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Markus Zusak
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About the Author
Review
"... A moving work which will make many eyes brim." (The Independent) --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.
Book Description
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
PROLOGUE
A MOUNTAIN RANGE OF RUBBLE
in which our narrator introduces:
himself - the colours
- and the book thief
DEATH AND CHOCOLATE
First the colours.
Then the humans.
That's usually how I see things.
Or at least, how I try.
HERE IS A SMALL FACT
You are going to die.
I am in all truthfulness attempting to be cheerful about this whole topic, though most people find themselves hindered in believing me, no matter my protestations. Please, trust me. I most definitely can be cheerful. I can be amiable. Agreeable. Affable. And that's only the As. Just don't ask me to be nice. Nice has nothing to do with me.
REACTION TO THE AFOREMENTIONED FACT
Does this worry you?
I urge you - don't be afraid.
I'm nothing if not fair.
Of course, an introduction.
A beginning.
Where are my manners?
I could introduce myself properly, but it's not really necessary. You will know me well enough and soon enough, depending on a diverse range of variables. It suffices to say that at some point in time, I will be standing over you, as genially as possible. Your soul will be in my arms. A colour will be perched on my shoulder. I will carry you gently away.
At that moment, you will be lying there (I rarely find people standing up). You will be caked in your own body. There might be a discovery; a scream will dribble down the air. The only sound I'll hear after that will be my own breathing, and the sound of the smell, of my footsteps.
The question is, what colour will everything be at that moment when I come for you? What will the sky be saying?
Personally, I like a chocolate-coloured sky. Dark, dark chocolate. People say it suits me. I do, however, try to enjoy every colour I see - the whole spectrum. A billion or so flavours, none of them quite the same, and a sky to slowly suck on. It takes the edge off the stress. It helps me relax.
A SMALL THEORY
People observe the colours of a day only at its beginnings and ends, but to me it's quite clear that a day merges through a multitude of shades and intonations,with each passing moment. A single hour can consist of thousands of different colours.Waxy yellows, cloud-spat blues.Murky darknesses. In my line of work, I make it a point to notice them.
As I've suggested, my one saving grace is distraction. It keeps me sane. It helps me cope, considering the length of time I've been performing this job. The trouble is, who could ever replace me? Who could step in while I take a break in your stock-standard resort-style holiday destination, whether it be tropical or of the ski-trip variety? The answer, of course, is nobody, which has prompted me to make a conscious, deliberate decision - to make distraction my holiday. Needless to say, I holiday in increments. In colours.
Still, it's possible that you might be asking, Why does he even need a holiday? What does he need distraction from?
Which brings me to my next point.
It's the leftover humans.
The survivors.
They're the ones I can't stand to look at, although on many occasions, I still fail. I deliberately seek out the colours to keep my mind off them, but now and then, I witness the ones who are left behind, crumbling amongst the jigsaw puzzle of realisation, despair and surprise. They have punctured hearts. They have beaten lungs.
Which in turn brings me to the subject I am telling you about tonight, or today, or whatever the hour and colour. It's the story of one of those perpetual survivors - an expert at being left behind.
It's just a small story really, about, amongst other things:
a girl
some words
an accordionist
some fanatical Germans
a Jewish fist-fighter
and quite a lot of thievery.
I saw the book thief three times.
BESIDE THE RAILWAY LINE
First up is something white. Of the blinding kind.
Some of you are most likely thinking that white is not really a colour and all of that tired sort of nonsense. Well I'm here to tell you that it is. White is without question a colour, and personally, I don't think you want to argue.
A REASSURING ANNOUNCEMENT
Please, be calm, despite that previous threat.
I am all bluster -
I am not violent. I am not malicious.
I am a result.
Yes, it was white.
It felt as though the whole globe was dressed in snow. Like it had pulled it on, the way you pull on a jumper. Next to the train line, footprints were sunken to their shins. Trees wore blankets of ice.
As you might expect, someone had died.
They couldn't just leave him on the ground. For now it wasn't such a problem, but very soon, the track ahead would be cleared and the train would need to move on.
There were two guards.
There was a mother and her daughter.
One corpse.
The mother, the girl and the corpse remained stubborn and silent.
'Well, what else do you want me to do?'
The guards were tall and short. The tall one always spoke first, though he was not in charge. He looked at the smaller, rounder one. The one with the juicy red face.
