Book Review: Between by Cyndi Tefft

Photo taken from Goodreads

Book Info

  
Title:  Between

Author:  Cyndi Tefft
Publisher:  CreateSpace

Language: English

Format:  E-book (PDF)

Pages:  140 pages

Source:  Reviewer's digital copy from the author, Cyndi Tefft

Buy this book on Amazon 

Summary

From Goodreads 

"It just figures that the love of Lindsey Water's life isn't alive at all, but the grim reaper, complete with a dimpled smile and Scottish accent.

After transporting souls to heaven for the last 300 years, Aiden MacRae has all but given up on finding the one whose love will redeem him and allow him entry through the pearly gates.

Torn between her growing attraction to Aiden and heaven's siren song, Lindsey must learn the hard way whether love really can transcend all boundaries."

Review

Between by Cyndi Tefft would have been just a typical love story if it weren't for the twists and turns that this novel take.  Ms. Tefft has certainly done a great job creating a beautiful, touching, emotional, and engaging book that not just talks about love in the emotional and romantic sense, but also in the spiritual.

Between is the story of Lindsey, who gets into a car accident and finds herself with a mysterious handsome Scott, Aiden MacRae, whose job as a transporter is to take the dead souls to heaven.  But instead of taking her to heaven straightaway, the two fall in love.

I did not like Lindsey at first.  She appeared flat and more caricature-like, until she revealed her memories to Aiden and gave the readers the opportunity to get to know her deeper.  When I finally understood her, it was with a happy acceptance and somehow, I saw bits of myself in her.  I guess everyone would, as there is a little of Lindsey in all of us.  She has this ability to make the best in every situation, an admirable trait in a person who has experienced probably the most traumatic event in his/her life.

Like Lindsey, I feared that I would not like the story much.  It sounded too predictable and exhausted.  However, as I got to read more I found myself really getting into the book and loving the characters and feeling as they felt.  The twists and turns that this novel too were unrealistically realistic that for a moment, I sympathized so much with Lindsey and even found myself tearing up in the oddest times.  The plot was very simple, but this simplicity was what made it more alive and vivid; on the other hand, the turn of events provided the complexity that this story needed and which sustained the reader's interest.

Fair bit of warning, though:  This book contained a lot of Christian references, if only because of Lindsey's faith.  Of course, you can't talk about death without dealing with the spiritual ideals and in my opinion, Ms. Tefft certainly did a great job in handling this part of the premise with finesse and understanding.  She did not just insert these religious attributes for the sake of talking the readers into converting or anything like that, she mentioned Christianity in a way that a person talks about going to the doctor when you're sick - she's not telling you to accept and do the same, but just letting you know the options.  If you're a stickler for spiritual neutrality, then you might want to steer clear from this book, although I'd still appeal to you to give this book a chance, it might just surprise you.

Overall, I loved Between by Cyndi Tefft.  I loved the harmonious mix of the spiritual and emotional to create this special, well-written novel.

Rating

If you have any questions on this particular rating, please refer to my ratings system here.

Notice

I received this book free of charge from the author, Cyndi Tefft, in exchange for an honest and truthful review. This, in no way, affected my opinion or review of this book.

Please contact me for questions, comments, and suggestions.  

Book Review: The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson

Photo taken from Goodreads

Book Info

Title:  The Sky is Everywhere 

Author:  Jandy Nelson
Publisher:  Walker Books Ltd.

Language: English

Format: Hardcover

Pages:  368 pages

ISBN - 10:  1406326305

ISBN - 13:  978-1406326307

Source:  Purchased, Life is Like a Bookpage Book Shop

Buy this book on Amazon 

Summary

From Goodreads: 

"Seventeen-year-old Lennie Walker, bookworm and band geek, plays second clarinet and spends her time tucked safely and happily in the shadow of her fiery older sister, Bailey. But when Bailey dies abruptly, Lennie is catapulted to center stage of her own life—and, despite her nonexistent history with boys, suddenly finds herself struggling to balance two. Toby was Bailey’s boyfriend; his grief mirrors Lennie’s own. Joe is the new boy in town, a transplant from Paris whose nearly magical grin is matched only by his musical talent. For Lennie, they’re the sun and the moon; one boy takes her out of her sorrow, the other comforts her in it. But just like their celestial counterparts, they can’t collide without the whole wide world exploding."

