Reviews with content warning for War - The Book Thief

To be very clear, the book is stellar. Just because I wasn't the biggest fan doesn't mean you shouldn't read it. It's very poignant and picturesque. I simply am not one to connect with so depressing a story.

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kryolitee's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad fast-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

my heart will never recover from this

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joanabrt's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny hopeful 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? N/A

5.0

I always have a hard time rating/reviewing a book right after finishing it - everything is so fresh and emotions are still running high. When I do I know I'll look back and rethink them. This one though is, with no future doubt, a 5 star read for me.
The book is quite long, which was a concern in the beginning, but it didn't prove to be a problem - the narration and description of the events and characters kept me captivated and interested. The moments of honesty and the confessions of Death, the glimpses of the future, although they revealed the direction of the story (and the ending), never detracted from everything else: the present moment, what would happen between now and then, what would cause it and what would follow.
The strong bond that is built with the characters, both the main and secondary ones, creates a constant desire to follow their journey. They all grow and unfold over the course of the book, portraying a Nazi Germany where not everything was black and white.
It's a beautiful and devastating book, that portraits a time in history when being human was both the ugliest and the bravest thing one could be. Cried my eyes out.
"I am haunted by humans.” me too...

Content Warnings

entrancedbywords's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

I've owned a copy of book thief for quite sometime. I know there's a movie adaptation, which I haven't seen. For a book this chonky, I'm surpised at how light it is.

This might be a bit inappropriate but you know how excited I was to read some German words in this book? It felt like I was getting a refresher in some of the words, and going "Ooh.. I know what those mean."

Unfortunately with a book like this it went through the eyes and out the ears. It wasn't that I struggled to read it, I just struggled to see it as any more than just words on a page.

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beansprout344's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad 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? No

5.0

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bokslukaren's review against another edition

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emotional funny sad

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

4.75

‘I was foolish.’
‘No,’ Papa said. ‘You were a boy.’
The typesetting and design of the book were alluring; the fonts, chapter headings, the narration styles - the whole arrangement really. The book's punctuation feels poetic and Zusak artistically uses imagery. On the whole, the book felt very comforting, even though its contents (as most books about the holocaust are) were devastating.

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pagemaxxer's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring sad medium-paced

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

5.0

the best book ever. so creative and heartbreaking

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greasyhair_loki's review against another edition

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dark 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? It's complicated

5.0

Extremely sad at the end

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