The Book Thief - Markus Zusak

Markus Zusak grew up hearing stories about Nazis, the bombing of Munich and about Jews being marched through his mother’s small, German town. He wanted to tell the story of “the other side of Nazi Germany”, about the rebellious children and people who didn’t follow the rules, and hid Jews in their houses. Since the publication of “The Book Thief”, Zusak has been dubbed a “literary phenomena” by Australian and American critics. This is a story narrated by Death. It is an interesting concept to have Death as a character with thoughts and feelings, and it actually works well. I particularly liked the image of Death gathering up souls in his arms and taking ...

This is without a doubt the most enchanting book I have read all year. Set during the second world war, the book is narrated by a very heart-warming interpretation of DEATH who spends his existence trying to find the beauty in the world through colours and attempting to make some kind of sense out of the human race and it's behaviour. DEATH becomes almost obsessed by a young girl named Liesel whom he has occassion to visit three times during the course of her life. Thus when he has a chance to save her thoughts, as written in a diary, from the wreckage of a bombed out building, he does so and the story that follows is a recount of her early days as a child ...

My mum brought me this book, now I don't tend to read a lot but once I had read the first chapter I was hooked. The story is narrated by 'Death' and is about a girl who is living in Germany during world war two and sees all the horrific things happening around her and in her life. The girl, Liesel has a love for books and steals them from book burnings and a lady who she delivers clothes to. She also gets up to mischief and makes lots of friends. She also finds herself hiding a Jew from the Nazi's and her basement. I won't say anymore I don't want to spoil it for you, but it is a truly gripping story which will have you book bound for hours. I ...