The difficulty with reviewing books that everyone has read is that one seldom finds a way to say something new, something exciting when so many others have done a great job of pointing out all of the attributes present in this novel. 
 The one thing I will mention is that I think I had a different idea of the content of this book, when I read reviews about it, quite often it was mentioned that it was a book about books and truly it's not. This is a book about a girl and the five or so years that impact her while living in Nazi Germany with her adoptive parents. As many people know, this is a book narrated by death and quite frankly he's the best character. His perspective is different, fresh and at times rather amusing. 
 This book does not read like YA, I will state that first and I, for one, welcomed that fact. I think that if was written like much YA is written now days this would've been drivel. This is written and it's much more like literary fiction. Needless to say, I enjoyed this book a lot and I can see how it's many people's favorite book of all time. 
 I did have some problems with the pacing, I think it bogged down in certain parts, particularly the predictable middle. Yet this is expected with novels written in a literary fashion so that was not surprising. The ending was, as expected, a gut-wrencher, and I sobbed on a Sunday night waking up with a frightful headache first thing on a Monday. 
 I highly recommend this if you're one of the 4 people that have yet to read this and you're not a fan of YA, this will be palatable. Also, if you're a strictly YA reader and want something with a bit more bite, this is also a good choice for you.