What can I say about THE BOOK THIEF? It's not the kind of book I usually read, but it was recommended to me by a friend and I decided to give it a go - especially since I saw the movie a couple of months ago and loved it. Now I have finished the book and I have no regrets. 
 The narrative voice takes some getting used to in the beginning, but the concept of a story narrated by Death is very interesting. After a while, you hardly even notice it anymore. The first person omniscient form (Death seems to know what Liesel, and occasionally the other characters, are feeling and thinking at times) is what makes this book unique; but it is not the only interesting thing about this book. 
 The story of THE BOOK THIEF is actually very sad. It takes place during World War II and offers an intriguing perspective of this war in comparison to other books - this story is not about a Jewish person, having to hide and/or enduring the horrors of a concentration camp; but about a young, German girl who has her own trials and horrors to suffer through. (view spoiler)[ Her brother dying, for example, and her mother leaving her behind. The nightmares about the death of her brother that she has to suffer through every night. The fact that her foster parents take in a Jew and hide him in the basement. Later on, there are also bombings, which eventually cause her to lose pretty much everyone she holds dear. (hide spoiler)] We see Liesel developing and growing from a scared little girl into a brave young woman. 
 Her relationships with the people around her are sometimes strange, sometimes endearing, but always well-described and easy to relate to. Her foster mother, who shows her love for Liesel by calling her a "Saumensch" and by being gruff and stern. Her foster father, who teaches her to read and plays the accordion for her. Her neighbour and best friend Rudy, with whom she always gets involved in some kind of adventure. Every character somehow manages to wiggle his or her way into your heart, (view spoiler)[ which is also why the ending is so devastating (hide spoiler)]. 
 The book was a bit slow-paced at times and I felt like the final few chapters especially were a bit rushed; they could have been fleshed out more. It seemed somewhat abrupt now. Despite that, though, THE BOOK THIEF is a very good book that I would definitely recommend - if only because it offers readers a different perspective on World War II: not that of a direct victim of the war, but that of the people who did not fully know, or did know but did not agree with, what was going on and were helpless to do anything about it - aside from rebelling in their own small ways to try and stick with their values and principles.