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: #7 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

Very hard to read
This book is very hard to read. The writer tried so hard to tell us the story from the point of view of a ghost, and tried very hard to be inventive, as some reviewers said. But it is NOT. In recent years, we have got the American Beauty which is written exactly the same way. This is a bad copy at that.

From the pure literary point of view, this is a bad book, because of these factors: the narrator is too remote, and unbelievable, the story is weak for the readers. It is anything but engaging. There is no urge in me when I turned the pages. If it is not for the fact that I paid for it, I would not go beyond page 50. So it is definitely not a page-turner.

The writer also tried very hard to give the book a mood of depression. But he was not successful at doing that at all. The impression from the story is first and foremost too remote and not engaging for the readers and it is that make the story irrelevant somehow. The book is full of interior monologue, narrative summery, character description that peppered with very little dialogue. There is a character summery almost on every other page in big fat letters which seems to tell people: remember this, you stupid readers! Throughout the book, you can see hundreds if not thousands classic examples that your teacher of literature at school have warned you not to make.

The sad thing is: popular novel is by no means good literature. That is a fact. The reason? Lots of them. At least some of them are: most of the people who read novels are either people who only care to read stories, or people who are easily satisfied by any literary story. And boy, they are patient! A book with such problematic magnitude can receive such tremendous review is beyond my belief. The publisher has not even done any decent work to eliminate the editing failure.

Do publishers really know what they are talking about? I don't think so. Don't forget, When Joanna Rowling (J.K. Rowling)'s agent sent her Harry Potter manuscript to 12 big publishers in 1996, they all rejected. So, who is the judge for a good novel, you people out there who can be so easily satisfied with any kinds of stories. And they needn't be good.

Beatiful book
My mum gave me this book to read, which is usual a bad sign, but I have throughly enjoyed it. Death is the narrator, which should be depressing, but in a weird way it's uplifting.
It's a wonderful story about an horrific time and I'm surprised by how much I loved it!

I dont really understand why this is a bestseller
I usually buy bestsellers and books with good Amazon reviews because I trust the majority's opinion. However, I honestly dont understand what's so amazing about 'The Book Thief'. I personally would not recommend this book.

What I liked about it is the beginning (which is quite rare) it seemed so unique and magical. I fell in love with the idea of Death being the narrator and couldnt wait to find out what Mr Grim Reaper had to say. But of all the stories Death could have told us, sadly he chose a pretty boring one. Actually I dont think it's the story itself was boring (because I guess the events of Nazi Germany are quite interesting, if that's the right word to describe them) I just dont think that this story needed all 554 pages it was given.
The story pretty much goes like this: Liesel woke up, she got out of bed, brushed her teeth, scratched her head, looked in the mirror...etc. Which I think is really unnecessary.

Overall, the beginning was good, the middle was incredibly boring and the end was predictable (partly because Death decided to tell us the ending right away, so you'll find out what happens at the end after reading the first 20 pages) The Book Thief is not a bad book, I actually think it's interestingly written, but it's not the kind of book you cant put down; it's the kind of book you have to force yourself to pick up again.