The Book Thief - Markus Zusak

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⭐ 7.0/10

(Originally written by Joseph)

I had a bit of a tough time getting through this one. It's world renowned, on my top 100 poster, about a precious little girl in WW2, and Jess loves it. I honestly feel bad for not loving it myself. But I was just never super into it and never loved any of the characters. Except for Hans of course. I'm not evil.

The main problem for me is that it's a long, meandering book with no solid plot. I don't usually love that kind of book unless I really love the writing style, and I didn't love the writing style. I just thought it was a little too showy, and feels like my friend Markus was trying too hard without actually making me feel like I'm in the world. The book is about 40s Germany, but I never really felt like I was there, I guess.

I know that's a little harsh for the score, because I did like elements of it. I think maybe I'm just tired of WW2 books, though I did appreciate the different perspective, and also I feel like I've read similar books that I liked better recently, like a Boy's Life.

Now, with all that said, the ending definitely hit me hard and brought a lot together. I really wish more of the book was like that, because I couldn't put it down at that point. It made me want to say I loved the book, but I must remember the 500 pages I struggled through. And although the ending was impactful, I'm still not sure if I actually liked it.

So yeah, 500 pages that I didn't love, and then 50 pages that maybe I did. It was well-written to be sure, but I didn't really dig the style.

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