Post # 5 - Overall Feelings on the Book.

After nearly finishing the book [About 30 pages to go], I do think Zusak has written a book that is high quality. If we could manage to convince the administration to put The Book Thief on the summer reading list with our "proposal assignment", something tells me people would dread Enriched English 10 much less, in comparison to reading something such as The Iliad. The blunt attitude which Death used when introducing the main aspects of the novel is what pulled me into it in the first place, but as you progress with the book, Death's ideas and input becomes less frequent. Frankly, I'm fortunate they became less frequent though. As you carry on with the book, the characterization of various people such as Liesel and Max becomes much stronger, and you can depend much less on Death to help understand their actions and intentions. Another thing that was very refreshing about Zusack's writing, is that he did not have a case of "same character syndrome." Essentially, he did not have two characters that acted the same and could barely be distinguished from one another, but that's something very common to see in books these days. The review on the cover of the book which states, " "Brilliant and hugely ambitious... It's the kind of book that can be life changing" - New York Times " might be a little bit too patronizing of the book, but it was still interesting to read.

Final Post

I loved the book! At times I though it got a little slow, but in the end I really enjoyed the good messages it sends. I learned a lot from The Book Thief. Not only historical things about the war, the holocaust, and what people in Germany during this time had to go through, but also a lot about trauma in peoples lives and how they cope with it. I also really liked reading a book where the narrator is death. While sometimes I forgot it was even him talking, other times it completely changed the way I thought about the book. It was so interesting for me to imagine what death looked like and why he said certain things, and it definitely made the book unique. The death of many of the characters I had grown to love was hard at the end, but it was what I expected. Even though I knew it was coming, it was still very sad and really made me think about how horrible stories like this happened to so many real people. Overall I thoroughly enjoyed it and I would recommend it to anyone.

Discussion #5 - Overall Reaction

Overall, I really enjoyed reading The Book Thief  and thought it was a great book. I've always enjoyed books about the Holocaust and Nazi Germany which is a reason why I chose this. The first chapters caught my attention right away because of the way Death (the narrator) described things. Death was such a unique and interesting narrator and it was nice to have a different point of view during this time period unlike other books. This book was hard to put down because something was always happening. I liked the small notes/side comments from Death and although they were a bit random at times, they helped point out important information to remember.  Another thing I enjoyed about The Book Thief was Markus Zusak's use of figurative language. Zusak helped put a picture in my mind of what was going on and makes readers feel like they are Liesel or anyone of the characters. I would recommend The Book Thief  to anyone because it has a deep meaning. Although the book is classified under the Young Adult section, I think adult readers will enjoy this book too. 

Final Post - Overall

Overall, I thought The Book Thief was a very good book. I think Markus Zusak did a great job with developing the story and keeping the reader engaged. My favorite aspect of the story was that Death was the narrator. It gave a very unique twist to the book that I have never seen before in a book. Another thing that I really liked about this book was that it was not like other books you read that take place in Nazi Germany. Most of the time, those types of books will be from the point of view of a Jew or someone sheltering a Jew. Having the main character be a typical German girl that is still effected by the holocaust is also a very unique aspect. I loved how the relationships between Liesel and all the other characters were developed and how it made the reader feel like they were a part of it. The Book Thief was a very fast read, but it was still done very well and it has a great overall meaning. I would recommend this book to just about anyone.

Week 5 - Overall Opinion

Overall, I thought The Book Thief was good, but not as goods as it claims to be. I've heard numorous people say how excellent this book is, which made me expect it to be absolutely amazing. Part of the reason I didn't think it was amazing was that it is Teen Fiction, a genre I can't stand. I thought this book might have strayed from those elements of Teen Fiction since many adults find it amazing as well. It had not. Some things I didn't like about the book were how I always felt like the author was trying too hard by overemphasizing things. The most obvious example of this was the random bolded phrases throughout the book. They serve no purpose except to emphasize things the author felt would bring a sort of staged depth to the story. A book should be able to have depth without this added effort. Another way depth is forced is how the last scentence of each section or chapter is overly dramatic. I feel like a book's substance should be dramatic (if that's the purpose of the book, as it is for this book), and not focus on the last scentence. However, there were some things I liked about The Book Thief, such as its use of figurative language and the idea that Death is really afraid of humans. I liked how throughout the book Death is acting tough and sarcastic, and at the end we discover it's only his way of covering up the true fear he has of us humans. Scenes such as the bomb raids where the entire street was crowded into and waiting in silence in that one basement, as well as Death's character made me think more about war and what a horrible destructive power humans really are. I also reccomend to anyone who hasn't already to read or at least skim the interview with the author at the back of the book. Finding out what Marcus Zusak's own thoughts while writing The Book Thief really made me appreciate it more as a whole.

Discussion 5- Overall

Overall, i really enjoyed this book. I think that Markus Zusak did a great job with portraying the horror that people faced in the Holocaust, even the Germans. One aspect that i really enjoyed about this book was the fact that it is written from the perspective of death. I heard that in the beginning, so i was a little hesitant about reading such a gruesome, depressing story, but it was only dark in depressing in a couple of areas. My favorite scene was the scene where Rosa comes to Liesel's school to yell at her about a hairbrush when she really wanted to tell her that Max was safe. Another scene that was the most touching to me was when the Jews were walking through Liesel's neighborhood and Hans couldn't stand their suffering so he gave one of them a piece of bread. This was so touching because the Jew was so shocked and dropped on his knees and hugged Hans. This scene really shows how harsh the Jews had it and how grateful they were when someone was willing to give them a simple piece of bread. But although there were some significant scenes that stood out for me, the entire book was so intriguing and interesting with Zusak's unique writing. I love how he would have certain parts bolded to show their importance to the novel. I also love his vivid descriptions of different things and actions in the novel. Even though it was a pretty easy read and i went through it really fast, it has a deep meaning that I will never forget.

Week 5- Overall

Overall I really enjoyed the book, it was a very fast read and I had to pace myself over the past five weeks. The beginning really pulled me in with the first chapter being in the point of view of death. I have never read a book that had its narrator as death and that added a new twist. I also enjoyed it because even though it took place in the time of the holocaust, it was about something different than other Nazi Germany books, it was about a little girl who wasn’t Jewish yet she was affected by the surrounding issues. The book started to become more interesting when Max came into the picture; he added that sense of adventure and fear. Rudy was also a fun character, in the beginning he was so willing to become Liesel's friend, plus I thought that the Jesse Owens incident was hilarious. Throughout the book I began to love Rosa and Hans Hubberman, even when Rosa yells. My favorite scene is when Rosa comes to Liesel’s school and starts yelling at her about a hairbrush. Even with the yelling it was such a cute moment to have Rosa then say back to Liesel, you said to yell to make it believable (or something along those lines). The way this book was written also intrigued me, how there would be the random bolded center notes. I never really understood why it was like that, but I enjoyed it. Overall I thought this was a good read, but not a difficult text, but a good story.