1.) The Book Thief -Markus Zusak

"One was a book thief.  The other stole the sky."

This is a popular book and after seeing all the good reviews, I decided to give it a go.  Let me tell you, this story has left me speechless.  It is no where near what I was expecting.  Historical fiction isn't usually at the top of my genre list, but the satisfaction of this amazing book is encouraging me to read more.  The narration of third person, Liesel (the main girl character), and Death itself already drew me in quickly when I first picked it up.  I love the style of how this book is told, incredibly interesting and unique.

On the way to her new foster parents, Liesels younger brother doesn't make it.  After his funeral she finds a book dropped by a gravedigger and takes it, which begins the story of the book thief.  I easily fell in love with the characters in this book:

Liesel was able to easily connect and make such good relationships with others, even though she had gone through so much on her own.  I love how understanding and caring she is able to be at her young age.  She was truly the perfect main character.  As she fell in love with books she gained and stole, she also learned to hate words realizing what ugly things they could mean, especially in the way Hitler used them to encourage acts of violence.  Through this she started to write down her own story while realizing what is truly right to stand and fight for.  I enjoyed her character development as she grew up.

Rudy has my heart.  The author admitted that he was his favorite character and I just might have to agree with him.  Even death manages to have a soft-spot for him.  He is compassionate and loyal, especially when it comes to his best friend Liesel.  As you can easily tell from the book, he clearly cares for her and will always look out for her.  When her book is thrown in the river, he doesn't hesitate to dive in to retrieve it.  It may mean nothing to him but he knows it means a lot to her.  His compassion spreads to a friend Tommy who suffers from hearing problems.  He is never afraid to protect his friends even if he is faced with negative repercussions after.  Throughout the story even when he goes through family troubles he changes but manages to stay the same kind, caring boy.

Hans has a beautiful heart.  He becomes the role of Liesels father and is the first adult she learns to trust.  Waking out of nightmares, he is the first to comfort her.  Hans teaches Liesel to read which becomes a very meaningful skill for her.  He is a very important role model and teacher to Liesel, showing he is not afraid to stand up for someone and do the right thing.

Rosa is hard on Liesel as her mother, but has good intentions and a good heart under all those swear words.  I think she just wants the best for her.  Even though I'm sure Liesel thinks differently, her anger adds some comedy for me. 

Max was an excellent addition to the book.  It didn't feel fully complete until he joined.  Scared and untrusting he becomes good friends with Liesels family, as they risk their safety to assure his.  Max especially connects with Liesel and they are able to have a strong friendship.  He even writes her his story.

Since this story takes place during WW2 there are events like Nazis burning books, and having to take shelter from bombs.  The author wrote these parts into the story perfectly.  He also doesn't miss a beat on translating Liesels feelings about Hitler and what is happening around her as she becomes more aware.  The story line of this book ran very smoothly and never felt incomplete.

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Now for the moment we have been waiting for: the ending.  To say I was shocked was an understatement.  Miraculously this book was never spoiled for me so I actually had no idea what was going to happen.  Now we all know that Rudy was going to die at the end, as Death likes to so kindly remind us in the narration.  I knew it was going to hurt, BUT NOT THAT MUCH.  I thought it would be just him but nooooooooo, it was literally everyone on the street.  The author really cut us no slack, in addition to Liesel finding and cradling all of their bodies, death also describes their souls as he goes to collect him.  When she found Rudy I absolutely lost it.  I couldn't even read it all at once and kept having to take breaks to regroup so I wouldn't pass out or something.  I cried over the last 100 pages or so.  It hurt and still hurts to think about.  That was probably one of the most painful things I have read.

Later, Liesel and Max find each other again and that made me very very happy.  Liesel went on to live a good life, death comes to collect her soul, and shows her the book she wrote that he picked up.  Even though it was horribly sad, I feel like this book was ended well. 







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I have no words for Zusaks writing style because the word incredible does not feel like enough.  It took him 3 years to write this book, and even though that sounds like a long time, for a masterpiece like this it really isn't.  I don't know how he pulled it off, he really is a phenomenal author.  I feel like this is a book everyone should read at some point in their lives.  It is definitely a roller-coaster of emotions, but I loved every single minute of it.  Definitely a new favorite of mine.  This book was a great start to my 100 book challenge.  One down, 99 to go.


What did you think of this book?  How did you feel about the ending? What should I read next?
Thanks so much for reading:)