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A review by liz_ross
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
reflective
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
"Like most misery, it started with apparent happiness."
If there's a story that in the beginning you have all the reason to think it is gonna be morbid, it's this one. Set in Germany during WWII. Told by Death. If there's a thing I though this story was going to be, it was morbid.
But it isn't. It isn't morbid at all. It is beautiful, heartbreaking, emotional, amazing. Death is one of the most extraordinary narrators I've ever seen, the perspective his narration gives to the story captivating me since the very beginning.
I was never the kind of person who cries while reading. Sure, some books manage to make my eyes water and my heart break. But I rarely cry, in the sense of having big, salty tears running down my cheeks. And yet, this book made me cry. Even now, thinking about the book, I feel my eyes watering, all those emotions I felt while reading coming back. Yes, the story hit me that bad.
Part of the beauty of this book is due to Liesel and Rudy themselves. They are children living in a world controled by fear, a world no one (especially a child) deserves to live in. They live in constant danger, every day possibly being the last, everything because of the actions of one man. But they are still children. They are capable of finding beauty around them, capable of living while adults only want to try to survive. They smile, they play soccer and go in adventures. They are happy, happy as only children can really be, and that hapiness lightens up the mood of the book, prevents it from getting morbid.
For me, however, what makes this book so especial is not that. It's the way Zusak plays with our hopes, with our emotions. I knew what was going to happen since the very moment Liesel made that stupid promise. I knew it without any doubts. And Zusak wrote it so clearly that I have no doubts his intention was for us to know. He could have hidden the truth, he could have made us keep reading without knowing and cruelly surprise us in the end. It would have been so easy. But that was not what he wanted. He wanted us to know. Because just that way, he could do what he did. Play with our hopes and emotions. Because I knew the truth, I knew how things would end, but they weren't ending. Things were going on, they were still there, alive and happy; so, so happy. And the hope things don't end badly, the hope that I was wrong, started to grow and grow. And when it became almost a certainty, when I finally started to really believe that I was wrong, what I feared the most became a reality. And my heart broke and tears started to fall. He broke my heart, but more than that, he destroyed my hopes. Hopes I chose to create, even if I knew the truth.
That, for me is what makes this book so especial. For a simple reason. Those hopes shattering, those tears falling, weren't just mine. Because stop for a moment and think. Think about how the people living during those times felt. Fearing something they could do nothing to stop. Fearing the day their nightmares would become real. But they were surviving, against all the odds they were still alive. And they started to believe the nightmares may never become real, they started to believe there's a chance things will end and they will be alive to celebrate that fact. And when destiny proves them wrong, their hopes were cruelly destroyed. Zusak was capable to give us a glimpse of what that feels like, what those people felt. And that is what not only makes this book so extraordinary, but also proves Zusak's talent.
A talent that this books can confirm over and over again. His writing style is simply beautiful. He makes places and people sound so alive, so real. He allows us to feel emotions so strongly. He allows us to live this story as if were part of it, as if we were there during the whole time. And the pace of the story is also perfect, making it impossible for you to feel bored while reading it.
But there's more. There's so much more to say about this book. I still didn't tell you about how it is also a story of courage. Not Liesel's or Rudy's courage. The courage of those adults trying to survive, but that are still willing to put their lives at risk to try to offer an innocent a chance to survive. I still didn't tell you about how it is also a story of love. Not the love that comes with a friendship like the one between Liesel and Rudy. The love between a father and a daughter, that is so beautifully described here. I still didn't tell you about how it is a story of details. Details that make you love this story more and more as you keep reading, details that allow all these characters to keep developing and growing, making them realistic, making your connection with them stronger than you wanted it to be. Details that make you cry even harder when everything falls apart, when the hapiness gives place to the grief and sadness. And I can't tell you about them all. Not only because that would destroy the story for you if you haven't read it yet, but also because I would never be able to make them justice, to make them sound as beautiful as they really are.
Overall, this is a book you must read. I know there are plenty of books about the WWII and many of you may be thinking this book is just one more of them. But it isn't. There's no book about the WWII that can mix together and so perfectly ugliness and beauty, that can make you smile and laugh just to later make you cry so hard for something you knew since the beginning that was going to happen. There's just no book capable to do what this one does - to bring so much beauty to a story that clearly shows you the unfairness and cruelty of those times.
"I'm always finding humans at their best and their worst. I see their ugly and their beauty and I wonder how the same can be both."
