Liesel Meminger verkörpert alles, was man an einer jungen Protagonistin liebt. Scharfsinn, Liebe, Zerrissenheit und der endlose Mut, sich dem Leben zu stellen. Ich kann nicht viel zu der Handlung sagen, die verschlungener, wundersamer und herzzereißender nicht hätte sein können, doch ich möchte kurz bemerken, wie sehr ich den Erzähler, also den Tod, geliebt habe. Mit unendlicher Hinhabe und Bewunderung schildert er ihr Leben und seine eigene, bedeutende Rolle darin. Er erzählt von ihren Erlebnissen, ihren Freunden und ihrer Familie, von der Tragik und der Verdammnis des zweiten Weltkriegs, von Hunger, Leid und Schmerz, doch auf eine hoffnungsvolle, bildhafte und mitreißende Weise, die es einem unmöglich macht, das Buch aus der Hand zu legen. So viel Hoffnung, so viel Liebe ... Ich habe das Buch mit Tränen in den Augen weg gelegt. Ich weiß nicht, ob ich nochmal das Privileg haben werde, etwas zu lesen, das mein Herz so sehr berührt wie the book thief ...

The story is told by Death itself, who foreshadows the plot. It is a novel full of emotion, love, and sadness. We get to know Liesel and follow her life on Himmel Street. Max, a Jew, also lives in their house for some time, and we get to know his story. The writing style is elaborate and elegant. Definitely a must-read, especially in the upcoming times we are facing.

Passend zur Bundestagswahl am Sonntag habe ich eben dieses Juwel von einem Buch beendet. Es ist traurig, sogar tragisch, brachte mich zum weinen, aber es gibt auch viel Hoffnung. Die Hoffnung, dass Worte einen Unterschied machen können. Dass sich Empathie und Menschlichkeit immer lohnt, wenn es vielleicht auch manchmal nicht so wirkt. Sogar, dass wir mit unserem Kreuzchen am Sonntag einen Unterschied machen können für die Demokratie. Auch wenn die Geschichte wirklich traurig und zuweilen hart zu ertragen ist, auch wenn der Tod dauerpräsent ist und einen dennoch mit einer unglaublichen Wucht überrascht, so war das ein wirklich schönes Buch. Mit Humor und unglaublich tollen Charakteren mit denen ich mit gelitten, mit geliebt und mit gehofft habe. Bis zum Schluss...

I really didn't expect to like a story set in Nazi Germany this much. That theme usually gets a pretty black-and-white treatment. This book was refreshing. Wasn't sure about the style, or the narrator at first, but grew to like it. I can see why it annoys some but I think it fits the story. I'm not sure at which point exactly I went from "ok so it's another stubborn little orphan girl who likes books, and it's Germany in the late 1930s I see where this is going" to really caring about all the of characters, but it happened. The story flows steadily forward and gets you absorbed little by little. In the end it's nothing totally unforgettable, but it's a nice perspective.

„So many people chased after me in that time, calling my name, asking me to take them with me. […]. They were frightened, no question, but they were not afraid of me. It was fear of mucking it up and having to face themselves again, and facing the world, and the likes of you.“ p.492 This novel is narrated by death and it was absorbing. My eyes brimmed more than once during reading.

Ich habe das Buch begonnen, weil es meiner Meinubg nach zu den Büchern gehört, die man mindestens einmal gelesen haben muss (nur meine persönliche Meinung), und ich muss dazu sagen: Es hat mich sehr erschüttert. Die Story ist aus der Perspektive des Tods erzählt, was vor allem Ende und Anfang, aber auch die ganze Storyline und Erzählung sehr anders als so manche andere Geschichte wirken lässt. Der Tod lässt immer wieder persönliche Erlebnisse einfließen, und am Ende macht es auch tatsächlich Sinn, dass der Tod die Geschichte erzählt und nicht etwa der FMC (female Maincharacter). Achtung Spoiler! Liesel (Meminger): Liesel wird zu Beginn des Buches in eine Pflegefamilie gebracht, da ihre Eltern nicht mehr für sie sorgen können. Auf dem Weg zu den besagten Eltern stirbt ihr Bruder im Zug und sie muss sich der Herausforderung stellen. In München, Molching angekommen lernt sie ihre Pflegeeltern kennen. Ihre Mutter - Rosa Hubermann - ist eine strenge Frau und ihr Pflegevater - Hans Hubermann - zu dem sie besonders vertrauen fasst. Sie schließt im Verlauf des Buches Freundschaft mit einem Jungen in ihrer Klasse - Rudy Steiner. Die Geschichte beschäftigt sich mit Liesels Leben während des Kriegs, de NS-Regimes und des Holocausts. Wenn man etwas sensibel auf brutale Themen reagiert sollte man vorgewarnt sein, aber es war sehr sehr spannend die damaligen Zeiten anhand einer Geschichte kennenzulernen. Ich kann das Buch auf jeden Fall weiterempfehlen :)

