Who would have known that only pages after i posted my last blog my feelings for the book would change dramatically. Now finished with The Book Thief, I have a love for it and a definite saddness inside me that was not there before. Rudy and Liesa both became much more dynamic in my eyes after the one hundreth page, as did Hans and her "mama."
I find it very interesting that SO many of these YA novels center around a love of stories and reading. Mattie in A Northern Light loves to read and write and is amazed when she is brought into her teacher's library. Miguel, from De La Pena's We Were Here reads and connects and grows by reading canonical books, and even (what is his name? All I can think of is "Little Wolf"...is it Ben?) Deadline has a main character that is inspired by a book. I like the message it sends to readers, that reading books can transform you.
Anyway, The Book Thief is AMAZING! I came to really appreciate the style and the language. But the saddness...oh. my. god. This book offers a perspective not often seen. I really liked when during an air raid, as many families were crammed into a basement, death pondered if these German's, who all gripped each other tight, and attempted to quite the little ones, deserved this fate. Many of them were party memebers, they "heil Hitlered" Should they be punished for the crimes of their countrty? Were they all guilty?
This to me spoke largely about how we group a country and it's people. Just like I mentioned about the Breadwinner, we often hear "Afghanistan" and think terrorist, and we hear Nazi Germany and it's citizens and we think they are all bad. These people suffered too. And as Hans and his wife demonstrated as well as Rudy and Liesa, were human beings. Unlike some of the monsters who were stripped of their humanity.
I had a thought while reading...while thinking of Werner (who each time Liesa brought him up caused me to cry (maybe it's because I have a six year old) while thinking of Max, and his dad, while thinking of the next door neighbor and her two sons, both of whose lives ended tragically, and of cousre, the end, where death pulls the ground out from under the reader, yes, he kept warning us, but it came so fast. the way he described carrying the souls of the children, how Hans' soul sat up to meet him, Rudy...oh my god I am actually crying as i write this! Well, back to my point, as i thought about all this, I had a thought, and it reminded me of The Giver. I'm not sure how many are familiar with that book, but i thought of how much it hurt the Giver to tranfer the memories to the reciever (jonas, and the liitle girl who failed, his daughter) and I wondered if you Dr. Jones, felt bad for having us read that. It contained such Saddness. Utter pain and grief. It defintely hurt parts of me to read it. However, I loved this book and want everyone I know to read it!
Yes, I will definitely have to read this sometime.. Thanks for the recommendation! I really love reading anything related to WWII. I think you might also like Code Talker. It offers another perspective that is often overlooked. I don't think it is as emotionally powerful (judging by what you've written here), but it contains a lot of information and history regarding the war in the Pacific as well as some of the Navajo cultures/beliefs, and experiences.
ReplyDeleteCasey, I am so proud of you for being willing to change your initial feelings toward the book. I wonder looking back now, what do you think you were resisting? What were the reading strategies you had to be flexible with in order to facilitate your fuller engagement with the text?
ReplyDeleteAnd by the way, I can fully appreciate your "o.m.g." statement. This is most certainly one of those books that changed me. My heart is both heavier and lighter for having read it.
I have to read this book now. I love that you got emotional writing this blog. I actually did the same while writing about YELLOW STAR. In fact I nearly relived all the emotions that I went through while reading the book. Thank you for writing this as it only added to my desire to read this book.
ReplyDeleteCasey, I am so happy that you disregarded your last post about The Book Thief! I absolutely loved this book when I read it a few years ago and was surprised to see that you hadn't liked it! So So So glad you changed your mind! I would love to re-read it now that I am a little older and would have a better appreciation for it.
ReplyDeleteCasey, all I can say is wow! I love how honest you are in your blogs! This reflection really reached up and grabbed me! I think that it is incredable how some books can make you change your mind, or even pull at your heart. The Book Theief sounds like a real winner and I really want to read it now. I love books that make you start crying as you read, it shows that you made a real connection to the text. I was wondering though, would you consider using this text for one of your classes? I know that it's hard to intergrate such a topic when World War Two is not even really covered in school, but would you consider using it in your Enghlish classes?
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