The book thief was exhausting and hard to pick up after putting down. I read it with a sense of dread: I didn't want to know what happened next. I was almost relieved when characters' deaths were announced chapters in advance, and although it removed the suspense from the later scenes, they were no less terrible. I loathed one character's surprise survival after almost certain death and I wanted more than the brief synopsis of Liesel's later life. 
 I was most taken by how the terrible events did not break Liesel, but gave her wisdom. I have returned to the last page a number of times, which explains this feeling perfectly.