The Book Thief in Bound Together

May 28, 2008 Annet rated it it was amazing

Shelves: dark, coming-of-age, family-ties, history, creepy, classics, emotional, wisdom-philosophical, fantasy, europe

I usually avoid books about war, I just can't seem to get myself to read them. Despite this, I bought the Book Thief a couple of years ago I think, because I did find it intriguing and because of all the exceptional reviews I read here, thanks to Goodreads for this. It did take some time for me to get ready for it. I started reading about one month ago. and I found I had to put it down every once in a while, just let it be for a while, before continuing. ............... This book is really somet ...more

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Jun 08, 2013 PattyMacDotComma rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favourites-adult, politics-culture-social-war, australian-author, kindle, aa-ce, aa, ya-and-new-readers, favourites-children-kids-ya

[As Russia attacked Ukraine, I was reminded again of this.]
5★
“Soon they would both be in the war. One would be making bullets. The other would be shooting them.”

If only ten stars were allowed. I don’t know where to start with the Book Thief. The formatting, drawings and sketches? The language? The sense of place and time? The wonders and horrors? Overwhelming.

I didn’t so much read it as experience it as it unfolded. I kept lingering over passages that were too accurate, too sharp, too descripti ...more

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May 04, 2010 Gaijinmama rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

You are going to die.
That's the first thing Marcus Zusak, with Death as his narrator, tells us in this beautiful, devastating story. Inevitably, any story of Nazi Germany is going to be dark. This story is no exception, but Zusak reminds us that there were also kids joking, swearing, and playing soccer; and good, average, everyday people who decided to do the right thing even as evil consumed their world.
I suppose what I liked best was the fact that ultimately, this is the story of a little girl ...more

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Jun 24, 2010 ☮Karen rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, 500-plus-pages

I love that this is narrated by Death and that he's somewhat of a smart ass. And speaking of that, one of my fondest childhood memories of my German grandfather was something he used to say in German where I thought he was saying OshKosh (as in the bib overalls he usually had on), when in fact he was saying Arschloch (you know what that means if you read the book).

Aside from learning all the German cusswords again, I thoroughly enjoyed this very engaging story. It was both heartwarming and hear ...more

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Nov 16, 2007 Laurel Bradshaw rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: chunky-450, audiobook, historical-fiction, world-war-ii, teen-fiction, jews, germany, themes-book-titles, waterstones-big-jubilee-read

This is the coming of age story of a young girl growing up in Nazi Germany during World War II, narrated by Death himself. Although dark and tragic, it is also filled with humor and compassion. It is a story about the power of words both to hurt and to heal, to divide as well as to create community. Death is no sentimental narrator, presenting humans as they are with all their contradictions, capable of both great kindness and great cruelty. The language is almost poetic at times, and there are ...more

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Aug 28, 2009 Ashley Hart rated it it was amazing

Shelves: audiobook, favorites, 2011, young-adult

The Book Thief is narrated by Death, and he is unlike any Death you've encountered before. This Death does not revel in taking souls, and continually finds himself both fascinated and perplexed by the humans he encounters as he does his job. The Book Thief is the story of one young german girl that he is particularly taken with. The story offers a new an interesting perspective on WWII and Nazi Germany, with characters so incredibly rich that you can't help but feel connected to them. This book ...more

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Jun 03, 2009 Deb rated it really liked it

Wow. That was the first word out of my mouth as I read the last word. There is so much to say about this book. And so much that I really liked: the narration, the blurbs throughout, THE CHARACTERS!, the relationships, the story and perspective. It was not overly descriptive which allowed me to create so many images. Parts were incredibly sad, emotional, devastating, of course, but so many parts were also sweet, fun, and kept me wanting to read more. I'm so glad I finally read this one! ...more

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Jan 08, 2012 Barbara rated it it was amazing

Shelves: my-book-group-reads

(Libary Book group read Jan. 2012)

It's World War II in Germany. Liesel Meminger is 9 yrs old when the story starts. She just lost her brother on the trip to go with her new step-parents. Her real mother couldn't take care of them because she had no food or money.

