The Book Thief

Markus Zusak's The Book Thief is one of the most fascinating novel I have ever read. It is a novel that I have recommended to numerous people already. The most interesting aspect of the novel is the fact that Death is the narrator. Having a narrator that everyone can recognize is powerful but to also have a narrator that represents darkness and destruction is even more powerful. Death is so likable in The Book Thief, which is not something we are used to as readers and one of the most powerful lines in my opinion is" Five hundred souls. I carried them in my fingers, like suitcases. Or I'd throw them over my shoulder. It was only the children I carried in my arms"(Zusak, pg 336), which shows how sympathetic Death is. The main point of this novel is the German point of view of Hitler and the Nazi's. Zusak uses history along with jaw dropping sentences like "The day had been a great one, and Nazi Germany was a wondrous place" (Zusak, pg.156) to make his point and to keep his readers absorbed in the novel.

Zusak begins his novel by introducing his narrator as Death and the first thing Death does was tell the reader that he is not responsible for, ironically, death but rather collecting the souls. He makes this point again by saying "It probably had more to do with the hurled bombs, thrown down by humans hiding in the clouds" (Zusak, 13) saying who ultimately is responsible for death. Another point that is repeated throughout the novel is the effects of physical features at the time of "Nazi Germany". We are introduced to Liesel Meminger and her "German blond" hair and "dangerous eyes. Dark brown"; Later we are introduced to Rudy, Liesel's best friend, who has beautiful blond hair and "safe" blue eyes, which tells us how important it was to look like what Hitler thought was ideal..


The most important message that comes from The Book Thief is that Germans were not necessarily with the Nazi party. Even those who showed their respect and support did not fully support the cause and called it beautiful "Submission"(Zusak, pg. 63). It is interesting to see how many characters were noticeably against the Nazi party; characters like Hans Huberman and Mr.Steiner to name a few. The message behind this novel is dark and it keeps the memory of the devastation that occurred before and during World War II alive. It is important that readers understand the purpose behind Zusak's bone-chilling novel.

Feed

After hearing from a few classmates that Feed by M.T. Anderson was a bit of a drag, I began dreading the idea of going through another novel that I wouldn't enjoy (Kim), but I have to say I was pleasantly surprised.  Feed has proved to be interesting and really enjoyable. We have a narrator, in the first person, which made it really  easy to connect with the story. 

Feed is about a few bored teenagers, both girls and guys, who take a trip to the moon for the weekend only to find that "The goddamn moon" has "rockiness, and the suckiness, and the craters all full of broken shit'" (Feed, pg.4). They visit a few places like Ricochet Lounge (Ricochet, defined as a hit that rebounds once or more times off a surface) where there is "no-grav". The interesting thing about this novel is we are not introduced to the narrator for a little while but I got the sense that he's a guy from his obsession with hooking up with girls. The novel does a good job of showing the reader that these are hormonally charged teenagers who have yet to get sense of what life is really about like when the narrator says "maybe Loga and I could hook up again, if we didn't find anyone else, like on the moon or whatev"(Feed, pg.12); it's in line with a true teenage boy's train of thought. 

Written in 2002, Feed seems to be ahead of its time. It is a world where internet feeds are directly imported into one's brain, and the internet controls your life.  It is almost as though M.T. Anderson is warning us about the effects of not only the internet but the advertisements that control what we drink, eat, drive...etc. It is incredible to see what M.T. Anderson predicts in a time where the internet was not as prominent as it is today and Facebook and Instagram seized to exist. The flying cars and the weird food choices like " some fancy IV's from room service but they gave us all headaches" (Feed, pg.9) confirms how ahead of OUR time this novel is. 

The two things I noticed about this novel is the language and gender stereotypes. Although the novel is ahead of it's time, it is still aligned with the gender stereotypes we have today; guys with raging hormones watching football and girls being chatty and catty. The second thing I noticed was the language used; it feels like this novel was written for an audience much older than a 14 year old. I can't seem to imagine my (non-existing) 14-year old son or daughter reading such a sexually driven book with terms like the F-bomb.  Feed to me feels like a diary of some sort; the super short chapters make it seem as though the narrator jotted things down as his days went on with titles that helped him remember what happened that day. Do you think this could be read like a diary?

