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The Book Thief: TikTok made me buy it! The life-affirming international bestseller Kindle Edition
Markus Zusak (Author) See search results for this author |
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'Life affirming, triumphant and tragic . . . masterfully told. . . but also a wonderful page-turner' Guardian
'Brilliant and hugely ambitious' New York Times
'Extraordinary' Telegraph
___
HERE IS A SMALL FACT - YOU ARE GOING TO DIE
1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier.
Liesel, a nine-year-old girl, is living with a foster family on Himmel Street. Her parents have been taken away to a concentration camp. Liesel steals books. This is her story and the story of the inhabitants of her street when the bombs begin to fall.
SOME IMPORTANT INFORMATION - THIS NOVEL IS NARRATED BY DEATH
___
What readers are saying about The Book Thief:
***** 'I loved every page of this book. So many great quotes, observations on humanity and images...I just didn't want it to end.
***** 'I loved this book. It is not only one of the best I've read this year, it is one of the best I've ever read.'
***** 'This is the sort of book the restores your faith in humanity and leaves you feeling uplifted, even when it makes you shed a tear.
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherTransworld Digital
- Publication date8 Mar. 2016
- ISBN-13978-1784162122
Product description
Amazon Review
Nine-year-old Liesel lives with her foster family on Himmel Street during the dark days of the Third Reich. Her Communist parents have been transported to a concentration camp, and during the funeral for her brother, she manages to steal a macabre book: it is, in fact, a gravediggers’ instruction manual. This is the first of many books which will pass through her hands as the carnage of the Second World War begins to hungrily claim lives. Both Liesel and her fellow inhabitants of Himmel Street will find themselves changed by both words on the printed page and the horrendous events happening around them.
Despite its grim narrator, The Book Thief is, in fact, a life-affirming book, celebrating the power of words and their ability to provide sustenance to the soul. Interestingly, the Second World War setting of the novel does not limit its relevance: in the 20th century, totalitarian censorship throughout the world is as keen as ever at suppressing books (notably in countries where the suppression of human beings is also par for the course) and that other assault on words represented by the increasing dumbing-down of Western society as cheap celebrity replaces the appeal of books for many people, ensures that the message of Marcus Zusak’s book could not be more timely. It is, in fact, required reading -- or should be in any civilised country. --Barry Forshaw
--This text refers to the paperback edition.About the Author
Synopsis
Book Description
From the Back Cover
'Extraordinary, resonant, beautiful and angry'
Sunday Telegraph
HERE IS A SMALL FACT
YOU ARE GOING TO DIE
1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier.
Liesel, a nine-year-old girl, is living with a foster family on Himmel Street. Her parents have been taken away to a concentration camp. Liesel steals books. This is her story and the story of the inhabitants of her street when the bombs begin to fall.
SOME IMPORTANT INFORMATION
THIS NOVEL IS NARRATED BY DEATH
It's a small story, about:
a girl
an accordionist
some fanatical Germans
a Jewish fist fighter
and quite a lot of thievery.
ANOTHER THING YOU SHOULD KNOW
DEATH WILL VISIT THE BOOK THIEF THREE TIMES --This text refers to the paperback edition.
Review
"...a beautifully balanced piece of storytelling...Unsettling, thought-provoking, life affirming, triumphant and tragic, this is a novel of breathtaking scope, masterfully told. It is an important piece of work, but also a wonderful page-turner." (Guardian)
"A moving work which will make many eyes brim." (Marianne Brace Independent on Sunday)
"This is a weighty novel worthy of universal acclaim. A sense of dread prevades this beautifully written novel. As The Book Thief draws to a close, Death says: "There's a multitude of stories that i allow to distract me as I work." The story of the Book Thief, who tried to change the world in her own small way, proves one formidable and inspiring distraction." (Lianne Kolirin The Daily Express)
"Brilliant and hugely ambitious ... the kind of book that could be life-changing" (New York Times Book Review) --This text refers to the paperback edition.
From the Inside Flap
Product details
- ASIN : B01B2DJKHC
- Publisher : Transworld Digital; 10th Anniversary edition (8 Mar. 2016)
- Language : English
- File size : 14165 KB
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Not Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Print length : 499 pages
- Page numbers source ISBN : 0552773891
- Best Sellers Rank: 3,507 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- 11 in Historical German Fiction
- 12 in Historical Fantasy Fiction
- 12 in Women's Fantasy Fiction
- Customer reviews:
About the author

Markus Zusak is the international bestselling author of six novels, including The Book Thief and most recently, Bridge of Clay. His work is translated into more than forty languages, and has spent more than a decade on the New York Times bestseller list, establishing Zusak as one of the most successful authors to come out of Australia.
All of Zusak’s books – including earlier titles, The Underdog, Fighting Ruben Wolfe, When Dogs Cry (also titled Getting the Girl), The Messenger (or I am the Messenger) – have been awarded numerous honours around the world, ranging from literary prizes to readers choice awards to prizes voted on by booksellers.
In 2013, The Book Thief was made into a major motion picture, and in 2018 was voted one of America’s all-time favourite books, achieving 14th position on the PBS Great American Read. Also in 2018, Bridge of Clay was selected as a best book of the year in publications ranging from Entertainment Weekly to the Wall Street Journal.
Markus Zusak grew up in Sydney, Australia, and still lives there with his wife and two children.
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Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 30 January 2021
Top reviews from United Kingdom
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I must admit it takes a little while to really get into the story and understand the way it's written, but after you get past the prologue, this book really gets going.
WARNING : *Do not read on if you don't want to discover anything about the story*
The story revolves around Liesel (the book thief) and where she lives with her foster parents, Himmel Street, which translates to Heaven Street. However, the funny thing is, it is the complete opposite to that and is considered not a very pleasant place to be.
As the story unravels, the Hubermann family become closer to each other and Liesel forms a special relationship with her father, Hans. When they discover something on their doorstep, they all work together to make sure they are not found out. Because if they were, it ma be fatal... Please read this book!
By Vivie Sleight age 11
As a historical fiction book, the story is based in Nazi Germany, around the central character of a young girl, Liesel, and the relationships she holds dear. Zusak pulls on your heart-strings through his beautiful story-telling of the sadness, tragedies, loss and loneliness his characters face. And, through wonderful characterisation allows the reader to sense the vulnerability of, and feel the need to protect the characters he has created.
However, I felt some aspects of the novel were just not very well constructed, and interrupted the flow of the story and the level of engagement I had with it.
The concept of the personification of death is one that I like, and think worked incredibly well in Terry Pratchett’s Discworld so was quite excited at the start to see Zusak introduce Death as narrator. But quite quickly the colloquial style of narration jarred with me, and personally, I found it too light-hearted for the subject matter. I also felt that Zusak lost his way with this style, struggling to maintain it, moving in and out of Death’s informal, conversational narration into the more traditional story telling throughout the novel.
I also felt there were ideas that weren’t developed sufficiently, that either should have been left out...or taken more time over. An example of this is Death seeing colours associated with each passing of life, which is a brilliant concept, that was well introduced but given no more than a passing reference as the book progressed.
I feel that without these aspects distracting me, and detracting from the wonderful characterisation and plot, this book would have given a far greater impact, and could have been a 4 or even 5.
Death is the narrator of the story, a clever device enabling an emotionally impartial and non-judgemental narration that cuts to the heart.
It is interesting that the narrator prepares the reader for what is to come on several occasions. Yet this preparation in no way diminishes the horror. In some ways it intensifies it... Or focuses the attention... Like preparing to visit the morgue to see a loved one... We need to be prepared to say goodbye properly... To be able to let go... To remember. The dead are honoured by our remembering.