It was dreary, had the kind of ending I hated, and I loved it.   The book is about a girl growing up poor in Germany just before and during WWII.  The brilliant part of the book was having Death tell the story.  It really does a great job of setting the perspective of what was going on in Europe during the war. 

A side note on perspective...  a cousin of mine (really a 2nd or 3rd cousin), who is a author and avid reader of juvenile fiction, recently posted the following on perspective (for kids vs. about kids).   Something to think about!  I need to ask if she has read Book Thief!