Book Review: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Title: The Book Thief

Author: Markus Zusak

Number of Pages: 552

Genre: YA Historical fiction

Overall Rating: 4.5/5 stars

Summary From Cover: [This is actually the summary from Goodreads, and it’s not on the cover.]

It’s just a small story really, about, among other things, a girl, some words, an accordionist, some fanatical Germans, a Jewish fist-fighter, and quite a lot of thievery.

Set during World War II in Germany, Markus Zusak’s groundbreaking new novel is the story of Liesel Meminger, a foster girl living outside of Munich. Liesel 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 before he is marched to Dachau.

This is an unforgettable story about the ability of books to feed the soul.

Discussion: First the end. Then the beginning. [If you caught the reference, points to you!]

I finished this book today in science class. I read the last sentence, those last words, those last letters, and basically stared. I cried. [You know (or should know) that I do not cry when I read. So this is rare. But it wasn’t full-out weeping, just some tears.] When one of my friends tried to ask me a question, I yelled at him. And my friends were like, What the heck?

Before I read The Book Thief, I read reviews about it. Mostly everyone said it was terribly sad. So when I started the book, I expected it to be absolutely devastating and heartbreaking and blah. But it wasn’t! It was funny, and mysterious, and intriguing. Still, halfway through, I didn’t understand how it was sad. I mean, come on. TFIOS is sad. But this? Psh. I basically rolled my eyes and mocked people’s sensitivity.

Ha, Chloe. Ha! Listen to the reviews next time. Don’t mock. Don’t roll your eyes. They’re right.

So if you go into this book thinking it’s not sad, the please reread this and every other review, because: IT IS SAD. And there is nothing you can do about it.

Besides being sad, this book is beautiful. I had my doubts at the beginning, but, OMG.

The characters. Liesel is the past equivalent of a book blogger. She needs words. And she will do anything to get them. They feed her soul, and although she starts as an illiterate ten-year-old girl, traumatized and confused, she turns into a fourteen-year-old young woman who relishes words and writes like nobody’s business.

Hans, Liesel’s adoptive father. I love the descriptions of his silver eyes. Not only does he too love words and teaches Liesel how to read, but he loves music. He plays the accordion magnificently [or so I’m told]. Hans seems like a wonderful father with such a kind heart.

Rosa, Liesel’s adoptive mother. She’s a witch most of the time. Yet she loves Liesel and Hans. The scene with her holding the accordion is so human and shows Rosa’s true colors.

The narrator. The narrator is an interesting choice by the author. It is, quite obviously, Death. It is appropriate, in my opinion, to have Death as the narrator, because what happened a lot in WWII? Death. But I still don’t fully understand why Death chose to focus on Liesel’s story, out of the billions of stories of people in the world.

The setting. Yes, there are a bajillion books and stories about WWII. But many of them are set in the US, or some other country in Europe, or somewhere close to Hitler. But this book is set on a street in Germany, a poor, ordinary street, with ordinary residents who play soccer in the street, steal, and just are pretty ordinary. There aren’t spies, or tons of Jews, or anything really special. Just a street.

I loved this book to pieces, but even awesome books have problemos. This book’s? Read…

• A LOT of parts were slow, and I found myself thinking, Oh, I should read…but it’s so boooring. I had to force myself to read it a lot!
• I wasn’t so psyched about the narrator.
• The ending. It’s just, GOD.

Have you read The Book Thief? Did you cry? Tell me in the comments below.

BTW, just got 51 followers! Thanks so much. :) Love y’all.

I am posting for the third time today [Sorry!], and it is the TCWT blog chain, about book beginnings and endings.

Bye now.

Book Review: The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken

The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken

Title: The Darkest Minds

Author: Alexandra Bracken

Number of Pages: 488

Genre: YA Dystopian

Overall Rating: 4/5

Summary From Cover: When Ruby woke up on her tenth birthday, something about her had changed. Something alarming enough to make her parents lock her in the garage and call the police. Something that gets her sent to Thurmond, a brutal government “rehabilitation camp.” She might have survived the mysterious disease that’s killed most of America’s children, but she and the others have emerged with something far worse: frightening abilities they cannot control.

Now sixteen, Ruby is one of the dangerous ones.

