A brilliant read

This morning I finished one of the best books I've ever read. Ever. The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak, is absolutely brilliant. Focusing on a young girl growing up in Nazi Germany raised by foster parents, and narrated by Death (which really was a genius idea!), Zusak's book is real and emotional, telling a story that made me cry (this is the FIRST BOOK EVER to make me cry) about the awful things that went on during World War Two. Zusak doesn't sugar coat anything, which makes it a good book for teens and adults alike. I would say it's more for kids in high school and up because a good amount of background knowledge about the war is necessary to truly get a sense of what the protagonist is going through. The story also focuses a lot on the power of words (in both a positive and negative sense), as one thing the protagonist does throughout the story is steal books--hence the title. But there is so much more to it than that. It's such a unique story, and the tone is reminiscent of Kurt Vonnegut. You're there, in the moment, following this girl through five rough years of her life and the things she experiences along the way, both beautiful and terrible.