First Chapter Review: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Some of my family and friends decided to start an online book club. The first book we decided to read is The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, which has been made into a movie releasing this fall. I purchased a copy of the book for my Kindle.

BLURB: It is 1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier, and will become busier still.

Liesel Meminger is a foster girl living outside of Munich, who scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she encounters something she can’t resist–books. With the help of her accordion-playing foster father, she learns to read and shares her stolen books with her neighbors during bombing raids as well as with the Jewish man hidden in her basement.

In superbly crafted writing that burns with intensity, award-winning author Markus Zusak, author of I Am the Messenger, has given us one of the most enduring stories of our time.

COVER: I love the colors, but the dominoes elude me. I'm not always a fan of symbolism, so it's probably me.

FIRST CHAPTER:  The narrator opens this story talking about colors, humans, and death. Disjointed paragraphs some bolded, others not, blend together in a mish-mash of words until you learn the narrator is going to tell you a story about a girl, who the reader comes to know as the book thief, and how he saw her three times.

KEEP READING: I'm already past the first chapter, so I guess that tells you something; but it hasn't been an easy read. I honestly didn't know where chapter one ended and chapter two started, or any other chapter for that matter. I was so confused trying to figure out what was going on, who this narrator was, and ultimately try to connect how everything I was reading translated into the blurb above, not knowing where the chapters ended and started was the least of my issues.

Now that I am finally into the nuts and bolts of Liesel Memimger's story, I am enjoying the book more. I definitely want to keep going at least for a little while. I'm at 10% on my Kindle, so I'm willing to go to at least 20% before I make my choice. I would really like to read it before the movie comes out.

Have you read The Book Thief? I would love to hear your thoughts on it.



File Size: 2109 KB
Print Length: 562 pages
Page Numbers Source ISBN: 0375831002
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers (December 18, 2007)
Sold by: Random House LLC
Language: English
ASIN: B000XUBFE2


I purchased a Kindle version of this book. This review contains my honest opinions, which I have not been compensated for in any way.