The Book Thief - Markus Zusak

It must be challenging for authors to write novels based around Nazi Germany and the Second World War. Although one needn't look far for endless potential for emotional, powerful stories, the wealth of existing literature is such that it's hard to find a new angle on history; to be able to say something that hasn't been laid down on paper at length before. Yet, Markus Zusak has managed to create something quite exceptional here. The story of Liesel Meminger, set through the years of her life that fall between 1939-1945 is indeed a powerful one, conveying all the happiness and tragedy that any child could have experienced at the time. Above anything for me, this story ...  Read the complete review

Time to review another of my favourite all time books - this one is a powerful book, a summary of which would either put you off or make you curious enough to read it - death narrates a story of a German girl in Nazi Germany who harbours a Jew in her basement... About the Author & The Plot =================== Markus Zusak is an Australian author who as a child heard many stories of his mother's life in a small German town during the war. Zusak says he particularly remembers his mother telling him of the Jews marching through their town and how there was an elderly gentleman at the end of the march who was so badly beaten and worn out that he ...  Read the complete review

This novel was recommended to me by a work colleague. Having studied history at University, particularly World War II from a German, Russian, British, American and Australian perspective, I often decide I have had my fill of WWII stories. I am prone to steer clear of what can be a touching but heart-wrenching subject, though when done badly the war can be reduced to a mind-numbing experience of numbers and dates that causes you to disassociate yourself from the events that affected people on a real human level. The often dry approach that many writers take inhibits a connection with a topic that at its core should be about how war affects people and how people live their ...  Read the complete review

The image of death dancing on the spine of the book intrigued me immediately, but it took me many months to finally buy and read this book. The style of the first few pages was novel, partly because they were narrated by death, and partly because the words were presented in some odd ways, but I wasn't sure that I really wanted to read 550 pages in such an odd style. After all, 'different' doesn't necessarily imply 'good to read'. Finally, I spotted it on a shelf in a charity shop and read the first few chapters without stopping. I couldn't resist it anymore, but would I regret the impulsive purchase? Style Unusually, I want to discuss the style of ...  Read the complete review

I have just finished reading 'The Book Thief' by Markus Zusak. It was another one of the books that I picked up from my local library and what attracted me to it was a mixture of things. I was actually on the lookout for a big chunky book that I could really get into so the fact that 'The Book Thief' was close to 600 pages long meant it definitely caught my eye! In addition I was intrigued by the fact that this book was narrated by Death. This was very different and I just felt I was in for a unique reading experience. Markus Zusak, the author of 'The Book Thief' grew up in Australia, always hearing stories of what it was like in Munich during the Nazi period ...  Read the complete review