Product Description

The story of a young German girl who steals books, of her family and the Jewish boxer hidden in their basement as they struggle to survive in Nazi Germany when the bombs begin to fall.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2 in Books
• Published on: 2008-01-01
• Binding: Paperback
• 560 pages

Synopsis
1939 - Nazi Germany - The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier. Liesel, a nine-year-old girl, is living with a foster family on Himmel Street. Her parents have been taken away to a concentration camp. Liesel steals books. This is her story and the story of the inhabitants of her street when the bombs begin to fall. Some important information - this novel is narrated by death. It's a small story, about: a girl; an accordionist; some fanatical Germans; a Jewish fist fighter; and quite a lot of thievery. Another thing you should know - death will visit the book thief three times.

From the Back Cover
`Brilliant and hugely ambitious' New York Times

`Extraordinary, resonant, beautiful and angry'
Sunday Telegraph

HERE IS A SMALL FACT

YOU ARE GOING TO DIE

1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier.

Liesel, a nine-year-old girl, is living with a foster family on Himmel Street. Her parents have been taken away to a concentration camp. Liesel steals books. This is her story and the story of the inhabitants of her street when the bombs begin to fall.

SOME IMPORTANT INFORMATION
THIS NOVEL IS NARRATED BY DEATH

It's a small story, about:

a girl

an accordionist

some fanatical Germans

a Jewish fist fighter

and quite a lot of thievery.

ANOTHER THING YOU SHOULD KNOW
DEATH WILL VISIT THE BOOK THIEF THREE TIMES

About the Author
Markus Zusak, a prize-winning author, lives in Sydney with his wife and daughter. The Doubleday hardback of The Book Thief , published at the beginning of January 07, stayed in the top ten of the Sunday Times bestsellers for nine weeks. It was published to critical acclaim in Australia and in America where it reached No. 1 on the The New York Times bestsellers list. Film rights have been optioned by the makers of The Devil Wears Prada.

Customer Reviews

I cried for days!
Such a wonderful, emotional and breathtaking book! It is the most colourful as well as sad book I have ever read. I could not put it down. It is worth reading!
Moved me just as much as Suite Francaise!

A surprising book
What would you think of a book narrated by Death, with an orphan German girl as the main character, situated in Germany during WW2? Depressing perhaps... well, guess again!

This is an excellent read, one that will thrill and move you with every page. It offers beautiful, well developed characters, and an extremely original mode of narrating.
It is on of those books that cannot really be described, one needs to read and discover it by himself.
But I can tell you this much; Death has rarely been painted in such humane colours, and we rarely come across stories about seemingly not-so-extraordinary people, which nevertheless form such extraordinary tales... and what is best, tales that do not need to force impressions upon the reader; the feeling flows out of the pages and carries you with it, without effort.

World War II from a German point of view

Like a previous reviewer I feel that it would be wrong to give too much away of this highly original story. Most unusually, it shows the effect of the war on ordinary Germans "on the home front". The main character is a young German girl who is placed with a foster family after the disappearance of her parents. She is placed with a working class family in an ordinary German town. Her foster mother is irascible and foul-mouthed but nonetheless has redeeming qualities. Her foster father is a gentle man who is a big influence on her life. She makes friends with the local children and the book charts several years from the age of 10 onwards. What happens to her during that time and the difficulties of living under a totalitarian regime are movingly dealt with.

However, the book is far from an ordinary historical novel and has a most unusual narrator - who appears throughout her life from girlhood to old age.

I was fascinated and enthralled by this book and found myself moved to tears by the ending. Read it and enjoy a most enjoyable and original story