My Review of The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

This is very fresh on my mind.  I finished The Book Thief five minutes ago.  As you can see, I could not wait to give my humble opinion of this book.   So, as I wipe the tears from my cheeks, I will collect myself and try to give you a proper review.
First, this is another book I wasn't sure about.  There are so many people who have told me how wonderful this book is that I was a bit skeptical.  After all, I have run into the experience where I have heard how wonderful a book is from so many people and it's just not wonderful at all.  Of course, this can go both ways.  I've heard people hate books that I love.  Anyways, I wasn't disappointed in The Book Thief at all.
I would like to say that it does deal with a part of history that speaks to me.  I study my family history and I have found that I am part Romani on my mother's side.  The Romani were also persecuted alongside people of Jewish decent.  So, I will say that the book immediately had my interest because of that.
Going into this book, I hoped that the characters would be rich with varying personalities.  Not only did I love the main character, Liesel but I loved all of the other characters as well.  It struck me that Markus Zusak has a wonderful gift where he is able to give his characters such drastically different personalities and still be able to have them intermingle in such a beautiful way because of this gift, I was more engaged in this book than I have been with any other in a long time.
Also, The Book Thief is very emotionally charged.  I was not kidding when I said that I was wiping tears from my eyes at the beginning of this blog.  I literally was.  Thankfully, the emotions are negative, positive and everything in between.
Also, I am very glad to say that I got a true glimpse into the world at that time.  The fear and the ability to find the happiness within the darkest and most evil of times was wonderfully represented.  The stories showed such a strong sense of human endurance.  Also, they proved that not everything is right or wrong.  There are a lot of gray areas.  To say that I love The Book Thief is an understatement.  I will be watching the movie tomorrow.  So, obsessed is a good word for how I feel about this beautiful collection of words.  I recommend The Book Thief to everyone.


My rating:  5 Stars  (I would give it more if I could)
Book Cover Rating: 5