Review

The sky is everywhere 

but to her, it was gone. 
Her sister left her and went up the skies,
and with her went the world.
The Sky was poignant,
engaging,
thoughtful,
depressing at times,
inspiring,
horrifying,
and most of all,
heart-wrenching.
The Sky was about a dead sister,
the dead sister's boyfriend,
a bright, bright young man,
a missing mother,
crazy uncle,
crazier grandmother - 
but mostly The Sky was about a girl
who lost the sky
and found it again,
finding love after her sister's death.
The Sky made me laugh,
made me sad,
made me mad,
made me feel other things
- it almost made me cry.
I tried to reach for the sky,
but it was too high up out there for me.
But I found The Sky
reached it with both hands,
and kept it ever since.
I will cherish The Sky
and read it over and over
even though that girl becomes younger 
than my own daughter,
and I go crazier 
than the crazy grandmother.
The Sky reminded me of my father
who now lives in the skies.
I look up and see him looking down at me
smiling as I fumble over stuff
his ever-clumsy little girl.
The Sky made me jealous
because the girl cried and mourned,
felt empty at the loss of her sister.
While I could not even produce a single tear
over my dead father.
People do have different ways
to mourn for a person
who has left them and gone to the sky.
The sky is everywhere -
and I am proud to claim
that The Sky is mine.


(That's the best effort I could attempt at writing a poem.  Sorry if it sounds really bad, but I really did love The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson and I really think you guys should read it too.)

Rating

If you have any questions on this particular rating, please refer to my ratings system here.

Notice

All opinions expressed in this book review are my own and not influenced by any party in any way.

Please contact me for questions, comments, and suggestions.  

Book Review: Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly

Photo taken from Goodreads

 Book Info

Title:  Revolution 

Author:  Jennifer Donnelly
Publisher:  Delacorte Press

Language: English

Format:  Paperback

Pages:  472 pages

ISBN-13:  978-0375989506

Source:  Purchased, Celina's Books and Mags

Buy this book on Amazon 

Summary

From Goodreads:

"BROOKLYN: Andi Alpers is on the edge. She’s angry at her father for leaving, angry at her mother for not being able to cope, and heartbroken by the loss of her younger brother, Truman. Rage and grief are destroying her. And she’s about to be expelled from Brooklyn Heights’ most prestigious private school when her father intervenes. Now Andi must accompany him to Paris for winter break.

PARIS: Alexandrine Paradis lived over two centuries ago. She dreamed of making her mark on the Paris stage, but a fateful encounter with a doomed prince of France cast her in a tragic role she didn’t want—and couldn’t escape.

Two girls, two centuries apart. One never knowing the other. But when Andi finds Alexandrine’s diary, she recognizes something in her words and is moved to the point of obsession. There’s comfort and distraction for Andi in the journal’s antique pages—until, on a midnight journey through the catacombs of Paris, Alexandrine’s words transcend paper and time, and the past becomes suddenly, terrifyingly present. "

Review

Good books beckon to a reader and get them engaged until the last page.  Bad books seduce readers but fall short of their promises.  Great books, however, do all of the above, except fall short of their promise - they do not promise anything at all and no reader would mind.  Why?  Because who needs promises when a book just surpassed all your expectations and more? 

Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly is about two young women:  Andi living in modern-day Brooklyn, and Alexandrine from Paris in the time of the French Revolution.  Both girls are in a midst of a revolt, the difference is that Andi's is from within her self while Alexandrine's is that of the historical kind.  

So begs the question:  Is Revolution a good book, a bad book, or a great book?

This is not a mere time travel novel.  Yes, the past and the present parallel each other in this book, but that is not the main focus - it's the revolution that takes place within the characters' lives.  Both Andi and Alexandrine are wounded artists - Andi struggling emotionally because of the death of her younger brother, Truman, her mother's descent into insanity, and her father's indifference and ignorance of his daughter's plight.  Because of this, her performance in school has suffered that gets her father concerned about her academic future as she was tested to be a genius when she was younger - her  father being a scientist, putting premium on intellect rather than emotion.  Alexandrine, on the other hand, deals with a million troubles - poverty, a lack of promising opportunities to showcase her talent on the Paris stage, and a burgeoning French revolution among other things.  Both girls channel their hurt and through their art - music and acting respectively - both flawed artists who try to come to terms with their lives, Andi with accepting what has happened, and Alexandrine with finally realizing the significance of loving another human being other than herself and putting the happiness of another person before hers.  This premise is so skillfully written that readers would find themselves drawn into these girls' worlds, empathizing and sympathizing every step of the way.

