The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

                                                🌟🌟🌟 out of 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
Synopsis:
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.

I have heard a lot about this book over the past couple years and even more when the movie came out. I was at the library the other day and thought, why not? I didn't really know much about the book other than it was popular and about a girl that stole books. I was conflicted about what rating I should give this book. I appreciated the subject matter because even though this book is fiction it is important to remember that particular time in history. I feel that the author did a good job of pulling the reader into the time period. 

It was also interesting to have a main character that was not Jewish so that readers could see what was happening through the eyes of a person who was not directly effected by the events that were taking place.  I appreciated seeing how things affected Liesel because I don't think that people understand that the German people were going through trials as well especially if they did not follow Hitler. 

It was interesting to have Death as a narrator and it initially pulled me into the story. I thought, "well this is a different and interesting way to tell a story!". Even with all of this I had a hard time getting through the story. I feel bad saying that I found the story dull but I feel that it didn't really pull me in. The pacing was extremely slow and I found it hard to relate to the main character. I think it is because I was not told a lot about Liesel other than a few things at the beginning and how she felt about certain events that happened. I actually think that I would have preferred more of the story to be about Max, the Jewish man in her basement. He was a far more interesting character with a compelling backstory.