The Book Thief-Discussion & Spoilers

ramstein1027

Has anyone else finished it?  What did you think?  I finished it last night...

goatlady12

I haven't read it yet.  Your post just looked lonely.

ramstein1027

LOL thanks @seipel12  I feel better now!

mana8503

I haven't read it in forever, but I remember not really liking it.

WillyH19

I listened to it sometime in 2013 and can't remember a ton of details. I might be able to chime in if others start the discussion...

xxjen015

I'm not done yet! I didn't read any of these (opened it and immediately hit page end! haha), but hopefully by this weekend I'll be able to join in!!

ramstein1027

Ok here are my thoughts:

-I hated the page breaks with the bold typeface and asterisks, it was distracting and not in a good way.  Made it seem juvenile, even for a YA book.  Writers should be able to convey the voice of the narrator without resorting to weird tactics.  Even if he had just left them centered without the bold and asterisks, that would have been better and still would have stood out.

-I don't like when authors use seemingly out of place adjectives to sound fancy.  For example: "shiny fear"...I know at face value that might seem like a profound literary tool, but unless "shiny" actually has relevance to the noun within the context of the story, it comes off as trying too hard.  I think a good use of that phrase could be...let's say that a murderer is chasing someone with a knife, so--"She peeked through the crack in the closet to see if he followed her inside, blue eyes glistening with shiny fear."

What I loved

-The character development was awesome.  So many interesting players with rich back stories.

-The ending was perfect.  I think this would be a great book for school kids to read about WWII, to give them context about both sides and just to show that war is nasty in general.

I actually think I might re-read this at some point because the beginning started slowly, but it had some important points that were referenced again later on.  

xxjen015

I finished! I don't know if it was the copy I had for my Kindle or what, but the page breaks weren't disturbing. I agree with the weird adjectives, but I thought other than the occasional out of place adjectives, the descriptions were pretty darn vivid. I liked a lot of the language use. 

The characters were phenomenal. You really felt as though you knew them, what they looked like, etc. I loved Liesel, Max, Papa, Mama, Rudy...all of them! Their interactions with each other were just so perfect. 

I loved and hated the ending just because there is no detail from her life after the bombing. She found Max again, which thrilled me. I would have loved to have experienced more of that. Is that who she married? I always saw the possibility between them. 

Overall, I definitely enjoyed it. The preview I saw for the movie looked good. It'll be out at Redbox in a few weeks and I'll rent it! I can't wait to see how they did with it. 

ramstein1027

^^ Yes and Geoffrey Rush is in it I think, and he is a great actor.   Looking forward to watching it!  I'm sure I'll cry at the end, lol