Customer Reviews: Read 197 more reviews...
 Different October 4, 2008
I almost gave up on this book, I struggled with it for a while. Once I had got into it I could'nt put it down! It was totally different, narrated by Death, who at times could be a real softie. Liesel goes to live with foster parents, the Hubermanns during WW2,she makes friends with Rudy, she loves and steals books, and the Hubermanns take in a jew called Max, who they hide in the basement. They all seem to live on pea soup, and little else. Very moving at times, I am so glad I stuck with it, I loved it, and would highly recommend it.
One of the best October 3, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is by far one of the best books I've read. Don't forget to purchase a large box of man size tissues with your order.
Bringing the past right into the readers present, this rare read and unique style leaves a lasting impression.
I recieved this book as a gift from my sister in law, since I closed The Book Thief, my mum and 2 aunts have read it, with other family members waiting in line.
I would recomend this for the top of your 'To Read' list.
 Too Little, Too Late... October 2, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Quite frankly, I can't see why so many people wax lyrical about this book. I'll start with the good points though...some of the metaphors are quite lovely, and a few of the characters are sufficiently well developed such that you feel true empathy for them. Also, the ending i.e. the last 50 pages or so is devastatingly compelling. The problem is, this book is about 540 odd pages long.
Now for the bad points...It has to have one of the most annoying starts I've ever come across. You get the impression that Zusak is trying WAY too hard, throwing every literary trick available at the book in an attempt to impress. The result is verbose and intensely annoying. Taking the fact that this is a 3rd person narrative into account, Death is a very "in your face" narrator. None of this gently guiding the storyline stuff. Throughout the first third of the book, the flow is constantly interrupted by his little "asides". To be honest, the first 100 or so pages are written in a style more suited to teenage fiction and I had to fight the urge not to abandon ship.
The lead character here is meant to be a little girl called Liesel. Unfortunately, I thought she was the least developed of all the characters. My favourites were her adopted father Hans Hubberman and her trusty sidekick, Rudy Steiner. It was their lives I was most interested in. Liesel remained fairly 2 dimensional throughout.
All in all, a disappointing read for the first two-thirds of the book followed by a vindicating final third. If you can hang on for that long, it's an OK read.
 Very enjoyable book September 30, 2008
I agree with some other reviewers that this book is a little clumsy when it comes to style but, if truth be told, I loved it. I couldn't put it down, thought the characterisation was great and, more than once, it had me in tears. Great book.
Engaging, well paced, but also immature and stylistically flawed September 27, 2008
Not just essentially a children's book, but a rather immaturely written novel, centring on a warm-hearted German family in a small village near Munich around the time of WWII. The narrator is Death, which is an interesting device, since it allows a useful distance, almost an innocence, to reign over the proceedings. But I don't believe this device was fully worked out, as one never really understands how Death works - is he omnipotent, as is implied in some places, or almost completely ignorant, as is implied in others? Also, Death allows the novel to talk a lot about "souls" and "hearts", which seriously weakened it for me. The plot is well-paced, very engaging, and includes some fascinating, believable details about the hardships of trying to survive amidst the war - for these reasons I did enjoy reading the novel, and was even moved in places. However, it's also rather sentimental, shies away from the full brutality of events, and constantly borders on the simplistic. The style is too fussy, too inventive, and some of the language is just ridiculous in its attempts to generate vivid metaphors. There are many other semi-adult books out there that deal with WWII and the holocaust so much better (Maus particularly springs to mind).
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