Another striking detail is the use of real-life historical events and personalities in order to create a more credible narrative that has chapters set in the French Revolution.  The blending of fact and fiction is so seamless and almost indistinguishable that a reader not very well acquainted with that particular time in French history would be tricked into accepting every historical detail in this book as real and not tampered with.

This story is mostly narrated by Andi, and that narration showed a progression from downright gloomy and despairing, to hopeful and optimistic.  Peppered with sarcastic quips one expects from a jaded teenager, the narrative's voice can be classified as a consistent portrayal of a real teenager's way of speaking and storytelling.  However, other chapters are narrated through journal entries written by Alexandrine that adapts a dated voice that captures a reader's expectation of how a young woman in the old French world would speak.

One would note, however, that Andi's way of speaking during her time in France seemed too 'American' in that although it was understood that her conversations with the French were already translated to English, the nuances and idioms of typical French language were not present in the translations.  Some reviews showed this to be inexcusable, I found this considerate.  Why?  As a book of young adult fiction, this would obviously be read by a younger audience and they like a more straightforward presentation of a narrative, rather than wading through tall grasses of vague 'translated' French to English conversations.

As for the characters, they were not difficult to love - or hate, depending on the circumstances.  When I say love or hate, it means that the characters do not have difficulty in eliciting in me an appropriate emotion and reaction to their personalities and actions.  Andi, a poor rich girl, may sound like a cliche in the beginning, but once you get to know her, it is not difficult to feel for her and understand her pain as her issues are not as superficial as other teens.  She has real problems and really deep sadness that a 'simply divine skirt from Chanel' cannot solve.  Alexandrine, on the other hand, with her conniving and scheming, also gets under your skin without much effort, once her transformation to a deeply-caring young woman becomes complete.

Simply put, this is a great book.

Rating

If you have any questions on this particular rating, please refer to my ratings system here.

Notice 

All opinions expressed in this book review are my own and not influenced by any party in any way.

Please contact me for questions, comments, and suggestions.  

Book Review: The Pilot's Wife by Anita Shreve

Photo taken from Goodreads

 Book Info

Title:  The Pilot's Wife 

Author:  Anita Shreve
Publisher:  Little, Brown and Company
Language: English

Format:  Mass Market Paperback 

Pages:  320 pages

ISBN-10:  0316788228

ISBN-13:  978-0316788229

Source:  Gift

Buy this book on Amazon

Summary

From Goodreads:

"With five novels to her credit, including the acclaimed The Weight of Water, Anita Shreve now offers a skillfully crafted exploration of the long reach of tragedy in The Pilot's Wife. News of Jack Lyons's fatal crash sends his wife into shock and emotional numbness: "Kathryn wished she could manage a coma. Instead, it seemed that quite the opposite had happened: She felt herself to be inside of a private weather system, one in which she was continuously tossed and buffeted by bits of news and information, sometimes chilled by thoughts of what lay immediately ahead, thawed by the kindness of others ... frequently drenched by memories that seemed to have no regard for circumstance or place, and then subjected to the nearly intolerable heat of reporters, photographers and curious on-lookers. It was a weather system with no logic, she had decided, no pattern, no progression, no form." The situation becomes even more dire when the plane's black box is recovered, pinning responsibility for the crash on Jack. In an attempt to clear his name, Kathryn searches for any and all clues to the hours before the flight. Yet each discovery forces her to realize that she didn't know her husband of 16 years at all. Shreve's complex and highly convincing treatment of Kathryn's dilemma, coupled with intriguing minor characters and an expertly paced plot, makes The Pilot's Wife really take off."

Review

Many married couples would probably say that they know everything there is to know about their spouse - the way an arched brow might be a sign of disapproval, a tick in the cheek a sign of irritation.  But how well do we really know the person we love?  This is the challenge served to the readers in this emotion-packed novel by Anita Shreve.

Kathryn was content - content with her married life with Jack, content with her only daughter Mattie, content with their home in Fortune's Rock and the life she and her family had built there.  But when a man appears on her doorstep to inform her of her husband's death, the carefully-spun life of contentment unravels and she is left with a long thread of doubts, mysteries, and grief.  Reading through this book, one question nagged at my mind:  How do you deal with the truth behind one's person?

