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Original poster

Is there anyone else on here who didn't love The Book Thief?

264 replies

TunipTheVegedude · 07/07/2013 20:54

I was told to persevere with it and I'm now 63% through and it's annoying me more than ever.
I'm finding it pretentious and dull and while some of the characters are fine, the girl is totally unconvincing - she reads like someone has sat down and decided on some interesting characteristics to give her ('I know! I'll make her good at fighting and football!') rather than the character growing naturally.
Is it going to get better in the last 37%?

OP posts:
MadameDefarge · 08/07/2013 20:45

bollocks to royalty...everyone welcome on IPOAT...there is a splendid new recruit name of tallia or summat...

we have to fight MNHQ to allow us to be on AIBU otherwise we get shoved somewhere totally inaccessible where even we can't find it.

ITs a great sadness to me that no one ever refers to me as royalty, despite all my best efforts...not even with contempt.

CoteDAzur · 08/07/2013 20:44

HDM was OK but I had expected more, I suppose.

I think I would have really loved it if I read it in my teens.

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 08/07/2013 20:41

Shhh - don't mention HDM on a thread with Cote on! :)

Hullygully · 08/07/2013 20:39

Except that I went a bit mad and bought 30 new books off mad bad amazon and let's not even count those hiding on the kindle

Hullygully · 08/07/2013 20:38

oh get thee hence with yon royalty shite

I think book threads are always fun

we are /were having a lovely old chat on a fred about books pour moi just a day or so ago

roundtable · 08/07/2013 20:38

I've read it a while ago but I remember nothing about it. Which means it wasn't that great imo.

On the subject of ya literature, I've just reread His Dark Materials and loved it even more.

I want Peter Jackson to make it into a trilogy and replace that awful first film.

LRDLearningKnigaBook · 08/07/2013 20:22

Ahh.

Thanks hack.

You have been on MN longer than me, to be fair. And MN royalty rarely share their secrets.

hackmum · 08/07/2013 20:18

Insane Posters On A Thread. Even I know that, and I'm not even Mumsnet royalty.

Who'd have thought a fred in adult fiction would turn out to be so much fun...

CoteDAzur · 08/07/2013 20:17

Oh God, 1000SS was truly awful. Glorified chick-lit.

Its author knows less about Afghanistan and Islam than he does about women, having left the country as a child to go be an American in San Francisco.

I have noticed that fans of The Book Thief also tend to like 1000SS. I have heard it said in adoring tones that both books make the reader cry buckets.

MadameDefarge · 08/07/2013 20:10

pleeze

MadameDefarge · 08/07/2013 20:00

Hully, tell LRD what IPOAT is..

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 08/07/2013 19:50

I liked The Kite Runner but loathed A Thousand Turgid Suns.

Trills · 08/07/2013 19:49

Kite Runner also meh, also forgotten.

LRDLearningKnigaBook · 08/07/2013 19:44

What does IPAOT stand for?

MadameDefarge · 08/07/2013 19:42

I quite liked the Kite Runner. But it def comes under easy reading.

MadameDefarge · 08/07/2013 19:42

don't get me started on Maryam. Drippy drippy drip.

Hullygully · 08/07/2013 19:20

That Kite Runner is shite too but Thousand Syrupy Suns with drooping Maryam is even worse

I wonder if Khaled Hussein has ever actually met a real live woman in his life.

And don't give me no kulcher shite

SunshineBossaNova · 08/07/2013 18:48

I read it a couple of years ago, was a bit 'meh' about it.

MadameDefarge · 08/07/2013 18:32

LRD, take a peek at the IPOAT thread...it's mob cap heaven!

MadameDefarge · 08/07/2013 18:30

no simpering here, missus, pretty or otherwise.

LRDLearningKnigaBook · 08/07/2013 18:29
Shock

Oh my lord, we've crossed over into sub-Bronte rude story territory. I trust we all have mob caps at the ready.

Thanks, tunip, for not getting infuriated that I didn't read the whole thing.

Hullygully · 08/07/2013 18:18

I am, it has always been my downfall

Original poster
TunipTheVegedude · 08/07/2013 18:18

Hey, my thread ended up brilliant! Grin

Of course LRD can say the prose was too lush and sensory based on a quick flip through. You can comment on the prose style from reading a sample. If she'd been criticising the structure without having read it that would be different.

OP posts:
MadameDefarge · 08/07/2013 18:14

Hully, you are too kind!

Hullygully · 08/07/2013 18:11