Liesel's first book she stolen when she was burying her brother. She seen it in the snow. After that she would only take one book at time as she needed them. The boy next door, Rudy, was her best friend and they stole fruit and vegetabl (Libary Book group read Jan. 2012)

It's World War II in Germany. Liesel Meminger is 9 yrs old when the story starts. She just lost her brother on the trip to go with her new step-parents. Her real mother couldn't take care of them because she had no food or money.

Liesel's first book she stolen when she was burying her brother. She seen it in the snow. After that she would only take one book at time as she needed them. The boy next door, Rudy, was her best friend and they stole fruit and vegetables together, along with some other town kids.

It's a story about when Hitler was in rein. If you didn't say "Hail Hitler" you could get a back lashing. And you could never associate yourself with Jewish people for if you did you were sure to die or get sent to do the most awful jobs in the war that no one else wanted, like collecting the dead bodies. It was a time when you had to always listen for the air raid whistle and when it blew you went running to the basement.

Liesel loved her step-father who played the accordion. He teaches her to read. Later, the family hides a jewish man in their basement and this brings Liesel a new friend. His name is Max. She reads to him or they sit in the basement telling stories. Her step-mother seems to be kind of mean sometimes but Liesel soon understands later in life the love her step-mom has for her step-father.

Words is what Liesel craves. She rather steal a good book than steal anything else. Death is watching her but he doesn't want to take Leisel away, he's just fastinated by the girl.

The book is told from deaths point of view. Death is tired. Even a death collector gets tired in a war where he is collecting so many bodies. Sometimes he misses the stories of Liesel because he is so busy taking peoples souls.

This book isn't morbid in any way though even though it's told from the perspective of death. It's well written and something that I've never seen by looking at it from death's point of view.

Sometimes it even has a few funny parts in it, but mostly it's about the hardships of war, friendship, loyalty, and the written words of books.

A great book and a must read. The writing is so well writen it gives you such a good visual on the scenes in the book. ...more

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Mar 02, 2008 Sara rated it it was amazing

This is my new favorite book. Unlike some other reviewers, I thought it was a wonderfully quick read. The characters were very well developed... I had favorites, but I could even feel something for the villains.
This book does leave me with unanswered questions at the end... but that somehow makes me want to read it again.
It's WWII, Nazi Germany.
Death is the narrator, but certainly not what I would have expected.
Leisel is a girl who keeps surviving despite the odds against her.
Her foster parents ...more

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Jan 19, 2011 Margaret rated it really liked it

This book has a brutal ending! Overall I liked it, but there were places where it was dragging for me. The last quarter is can't-put-down-able. ...more

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Jan 24, 2010 Christina, Join Me on Storygraph! rated it liked it

Shelves: audio-book, 2014

so you know this book is about the Holocaust. but yet, it isn't..not really. it's really the story of ordinary Germans, living their lives in Nazi Germany. yep there's some Heil Hitler and the impacts of the Nuremberg laws, but I didn't feel it was about the Holocaust in the way it was built up to be.

its a decent story about the human spirit and will, but I don't get the hype. while its not deserving of my initial one star rating, I also dont see it as deserving a 4.37average on goodreads either ...more

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Dec 28, 2010 Sarazen rated it liked it

So many were moved by this book, I almost feel guilty for not getting more out of it. While the writing was beautiful I never felt invested in the characters. *sniff* I hate it when that happens.

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Jul 26, 2012 Suzanne Decker rated it it was ok

Shelves: unfinished

Couldn't get through it. ...more

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Oct 18, 2018 Paula Hess rated it it was amazing

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Oct 12, 2007 Esther rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: historical, author-male, 20th-century, __mine-and-i-m-keeping-it, favourites, jewish-israeli, ya, zz-2011, zz-2011-from-my-own-shelf, germany

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