This book was so full of deep sorrow that I would almost advise those who are easily depressed to steer clear of this book, but to do so would mean never having the chance to experience the beauty of this poignant novel.  Alternating chapters of Kathryn and her daughter's dealing with their loss with that of Kathryn's life with Jack presented a clear view of the inner struggles that occur in marriages:  the complacency, the insecurity - the faith.  I first thought that this was a book that had some deadly mystery in it surrounding Jack's death, but when I saw those alternating chapters, I suddenly had this feeling that this book is leading me somewhere else.  Imagine my surprise with all the twists this book had taken - I wish I could tell you, but I could only warn you that it's not what you think!

The melancholic, lyrical, and profound writing suited this novel well.  The narration's voice was filled with this deep sense of dread, urgency, and emotion that would surely urge the reader on, letting him/her experience the same surge of feelings that the characters felt as if living within the book itself.  The characters themselves were very interesting, in that they all had something to offer - a story of their own.  I look at Mattie and I see a young woman tormented by the death of her father and she could have her own book in which she could be shown dealing with her loss.  I see Julia - that's Kathryn's grandmother - and I could almost read a whole prequel to this book of her life with a younger Kathryn, with her children, and how she coped with her own losses and struggles and how she enjoyed her triumphs.  I then turn to Robert Hart and I immediately have a sense of his life with his ex-wife, his views of his strange job and his complex personality.  At its heart, this book is Kathryn's story, but the other characters are very well-drawn and lifelike that their own stories emerge through the pages without really meaning to.

But although this is Kathryn's story, this is also a story of understanding that things are not what they seem, that truth itself is relative.  The truth for one person may be only half-true for another, it only depends on how much either of them knows.  That even the person you were most intimate with could be keeping secrets that are beyond your wildest imaginings.  That the world is only real so long as you believe in it.

This may be more of a dramatic fiction, but it probably serves up one of the best mystery plots ever written.  And I do believe having you told you that, you do not need any more convincing to read this book.

Rating

If you have any questions on this particular rating, please refer to my ratings system here.

Notice 

All opinions expressed in this book review are my own and not influenced by any party in any way. 

Please contact me for questions, comments, and suggestions.  

Book Review: Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger

Photo taken from Goodreads

 Book Info

Title:  Her Fearful Symmetry 

Author:  Audrey Niffenegger
Publisher:  Scribner
Language: English

Format:  Hardcover 
Pages:  416 pages

ISBN-10:  1439165394

ISBN-13:  978-1439165393

Source:  Purchased, Booksale

Buy this book on Amazon

Summary

From Goodreads:

"Julia and Valentina Poole are semi-normal American twenty-year-olds with seemingly little interest in college or finding jobs. Their attachment to one another is intense. One morning the mailman delivers a thick envelope to their house in the suburbs of Chicago. From a London solicitor, the enclosed letter informs Valentina and Julia that their English aunt Elspeth Noblin, whom they never knew, has died of cancer and left them her London apartment. There are two conditions to this inheritance: that they live in it for a year before they sell it and that their parents not enter it. Julia and Valentina are twins. So were the estranged Elspeth and Edie, their mother.

The girls move to Elspeth's flat, which borders the vast and ornate Highgate Cemetery, where Christina Rossetti, George Eliot, Radclyffe Hall, Stella Gibbons and Karl Marx are buried. Julia and Valentina come to know the living residents of their building. There is Martin, a brilliant and charming crossword-puzzle setter suffering from crippling obsessive compulsive disorder; Marijke, Martin's devoted but trapped wife; and Robert, Elspeth's elusive lover, a scholar of the cemetery. As the girls become embroiled in the fraying lives of their aunt's neighbors, they also discover that much is still alive in Highgate, including - perhaps - their aunt. "

Review

I have been putting off finally reading this book for the longest time.  I was very intrigued by the synopsis of this book when I picked it up in the bookstore one day.  But because I already had a lot of books to buy that day, I decided to pass on it for the time being.  When I got home, I looked it up on the internet and found predominantly negative reviews for this second book by Audrey Niffenegger.  Disappointed, I thought it best to just forget about it.  Then a month or so after, I found a hardcover copy in my favorite secondhand bookstore and without thinking, took it to the cash register and purchased it.  Later, while thinking about the wisdom of my actions, I thought, What the heck, if I didn't like it, at least I did not pay that much for it.

And now, I can say, finding a copy of Her Fearful Symmetry in that secondhand bookstore was destiny.  In my opinion, this is one of the best books I have read so far.  

