The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

A slow but sure read. I've complained about this book for about three and a half weeks, but now that I've finished it I feel like all my complaining was for nothing. I have to admit that this (along with World War Z) is literally the slowest book I've ever read. Where The Red Fern Grows was faster paced than this book. And nothing ever happens. I mean, stuff happens, then stuff doesn't happen, then stuff happens, then nothing happens for legitimately 200 pages, and then fucking shit goes the fuc...more Pages: 552 Release Date: March 14, 2006 Publisher: Knopf Books Rating: ☆☆ The extraordinary #1 New York Times bestseller that will be in movie theaters on November 15, 2013, Markus Zusak's unforgettable story is about the ability of books to feed the soul. 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. In superbly crafted writing that burns with intensity, award-winning author Markus Zusak, author of I Am the Messenger, has given us one of the most enduring stories of our time. A slow but sure read. I've complained about this book for about three and a half weeks, but now that I've finished it I feel like all my complaining was for nothing. I have to admit that this (along with World War Z) is literally the slowest book I've ever read. Where The Red Fern Grows was faster paced than this book. And nothing ever happens. I mean, stuff happens, then stuff doesn't happen, then stuff happens, then nothing happens for legitimately 200 pages, and then fucking shit goes the fuck down. The ending. Like what the fuck. Oh my fucking god. But the story aside, the character's weren't even my biggest issue. It was the narrator and the pace. Like I said above, it was just such a slow read. Literally I think that half of this book could've been scraped in the editing process and the book would've been just fine. The narrator being death was a risky move on Zusak's part, and I wish he just abandoned that idea. The colors of the skies and days was intriguing, but everything else was weird. Oh, there was one other thing I liked about Death. One. The fact that he explained war and being rushed. Where there was always someone on his back telling him to get it done. I thought that was creative and nice. There are two characters that saved this book for me: Max and Hans. Rudy was alright. I liked how he named her The Book Thief and how he always asked for a kiss. That's it, really. Max and Hans had so much life in them. I could feel Max's pain coming off the page. He was a Jew in a time where Jews weren't accepted. Hans was a man that owed his friend a favor, and that favor just so happened to be protecting his son from the Nazis. I feel that that part of the book was beautifully crafted--the Jew/Nazi part of the book. The other parts, where Liesel was stealing books and learning to read and hanging out with Rudy and being a little brat weren't very interesting. Especially when she joined that group of thieves. Like, what? No really. What? It just made me so mad that basically nothing happened in this book. My expectations were so high, and then they were crushed. Yeah, thanks, Markus Zusak. I originally gave this book three stars, but I'm writing this review a month after I finished it, and now that I think back on the whole experience, I really didn't like this book all that much. It was a bore, and it was extremely difficult to finish. I can't exactly recommend this book because I didn't particularly fall in love with it like others have, but still, I think this is a book everyone should experience once in their lifetime. Liesel's story is quite powerful in its own way, and I feel as if everybody should experience it at least once. Oh yeah and I don't understand that cover. At all. Liesel never played dominos.