The Book Thief: Forerunner or Fail?

If you ask any expert in literature about which books you need to read in your lifetime, chances are that the 'The Book Thief' by Markus Zusak are near the top of their list. Is it really worth all of the hype though? Some claim it is the best book they have ever read, while others believed reading the book was a waste of their time, so which is it?

The book is set in 1939 in Nazi Germany, and is narrated by death itself.

By her brother's graveside, Liesel's life changes forever when she finds a single object, hidden in the snow. It is 'The Gravedigger's Handbook', left there accidentally, and it becomes her first act of book thievery.

Liesel begins to develop a love toward books and words, and when she is moved to a house with her new foster parents, after her mother, the only family she has left, sends her away. With the help of her accordian-playing foster father, she learns to read, and begins to steal book from Nazi book-burnings, the mayor's wife's library, and wherever books can be found. Liesel makes friends in her new town, but it goes downhill when her foster family hides something in their basement, illegally. If the Nazis discover him, they could all be killed.

Whether you like the sound of this book or not, I encourage you to give it a go. I personally found it to be an extremely engaging book, and I enjoyed it immensly. I learnt about love, and loss, and heartbreak, all from the point of view of death, who was following Liesels life. This is one of the greatest books I have ever read.