'Well,' was the response, 'we can't just leave them like this, can we?'
The tall one was losing patience. 'Why not?'
And the smaller one damn near exploded. He looked up at the tall one's chin and cried, 'Spinnst du? Are you stupid!?' The abhorrence on his cheeks was growing thicker by the moment. His skin widened. 'Come on,' he said, traipsing through the snow. 'We'll carry all three of them back on if we have to. We'll notify the next stop.'
As for me, I had already made the most elementary of mistakes. I can't explain to you the severity of my selfdisappointment. Originally, I'd done everything right:
I studied the blinding, white-snow sky who stood at the window of the moving train. I practically inhaled it, but still, I wavered. I buckled - I became interested. In the girl. Curiosity got the better of me, and I resigned myself to stay as long as my schedule allowed, and I watched.
Twenty-three minutes later, when the train was stopped, I climbed out with them.
A small soul was in my arms.
I stood a little to the right.
The dynamic train guard duo made their way back to the mother, the girl and the small male corpse. I clearly remember that my breath was loud that day. I'm surprised the guards didn't notice me as they walked by. The world was sagging now, under the weight of all that snow.
Perhaps ten metres to my left, the pale, emptystomached girl was standing, frost-stricken.
Her mouth jittered.
Her cold arms were folded.
Tears were frozen to the book thief's face.
--This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.From the Author
From the Publisher
Review
From the Inside Flap
Narrated by Death, The Book Thief is a story about the power of words and the ability of books to feed the soul. In superbly crafted writing that burns with intensity, award-winning author, MARKUS ZUSAK has given us one of the most enduring stories of our time.
'Brilliant and hugely ambitious' New York Times
'Absorbing and searing' Washington Post
'Deserves a place on the shelf with The Diary of Anne Frank . . . Poised to become a classic' USA today --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From the Back Cover
Review
" "The Book Thief" is unsettling and unsentimental, yet ultimately poetic. Its grimness and tragedy run through the reader's mind like a black-and-white movie, bereft of the colors of life. Zusak may not have lived under Nazi domination, but "The Book Thief" deserves a place on the same shelf with "The Diary of a Young Girl" by Anne Frank and Elie Wiesel's "Night," It seems poised to become a classic."
- "USA Today"
" Zusak doesn't sugarcoat anything, but he makes his ostensibly gloomy subject bearable the same way Kurt Vonnegut did in "Slaughterhouse-Five": with grim, darkly consoling humor."
- "Time Magazine"
" Elegant, philosophical and moving...Beautiful and important."
- "Kirkus Reviews," Starred
" This hefty volume is an achievement...a challenging book in both length
and subject..."
- "Publisher's Weekly," Starred
" One of the most highly anticipatedyoung-adult books in years."
- "The Wall Street Journal"
" Exquisitely written and memorably populated, Zusak's poignant tribute to words, survival, and their curiously inevitable entwinement is a tour
de force to be not just read but inhabited."
- "The Horn Book Magazine," Starred
" An extraordinary narrative."
- "School Library Journal," Starred
" "The Book Thief" will be appreciated for Mr. Zusak's audacity, also on display in his earlier "I Am the Messenger," It will be widely read and admired because it tells a story in which books become treasures. And because there's no arguing with a sentiment like that."
- "New York Times"
"
"
"From the Hardcover edition."
"Brilliant and hugely ambitious...Some will argue that a book so difficult and sad may not be appropriate for teenage readers...Adults will probably like it (this one did), but it's a great young-adult novel...It's the kind of book that can be life-changing, because without ever denying the essential amorality and randomness of the natural order, "The Book Thief" offers us a believable hard-won hope...The hope we see in Liesel is unassailable, the kind you can hang on to in the midst of poverty and war and violence. Young readers need such alternatives to ideological rigidity, and such explorations of how stories matter. And so, come to think of it, do adults." -"New York Times, "May 14, 2006
""The Book Thief" is unsettling and unsentimental, yet ultimately poetic. Its grimness and tragedy run through the reader's mind like a black-and-white movie, bereft of the colors of life. Zusak may not have lived under Nazi domination, but "The Book Thief" deserves a place on the same shelf with "The Diary of a Young Girl" by Anne Frank and Elie Wiesel's "Night." It seems poised to become a classic."
- "USA Today"
"Zusak doesn't sugarcoat anything, but he makes his ostensibly gloomy subject bearable the same way Kurt Vonnegut did in "Slaughterhouse-Five" with grim, darkly consoling humor."
