4.25 The unique style of the book's narrator (Death, who clearly has a somewhat Anglo-Saxon relationship to the German language) sets it apart from other wartime stories of ordinary people. It works very well 98% of the time and the few examples where the German eluded the author don't detract much from the charm. Though the book sometimes veers into clichés it manages to keep clear most of the time. The people depicted are mostly decent, though they mostly still let the Holocaust happen without getting too uncomfortable about it.

The one thing that brings the book down from a perfect read is that the promised book-thievery is quite tame in the end and none of the stolen books, except for the first (a gravedigger's handbook) manage to stick in the reader's mind. The lead-up to the inevitable end, which Death spoils repeatedly from the beginning also falls considerably in the last third of the book. What's neat about the repeated showing of the end is that you first have no connection to it and slowly build that up until you're crying at the end. The catharsis is good, the reading enjoyably unique and the small annoyances can't take away from the fact that this is very good book.