This novel has proven to have many great points with a very interesting story line. I look forward to completing my reading and hopefully begin to understand the message Anderson was trying to relay to his reader. 

Harriet The Spectacular Spy!

       Louise Fitzhugh’s Harriet the Spy is a classic portrayal of how honest a child can be. I have not gotten very far in the book just yet but I can see how relatable it can be for children and even for adults. As a child I watched Harriet the Spy but never read the book so I am looking forward to reading this modern classic. Harriet is introduced to us with her friend Sport and we automatically see the dynamic between them. Sport is an interesting character, he is a child but acts more like an adult. He is always worrying about his dad and I can’t help but feel for the poor boy. 

As a reader the first thing I noticed was Harriet’s status. She lives in the upper East-Side Manhattan, and has a nanny, which is not typical, at least not in my world. But there is something about a book taking place in New York that makes it a little extra interesting; Annie, Elouise at the Plaza and now Harriet The Spy. Living in Manhattan makes it difficult to have space to play at home so her idea of entertainment is watching those around her and writing in her special “notebook” exactly what she thinks of them. No one is free from her brutal honesty and that in turn is what gets her into trouble with her friends. Her nanny, Ole Golly, seems to be the driving force behind this. Ole Golly is very supportive of Harriet’s plan to be a writer and at times puts ideas about life in her head. Harriet writes in her notebook:

“BOY, OLE GOLLY TOLD ME ONCE THAT SOME PEOPLE THINK THEY’RE PERFECT BUT SHE OUGHTA SEE THESE TWO. IF THEY HAD A BABY IT WOULD LAUGH IN IT’S HEAD ALL THE TIME AT THEM...ALSO IT MIGHT NOT BE PERFECT. THEN THEY MIGHT KILL IT. I’M GLAD I’M NOT PERFECT.” (PG.68)

She relays so many things back to Ole Golly and we can see that Harriet’s honesty came from her. Harriet is also devastated that Ole Golly is leaving her and she does not feel ready to face this world without her. 

Its a good book after ALL

  Ok, so I am happy to report that I am really enjoying Kim by Rudyard Kippling. It has gone from a confusing, hard to understand novel to a fascinating one that is hard to put down. As I continued to read Kim, I have learned many things about all of its fine characters. As the chapters move along we see Kim grow from childhood to young adulthood. Although Kim has tried to surround himself with so many, I still see him as a lone wolf. He has gotten so used to being on his own and being independent that it shows in some of his actions. In chapter 8 (if I’m not mistaken) Kim tells Mahbub Ali that 2 men are plotting to kill him but he keeps one important detail from Mahbub Ali; the second assassin is the same man who searched Mahbub Ali’s belongings when he was passed out. Kim holds on to that detail until he can find benefit from it. Mahbub Ali is a man who Kim looks up to but he still tries to hustle him. Kim uses this information to get things like food, money, etc; he seems to ALWAYS have a price. Kim is someone who may have felt some abandonment being without family and is unable to relate to someone on a that level. I struggle with this idea because on one hand Kim seems to really care about the people in his life who help him but on the other hand I can’t help but wonder if its all for a greater purpose.  

Kim being at the tender age of 16, he is someone who knows himself pretty well and is pretty sure of his actions. This is a boy who is white but assimilates himself with the Indian culture. Could he truly know who he is? We get a glimpse of him questioning of himself. Who is Kim? This leads me to another question; Could Kim really know who he is when he has experienced so little of where he is from? After India achieved independence from the British empire many young Indians became confused of their identities. Being put in english schools and taught the english ways, they found it hard to assimilate with their own culture. Kim may be going through the same thing. Although he has experienced the Indian culture he is not considered an Indian and at times made fun of for speaking the language and wearing the clothes. I believe he is struggling with his identity and is unable to find where he can fit in. That is why being a spy is so important, its where he feels he belongs.

