The Book Thief by Markus Zusak 

            I have a lot to say about the novel and how I felt about it. First of all, you should be warned this book review probably will not be as simple as the others. The likelihood of me rambling is rather high. For that I am sorry in advance. Secondly, I must say that I know it took me a long time to finish this novel. I have a theory. Well-written books should be thoroughly absorbed. They should be breathed in slowly and appreciated, so I waited for the moments to read this when I had enough time to devote to it.

            To be as spoiler free as possible, I will say that the book is about young Liesel Meminger. She is a German girl growing up in Nazi Germany who falls in love with words. I know that’s vague, but I feel like giving you anything else will ruin the book.

                  I will be completely honest with you I didn’t like the book. I didn’t like it at all. I loved it. I loved everything about it even the sad things. I loved the narrative. I feel like that’s the biggest surprise of the novel so I won’t tell you what or who is telling you this tale. You should know that is absolutely perfect for this time period. Next, I enjoyed the writing. Zusak has a way of taking the reader in and not letting them finish until he’s done. His writing was never dull or too detailed. It was just enough to take to make me want to read more and find everything out. The next thing I enjoyed was the fact that’s written about a German girl. (Now, this is the part when I ramble a bit.) I know of several wonderful fictional books written about Jews during this period, but I haven’t read many from a German perspective. I think it’s really important to tell a story from this perspective because of what people tend to do. When there is evil in this world, people tend to not only blame the one or ones at fault but also their nationality or race. I want to tell you bluntly. Evil is not predetermined by ones race, nationality, sex, or sexual orientation. Evil is determined by where that person draws the line of right and wrong or the truth and a lie. It’s that simple. 

            The last reason I really loved it is a somewhat selfish one, well of my history. My lots-of-great grand father was a German Jew. He was in Munich of all places and was able to escape around 1933. I suppose this fact makes me a little more emotional when I read anything World War II related, but it’s not just that. This book was really good. I would highly recommend you read it and find out for yourself all of things I vaguely referenced!

5/5

1. affablewaffle likes this
2. chrquietly likes this
3. alilypetal likes this
4. flyingwhatpursues reblogged this from thegirlandherbooks
5. lolabo likes this
6. vorleben reblogged this from thegirlandherbooks and added:

   I was in tears when I finished this novel, and I didn’t want to let the book leave my grasp. It is truely a brilliant...

7. garrowayed likes this
8. the-nightingale-and-the-rose likes this
9. booklover likes this
10. jesscalinpark likes this
11. bitemytoes likes this
12. isleland reblogged this from rrudysteiner
13. tac0swag likes this
14. rrudysteiner reblogged this from undertheinkysky
15. undertheinkysky reblogged this from thegirlandherbooks
16. mel0dramaticxo likes this
17. kristinhinman likes this
18. destinyischoice said: I’m so glad you loved it, I loved it too. One of the best books I read last year :)
19. destinyischoice likes this
20. jacquelineroarsloud likes this
21. kvietaherezulo likes this
22. me-and-mydestiny likes this
23. flyingwhatpursues said: I read this book for the first time last year and now it’s one of my all-time Modern Reads. It was just so… so well written and easy to understand, and it just touched me to the core. (By the way— love your reviews!)
24. n3erdabout likes this
25. flyingwhatpursues likes this
26. dreyaeva likes this
27. yoursnowwhitequeen likes this
28. rahrahrahweregoingtosmashtheoiks likes this
29. rainonyourface said: I very much agree with you about how it’s interesting it’s written about a German girl. The German people suffered under the War too, they suffered greatly, yet this fact remains obscure. I love the way Zusak has brought awareness to it.
30. thekitchenknight likes this
31. allthismagic said: My favourite ever book.
32. allthismagic likes this
33. roamingreader reblogged this from thegirlandherbooks
34. etjetomberai likes this
35. catchingthetradewinds likes this
36. irunblog likes this
37. humingyay said: I’m pretty sure this book broke a piece of my soul….and yet I now compare every single novel I read to it. One of my favourites and I regret nothing.
38. noseinabook likes this
39. fuckyeahmarkuszusak reblogged this from thegirlandherbooks
40. humingyay likes this
41. ashleighbee said: So happy you enjoyed it! One of my favorites, for sure.
42. thegirlandherbooks posted this