I had heard (and seen the reviews here) and realized that most people either fall into the love it or hate it camp. After the first couple of chapters I was beginning to think that I might be in the latter. The style *is* different and the very-present narrator takes a little getting used to but once I got going I could not put this down. Set during WWII, the narrator - Death - makes some grim (and sometimes heartbreaking) observations of the time and whilst some people may have found him/her obtrusive, I liked feeling like I was sitting down listening to Death's recollections of the Book Thief and her life in Nazi Germany. This is a YA book apparently - I'm not sure why. I read a lot of YA and this was longer, with a much heavier poetic writing style, and some interesting "devices" - Max's illustrated books, the definitions/translations, and the interspersed "sidenotes" as Death tells the story - not what I would have typically pegged as YA. I know some people found it gimmicky and I have also heard comments that it trivialized the Holocaust - I thought it was brave and well written. Excellent.