Title: The Book Thief

Author: Markus Zusak

Publisher: Knopf 2007

Genre: Literature

Pages: 576

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Ebook; 52 Books - W40; Book Bingo -- 3 from everyone but me; Fall into Reading

How I Got It: iPad read

It is 1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier, and will become busier still.

Liesel Meminger is a foster girl living outside of Munich, who scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she encounters something she can’t resist–books. With the help of her accordion-playing foster father, she learns to read and shares her stolen books with her neighbors during bombing raids as well as with the Jewish man hidden in her basement.

This book destroyed me. I was utterly helpless to its pull.  I had heard that this was a great book, but usually those popular books escaped me.  I just don't pick them up.  In this case, The Book Thief was chosen as our book club selection.  I started reading it and was intrigued but all a bit off balance.  The style of switching from the narrator to a third person point of view took some getting used to.  I was also thrown off by the interludes of bolded text.  I was a bit confused, but soon everything started falling into place.  I easily saw where the story was going (helped along by the narrator), but it was okay.  The strength of this book lies in the characters.  They are all amazing.  They all have such layers.  Usually the main characters have layers and the side characters are there solely to push the story forward.  In this volume, every character has layers.  I loved getting glimpses into the neighbor or the mayor's wife or even the members of the Hitler Youth group.  Each one has been crafted to appear as a real person.  Even the narrator has layers, something you wouldn't expect.  By the last 75 pages, I couldn't put it down.  Even as my eyes were dropping from lack of sleep, I had to finish this incredible volume.  Absolutely amazing!  I can't wait to see what the other book club ladies thought about it.