Rudyard Kipling's unique writing!

When I was assigned to read Rudyard Kipling's Kim, I was warned about its difficulty. Now that I have started to read Kim I can understand what was meant by "difficult". So far I have yet to understand the pattern of Kipling's writing. It is not what I am used to but it definitely does not make it bad.

 

I am intrigued by the story because it brings an unfamiliar culture to light for me. Kim is a young boy who lost his father and was taken in by a woman. He runs in a beggars circle and seems to understand his status as well as others statuses around him. It is very early in the novel where we see hierarchal statuses brought up. In the start of chapter one we are introduced to the protagonist as "...white-a poor white of the very poorest" (Pg.53). His name was Kim and his father who was a member of the freemason's who died from what seems to be an overdose. We immediately see the un-stability of Kim's life. The woman who was responsible for Kim after his father's death, wrapped his papers and birth certificate into parchment paper and placed it around his neck. It is interesting to me that she would do that because it seems as though she did not want to take full responsibility for him; those papers state that he is not fully her child/responsibility. At the start of the book I immediately began to see Kim as a boy with dirty feet and raggedy clothes, but as I continued to read he seemed less raggedy and more sophisticated, not really sure why. I think it may be because of his knowledge of the culture, religion and hierarchal statuses. 

As I read Kim I could not help but relate this novel to a little book called The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn. Finn and Kim have a few things in common (other than the rhyming of their names); for one their social statuses. They are both poor with very little to no support from birth parents. Finn had an abusive father and Kim seems to have had an absent, drug addicted father. Having unstable upbringings defines both of these characters. Adventure is mainly what brought me to the comparison, "True, he knew the wonderful walled city of Lahore from the Delhi Gate to the outer Fort Ditch; was hand in glove with men who led lives stranger than anything Haroun al Raschid dreamed of; and he lived in a life wild as that of theArabian nights..."(pg.55).Both characters are intrigued by adventure and surround themselves with very similar characters. Being surrounded by the strong adventurous men that Kim surrounds himself with has made him a skeptic of others. Along with skepticism comes a lack of respect. When Kim first meets the old man in front of the wonder house he does not give him a title when speaking to him because he automatically assumes that he is of very low status. Although he is poor he has no respect for those who resemble his situation. Huck Finn has very similar characteristics.

I am looking forward to reading the rest of Kim and I am hoping the more I read, the more I will get used to Kipling's writing style and hopefully find more similarities to Huck-Finn. 

My "Little House On The Prairie" dreams

Immigrating to the U.S. at the age of 7 with little to no knowledge of the english language, my priority was to learn the language. So while children my age were reading books like The Magic School Bus and Charlottes Web, I was just beginning to learn my ABC’s. It took me some time to get to the level of reading that was acceptable for my age but I still had trouble understanding or relating to books with certain lifestyles. The all American lifestyle was very new to me and it took some time to take it in. I had a late start in reading children or young adult books but when I did, one series that resinated with me was Laura Ingalls: Little House On The Prairie. 

Little House On The Prairie was my all time favorite novel. As a child I dreamt of that era and being part of the pioneer life and at times wondered if that was my previous life. When my friends were watching TRL, I was watching Little House On The Prairie (and I was made fun of for doing that). I was so intrigued by the lifestyle and the closeness the family had with one another. I remember sitting down with my grandmother and asking her questions about her childhood, school, marriage and just every day life, but no one expressed it quite like Laura Ingalls Wilder. 

I still remember when Laura Ingalls got married and continued to think about it when I was getting married. My memory of the series is a bit hazy but I do remember Laura’s husband getting sick and having to be put in a tub of ice cold water. I think about that scene all the time and I am fascinated by the advances in medicine. I still read books about previous time periods like Tuck Everlasting and The Secret Garden. Little House On The Prairie is what started my interest in the pioneer life and the times where iPhone was non-existent. I am looking forward to taking another dive into LHOP as an adult and interested in finding out if it will still intrigue me.