"Literacy is a bridge from misery to hope. It is a tool for daily life in modern society...Literacy is a platform for demostration, and a vehicle for the promotion of cultural and national identity...Literacy is, finally, the road to human progress and the means through which every man, woman and child can realize his or her full potential." ---Kofi Annan

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...

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I am similar to Liesel, the tendency of never putting books down.
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.

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