Disclaimer: Spoilers Ahead.

I "read" this book in "total blindness".

I knew nothing about it beforehand. Not even a summary. It arrived in form of several compact discs, contained in plain white packaging. No image, nothing besides a title and author's name. A gift from a friend. It came with a note: Enjoy it, saukerl!

On my table, there was a copy of Allegiant, by Veronica Roth. I was going to read it, but I was distracted by The Good Thief's Guides and Ready Player One. And now, The Book Thief.

I wanted a closure for the Divergent series, but I was eager to learn the "saukerl" reference too. The decision to ignore the former option came easier this time. I must learn what The Book Thief was about.



I imagined it to be a book of epic heist, something along the line of The Good Thief's Guide, or even Ocean's Eleven. Maybe it would be a darker version of The Magician, by Lev Grossman. I was wrong. The Book Thief was about a book thief, alright. But the essence of the story is something else entirely.

In hindsight, it was fitting that I experienced The Book Thief as an audio book, in a November rain. Of course, it wasn't by choice. It came to me as an audio book, and it rained as I played Disc One on my computer. It was dark and gloomy, with a little hint of excitement. Just like the introduction to the book.

It was a story of a book thief, one Liesel Meminger, narrated by Death. It was set in Molching, a fictional town just outside of Munich, Germany, during World War 2. A memoir of sort, Death took me through the lives of people in Liesel's life, how they began and how they ended.

There are many materials on that period of time, one of the more prominent being Anne Frank's diary. While the diary has the advantage of being real, this fictional book thief has the epicness of being depicted by Death himself. Of all the souls Death collected, the book thief stood out. That's one hell of an impression she made on him.

I know, I know. It's a fiction. But Harry Potter wasn't discounted by the fact of it being fiction, so why should The Book Thief suffer it?

The brilliance of this book lies in how the story was told. Or rather, who told it. As mentioned, it was fitting that I experienced The Book Thief as an audio book. It was as if, I met Death in a random pub, and a few pints later he confided in me of his true nature. We then spent the evening dwelling in his past and her story. I bet the effect was especially profound in audio book, simply because it read like an actual conversation.

At some point, I sat in a cafe sipping my coffee, smiling as Death described to me some trivial bit of Liesel. This is a great book, story wise, writing wise. Everyone should give it a try, regardless of what genre you are a hardcore fan of. I recommend the audio book version.

Oh, by the way. Saukerl, I later learned in the book, was a southern German slang for "Pig Boy". How proper.

This post has been edited by NXJ: Nov 26 2013, 10:33 AM

I bought this book for my gf of 3 years plus (then still just courting her). She was looking for it and can't find it.

Maybe it's time for me to read it up.

Get the audio book if possible

Lol ... how she lived her life impressed Death ... how the situation around her kept "stealing things" from her. But she fought back by "stealing books" from life and go on.

Remarkable story with good story telling. I couldn't work at all towards the end of the audiobook. It ended with a bitter sweet smile.

Currently reading this book too. Saumencsh!

Looking forward to your opinion!

Finished this book quite some time ago, had me (shamelessly) crying buckets of tears nearing the end.

Personally I find the story to be quite compelling, it's youthful, it's warm, it's enlightening all wrapped in one (if insufferably long) book. Like what being mentioned above, the other (and generally more notable) written literature of the period (World War) is Anne Frank's Diary. However I feel The Book Thief is a bit more personal and a bit more dramatic (then again it's fiction, what would you expect?). I like how the author employs Death as the narrator but then again that has been criticized for being dramatic for the sake of dramatic.

I guess The Book Thief has fallen into that category of great books (or if you prefer, classics) which has two general followings, one of which who love it to pieces and the other who would love to see it in pieces. Personally, for this one, I belong with the former.

Going to watch the movie tomorrow! Curious to see if it's as good as the book

Read this book just last year, really great book, got me laughing out loud at saumensch parts! Ending was just so sad, i was left speechless and recommended this book to my other reading friends.

I LOVE THIS BOOK SO MUCH. caps lock totally intentional

ok, now I've gotten past my initial excitement at seeing someone else as in love with this book as me..

i read this book after my friend from Sudan recommended it to me once he said that Death was the narrator I just had to have it

This post has been edited by twohens: Jun 25 2014, 11:52 AM