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The book thief is about a girl named Liesel, she is a girl in nazi Germany. Even though this book is one of my favorite books, there are some things that you need to know before you read this book. (Spoiler) this book does not have an average disney movie ending meaning it has a unhappy ending. Also if you are not a fan of lengthy novels I would recommend you skip this novel because this novel is detailed and very thorough.

One component that I really felt helped engaged the reader is the character development. You grow a bond with the character and for me was a really emotional book that kept me engaged. On the contrary, one idea that could be slightly modified is the narrator death. At some points in the book death would randomly pop out into the middle of an intense conversation making that conversation less engaging because death would keep of coming in the story and out with no reason. Additionally death would sometimes spoil parts of the book. What I mean by that is occasionally when something emotional would occur, death would tell you all about it after and it would seem less valuable and basically a spoiler within the book. Those are most of my likes and dislikes so it’s time to move onto the writing style.

One component that an everyday reader will will take away from this book is the unique writing style used. A persuasive reason everyone tells us to read is so we can learn different writing skills and relish the book. The book thief expresses it writing with lots of sensory detail, it’s almost like you went to a beautiful scenic view and your eyes could write down everything they saw. In the book Liesel goes out on a scenic diary almost. The reason for this is because Max (the Jew they are hiding) is not allowed to go outside or else people would see him and Max would be killed. Max loved outside but could not see any of it. He told Liesel if she could tell him what it was like. Quoted from the Book: "The sun-- looks like softened butter-- melting-- into a warm, creamy mashed-potatoes cloud-- in the middle of a bottomless powder-blue bowl." If you were a teacher that was teaching would be impressed if a student described some event in their story with this much detail? The style of writing and sentence structure also is a really substantial take away. How the author describes the holocaust I found it interesting. You basically got to see in other side of the coin in this book. Liesel feels so real to me I can’t explain it. It’s like she is just any other kid who plays soccer on the street.

The vocabulary in this novel is extremely compelling and holds lot’s of value. In the world words are one of the most powerful ways that people can connect with. In the book thief there are several examples of words connecting with people throughout the novel. An example is when Hans taught Liesel the english alphabet and create words and eventually write stories. This births the deep bond between Hans and Liesel which makes the novel even more emotional and intriguing plot.



One theme that most readers start to notice (which I agree with) is, the kindness and cruelty of humans. That theme may seem quite vague but has evidence backing it up. The novel shows different degrees of peoples kindness and extreme cruelty. An example of kindness is when the Hubermanns decided to hide Max and care for him. Not only did they care for him physically Liesel also cared for Max mentally and made him feel apart of the family. They kept Max alive with posing great danger to their own family, that represents how humans are kind. On the other side is the cruelty in the world and how it affected the characters in this novel. In one scenario Hans attempts to help one of the Jews being marched and escorted though the town towards Dachau. A particular jewish man clearly looked famished and exhausted. Hans instantaneously rushes to him and gives him a piece of bread with no questions asked. After Hans gave the man that piece of bread one of the Nazi soldiers set aside the man and Hans and repeatedly whips Hans and the Jewish man. This act is so cruel because it was in respond to Hans kindness.