- "Time Magazine"
"Elegant, philosophical and moving...Beautiful and important."
- "Kirkus Reviews," Starred
"This hefty volume is an achievement...a challenging book in both length
and subject..."
- "Publisher's Weekly," Starred
"One of the most highly anticipated young-adult books in years."
- "The Wall Street Journal"
"Exquisitely written and memorably populated, Zusak's poignant tribute to words, survival, and their curiously inevitable entwinement is a tour
de force to be not just read but inhabited."
- "The Horn Book Magazine," Starred
"An extraordinary narrative."
- "School Library Journal," Starred
""The Book Thief" will be appr
Brilliant and hugely ambitious Some will argue that a book so difficult and sad may not be appropriate for teenage readers Adults will probably like it (this one did), but it s a great young-adult novel It s the kind of book that can be life-changing, because without ever denying the essential amorality and randomness of the natural order, "The Book Thief" offers us a believable hard-won hope The hope we see in Liesel is unassailable, the kind you can hang on to in the midst of poverty and war and violence. Young readers need such alternatives to ideological rigidity, and such explorations of how stories matter. And so, come to think of it, do adults. -"New York Times, "May 14, 2006
""The Book Thief" is unsettling and unsentimental, yet ultimately poetic. Its grimness and tragedy run through the reader's mind like a black-and-white movie, bereft of the colors of life. Zusak may not have lived under Nazi domination, but "The Book Thief" deserves a place on the same shelf with "The Diary of a Young Girl" by Anne Frank and Elie Wiesel's "Night." It seems poised to become a classic."
- "USA Today"
"Zusak doesn t sugarcoat anything, but he makes his ostensibly gloomy subject bearable the same way Kurt Vonnegut did in "Slaughterhouse-Five" with grim, darkly consoling humor.
- "Time Magazine"
"Elegant, philosophical and moving...Beautiful and important."
- "Kirkus Reviews," Starred
"This hefty volume is an achievement...a challenging book in both length
and subject..."
- "Publisher's Weekly," Starred
"One of the most highly anticipated young-adult books in years."
- "The Wall Street Journal"
"Exquisitely written and memorably populated, Zusak's poignant tribute to words, survival, and their curiously inevitable entwinement is a tour
de force to be not just read but inhabited."
- "The Horn Book Magazine," Starred
"An extraordinary narrative."
- "School Library Journal," Starred
""The Book Thief" will be appreciated for Mr. Zusak's audacity, also on display in his earlier "I Am the Messenger." It will be widely read and admired because it tells a story in which books become treasures. And because there's no arguing with a sentiment like that."
- "New York Times"
"
""
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product details
- ASIN : B004V9MU86
- Publisher : Picador Australia (10 November 2007)
- Language : English
- File size : 3719 KB
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Print length : 511 pages
- Best Sellers Rank: 2,249 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- Customer Reviews:
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Top reviews from Australia
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We have all heard so much about WW11 but very rarely from the point of view of Death. He is a major character in the book.
I have not previously known much about Germans living life under war conditions. This wonderful book gives an insight into a family trying to be inconspicuous as they live the best life they can during war. They aid a Jewish friend because it was the right thing to do. They offer a home to a young girl who is orphaned because of her parents' communist beliefs. She hungers for books at a time books are being burnt. There are many people in this story who are complete characters. The good, the bad, the cruel, the helpful, the mix of traits in normal flawed human beings makes this book linger in my mind. it would be a perfect book for students of literature or history or human psychology as it presents all three. I can't rave enough!
Sometimes I felt like I should be worried for a characters life, but no, that was spoilt.
Sometimes I wanted to like a character, but no, he dies in x amount of chapters ha ha
It's a great story don't get me wrong, I just don't like the writing style and using death as a narrator.
It is a story, with an unusual narrator, of a family in Nazi Germany who take in an orphaned young girl. Because of a promise the "papa" made to the son of a Jewish friend who gave his life for him in the WW1, he also hid the now grown son in his basement. And how the girl becomes fascinated with words as her papa teaches her to read. And how therefore she couldn't live without books ...
The content, as you would imagine in a book of his genre, was devastating, even so I couldn't put it down. Time stopped as I read it and as I went through almost a box of tissues toward the end, i still don't know if i was relieved or so very disappointed when it came to an end.