When the truth comes out, Ruby barely escapes Thurmond with her life. Now she’s on the run, desperate to find the one safe haven left for kids like her—East River. She joins a group of kids who escaped their own camp. Liam, their brave leader, is falling hard for Ruby. But no matter how much she aches for him, Ruby can’t risk getting close. Not after what happened to her parents.

When they arrive at East River, nothing is as it seems, least of all its mysterious leader. But there are other forces at work, people who will stop at nothing to use Ruby in their fight against the government. Ruby will be faced with a terrible choice, one that may mean giving up her only chance at a life worth living.

Discussion: I finished this book during our library time at school. When I read the last page and closed the book, I just kind of stared and told my friend sitting next to me, “I can’t believe it. I think I’m going to cry.” And some other stuff, but I might [accidentally] spoil the ending. But the gist was:

I thought of this exact quote.

If I hadn’t been in a library, I probably would’ve thrown it across the room. Let me do it now.

Done. It’s very satisfying. On with the review.

Ahem.

The beginning was kind of slow, and there were lots of flashbacks and moments [throughout the book] when I was just like, You could’ve done ________ and it would’ve been much easier/faster/better/safer/etc.

I did, however, love Ruby, the MC, and the supporting characters, Chubs and Zu, and the love interest, Liam. Ruby is so kind and heroic, always doing things for the good of others, though I do think she should do more stuff thinking about herself. I facepalmed mentally a lot when she chose to keep secrets. [It actually really bugs me when characters keep secrets from people they know and love.] Chubs is so sweet, and very levelheaded. He seems like the kind of friend you could go to for sage advice. Although, he can be brutally honest. Zu is just so adorable and innocent, aside from her awesome powers. She’s so girly and cute, and reminded me of my friend Misa, who loves to laugh and joke. And Liam. Oh, Liam. He is going on to my OTP list. His only flaw? Not thinking through plans enough, resulting in bad consequences.

The writing is pretty spectacular. Bracken has you in this world so beautiful, yet so tragic. And the themes are quite amazing, somewhat parallel to our society today, putting people into boxes and labeling them.

Definitely read this book. It will hook you in!

P.S. I am posting a wrap-up today, too, but on a different post.

Top Ten Books I Want to Read But Don’t Yet Own and I Am Malala: How One Girl Stood Up For Education and Changed the World Book Review

TTT is a meme created by The Broke and the Bookish.

 

1. Where She Went by Gayle Forman-I mean, I loved If I Stay, so this is a must-have. Kind of obvious…

2. The Giver by Lois Lowry-Every blogger (or at least almost every blogger) has loved this book. It sits on my teacher’s shelf, mocking me.

3. The Infernal Devices series by Cassandra Clare-Yet again, I read The Mortal Instruments, so it’s just…I have to have these!!!

4. Four: A Divergent Collection by Veronica Roth-This slipped between my fingers. It was at Costco when it first came out for, like, eleven dollars, but I was like, I don’t really need it. Now I need it.

5. Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell-I have yet to read a Rowell book, but bloggers rave about her. I honestly know nothing about this book.

6. Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell-Another must-read from all the blogosphere and beyond.

7. Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor-Bloggers love this!

8. Hate List by Jennifer Brown-Emily @ The Loony Teen Writer just reviewed this, and it sounds like a great book.

9. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll-Believe it or not, I have never read this book. And I’ve only watched the Hello Kitty version of it when I was really little.

That concludes this week’s TTT. Sorry there’s only nine! Any books you would like to read but don’t have? Tell me in the comments below.

I Am Malala: How One Girl Stood Up For Education and Changed the World (Young Readers Edition) by Malala Yousafzai and Patricia McCormick

Title: I Am Malala: How One Girl Stood Up For Education and Changed the World

Author: Malala Yousafzai and Patricia McCormick

Number of Pages: 193

Overall rating: 4.5/5 stars

Summary From Cover: Malala Yousafzai was only ten years old when the Taliban took control of her region. They said music was a crime. They said women weren’t allowed to go to the market. They said girls couldn’t go to school.

Raised in a once-peaceful area of Pakistan transformed by terrorism, Malala was taught to stand up for what she believes. So she fought for her right to be educated. And on October 9, 2012, she nearly lost her life for the cause: She was shot point-blank while riding the bus on her way home from school.

No one expected her to survive.

