, Genocide, and Violence