The Book Thief

By: Markus Zusak

Narrated by: Allan Corduner

Don’t miss Bridge of Clay, Markus Zusak’s first novel since The Book Thief.

The extraordinary number-one New York Times best seller that is now a major motion picture, Markus Zusak's unforgettable story is about the ability of books to feed the soul. Nominated as one of America's best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read.

When Death has a story to tell, you listen. It is 1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier, and will become busier still. Liesel Meminger is a foster girl living outside of Munich, who scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she encounters something she can’t resist - books. With the help of her accordion-playing foster father, she learns to read and shares her stolen books with her neighbors during bombing raids as well as with the Jewish man hidden in her basement.

In superbly crafted writing that burns with intensity, award-winning author Markus Zusak, author of I Am the Messenger, has given us one of the most enduring stories of our time.

“The kind of book that can be life-changing.” (The New York Times)

“Deserves a place on the same shelf with The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank.” (USA Today)

©2006 Markus Zusak (P)2006 Random House Inc. Listening Library, an imprint of the Random House Audio Publishing Group

Critic reviews

• Book Sense Book of the Year Award, Children's Literature, 2007

"The astonishing characters, drawn without sentimentality, will grab readers." (Booklist)
"Zusak has created a work that deserves the attention of sophisticated teen and adult readers....An extraordinary narrative." (School Library Journal)
"The Book Thief will appeal both to sophisticated teens and adults with its engaging characters and heartbreaking story." (Bookmarks Magazine)

Light Genocide

The Book Thief is rather light reading considering it is about death and life in Nazi German during WWII. The narrator is a mildly funny and likable Death who is being overworked by the massive carnage of WWII yet is lovingly careful with each of his human consignments and is hauntingly interested in a few of the living. The protagonist is a young girl growing up with a foster family during the horrors of war and adolescence. The Book Thief seems written for young teens, but is good enough for adults to share with their kids. If you start this, do finish it. The ending is, by far, the most powerful aspect of the book and is worth the prior, less powerful, bits. For a young person this is a compelling and heartwarming and heart wrenching, but not overwhelming, story of war and death and genocide. The narration if quite strong and clear, adding an enjoyable expressiveness to the characters. I liked this book, but did not love it.

Lyrical and readable

All eight or so people in my book club enjoyed The Book Thief, which is a first for anything we’ve read so far. While not the most complex novel (being written for the young adult market), it’s a beautifully written one, with appealing characters and a perspective on World War Two that’s not the usual one. For one thing, the story’s set in Germany, with German characters. If your literary experience of WWII is centered around British or American viewpoints, this one humanizes the people on the other side of the war.

The other unusual thing about the Book Thief is its narrator, Death himself. It’s a strange device, but one that works wonderfully, adding a much-needed layer of poetic remove to circumstances that are normally hard to read about. In this instance, the angel of finality could have been a Bob Dylan character. He has a wry sense of humor and a certain fixation on the facts and statistics of his work, and -- by the way -- doesn’t carry a sickle. He’s neither cruel nor pitying. He meets everyone eventually, and keeps records. He feels overworked in times of war, and has little more insight into God than we do. He’s obsessed with color and skies. And he finds a fascination with a few of the living people he encounters as he makes his rounds, hence the story.

Other protagonists have similar lyrical qualities. There’s an impulsive German boy whose hero is Jesse Owens, the black American athlete. There’s a profane-mouthed washer woman, whose abusive manner hides a decent heart. There’s the book thief herself, whose stealing involves several ironies, not the least of which is that she starts out not being able to read. And there’s the matter of a promise from a long time ago, leading to a Jew in a certain basement. While the plot follows somewhat well-worn lines, Zusak's poetic prose and his reconstruction of daily life's small but meaningful moments kept me absorbed.

Death describes it all, in amiable but unsentimental terms. His superhuman perspective keeps the sheer awfulness of events in that time and place from overwhelming the story, while allowing the reader to experience the joys and sorrows of several human lives in familiar motion in a darkening world.

Brilliant

What a gem! Beautifully written! The imagery, pacing, the dialogue! The character building! All of it is so delightful.

The icing on the cake is Allan Corduner's narration. A perfect match of talent and substance I found mesmerizing

With this book alone, Zusak had earned the right to stand with master story tellers Frank Delaney, John Irving, and Colm T?ib?n! And more!

Great Story, Great Narrator

The characters are wonderful and their world is one often overlooked in stories of war.

It will PULL you into it!!!

The writing is incredible, written and narrated by "Death" . . . the journey of a young girl who has already lost her mother and brother comes to a small German town to foster parents during WWII. She doesn't know how to read and convinces her new "Papa" to teach her, beginning her love affair with books that changes her life . . . and the lives of many others.

not just for kids

well written and full of great quotes - "There's only one thing worse than a boy who hates a girl...A boy who loves a girl" Read by Allan Corduner in a most playful, dramatic, and entertaining tone the listener will not be disappointed. This Markus Zusak can write.... This reviewer only wishes for more.

An Excellent Book

I can't imagine why it is called a book for 'young adults'. They would never fully appreciate the book, which is very moving and tries to be fair as well as compassionate.

I laughed, I cried, I thought deeply.

This book is absolutely beautiful, dark, sad, and hilarious. The narrator was absolutely brilliant, and the author's habit of revealing events before they happened did not make them any less impactful.
Five out of five in all aspects.

A Perfect Book

This was hands down the best book I've experienced in a long time. The story was amazing and the narrator a perfect match. I highly recommend this.

Amazing, from start to finish.

Fantastic narration breathes life into the characters. What an amazing view point the narrator of the story has.