**A note on my notes: If you have not read the book, then you will be spoiled by reading this review. If you disagree with my opinion about the book, that's okay. We can all think differently.**This book was absolutely beautiful; I don't think I have ever been so emotionally invested in a story before. The writing was beautiful. The character's were beautifully developed. The relationships were beautiful. Everything was beautiful. I loved it.
Now, I did go into the book having already seen the movie which I 100% enjoyed, so that could potentially have impacted my opinion: I didn't come into the book knowing nothing about the storyline and was already invested in the characters. Because of this, I didn't have any trouble getting into the story, but I can see how for someone who knows nothing about it could have trouble getting started. Big books are always daunting to pick up for the first time, and it does take a few pages to really understand what's going on and how it's relevant to the story. Nonetheless, I really loved this book.
If you haven't read it, the novel follows a young German girl called Liesel who is living during World War II. She was adopted into a new family and the plot basically follows her and the people she develops relationships with while they struggle to survive.
The novel was narrated by Death, which I thought was really interesting. I've never read a book that was narrated by a concept rather than a character (well, really, Death is a character, but you know what I mean) and I thought that it fit the tone of the novel perfectly. Being able to sympathise with Death just affirmed for me how talented Marcus Zusak is in his writing. Scattered throughout the novel were these sections that were kind of separate from the overall tale and were more of Death's thoughts and beliefs about certain things. I thought these were incorporated into the story really well and were extremely interesting to read as they were from a perspective I haven't really considered before.
The characters were really well developed and fleshed out. Liesel was an excellent protagonist and I really loved how her desire for reading and knowledge was an important part of her life. I think she was written beautifully and that her reactions to events such as Mama, Papa and Rudy's deaths was perfect. I think Rudy overall was a great best friend to Liesel and I thought their relationship was adorable! I found their interactions and the way they were somewhat mean to each other was very believable. Mama and Papa's relationship was also hilarious. Rosa's attitudes and personality really bought some humour to a world that was otherwise dark and dangerous, and it made her soft spots even more touching, especially when she told Liesel that Max had awoken and when she sat with her husbands accordion. I think the way the family bonded with Max was touching, but also believable - there was a certain fear shared between them that made the story much more realistic and really drew me into the story.
My heart shattered with the ending, even though I'd already seen the movie and the death's are mentioned several times throughout the book. I felt so so so sorry for Liesel; she had really lost everything then. Her old family, her new one, her best friend, her home, her books and even Max was gone.While I wish that things worked out differently for her, I think that having those characters die was important to capture the essence of World War II and the fact that nobody was safe, not even kind German families.
Overall, this book has really touched me and will stay with me for a really long time. I would recommended it to everyone. While it is touching, it is also sad and if you're an emotional person like I am, you will probably cry several times. Nevertheless, The Book Thief is an example of beautiful writing and storytelling and will be on my favourites shelf for a very long time.
I would also like to thank Little Book Owl for raving about this book so many times, for otherwise I would never have been interested in it! You can check her blog out here: http://www.littlebookowl.com/ and her YouTube channel here: http://www.youtube.com/user/LittleBookOwl
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