Author's website: http://www.zusakbooks.com/
Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction
Rating: 4.5 stars
Mature Content: 2 (Low violence content`)
Age Range: 12+
Interest level: About 13-16
Background Knowledge: It's WWII Nazi Germany, and a 10 year old girl, Liesel, is taken to live with foster parents. She experiences many things, meets lots of people, and, most of all, learns about the power of words.
Review: I must say, this book is one of a kind. I first read this two years ago and loved it. I read it again and still loved it. But there were lots of new aspects of the book that I noticed, stuff that I missed while reading the book for the first time, which is one of the reasons why I love rereading books. Anyway, I love how words are a prominent theme throughout the book. It really displays how, what you say can impact the world. Just like Hitler started his "career" with words and speeches, which made him better known, and eventually gave him a political position.
One thing I also loved was the complexity of the characters. If you've every read Harry Potter, you'll know what I mean by complex characters. For one, the main "good" characters are human. Lots of times the main characters in books just have a personality that's too good to be true. That's one of the reasons why I love The Book Thief so much, is because the characters are very relatable.
In all, I know not everyone will love this book, but it's definitely one you should read at least once.
Things I Loved:
-It was very well written. The Book Thief covers some pretty heavy topics, such as death, war, and (some) love, but it's written very simply, so that it's easily understood, but it's also not buttered up.
-The characters were multi-dimensional and relatable. A lot of times in books (as well as movies, shows, etc.) the characters either have a personality that is too good to be true, or one that is a bad example. But here, the characters have a good personality, as well as flaws, but you can see that they have good values and are human just like everyone else, with a good balance of good and bad characteristics.
Things I Didn't Love:
-I can't really say that there's something I actually didn't like. The Book Thief was expertly written, and I don't think there's a better way that it could have been written.
In Conclusion:
The Book Thief is an amazing book everyone should read at least once. It talks about complex topics with a relieving simplicity, but it doesn't skip out on the details or butter them up. This book is definitely a rare, one of a kind novel.
Recommended?: Absolutely!