Oh yes, I am indeed very tired.
Stop giving homework teachers! Homework kills trees!
::YAWN::
so, uh, calc was great fun...?
I have no clue how to do #4 on my worksheet....
Anyhow, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is an amazing book!
Although I am still very tired...
01 October, 2008
29 March, 2008
The Book Thief post 8
Okay, I totally give in to my brain that wanted a good grade...
And, I am just going to use something that Zusak used very often in The Book Thief--the power of making NOTES!!!
I have always wanted to do a end of the book, over-all reflection post...
So here it comes...
The person who recommended The Book Thief to me said that she couldn't help but cried at the end. I didn't pay much attention to that, I don't usually cry when I read a book. But when I was reading it in my room without locking the door, as I was flipping through the pages, the words melted in front of my eyes. The world became a blur and I shut the book as soon as physically possible.
When I recommended this book to my parents, I used a inadequate but well-fitted, at least in my opinion, description:
"If German Lesson is Schindler's List, then The Book Thief is Life is Beautiful."
Have you ever heard a story from Death?
Calm, fact-based, but humorous, even has a little bit of warmth.
I must admit that Zusak gave me a very different impression of Death.
In the time when everyone was living in fear, Death was not very happy about all the souls that he was collecting.
"They say that war is death's best friend...To me, war is like the new boss who expects the impossible. He stands over your shoulder repeating one thing, incessantly:'Get it done, get it done.' So you work harder. You get the job done. The boss, however, does not thank you. He asks for more" (309).
Death has to fulfill his job, without rest, in that terrifying time "carried the souls in my fingers, like suitcases. Or I'd throw them over my shoulder".
He would also complain, "Forget the scythe, Goddamn it, I needed a broom or mop. And I need a vacation...They beg me to take them with me, not realizing I'm too busy as it is...I complain internally as I go about my work, and some years, the souls and bodies don't add up; they multiply." (307-308).
He used his calm, humorous, humane, warm and reasonable voice, tell the story of the book thief; the story of the little girl that he met three times; a story of a girl and her family, partner, and friends, a story between a small town and a country.
A story of the whole world and a person who tried to control the world; a story of life and death.
And, I am just going to use something that Zusak used very often in The Book Thief--the power of making NOTES!!!
I have always wanted to do a end of the book, over-all reflection post...
So here it comes...
=========================
I am similar to Liesel, the tendency of never putting books down.
Literatur, is a every important thing in life.
Literatur, is a every important thing in life.
***A Huge Mistakes***
I should have never, ever, finished the book in my room without the door locked.
The person who recommended The Book Thief to me said that she couldn't help but cried at the end. I didn't pay much attention to that, I don't usually cry when I read a book. But when I was reading it in my room without locking the door, as I was flipping through the pages, the words melted in front of my eyes. The world became a blur and I shut the book as soon as physically possible.
When I recommended this book to my parents, I used a inadequate but well-fitted, at least in my opinion, description:
"If German Lesson is Schindler's List, then The Book Thief is Life is Beautiful."
Have you ever heard a story from Death?
Calm, fact-based, but humorous, even has a little bit of warmth.
I must admit that Zusak gave me a very different impression of Death.
In the time when everyone was living in fear, Death was not very happy about all the souls that he was collecting.
"They say that war is death's best friend...To me, war is like the new boss who expects the impossible. He stands over your shoulder repeating one thing, incessantly:'Get it done, get it done.' So you work harder. You get the job done. The boss, however, does not thank you. He asks for more" (309).
Death has to fulfill his job, without rest, in that terrifying time "carried the souls in my fingers, like suitcases. Or I'd throw them over my shoulder".
He would also complain, "Forget the scythe, Goddamn it, I needed a broom or mop. And I need a vacation...They beg me to take them with me, not realizing I'm too busy as it is...I complain internally as I go about my work, and some years, the souls and bodies don't add up; they multiply." (307-308).
He used his calm, humorous, humane, warm and reasonable voice, tell the story of the book thief; the story of the little girl that he met three times; a story of a girl and her family, partner, and friends, a story between a small town and a country.
A story of the whole world and a person who tried to control the world; a story of life and death.
***A Little Reminder***
Death is always the winner. (His will does not matter.)
We have all read quite a bit about that time period, some are historical, some are not. Some are deep and hard to bear, some are depressing, some are sarcastic. Every single of one of them was trying to the let the world know that it was a very indescribable time.
Everytime I finish them, I wonder why, based on what reasoning, can one people believe that they are superior than others. Being so far away, in both space and time, from the actual disaster, it almost felt like a fictional experience, a dream.
No, or shall I say that people in the whole world all wished that it was just a dream, it was just a fictional experience.
Using Death as the narrator, I think is why Zusak's story differ from others. Who can be more fitted to tell the story other than Death? Who else, in those years, went through all the cities and towns, entered every room and saw every soul and its stories?
The Book Thief is a very difficult book to be set-and-tell; it is impossible to define. Everyone received different things from The Book Thief. It is a book that one cannot see every single aspect of the book from a simple summary or introduction. The only was to just read it, finish it, in a way that no word can be missed, and no time can be wasted.
***A Small Discovery***
The calming voice, is like the way Death speaks.
When the world became clear, I know, this book made the world different. For me.
Even if it was a small, insignificant difference.
27 March, 2008
The Book Thief post 7
This is like a marathon that will never end...!!!!
I really do apologize to people who actually read my posts and have to deal with the never-ending whining first...Sorry.
Anyhow, I was reading through the posts and realized that I really wanted to add something to the wonderful memory...
I want to talk about the colors in The Book Thief.
I really do apologize to people who actually read my posts and have to deal with the never-ending whining first...Sorry.
Anyhow, I was reading through the posts and realized that I really wanted to add something to the wonderful memory...
I want to talk about the colors in The Book Thief.
The setting for The Book Thief was in the Germany under Hitler's control during World War II. It was a time when the prosecution and persecution towards the Jews sprang and plagued in the areas under the control of Germany.
Zusak used his unique style of writing effectively, using everyday things such as "color", "sky", "cloud", "literature", "words" etc, to accentuate the brutishness of the war at that time and the shining moments of humanity.
The way that Zusak told the story from Death, who narrated in a second-person perspective, was very attractive. He sometimes describes the surroundings very descriptively in order to engage the reader to the upcoming changes or blows; sometimes he pointed out how things are going to end, letting readers fully aware of the result and, slowly and painfully, flipped through the pages, eventually reach the part that is difficult to accept. By doing so, Zusak, from my perspective, let readers' complicated feelings and story both freeze on the forcefully stopped time.
I especially like how he used "color" to connect the whole book. From the beginning, the plot was as pure, clean and white as the book page. However, when the main characters get to their rises and falls, the readers began to see different colors: the color of the books possessed by Liesel, the colors of the constantly changing sky, the grey shine of Hans, the black and white of the accordion, the rises and falls of the wars and the bombing that caused the air the turn nasty grey, the pasty white and dull grey of the victims' bodies, the bright red of blood, the crystal clear blue on the afternoon when Liesel died...Readers saw millions of colors in the book, and every single one of them represented a distinctive meaning.
Ahhh, colors...
Colours.
