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The Book Thief
 
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The Book Thief (Paperback)

by Markus Zusak (Author)
4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (452 customer reviews)
RRP: £7.99
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Product details

  • Paperback: 560 pages
  • Publisher: Black Swan (1 Jan 2008)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0552773891
  • ISBN-13: 978-0552773898
  • Product Dimensions: 19.4 x 12.8 x 3.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (452 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 17 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #9 in  Books > Fiction

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Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review
The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak was the best-selling debut literary novel of the year 2007, selling over 400,000 copies. The author is a prize-winning writer of children's books, and this, his first novel for adults, proved to be a triumphant success. The book is extraordinary on many levels: moving, yet restrained, angry yet balanced -- and written with the kind of elegance found all too rarely in fiction these days. The book's narrator is nothing less than Death itself, regaling us with a remarkable tale of book burnings, treachery and theft. The book never forgets the primary purpose of compelling the reader's attention, yet which nevertheless is able to impart a cogent message about the importance of words, particularly in those societies which regard the word as dangerous (the book is set during the Nazi regime, but this message is all too relevant in many places in the world today).

Nine-year-old Liesel lives with her foster family on Himmel Street during the dark days of the Third Reich. Her Communist parents have been transported to a concentration camp, and during the funeral for her brother, she manages to steal a macabre book: it is, in fact, a gravediggers’ instruction manual. This is the first of many books which will pass through her hands as the carnage of the Second World War begins to hungrily claim lives. Both Liesel and her fellow inhabitants of Himmel Street will find themselves changed by both words on the printed page and the horrendous events happening around them.

Despite its grim narrator, The Book Thief is, in fact, a life-affirming book, celebrating the power of words and their ability to provide sustenance to the soul. Interestingly, the Second World War setting of the novel does not limit its relevance: in the 20th century, totalitarian censorship throughout the world is as keen as ever at suppressing books (notably in countries where the suppression of human beings is also par for the course) and that other assault on words represented by the increasing dumbing-down of Western society as cheap celebrity replaces the appeal of books for many people, ensures that the message of Marcus Zusak’s book could not be more timely. It is, in fact, required reading -- or should be in any civilised country. --Barry Forshaw

The Guardian
Unsettling, thought-provoking, life-affirming, triumphant and
tragic, this is a novel of breath-taking scope, masterfully told...A
wonderful page-turner.
--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Customer Reviews

452 Reviews
5 star:
 (338)
4 star:
 (52)
3 star:
 (24)
2 star:
 (20)
1 star:
 (18)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.5 out of 5 stars (452 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
293 of 309 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars A deeply unsettling but truly moving novel, 27 Jan 2008
By kimbofo (London, UK) - See all my reviews
(TOP 100 REVIEWER)   
The Book Thief is one of those children's books that has crossed over into the adult market and become subject to incredible word-of-mouth marketing. To be honest, I let it languish on my nightstand for 12 months, because I wasn't sure it would live up to the hype. I've read my fair share of books about the Holocaust and wasn't sure this one would tell me anything I didn't already know.

But the author, Markus Zusak, has created a wholly original story. First, the narrator is death, who talks in a kind of roundabout language, part all-knowing, part creepy, part loving.

And second, the main character is an ordinary German girl growing up in Nazi Germany who must confront many personal difficulties and traumas during the course of the Second World War. This is not so much a book about the extermination of the Jewish race under Nazi occupation, but the ways in which many Germans went about their ordinary lives at the time and the extraordinary lengths some of them went to save their Jewish friends.

The story begins with Liesel Meminger, a traumatised nine-year-old girl. It's 1939 and she has just witnessed the death and burial of her younger brother enroute to her new foster family in a town called Molching. During the burial Liesel picks up an object she finds in the snow -- The Gravediggers Handbook -- which sets up a lifelong love of books, even if she has to beg, borrow or steal them.

Her foster father, the kindly accordion-playing Hans Hubermann, teaches her how to read, and together the two of them pass many hours pouring over the pages of the gravedigger's instruction manual. Later, when the family takes in a Jewish man, Max Vanderburg, and hides him away in their basement, Leisel shares her love of words with him, too.

Desperate for new reading material, Liesel -- with the help of her blonde-headed friend Rudy -- rescues a book from a Nazi book-burning pile. Later she is introduced to an amazing private library, owned by the mayor's wife, which allows her to momentarily escape the dismal poverty of her ordinary day-to-day life.

But when the Nazis discover her foster father handing out bread to a march-through of Jews on their way to Dachau, their lives suddenly take on a more sinister, darker twist -- which no amount of book thievery can alleviate. When the Allied bombs begin to fall on their street, things get even worse and death begins to close in on Liesel, her family and friends...

The Book Thief is, without a doubt, an incredibly memorable story. The narrative voice is unique, and the style, which double-backs on itself and occasionally jumps backwards and forwards in time, is interesting if somewhat confusing at times (Would kids get this? I kept asking myself). Initially the staccato rhythm of Death's voice jarred, but I soon learnt to appreciate its whimsical charm. However, I enjoyed the story much more when Death kept his mouth shut and simply let Liesel get on with things.

