The Book Thief - MUST read

[katiekittlemouse]

I have just finished this book - it's brilliant! Well written, unusual, harrowing, sad, and in parts funny....
Everyone should read it!! What did you think?
It sits now on my shelf of the best books I've ever read with The Secret History, Shantaram and The Kite Runner.

I do think that it is jam packed with metaphors that do sometimes catch of the flow of reading but even for that I still loved The Book Thief. Simply for the characters I think and for once I didn't foresee what was going to happen.

Also loved The Secret History too and was equally disappointed in My Little Friend. Although I didn't mind the ending as such I did feel it was very rushed, almost as though she realised how much she had written and got fed up with the story so just ended it. There, managed that without putting a spoiler I hope!

So on the strength of this thread I bought the Secret History and have just finished it and loved it. Thank you

I wonder if I should try and finish the Little Friend. I too waited with bated breath for it as loved Secret history, might have to read that again now.

Loved Kite Runner and Splendid suns.

Just finished a Jodi Piccoult run, and am relaxing with Slummy Mummy which has had me laughing out loud on trains etc.

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I am descended from Dutch Jews and I have been researching what happened to them in WWII. There was no happy ending for the majority and so, to me, reading The Book Thief was poignant, thought provoking and gave me an insight into how some Germans felt about the persecution.

A brilliant book and one I urge you to read if you have not.

I'm 100 pages in, thinking you lot are smoking something.

If death ever talks, I would expect him to have something more interesting to say about the world, life, death, etc than rambling on about colors in the sky like a retard.

Does it get better? Or should I go back to my book club saying the dog ate it?

Want to read it, recommended by most, but if this is, dear OP a parallel of heights with the kite runner then maybe I won't like it. KR could have been at least a third shorter, great story I love thousand splendid suns but lots of KR was overdone/ overexplained IMO

I hated 1000 Splendid Suns. Written in English by an American who knows little about Afghanistan. Everyone in the West knows two things about Afghanistan - (1) Buddha statues blown up by the Taliban and (2) women get beaten up there. And that is all this book talks about.

Like a book about the US, written in Arabic, by a Saudi guy, which talks only about everyone eating hamburgers and banging each other.

I loved this book, was randomly recommended to me by a woman in Tesco (shock horror at the shop) whilst I recommended a John Harvey book to her! (lots of pondering in the book aisle) I enjoyed this immensley, I hope she enjoyed her book too!

Does it get better after page 100, though?

Phew - CoteDAzur. I pretty much felt the same way about The Book Thief. Totally overwritten. The basic storyline was ok, but the writing was so self-indulgent. Drove me nuts. There are lots of good books out there about the German experience of WWII and the Holocaust. This is, IMHO, not one of them.

Haven't read A Thousand Splendid Suns. Was put off by all the hype...

The author seems to get more involved with his story as the book progresses, and less obsessed with proving how novel and clever his writing can be, so yes - to a certain extent - it does improve.

If it's in the library, maybe I'll check it out.

I've only read the first 100 pages so perhaps shouldn't judge, but it is just so... puerile.

If characters were any less developed, they would be one-dimensional. So far, the only thing I know about 'Mama' is that she calls everyone "swine", for example.

And will death stop rambling like an imbecile about colors? In the rest of the book, does he say anything remotely interesting about being an immortal predator?

i only give books 50 pages and if they still bore me, they go back to the library, donated to the charity shop or, for ones i find it sinful to impose on others, they become tender for the garden rubbish fires.

Would you be surprised to hear that the irascible Mama actually harbours a softer heart than she lets on? How, erm, original...

No, no really.

Expat: a bit tasteless to talk about burning books on this thread, no?

Penth, I haven't read The Book Thief. I came on this thread to find out what people thought about it.

Just kidding with you, expat! The book's about Germany during WWII, hence my aside.

If you want to read this book, I'll send you my copy.

Why is it a "must read" for adults, though? It reads like a typical children's book so far - superficial, stereotypical, and heart-string tugging.

Someone at work has just lent this to me so I will give it a go, as soon as I have finished Freakanomics!

I'm at page 250 or so, and it is just the worst waste of time ever.

Loved this book. Probably the best thing I read in 2008.

Oh it was all right, not amazing, not the best book on the topic of childhood in Nazi Germany by any means.

I loved this book. I cried all the way through the last third of it.
I thought the ending was really good.