I can't recommend the book highly enough and am now a devoted fan of Makus Zusak.
I would recommend this book to anyone brave enough to expose their emotions
Top reviews from other countries

This beautiful book, surprisingly (and cleverly) narrated by 'death', provides an interesting and poignant perspective on the power of friendship, hope and love, set against the horrific backdrop of the atrocious Nazi regime in Germany from 1939 to 1945.
You cannot help but come to admire 'death' for his or her pragmatic and objective yet sympathetic and inherently wise attitude towards human life through the myriad circumstances that lead up to a person's demise, and how it is prepared for and dealt with (or not as the case may be). I love the way Markus has captured the idea of 'death' recovering souls and taking them gently to the place they are meant to be, and the way he defines the embodiment of a young soul as being unaware of his presence, or, as with more wise and accepting souls, as sitting up to greet him knowingly when their time has come.
This is a very powerful and popular book which comes with high praise for good reason. Written with such pathos, gentle humour and a deep understanding of human capabilities, flaws and potential, the words will not fail to move you, and lead you to spare a thought for the suffering, hardship and loss experienced in times of war, and the colossal power of every small kindness when it comes to human survival, endurance and faith.
The central story of Liesel - the Book Thief - who is fostered following the heartbreaking loss of her mother and sudden death of her little brother at the start of the war, follows her delightful friendship with her new 'papa', a kind, humble and musically gifted former German soldier who is there for her at every turn; her stowaway friend, Max, who writes the aforementioned story of a tree grown from a seed in a forest of cruel words - for her; her step mother, Rosa, whose kindness shines through a battery of sharp-tongued, often abrasive words; and her friends who help her through.
The book is set out in short but powerful chapters, each headed brilliantly with the key themes covered on those pages. A wonderful, compelling and thought-provoking read, and highly recommended.

In fact, saying I 'loved' it almost seems wrong because reading this novel was so impactful and such an experience that... that I don't have the proper words.
This is the story of a girl, Liesel, set in Nazi Germany. She's a book thief. And the story is narrated by Death. That's all you need to know. I, personally, was sold when I heard about the narrator. Didn't even need to know anything else.
This is a beautifully written novel about the life of a young girl, the life of people, during war. And it really hits you, the amount of loss caused by war. And for what? Power? Some misconception? It seems such a waste of so many lives, simply because of one man's crusade and a nation of people at his disposal, whether it be by fear or manipulation. The book brings you closer to something that you usually recount only distantly. And it does a wonderful job of it.
This book was amazing. I love the character, the story, the narrator and everything it had to show and tell. This is one novel that I will not soon forget and I very much think that you should read it.


I am not a fan of war books as a sort of general rule; and yet there have been war related novels which have come along and proved the exception. This book, while set in Nazi Germany, is unlike any other World War II book in existence. First of all, the narrator is none other than Death himself. Such a fantastical host provides a unique introduction to the characters of the book and their individual plights. Zusak has created a cast of palpably deep individuals, rich unto their depths, and cleverly juxtaposed them with a wryly observant, mythological presence. I must state that this makes for a truly magnificant combination.
Some characters will stay with me forever; like distant friends viewed through the foggy lens of memory. Liesel and her dear foster father, Hans, are two of these extremely special, fictional creations.
As a pacifist, I hold in high esteem those who dare to defy crimes against humanity; often at extreme risk to themselves. There were many “Hans Hubermanns” during the war; people that aided Jews and refused to keep irrational prejudices alive in their hearts. Zusak has really given life and breath to Hans. He is the embodiment of a “good neighbor”. He would make an excellent dinner guest, but not because of lofty conversation. Hans is steadfast, and quite critical to Liesel’s development of character.
As for Liesel, I found myself instantly aligned with someone who could take such joy from books. Even before she knew how to read, Liesel fell in love with reading. Liesel may have been unable to escape the war and its shocking atrocities, but she took her escape and her comfort from the books that she collected. Liesel’s story feels so real it makes me wonder at Zusak’s inspiration for her. As with all underdogs, the reader cannot help but yearn for Liesel’s survival. More than that, however, I loved being able to treasure every one of her new books with her. I rejoiced in her turn to writing, and I cried beside her more than once. She was intriguing enough to stir the curious interests of the infamous Reaper; and that fanciful conception actually serves to balance an otherwise painfully human construction. We want realism, but we respond to brief reprieves of levity in equal measure.