The characters are great, too. Liesel starts off as a rather weak-willed creature, too terrified to even step out of the car when she first arrives at her foster family's home, but over the course of the war she turns into a feisty, courageous tom-boy, who isn't scared of tackling anyone who bullies her. And her best friend Rudy, who has an obsession with Olympic athlete Jesse James, is a suitable, dare I say lovable, ally.

I was not as convinced about the foster parents who seemed a little stereotyped -- the kindly, loving father; the foul-mouthed, bullish mother -- but I can understand that younger readers would enjoy the "good cop, bad cop" personalities.

The Book Thief is a deeply unsettling story and a truly moving one. I teared up over so many scenes that I couldn't bare to list them here for fear of running out of room! The ending is of the typical grab-your-tissues-and-sob-your-eyes-out ilk. But in reading this very long book -- perhaps a fraction too long, in my opinion (it meanders a lot in the middle) -- I never once thought I was being emotionally manipulated. Zusak does a nice line in letting actions speak louder than words, so that the reader gets to join the dots rather than have every little thing spelt out for them. I like this approach, if only because he treats the children to which this book is aimed with intelligence rather than patronising or speaking down to them.

A delightfully human book, haunting, wise and joyous by turn. I don't know why I waited so long to read it.
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106 of 112 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A masterpiece of empathy, 28 Nov 2007
By Gordon Eldridge (Southport, Australia) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
This review is from: The Book Thief (Paperback)
Sometimes a fictional interpretation of history is exactly what we need in order to be able to come to a real understanding of what it meant to live through historic events, particularly horrific ones. Markus Zusak provides us with a masterful interpretation of the Nazi period of German history from the perspective of ordinary people suffering through it and striving to keep their lives together and their souls alive and kicking within the horrific and ever-tightening boundaries constructed by the Nazi regime. He gives us a gut-wrenchingly palpable empathy for people facing harrowing decisions on a daily basis. His marvelous characters bring to life the dilemmas of those who believe they should help the Jews as well as the equally nightmarish predicament of Jews who through receiving help put others in danger. We see much of this through the perspective of the main character Liesel, who is only a young girl. Her innocence and the gradual realizations she comes to about the events swirling around her in a maelstrom of horror evoke a remarkable empathy in the reader. If you want to understand how the little people cope with such tragic historic events without allowing their souls to be crushed, read this book. Ultimately it is a portrait of the resilience and hope of the human spirit.
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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars The most amazing book I have read this year!, 19 Jun 2007
By K. French (Oxfordshire) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: The Book Thief (Hardcover)
I finished The Book Thief last night, having not been able to put it down for the last ten days, and haven't read a book that made me cry this much since The Kite Runner. It is a truly amazing tale set in Nazi Germany, and rather strangely but very successfully narrated by Death.

Desipite the horrors of the second world war, the novel deals with every day events in the lives of the inhabitants of a small German town, and you really feel you are living through things with them, following their personal journeys, enjoying the quirkiness of their characters and desperately wanting to know what the future holds for them.

The book is incredibly touching at points, and as a result, you become involved with each and every character, particularly that of Liesel, The Book Thief.

This is a truly, truly wonderful story. I can't recommend it enough.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Death and a German Girl
The basic story of this book is that of a young german girl who after witnessing the death of her brother is given to a poor foster family; shortly before the commencing of word... Read more
Published 1 day ago by Book Monster

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful
Beautifully written, moving, disturbing and uplifting. Can't really say more than that as so many others have given a synopsis. Read more
Published 3 days ago by Saffron

5.0 out of 5 stars The Book Thief
This mindblowing book includes the pure horror of a little girl, books, war, love, laughter and the magic of exchanging feelings through a book. Read more
Published 4 days ago by The Teenager Obsessed With Books

5.0 out of 5 stars what is wrong with any1 giving this any less than 5stars !!!!!!!
Oh my god and oh my god again !!!!!!!!!! I love reading but I hav never in all my life read a book better than this. Read more
Published 5 days ago by dearbhlagh

5.0 out of 5 stars Sweet, Moving and thought provoking
A quick look at the reviews and you can see that opinion is fairly 'mixed'.
For me I think some reviewers missed the point. Read more
Published 5 days ago by F. Wight

5.0 out of 5 stars In my top ten all-time favourites
Well, after hearing Marcus speaking about wanting to create everybody's favourite book, I can confirm that he succeeded for me. Read more
Published 11 days ago by April Hollands

5.0 out of 5 stars The Book thief
I found this quite hard to get into-kept picking it up & putting it down but once I was into it couldnt put it down. Read more
Published 12 days ago by Nikichikaloo

5.0 out of 5 stars Loved this book!
Here is a small fact 'You are going to die' This is how the book started and had me hooked from that one line. Read more
Published 13 days ago by Suzanne Hussein

5.0 out of 5 stars Heartbreakingly beautiful
It is a long time since i last wrote a review, but this time i felt that i just had to. I've literally just finished The Book Thief and was utterly blown away. Read more
Published 13 days ago by A reader!

4.0 out of 5 stars The Book Thief
I was told that after the first few chapters I would not be able to put it down, and this was true. I found the story of Liesel and the characters she encountered as she grew up... Read more
Published 19 days ago by Linmaeve

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