Now Malala is an international symbol of peaceful protest and the youngest ever Nobel Peace Prize nominee. In this Young Readers Edition of her bestselling memoir, which includes exclusive photos and material, we hear firsthand the remarkable story of a girl who knew from a young age that she wanted to change the world — and did.

Malala’s powerful story will open your eyes to another world and will make you believe in hope, truth, miracles and the possibility that one person — one young person — can inspire change in her community and beyond.

Discussion: I loved this so much! I devoured it extremely quickly; I never thought that I would enjoy a nonfiction book so much. The only thing that separated me and five stars was that some of the content was missing that was included in her first book.

This Young Readers Edition isn’t as heavy. It also has less names, dates, and acronyms to memorize. I had a lot of trouble with those during her first book!

I recommend reading this first, and if you want to know more, read the original I Am Malala. But this is easier to process and lighter on the intense stuff. You also get more insight into her life before the Taliban.

Sorry this review was so short; I’m tired. I will go write now, though.

Requiem by Lauren Oliver Book Review

Book Review: Requiem by Lauren Oliver

Title: Requiem

Author: Lauren Oliver

Number of Pages: 391

Genre: YA Dystopian

Overall Rating: 3.5/5

Summary From Cover: They have tried to squeeze us out, to stamp us into the past. But we are still here. And there are more of us every day.

Discussion: I finally finished it! Yes! It wasn’t terribly horrid, but it wasn’t wonderful perfection either. I struggled to get through it. Many parts were slow, especially from the main character, Lena’s perspective. I found myself enjoying Hana’s POV better, and for that, I felt bad, because Lena is so sweet and lovely, while Hana makes me want to rip my hair out! But in this book, we see cured Hana, a different side to her. [Can’t give anything away!!! So hard!!!]

And the feels, man, the feels.

It was all of them, at random times. I probably looked like an idiot, sitting in a public place, laughing out loud, glaring, and almost crying because of words on a page. I don’t know how Lauren Oliver does it. They’re in mortal terror, and then someone says a joke, an you laugh, completely forgetting they’re about to die. If I could do that, be able to weave magic into words and type them onto a page, reaching out and touching readers’ hearts, GOD would I be the happiest person alive.

I gave it such a low rating, though, because of the slow parts. There were lots of ’em. And it made me want to throw the book across the room! [Of course, I couldn’t, because it’s a library book, and, well…] I do think you should read this series, because it really makes you think about what we take for granted and what our life would be life if that was all taken away.

Did you enjoy my book review? Have you read Requiem? If so, what did you think? If not, will you read it? Tell me in the comments below.

On another note, I am watching Divergent tonight! Finally! With chocolate cake!!!

All the best,

Chloe

Book Review: Pandemonium

Book Review: Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver

Title: Pandemonium

Author: Lauren Oliver

Number of Pages: 375

Genre: YA Dystopian

Overall Rating: 5/5 stars

Summary From Cover: I’m pushing aside the memory of my nightmare, pushing aside thoughts of Alex, pushing aside thoughts of Hana and my old school, push, push, push, like Raven taught me to do. The old life is dead. But the old Lena is dead too. I buried her. I left her beyond a fence, behind a wall of smoke and flame. 

NOTE: This discussion will be spoiler-free. I will try to make all of my reviews completely spoiler-free from now on.

Discussion: This book was so good and full of surprises. At the beginning, when the chapters switched off between “Now” and “Then” I was really confused…until I finally understood. The beginning is somewhat slow, but then it picks up, and you’re just like, OMG OMG OMG this book cannot end ever!!!

And then it ends.

I was truly heartbroken with the ending. It was like the book was a balloon, and throughout the book it inflated…and inflated…and then, BAM!, it ends with one word. One word that the reader will recognize. And it’s a total cliffhanger, if you don’t have the next book on hand.

Have the next book on hand. Otherwise, you will probably screech like a monkey and drive to a library or bookstore at 1 AM, steal the book, and drive back, all while speeding and running red lights because you’re flipping out. [And then you might get arrested.]

So, have the next book on hand. Capiche?

Thanks for reading my book review! Have you read Pandemonium? If so, did you like it? And if not, will you read it now? Tell me in the comments below.

I hope you enjoyed my book review. I’m currently reading Requiem, the third book in the Delirium trilogy, and after that Love, Stargirl, which I was so excited to find.

Happy birthday if it’s your birthday, and if it’s not, happy un-birthday!

Signing off,

Chloe