At its heart, this book is not just a simple ghost story, it is a story of human follies - wanting one thing but ending up with something else; wanting what you can never have; playing a joke on others but it turns out the joke is on you.  The ghost story in itself is an amazing sketch of the hilarity of the unachievable - you lay in wait for death, but as soon as it comes it eludes you again and you find that you're stuck, with nowhere to go.

Reading through the whole story, I think I could guess at what most people found disappointing:  It is that the book have failed - not their expectations - but their predicted outcome.  At the risk of giving a spoiler, I would say that the ending is not quite what I expected either, but definitely something I could justify and actually preferred.  When reading a book, most of us begin forming the story's outcome in our minds, writing our own twists and turns and usually, a good book would fill that expectation and more.  This book, on the other hand, refused to give the reader the satisfaction of being able to map out its story in advance.  You read through the chapters and just as you were beginning to form certain ideas about where the tale is going to lead, it suddenly takes you on a different route.  Chapter after chapter of unpredictable and sometimes disconcerting twists have finally lead me to realize that Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger is not just a mere book - it has a life of its own, and it will not bend to whatever reader's imagination, the reader would have to bend to this book's contents instead. 

And because this book is alive, the writing, the characters, the scenes seemed very alive and real.  It is not difficult to pretend that what you are reading is real if it is actually based on reality, but with the ghost story inserted within its pages, this book manages to suspend disbelief and yet thrive on it, as if everything that is happening is actually true, or could be true.

This book is definitely a good read if you are willing to keep an open mind and willing to let go and just let this book run your senses - let the book control you, and you will understand what exactly made this book by Niffenegger such a magical reading experience.

Rating

If you have any questions on this particular rating, please refer to my ratings system here.

Notice 

All opinions expressed in this book review are my own and not influenced by any party in any way. 

Please contact me for questions, comments, and suggestions.  

If I Stay by Gayle Forman

Photo taken from Barnes & Noble

Book Info

Title:  If I Stay

Author:  Gayle Forman 

Publisher:  Speak

Language: English

Format:  Paperback

Pages:  272 pages

ISBN-10:  014241543X

ISBN-13:  978-0142415436

Source:  Purchased, Powerbooks

Buy this book on Amazon

Summary

From Barnes & Noble:

"A critically acclaimed novel that will change the way you look at life, love, and family.  In the blink of an eye everything changes. Seventeen­year-old Mia has no memory of the accident; she can only recall what happened afterwards, watching her own damaged body being taken from the wreck. Little by little she struggles to put together the pieces- to figure out what she has lost, what she has left, and the very difficult choice she must make. Heartwrenchingly beautiful, Mia's story will stay with you for a long, long time."

Review

Dear Ms. Forman, 

I read and finished your book in just one sitting, and if that's not enough of a confirmation that you have written a really good book, I don't know what else would convince you that I really enjoyed the story.  It was compelling, touching, and exciting.  It was sad most times, but even then, the story never felt dull or lacking.

I was pulled inside Mia's world and watched as she fought with herself to choose.  Mia was wrong when she said she was alone.  I and other readers were there with her, watching her come to terms with what had happened to her and her family.  The readers were given a good grasp of what kind of person Mia was. I like how you incorporated those flashbacks about Mia's family as she struggled to make a decision on whether to live or die.  Some have commented on the fact that Mia seemed to be more focused on her boyfriend Adam and best friend Kim more than the death of her family.  I disagree.  The fact that most of the stories revolved around her family - her mother's rebel personality, her father's transformation from punk dad to role model dad, her brother's boundless energy, and especially the life of music that they shared - showed how much she cared.  But like most people who lose very important people in their lives, they at first could not quite comprehend their lost, are still in denial with what happened to them, that they could not immediately face the fact that they are now alone.  They appear all right, but everything about them betrays their real feelings.  The memories that Mia recounted while deciding betrayed her loss, betrayed her grief, betrayed her true feelings.

The characters were very unique and very human.  The parents were a bit sketchy - I admit I was a bit skeptic about them not minding that their daughter and her boyfriend are locked up in the bedroom.  I'd have thought that no matter the time nor age, parents are parents and they would rather die than know their young child is engaging in sexual activities in their house.  Their loose and permissive attitude towards their children is a bit too 'utopian' for teenagers.  But maybe I was just seeing it that way because it was Mia talking, and she could only observe what her parents may be outwardly expressing, but who knows?  You would know, I guess.  But it could be that they might be really very worried and concerned about her but just thought that the best way for her to learn was through experience.  Other than that, the characters were very 'there' and alive.  

