So I've been reading this book for a few weeks now, and I'm almost finished, so I figured now's the best time to write a review so as to avoid accidental spoilers.

The Book Thief takes place in Nazi Germany, and revolves around a girl, Liesel Meminger, and her foster parents, Hans and Rosa Hubermann.

The book starts off with Liesel, her brother and their nameless mother on a train headed for Molching, Germany. On the way the brother dies, and they bury him at a rest stop. Liesel sees a gravedigger drop his handbook, and she steals her first book.

The book is narrated by death in a cynical and sometimes optimistic, sometimes pessemistic tone. His job is to carefully carry off the souls of the dead, and throughout the book describes his "encounters" with major characters.

Other characters include:
Rudy Steiner: Liesel's closest friend, they usually greet each other jokingly with "saukerl" and "saumesch."
Tommy Müller: Rudy's friend, has an ear infection that leaves him nearly deaf.
Max Vandenburg: A jew, and also a close friend of Hans'; ends up living in the Hubermanns' basement.
Ilsa Hermann: The mayor's wife, owns a library and allows Liesel to steal books from it after firing her mother, who cleans laundry for a living.

The Book Thief is a very interesting tale made even more interesting when told in Death's perspective, filled with book thieving, accordion playing, cigarette rolling, jew hiding and bomb sheltering. It's different in that it gets sadder as the book progresses; fathers are shipped for war, more jews are captured, and the war increases Death's workload. It's a great novel, and I highly recommend it.