A book narrated by death, who follows a young lonely girl through Nazi Germany. This is perhaps my favorite book of all time. The story telling is superb, the writing divine and the characters and plot weave a tale that will leave you in tears. Such a fascinating idea, to write a book narrated by death, its surprising it took so long for someone to think of it. It could so easily be overdone, made cheesy and lifeless but Zusak perfectly captures the essence of death in a meaningful and brilliant way. His descriptions of death within a war field left me sobbing, clutching the book to my chest. The book is long, but I don’t feel that it rambled or added unnecessary details at any point. Every word is carefully chosen for the purpose of expanding the narrative or explaining the characters. I also watched the movie after reading this, and it was wonderful, but lacking that uniquely bookish quality. Overall, this book must be taught in every university to upcoming authors so they can study and master Zusak’s incredible prose. An absolute must read. Life changing, five out of five stars.