Customer Reviews
A Good Read but ultimately unsatisfying - By: GeeJayBee, 29 Jun 2008 
At first I found this book irritating as I got used to the unusual narrative style & the page layout. However after about 50 pages or so you are drwn into the world of Liesel (The book Thief) & her surrogate family & friends. The book runs to over 500 pages & I read itin a little under 2 days so that gives an idea of how engrossing it is.
However throughout the book I felt I was being emotionally manipulated by some clever narrative tricks & at the end I think the feeling was justified. The context of the novel is of course one of the great tragedies of our time & one of great inhumanity, however I felt the author was deliberately playing on the readers emotions & trying too hard to elicit an emotional response,in fact to elicit a tearful response. Having said that there is great skillin keeping adults engrossedin a story about a childs life, conversations & interactions.
Highly Recommended Reading !!!! - By: Kathy, 17 May 2008 
Wonderful book. Read by our bookgroup & it got excellent reviews all round. Can't praise it enough! A MUST read...............
A Modern Classic - By: Jessica Hope, 05 Mar 2008 This is such an unexpected book. Absolutely brilliantly conceived it is compelling from the very first page. I can only agree to all the reviews & urge you to buy it & read it for yourself. You will think about it long after you have turned the last page.
It will leave you breathless! - By: Buffalo22, 10 Jan 2008 The Book theif gives a harrowing timein german history from a little girl's point of view. This could have so easily become a book of bitterness, pain & misery, but watching events unfold through the eyes of death is the work of a genius.
Book Theif made me smile. I cried. I found myself waking up at 3.00in the morning to read just a few more pages.
You can't read Book Theif without it leaving it's mark on you.
A truly fantastic read!
Utterly brilliant and truly heartbreaking - By: Nancy Williams, 19 Dec 2007 Death thinks that the fact humans represent him carrying a scythe is amusing, & only wears a black cloak when it is cold. He (or she) notices colours to keep him sane whilst all around him he is collecting souls. He tries not to get caught up with the stories of those souls he collects but one story moves him - the story of the book thief - which is why he chooses to tell the story to us.
This book is beautifully written. It is neither complex nor heavy - the story is a simple one, packed with happiness & tragedy & a constant overtone of the strength of human spirit. Despite the fact that Death chooses not to surprise us - he tells us 'what happens at the end' about halfway through the book, I still nearly cried when the end came. The actual story is not just about people & war - it is just as much about the power of words to revive, bring hope, brainwash & kill.
