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Critics' Opinion:
Readers' Opinion:
First Published:
Mar 2006, 560 pages
Paperback:
Sep 2007, 576 pages
Book Reviewed by:
BookBrowse Review Team
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A story about, among other things: A girl, some words, an accordionist, some fanatical Germans, a Jewish fist-fighter, and quite a lot of thievery. . . .an unforgettable story about the ability of books to feed the soul. Winner of the 2007 BookBrowse Ruby Award.
Winner of the 2007 BookBrowse Ruby Award.
It’s just a small story really, about among other things: a girl, some words, an accordionist, some fanatical Germans, a Jewish fist-fighter, and quite a lot of thievery. . . .
Set during World War II in Germany, Markus Zusak’s groundbreaking new novel is the story of Liesel Meminger, a foster girl living outside of Munich. Liesel scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she encounters something she can’t resist – books. With the help of her accordion-playing foster father, she learns to read and shares her stolen books with her neighbors during bombing raids as well as with the Jewish man hidden in her basement before he is marched to Dachau.
This is an unforgettable story about the ability of books to feed the soul.
DEATH AND CHOCOLATE
First the colors.
Then the humans.
That's usually how I see things.
Or at least, how I try.
***HERE IS A SMALL FACT ***
You are going to die.
I am in all truthfulness attempting to be cheerful about this whole topic, though most people find themselves hindered in believing me, no matter my protestations. Please, trust me. I most definitely can be cheerful. I can be amiable. Agreeable. Affable. And that's only the A's. Just don't ask me to be nice. Nice has nothing to do with me.
***Reaction to the ***
AFOREMENTIONED FACT
Does this worry you?
I urge you--don't be afraid.
I'm nothing if not fair.
--Of course, an introduction.
A beginning.
Where are my manners?
I could introduce myself properly, but it's not really necessary. You will know me well enough and soon enough, depending on a diverse range of variables. It suffices to say that at some point in time, I will be standing over you, as genially as ...
BookBrowse Awards
2007
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.
(Reviewed by BookBrowse Review Team).
Full Review
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Markus Zusak is the author of Fighting Ruben Wolfe, Getting The
Girl, I Am The Messenger and
The Book Thief. He received the
Children's Book Council of Australia's
Book of the Year Award for I Am the
Messenger. He lives in Sydney, where
he "writes, occasionally works a real
job, and plays on a soccer team that
never wins".
When asked about The Book Thief,
he explains, "I wanted to write
something very different than what I'd
done before. The idea of a book stealer
was in my head when I was writing I
Am The Messenger, but it wasn't
...
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