The Book Thief

The gimmick got in the way: there's just something goofy, jarring, about personifying Death. (Unless you're [a:Neil Gaiman 1221698 Neil Gaiman http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1234150163p2/1221698.jpg] or [a:Terry Pratchett 1654 Terry Pratchett http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1235562205p2/1654.jpg]). Even so ... it worked. Wonderfully.The narrator's voice is by no means detached or aloof. It's actually quite warm. Forget the Death thing, let yourself be drawn into the characters' lives. This is a tale of kindnesses, big and little, amid horror and despair.