I need to stop reading books that make me cry late at night. at least I am tired now, hello bed Review following _____________________________________________________________ "Often I wish this would all be over, Liesel, but then, somehow you do something like walk down the basement steps with a snowman in your hands. I also read this book for school a long time ago and as I saw it on my Top 100 Books list, I saw the opportunity to reread it in English. The edition looks beautiful and I know why I loved the book in the first place. God, This book. So many emotions, so special. Book written in the perspective of dead? Perfect. Markus Zusaks' style of writing? Magnificient! The story? Emotional, heartbreaking and beautiful all at once. This book is the first one I slightly started to annotate. Because there were so many thoughts running through my head. This is such an important book, such an important topic interweaved with such a beautiful jet tragic story. And so many loveable characters, I don't know who is my favourite.

I must say I havent read many books in my life but reading this one somewhat changed my perspective on the narrator and everything combined. I started reading this book and I swear in had some kind of magnet pulling me towards it and the writing. the writing is magnificent. I 100% recomend this book

I know, so many people love this book. And I was so excited to love it as well. I can't really say what I didn't like. I just wasn't invested with the book, and I didn't even feel sad when reading it (I know that so many people cried!). I wish I could tell you what exactly I didn't like but I have no idea.

this book was an emotional rollercoaster. i don’t have words for it. this book is not full of action and may be hard to understand sometimes but it is definitely worth it! (just get some therapy afterwards). i loved the way the book was narrated by death, it was interesting to read. the way that death hint that things happened but i still was crying when the actual things happened :( i think i could talk so long about quotes that i really loved. it is just such a beautiful book, especially the way it is written <3

I loved reading this book. Of course, it wasn't easy. I mean, it takes place in the second world war and as a German citizen, I am not proud of what happened back then. It is about a little girl, Liesel, and the Death. You grow older with the girl, you can see what world war was like for a normal family, and also you can see how meaningful books can be for a child. I don't really know how I can sum this book up because it it so diverse. Just read it, and you will understand.

It’s is a beautiful story wich leaves the reader deeply touched through the times of the second world war. The plot is made by so many incredible details in philosophy and poetry kind of view. The writing style of Markus Zusak is unusual at first but you get into it quickly and love it soon. I already miss the characters :( This is a book you have to recover from until starting the next one.

Ich weiß gar nicht so richtig, wie ich dieses Buch beschreiben soll. Die Geschicht ist so einzigartig und besonders. Sie hat mich über so vieles nachdenken und vieles auch überdenken lassen. Sie hat mich Worte und auch die Zeit des Nationalsozialismus nochmal aus einem anderen Blickeinkel sehen lassen. Alles in allem war es also ein wirklich bereichernde Buch, was ich jedem nur wärmstens ans Herz legen kann.

I wished I read this earlier. I really enjoyed this book, even though the fact that I usually try to avoid historical novels (idk i simply get through them) This book was really touching and I loved those freaking characters wich made the ending even more sad. Also I really enjoyed markus zusak writing-style, especially the passages where death is talking directly to the readers

this one is actually very hard for me to rate! there is the absolutely brilliant style, the way it is written is just exceptional. there‘s no other book like it. it took me very long to get into though, and i wasn‘t captivated at all times, had to force myself to pick this book back up. i‘m so glad i made it to the end though, because the end was so beautiful even though it was sad and unfair, but of course it needs to be unfair because this book is about war. so yeah i don‘t know where i‘m going with this; i just know that this book changes how i look at the world, it‘s a book that‘s very difficult to read and to process but that fills me up with emotions, and it reminds me just how much i love words. and this sounds like a 5 star review. so 5 stars it is. no need to recommend it as (almost) everyone has read it already anyways.

This book was so completely different from what I expected. Yet it was so unique and amazing that I will probably never forget about it. The end was hard to read through and maybe reading it until late at night when I had to wake up early the next morning wasnt the best decision but I needed to finish it.