If there's a story that in the beginning you have all the reason to think it is gonna be morbid, it's this one. Set in Germany during WWII. Told by Death. If there's a thing I though this story was going to be, it was morbid.
But it isn't. It isn't morbid at all. It is beautiful, heartbreaking, emotional, amazing. Death is one of the most extraordinary narrators I've ever seen, the perspective his narration gives to the story captivating me since the very beginning.
I was never the kind of person who cries while reading. Sure, some books manage to make my eyes water and my heart break. But I rarely cry, in the sense of having big, salty tears running down my cheeks. And yet, this book made me cry. Even now, thinking about the book, I feel my eyes watering, all those emotions I felt while reading coming back. Yes, the story hit me that bad.
Part of the beauty of this book is due to Liesel and Rudy themselves. They are children living in a world controled by fear, a world no one (especially a child) deserves to live in. They live in constant danger, every day possibly being the last, everything because of the actions of one man. But they are still children. They are capable of finding beauty around them, capable of living while adults only want to try to survive. They smile, they play soccer and go in adventures. They are happy, happy as only children can really be, and that hapiness lightens up the mood of the book, prevents it from getting morbid.
For me, however, what makes this book so especial is not that. It's the way Zusak plays with our hopes, with our emotions. I knew what was going to happen since the very moment Liesel made that stupid promise. I knew it without any doubts. And Zusak wrote it so clearly that I have no doubts his intention was for us to know. He could have hidden the truth, he could have made us keep reading without knowing and cruelly surprise us in the end. It would have been so easy. But that was not what he wanted. He wanted us to know. Because just that way, he could do what he did. Play with our hopes and emotions. Because I knew the truth, I knew how things would end, but they weren't ending. Things were going on, they were still there, alive and happy; so, so happy. And the hope things don't end badly, the hope that I was wrong, started to grow and grow. And when it became almost a certainty, when I finally started to really believe that I was wrong, what I feared the most became a reality. And my heart broke and tears started to fall. He broke my heart, but more than that, he destroyed my hopes. Hopes I chose to create, even if I knew the truth.
That, for me is what makes this book so especial. For a simple reason. Those hopes shattering, those tears falling, weren't just mine. Because stop for a moment and think. Think about how the people living during those times felt. Fearing something they could do nothing to stop. Fearing the day their nightmares would become real. But they were surviving, against all the odds they were still alive. And they started to believe the nightmares may never become real, they started to believe there's a chance things will end and they will be alive to celebrate that fact. And when destiny proves them wrong, their hopes were cruelly destroyed. Zusak was capable to give us a glimpse of what that feels like, what those people felt. And that is what not only makes this book so extraordinary, but also proves Zusak's talent.
A talent that this books can confirm over and over again. His writing style is simply beautiful. He makes places and people sound so alive, so real. He allows us to feel emotions so strongly. He allows us to live this story as if were part of it, as if we were there during the whole time. And the pace of the story is also perfect, making it impossible for you to feel bored while reading it.
But there's more. There's so much more to say about this book. I still didn't tell you about how it is also a story of courage. Not Liesel's or Rudy's courage. The courage of those adults trying to survive, but that are still willing to put their lives at risk to try to offer an innocent a chance to survive. I still didn't tell you about how it is also a story of love. Not the love that comes with a friendship like the one between Liesel and Rudy. The love between a father and a daughter, that is so beautifully described here. I still didn't tell you about how it is a story of details. Details that make you love this story more and more as you keep reading, details that allow all these characters to keep developing and growing, making them realistic, making your connection with them stronger than you wanted it to be. Details that make you cry even harder when everything falls apart, when the hapiness gives place to the grief and sadness. And I can't tell you about them all. Not only because that would destroy the story for you if you haven't read it yet, but also because I would never be able to make them justice, to make them sound as beautiful as they really are.
Overall, this is a book you must read. I know there are plenty of books about the WWII and many of you may be thinking this book is just one more of them. But it isn't. There's no book about the WWII that can mix together and so perfectly ugliness and beauty, that can make you smile and laugh just to later make you cry so hard for something you knew since the beginning that was going to happen. There's just no book capable to do what this one does - to bring so much beauty to a story that clearly shows you the unfairness and cruelty of those times.
"I'm always finding humans at their best and their worst. I see their ugly and their beauty and I wonder how the same can be both."
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Antisemitism
Moderate: Child death and Grief