Summary | Excerpt | Reading Guide | Reviews | Beyond the book | Read-Alikes | Genres & Themes | Author Bio
Critics' Opinion:
Readers' Opinion:
First Published:
Mar 2006, 560 pages
Paperback:
Sep 2007, 576 pages
Book Reviewed by:
BookBrowse Review Team
Buy This Book
The Book Thief is an extraordinary,
heartbreaking book. Like The Curious Incident of the
Dog in The Night-Time, which was initially targeted at young
adults in Britain but to adults in the USA, The Book Thief
is one of those rare books that really does speak to both
young and old alike.
The excerpt that you can read at BookBrowse doesn't do this
exceptionally readable, highly memorable book justice. It's not
so much that it's not representative of the book, but more that
the style of writing grows on one to the point that the prose
ends up reading almost like poetry. Take, for example, this
single sentence from the middle of the book when Liesel is
reading aloud in the shelter during an air-raid:
"She didn't dare to look up, but she could feel their frightened eyes hanging on to her as she hauled the words in and breathed them out. A voice played the notes inside her. This, it said, is your accordion."
The Book Thief was one of the first two books offered to
members as part of our
First Impressions program. Fifteen of the twenty
members given a copy have submitted reviews so far. 13
rated it 5 out of 5, two gave it a 4 out of 5. Here are a
handful of the many excellent reviews we received:
"Exceptional, captivating,
heartwarming... so many words to describe how excellent I
found The Book Thief. One needs Liesel's "words" to
describe the many emotions provoked by this wonderful story.
The characterizations are outstanding. Each character has
their own special quality to regard. I highly recommend
The Book Thief. And have already done so!
" - Lisa.
"The Book Thief challenges our humanity &
inhumanity. This is a must read for book clubs!"
- Ann.
"Fabulous. Insightful. Heartbreaking. Full of hope
for the future of that era. A testimonial for the
indestructible human spirit. Quite truthful historically as
well as in terms of human suffering during that war. I know
this because I was there." - Gunta.
"I have read the book twice and enjoyed it even more
the second time. I was originally a little concerned as to
how I would feel about Death as the narrator but found him
to be a compassionate, likable character. Instead of
spoiling the story, his telling of events in advance seemed
to soften the impact, resulting in a thoughtful, powerful
and sweet story rather than a thriller. I continue to
recommend this book to everyone I know."
- Joe.
More member reviews of The Book Thief
Reviewed Sept 2007
This review was originally published in The BookBrowse Review in March 2006, and has been updated for the
September 2007 edition.
Click here to go to this issue.
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