This is the most heartbreaking but also the most beautiful book that I have read in my entire life. I don’t know if there will be a time where I won’t recall this book as the greatest book I have ever read. I did not expect to love this book as much as I did because I heard many people say that this book has a certain resemblance to A Little Life and I absolutely despised that book. On the first few pages I already noticed that the writing style was quite similar indeed but in this book there weren’t any unnecessary descriptions and philosophy’s like they were in A Little Life. I absolutely loved how this story was narrated, I have not once in my life come across a book that was told by Death itself, and that idea is so astonishingly creative and interesting. The characters in this book were introduced so well and the chapter headings and part heading of this book all make so much sense after reading the last few chapters. I loved every second I spent in this story even though it reminded me once again how terrific and horrifying that time really was. The characters were also so well developed and the timelines were not confusing at all even though there were a lot of time jumps in this novel. Please everyone read this book. „Yes, often I am reminded of her, and in one of my vast array of pockets, I have kept her story to retell. It is one of the small legion I carry, each one extraordinary in its own right. Each one an attempt- an immense leap of an attempt- to prove to me that you, and your human existence are worth it.“ ,,The human heart is a line, whereas my own I a circle, and I have the endless ability to be at the right place at the right time. The consequence of this is that I always find humans at the best and worst . I see their ugliness and their beauty, and I wonder how the same thing can be both. Still, they have one thing that I envy. Humans, if nothing else, have the good sense to die.“ „Papa-the accordionist- and Himmel Street. One could not exist without the other, because for Liesel, both were home. Yes, that’s what Hans Hubermann was for Liesel Meminger. ,,I have hated the words and I have loved them, and I hope I have made them right.“

This book is hauntingly beautiful. It describes the Zeitgeist of the second world war in Germany perfectly. As a German who has to often deal with the atrocities done by my ancestors, I think it was nice and interesting to read about a family who were living in Nazi Germany and were still not the "evil Nazis" we think of. The ending was shocking, but at the same time realistic. Death as the narrator for a story in Nazi Germany is also genius, it felt like a whole 'nother point of view. The only critique I would have for this book is that some uses of German words are false. For example Pfiffikus never meant a person who often whistles, it is an old word for someone who is pfiffig (=smart). However this did only slightly disturb my reading, so this book is still 5☆.I would recommend it to EVERYONE. It is truly a must-read.&nbsp;

It all started with my love for Hans Hubermann. He was the first character I really liked and his relationship with Liesel was just beautiful and i'd like to thank Zusak for such a great character! The second thing is Death. He's the narrator of the story and it was really interesting to read about Liesel's life in his point of view - plus: i liked how the author interprets his character! For me, a big and important part was Max Vandenburg - he's one of my faves of the book and I adore him - I especially loved his scenes with Liesel and in the end when she sees him walking down the street with all the other jews ... ugh, I needed to wipe off some tears! I also liked Rudy a lot and I bet it's nice to have someone like him in your life - he loved Liesel with all of his heart and that's just beautiful. And OH GOD, in the end when SHE kissed him ... that was SO SAD - WHY NOT EARLIER?!?! Those little "side notes", the drawings and Max' stories for Liesel and also the little explanations were nice and I enjoyed them. Conclusion: I LOVED this book and I'd give it some more stars if I could. It's not a "light" or even a fast read but it's definitely worth reading!

Such an amazing book! I really regret seeing the movie first, kind of felt like it took away the experience of the excellent plot. However, it's still a masterpiece and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. There were also some scenes left out in the movie and I loved the book filling in the blanks for me and reading about all the different characters. I do recommend people to read the book first though!

I'm really quite disappointed with this book. It stretched out over such long passages when most of it could have been told in 200 pages. There were way too many repetitions and it sounded just the way I sound when I try to tell my friends about something that happened to me but I get distracted every other second. One of the reasons there were so many repetitions was the fact that many utterences were first told in German and then translated to English which is really pointless unless you understand German, and then you don't need the translation. I really don't like the way this book is "told by Death". It is basically Death retelling what he read in her book because for the most part he wasn't even there. So what's the point in using Death as a narrator? A further point that really annoyed me was the inconsistency with the use of German. Some streets were called "Street" and some "Strasse" (Ger. for "street"), for example Himmel Street and Grande Strasse. However, in some instances "Grande Strasse" was suddenly called "Grande Street". Also, what kind of name is "Grande", there won't be any street in Germany called "Grande"! Maybe "Grosse Strasse" or "Hauptstrasse" (Ger. for "Main Street). You will very rarely hear this from me: But I really prefered the movie, the story was much more concise!

I absolutely loved this book. I started reading it years ago and for some reason put it aside after a few pages. but last month I picked it up again and was sucked into the Story as soon as I started. It is so beautyful and sad at the same time. just as it is pointed out many times in the book itself actually. it was written beautifully as well. when I read the last couple of pages I couldn't stop myself from sheding a few tears even though I was currently riding a train.