"The Book Thief" by Markus Zusak

I saw the previews for this movie and thought I would check out the book on Amazon.  There were many rave reviews.  I'll admit that I wasn't sure I was going to enjoy the book because most of the people who liked it seemed to be more interested in an intellectual kind of read than me.

Also, I wasn't sure I wanted to read a book that might be depressing.

The price was right, so I ordered the book and downloaded it to my Kindle.

When I first began reading it, I thought that I would never make it through.  Instead of the book being told through the little girl's voice, there seemed to be some strange narration.  Almost like there was an emcee for the book.  This "person" would make weird statements that seemed to make no sense to me.

Now, some of you may start to read this book and like this.  It almost turned me off.  But I remembered that this book was made into a movie, so there must be some redeeming quality.  So I persevered.

(If you are feeling the way I did at first, please keep reading the book.)

It got better.  First of all, I finally realised who the voice was.  That helped.  And once I realised that and could move past the weird way he would break into the story, I accepted him and understood.

You'll find that my book reviews are going to be odd.  I read books for entertainment value.  I don't tend to pick up books that are going to require me to think too much or grab the dictionary to figure out what they are trying to say.  Maybe I should research how to write a book review.  Hold on... I'm going to Google it.

OMG - look at what I found:

SUMMARY

Narration

• Who narrated the story?
• Was it first-person narration or third-person narration?
• Was the narrator a reliable source of information?

Setting

• Note the time period and location the book is set in.
• How did setting drive or influence the plot of the book?

Theme

• Note the overall theme or message of the book.

Genre

• What genre of literature was it?
• How did it compare to another work in this genre?

Author

• Name the author.
• Discuss any previous works.
• How did previous works compare with this work?

Plot

• Give a brief plot summary without giving away any key details.

EVALUATION

Your Opinion

• This is the most important part of the review.
• Did you like it? Why?
• Dislike it? Why?
• Would you read more by this author? Why or why not?
• Would you encourage others to read this book? Why or why not?

Sorry, but this ends my book review.

Here's all I have to say about reading The Book Thief:  I ultimately liked it.  I liked the characters.  I cried at the end.