As for the writing, I enjoyed the humor that you combined into Mia's voice.  The lyrical quality of her narration were both subjective and objective at the same time which was actually one of the reasons I could not put down this book.  The flashbacks alternated with the present time but it still provided a seamless account of what Mia was going through.  I never felt a touch of confusion while reading, because I knew that each recollection of a past memory was related to what was currently happening to her.  Everything was related, and I guess Mia was that kind of person who had an easier time of expressing herself through telling a story about herself wherein she felt the same way.  The stories emphasized on her thoughts and her fears and grief, that even though she was not openly grieving about her loss, her stories showed how much she was ravaged by sorrow over the death of her family.  The ending was exquisite and very simple it bowled me over.

I really look forward to reading more of your writings, and I would especially watch out for the second book you have written about Mia and Adam, and I am sure that like this book, I would be again be captivated by your heartfelt writing.

                                                                                                                        Sincerely,

                                                                                                                           Nina 

Rating

If you have any questions on this particular rating, please refer to my ratings system here.

Notice

All opinions expressed in this book review are my own and not influenced by any party in any way.

 

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

 (Photo taken from Wikipedia)

Title: The Book Thief
Author: Markus Zusak
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
Language: English
ISBN - 10: 0375831002
ISBN - 13: 978-0375831003

Buy this on Amazon

Rating:

The year is nearing its end, but I see that great books are still coming my way!  So definitely, you know where my review is headed.  :D  I know a lot of you has read this, and I'm probably one of the last to discover this  (it populated our bookstores only very recently), but if ever there are some who found this even later than I did, for their sakes, a short summary is in order:  Immediately before World War II, Liesel Meminger was adopted into a poor family in Molching, the Hubermanns.  Suffering from the loss of her brother from his death on the way to their new family, and from the separation from her real mother, she steals picks up a book lying on the snowy ground, The Gravediggers Handbook, her first of several books that she takes.  Living with her new family, she learns to cope with her loss through reading books with her new Papa, and with an unexpected Jew come to hide in their house.  The story is told by Death, an unusual narrator, focusing on the life and death of people around Liesel and herself, doing their best to live through a difficult time in history.  This is obviously a serious read, even for the older readers. 

One of the things I loved about this book:  It teaches history in the most interesting way possible.  Unlike The Diary of Anne Frank, this book, in my opinion, has more spunk and edge, and with a unique narrator, more wisdom, perhaps.  The decision to tell the story through Death gave the author more room to express mature observations about the world, about living and dying, without it sounding too phony or unrealistic if coming from a younger point of view.

The characters are very likable, and each of us can relate to them - their feelings, thoughts, fears, everything.  I especially loved Rosa Hubermann, even though she appeared to be the most severe character and would at times seem to be the villain, I loved her big heart and her bigger patience for Liesel (no spoilers, but yes, towards the end I guess you'll understand what I'm saying).  Yes, she seems hard, but you know, like teddy bears, grizzly and big on the outside, soft and cuddly on the inside.  The innocent friendship/love story between Liesel and Rudy Steiner is cute, endearing, and very touching.  And of course, the addition of the Jew Max Vandenberg provided perspective and insight into the Jewish suffering of that time, and also demonstrated the strength of Papa Hans Hubermann's (The Promise Keeper) character.

The story is written clear enough that younger readers can understand, but I guess if you take this story at face value it won't be so easy and in some parts, if not prepared, you might get too bored or overwhelmed.  But knowing beforehand that this is a deep story not just about history or about Liesel, but of living and dying, will prepare you for a smooth but emotional ride into the characters' lives. 

I definitely recommend this read to anyone, not just young readers, as all of us can learn a lot from this book.  Obviously not just about World War II but about ourselves.  I heard that this is turned into a movie but for me, I think reading this book will make you understand the story more than watching it, as I don't think it would be as easy to express those feelings on film, to delve into the characters' thoughts, especially Liesel's.  Although movies visually take us through the whole story, can it ensure the same, if not more, emotional connection with the story?  And let's face it:  movies change stories in books.  If you would like to watch the film, go ahead, but I'm betting that reading it and watching it are two very different experiences, I'm sure for me it would make a huge difference.  But I am also hoping that witnessing it all happen in front of me will prove pleasant and insightful.