Press

What the critics say

Extraordinary, resonant and relevant, beautiful and angry.
- Sunday Telegraph

...a beautifully balanced piece of storytelling...Unsettling, thought-provoking, life affirming, triumphant and tragic, this is a novel of breathtaking scope, masterfully told. It is an important piece of work, but also a wonderful page-turner.
- Guardian

A moving work which will make many eyes brim.
- Independent on Sunday

This is a weighty novel worthy of universal acclaim. A sense of dread prevades this beautifully written novel. As The Book Thief draws to a close, Death says: 'There's a multitude of stories that i allow to distract me as I work.' The story of the Book Thief, who tried to change the world in her own small way, proves one formidable and inspiring distraction.
- The Daily Express

Brilliant and hugely ambitious ... the kind of book that could be life-changing
- New York Times Book Review

...breathtakingly good.
- The Bookseller

A magical tale.
- Elle

...a fantastic book...it packs a huge emotional punch.
- The Bookseller

A tonic much needed amid the ominous menace of an era of such calamity.
- FT magazine

Quirky, engaging and beautifully written
- Woman and Home

His faith in the transformative power of storytelling bestows this gentle but worthwhile novel with its own narrative strength and power.
- Metro

Absorbing and searing
- Washington Post

A major achievement
- People

Deserves a place on the shelf with The Diary of Anne Frank - set to become a classic
- USA Today

Zusak makes his ostensibly gloomy subject bearable in the same way Kurt Vonnegut did in Slaughterhouse 5, with grim, darkly consoling humour
- Time

Zusak's playfulness with language leavens the horror and makes the theme more resonant - words can save your life ...It's a measure of how sucessfully Zusak has humanized these characters that even though we know they are doomed, it's no less devastating when Death finally reaches them
- Publishers Weekly

One of the most highly anticipated young-adult books in years
- The Wall Street Journal

'Elegant, philosophical and moving. A work to read slowly and savour. Beautiful and important
- Kirkus Reviews

Both gripping and touching, a work that kept me up late into the night feverishly reading the last 300 pages
- Cleveland Plain-Dealer

Zusak's novel is a highwire act of inventiveness and emotional suppleness
- The Australian

A triumph of control ...one of the most unusual and compelling of recent Australian novels
- The Age

A brilliant, quirky tale ...a superb book you will be recommending to everyone you meet
- Herald-Sun

A literary gem
- Good Reading

...the much talked about The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak...should soon have the UK under its spell.
- The Western Mail

It wouldn't surprise us if this became a great classic in years to come.
- Flipside

...this is a novel to touch even the coldest of hearts - definitely 2007's first must-read book.
- Newmarket Journal

A compelling tale from the start...definitely 2007's first must-read book.
- Bury Free Press

A moving story from the German perspective of everyday civilian hardship and surivival under the Third Reich. It celebrates the power of words and love, in the face of unutterable suffering
- Mail on Sunday

Death turns out to be a tender narrator in Zusak's 'The Book Thief' [...] This novel movingly depicts the Himmel Street community, and its orphaned book thief, Liesel Meminger
- Books Quarterly (Waterstones)

Your emotions by the end of this novel are shot to epieces, but it's well worth it.
- Guardian

Although already a bestselling children's book, THE BOOK THIEF's insightful and poignant tone and appealing characters...are amply equipped to capture adults, too.
- Observer