Audio version - one of the best audiobooks I have ever listened!!!! ( )

This book is a masterpiece. I'm not going to summarize it for you, because a summary is easy to find. Also, do not be fooled; this isn't a young adult book. Not that young adults shouldn't read it -- I think they should. But adults should not feel that they are above this book in the least.

The Book Thief offers something that we seldom see; a Holocaust story from a German civilian's perspective. And in this story, Zusak manages to do something I've been striving for for years in my writing, without getting very far. He makes a story that is simultaneously joyful and sad, which I think makes it all the more heartbreaking. I can not recommend The Book Thief highly enough. Read it. This is a book that is bound to be a classic.

(On a side note, woah, this book has some stellar characters) ( )

Young Adult Novel:
'The Book Thief' is narrated by Death himself, and follows a young German girl named Liesel. Liesel develops a love of books and reading, and through that love helps her family and community through the trials of the Second World War It's a beautiful, bittersweet story. Although Death, as narrator, often revealed some key plot points before they happened, it didn’t deter me from wanting to find out how and why these events happened.

“The Book Thief” is actually different than most books I would pick up myself, so I’m glad I listened to my friend’s recommendations. I actually listened to the audiobook version first, and quickly got caught up in the excellent storytelling. I really appreciated how the author gave real personality to all of the voices, and was able to affect a German accent quite well.

It’s a winner of quite a few awards, including the Michael L Printz Honor Award 2007, YALSA Best Books for Young Adults 2007 and the Parents' Choice Awards for fiction in 2006. It was nominated for the 2009 YRCA award in the senior division, and received a starred review in Publisher’s Weekly in 2006. ( )

Fantastically well written book detailing the life and experiences of 'The Book Thief'. Kept me glued to it from beginning to end.

Very few books move me to tears. This clever, knowing, novel is one of those select few. It is a tale of self-discovery and of loss. It starts and ends with bereavements and, as is only to be expected when the narrator is the personification of Death, there is much here about mortality. But the losses are not simply those of life; the characters lose their dignity, their possessions, and their self-esteem too. They also lose some of their limitations and learn great things of themselves. And all this happens in a comic story of coming of age, of bravery, of love unrequited, and of great loyalty, and self-sacrifice. ( )