Markus Zusak 'The Book Thief'

If you consider the fact that the book was intentionally written for adults it's a bit too descriptive and plain language. But you can really understand that young adults would really like this book. I would have liked more from death since sometimes he spoke from first person narrative and you had to stop and think who 'I' was since it couldn't be the main character.
I would have liked a quicker beginning and a slower ending. I think it went too fast once you had finally started to like the characters. I also found it difficult to realise that Liesel and Rudy were growing up. For me it felt like they stayed the same age throughout the whole book. Although that might have been something to do with the time it was set and also because of the war.
The metaphor and symbols were too obvious and at times Markus Zusak felt the need to explain them which might be good for young adults but not if the book was intended for grown ups. At times it felt slightly forced. It ruined the feeling which was building up to then have someone spell it out to you. It was as if it was just using up pages and space. The book could have been a lot shorter for just this reason. But it was funny at times, the relationship between Liesel and Rudy was done very well and it felt although very foreign to me very realistic.
I loved the fact that for once a different aspect of WWII was being given. From a German population point of view. Different, and gave the German population sympathy as well which of course isn't common. One wonders how much research has been put into writing the book. I also found it interesting that although it was from a German persons point of view the aspect of criticise the Allies never happened. There was a feeling of sympathy for the British and Americans and hatred towards Hitler and the Nazis which somehow I don't believe. Surely the amount of propaganda the Germans were receiving would have made them think that everything was the Allies fault. I would have liked some comments about the opinions about the Allies. And of course it has been written by and Aussie so he won't be to quick in criticising the Allies, since Australians were helping out to fight. But I wasn't alive then so I don't know.

Overall I thought it was a good book but slightly too sad towards the end, but still realistic, unfortunately.