Customer Reviews: Read 326 more reviews...
 A truly beautiful book November 19, 2008
I can't recommend this book highly enough.
It's true that its very setting fills it with sadness but its originality, delicacy, poetry and certainly humour make it a very special book indeed.
I's one of those books that risks making you unpopular as you try desperately to convince everyone you know to read it.
What a gifted writer November 12, 2008
This book was accidently left on a bus and I wasn't even one quarter through. What did I do? I re-purchased it of course, also thanks to the fact that I purchased it both times with a great discount price, how could I not have? I would have missed out the opportunity to read such a good though tragic story. The author makes the story somewhat humorous in some parts to take off the horrific and sorrowful edge of what really happened in that time of history. It was a lovely read and the description of each character made you feel like you were right there viewing their actions. It was sad in many parts, heartwarming in others and you grew to like all the protagonists. I also liked the fact that many German words were thrown in and explained or simply translated, making an even more realistic Nazi Germany era impact on the reader. The author is highly talented and very clever.
Incredible - quite possibly the best book ever November 12, 2008
I finished this book last night, rather poignantly on Armistice Day. I was blown away. I had no idea that this was a book for "young adults" but I certainly recommend that everyone of any age reads it. This novel is beautifully written and I found I was carrying the story around with me and thinking about the lives of these characters even when I wasn't actually reading the book. I read most of it on the train and decided to finish it off at home last night - good job I did too because I was literally sobbing my heart out by the end. I don't mean my eyes welled up with tears and I sniffed a little, I mean I was bawling my eyes out. I think quite simply that this is the best book I have ever read - the characters become real and even though you are warned at the very beginning that there will be losses and tragedy, it still hits you like you didn't see it coming. I was rooting for Liesel and her friends and family. I was even moved by the Narrator, Death, who in one sense claims he is only doing his job (like so many who worked in the Nazi Regime)but who is still touched by the the sparks of light from the human spirit in a world that is awash with darkness. I have never cried so much over a story, nor been so hopeful and uplifted at the same time. I should also mention, by no means as an afterthought, that it is also very very funny, with extra points going to Rosa Hubermann, Liesel's Mama. Please read this story and let it stay with you - discover it for yourself - you won't regret a moment spent on reading it.
Delicately written, thoughtful and meaningful. November 10, 2008
I won't go in to the details of this book because I don't want to ruin any of it for you, the story is very unique and told from an unusual perspective.
I just loved this! It's very rare that I keep hold of a book, I usually pass it to a friend to read but I found myself buying additional copies for my friends so that they could share the beauty of it.
This book is just outstanding! I wouldn't usually read this type of book, I thought it was going to be heart-wrenching and gritty which it actually was, but it was done in such a delicate manner that I just enjoyed reading it so much.
I was quite sorry I read it so quickly, I would have liked to keep the joy of reading it for longer.
Buy it, read it, keep it.
 Didn't Quite Steal my Heart November 5, 2008
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
An interesting ploy to have DEATH narrate this quaint tale of a young German girl stumbling upon and stealing various books whilst World War 2 and the holocaust is buzzing all around her.
For me it didn't quite hit home as a GREAT, but nonetheless it has a certain charm - and worth a run if you've got the time; at 560 pages you're going to need it as the events are fairly pedestrian.
Oh, give it a go...then tell me I'm wrong!
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