Reviews tagging 'Grief'

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

252 reviews

ienbdri's review against another edition

emotional informative sad medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Suicide, Antisemitism, Grief, Death of parent, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Deportation

jg34's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Genocide, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Grief, and War

Moderate: Child death, Suicide, Vomit, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Car accident

A boo set in nazi germany during WWII that does not shy from details

greatestheights's review against another edition

emotional 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

"A last note from your narrator:

I am haunted by humans."

Everything about this book holds up to the test of time, from the first time I picked it up at age 16. I am so grateful to live in a world Markus Zusak writes in.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Suicide, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Grief, Death of parent, War, and Injury/Injury detail

spideyreads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful 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? Yes

5.0

A beautiful novel. I didn't know it was possible for a human to write like this. Figurative language on every page, lovable characters with great depth, and a haunting narrator. It was fascinating to read about WW2 from the perspective of a young German girl instead of a Holocaust narrative, which is what the majority of WW2 fiction I read is. Perfect for readers of any age. This book will stay with me for a long time. Unforgettable. Important.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Death, Suicide, Antisemitism, Grief, Death of parent, and War

lynini's review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Death, Genocide, Antisemitism, Grief, Death of parent, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Forced institutionalization and Police brutality

herelieshenry's review against another edition

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Genocide, Antisemitism, and War

Moderate: Death and Grief

r3ader's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring 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? Yes

5.0

This book is hauntingly beautiful. It describes the Zeitgeist of the second world war in Germany perfectly. As a German who has to often deal with the atrocities done by my ancestors, I think it was nice and interesting to read about a family who were living in Nazi Germany and were still not the "evil Nazis" we think of.
The ending was shocking, but at the same time realistic.
Death as the narrator for a story in Nazi Germany is also genius, it felt like a whole 'nother point of view.
The only critique I would have for this book is that some uses of German words are false. For example Pfiffikus never meant a person who often whistles, it is an old word for someone who is pfiffig (=smart). However this did only slightly disturb my reading, so this book is still 5☆.
I would recommend it to EVERYONE. It is truly a must-read. 

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Child death, Genocide, Hate crime, and Suicide

Minor: Confinement, Cursing, Gun violence, Homophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Deportation

turtleycool's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Hate crime, Suicide, Violence, Antisemitism, Grief, Death of parent, and War

spineofthesaurus's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Grief, Death of parent, and War

Moderate: Confinement, Genocide, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Abandonment, and Classism

romy_elizabeth13's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny 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? It's complicated

5.0

Okay okay. I know what you’re thinking. It’s just another war book. And here my friend, is where you are entirely wrong. The Book Thief is one of the most beautifully written, emotional, compelling and sad books I have ever read. It’s not a short read but it flies by and soon enough you’ll find yourself at the end. The book follows Liesel Meminger (hope I spelled that correctly), a young girl who steals books. But not in a fake, annoying, trying-to-be-a-good-book way. After her brothers death, she is taken to stay with Hans and Rosa Hubberman (again hope I spelled that right, apologies) on Himmel Street. It takes a while to get used to but soon enough she has all her random adventures, including several with a boy named Rudy Steiner who you are almost guaranteed to love. But the plot only gets darker and darker and at the end you will be sobbing on the floor. Important note: this book is narrated by Death. You can already tell it’s going to be amazing. When I was recommended this, I was skeptical at first, questioning if this was going to be another try hard book. But once I started reading, I couldn’t stop. It’s so sad, so gorgeous, so compelling, so sad. 5/5 rating, 100% worth the read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Racism, Grief, Death of parent, and War

Moderate: Vomit