I read this book for my Forever YA book club that met on 11/19/24. I unfortunately didn't get to finish the book until later in the week, but wow. I've read Markus Zusak before, and his writing style really shined here. It wasn't flowery or overly descriptive, but I felt that I could place myself right in the middle of the story. Zusak made me care for the characters even at the beginning of the book, and the cold open was probably the best character introduction I've ever read. The ending was also such a beautiful way of saying that the characters we read about still live on after the books end. I went in thinking I would like it okay but ended up marking this book as one of my favorites. 5/5 stars.