Metaphors ... personification...... figurative language, Markus Zusak makes art out of words and he uses his style to give a bittersweet and unusual twist to the telling of The Book Thief.
The narrator's voice will surprise and intrigue; it will strike fear in the heart, but as the reader accepts the voice it will slowly seduce and intoxicate as it pours into the mind.
Set in Germany in the midst of human betrayal, the most unusual friendships are born. Bonds of love solidify relationships woven between the most unlikely of subjects. And, friendship gives birth to hope; and hope gives birth to bravery; and bravery saves lives.
Zusak pulls the reader into a puzzle made of pieces of rythmic poetry and colorful events. He uses the most unlikely narrator to capture the reader's sense of mystery and horror. Yet, when the horror dissipates the reader is clearly aware of the absolute logic in the argument at the end of this tale; the reader accepts the entire cycle of life and moves on.
Thank you to my English 103 student, Berkley, who suggested this book.
Saturday, December 21, 2013
Saturday, December 7, 2013
Don't Let Me Go by Catherine Ryan Hyde
Don't Let Me Go tugs on the heart strings with wonder; it creates smile after unexpected smile. Catherine Ryan Hyde brings the story of drug addiction and its impact on a girl child to our eyes in a warm pool of love, determination, trust, and commitment.
The story takes place in a small insignificant apartment building lost in the invisibility of marginal poverty. Hyde gives us the haunting yet exhilarating voice of a brave young girl and the voice of an insecure and once popular dancing stage performer who lost his nerve and freedom to wonder the world.
The "normalizing" of abandonment and isolation of persons in poverty is turned on its face by Hyde. She places the reader in the hallway of closed doors and bangs on them with vigor as she captures the mind of a young girl teetering between the lightheartedness of childhood and the maturity that buffers her as she faces harsh and possibly emotionally damaging circumstances.
Hyde creatively pours words into the cold compartmentalized environment and leaves in their wake a pulsing warmth that stays with the reader for the entire story.
The cast of characters in the apartment complex rise above and beyond expectations as they confront their own demons in order to save a young woman from what could be a dangerous future. They build trust, friendship, and love as they make commitments and bond over a promise to keep her "safe."
The story takes place in a small insignificant apartment building lost in the invisibility of marginal poverty. Hyde gives us the haunting yet exhilarating voice of a brave young girl and the voice of an insecure and once popular dancing stage performer who lost his nerve and freedom to wonder the world.
The "normalizing" of abandonment and isolation of persons in poverty is turned on its face by Hyde. She places the reader in the hallway of closed doors and bangs on them with vigor as she captures the mind of a young girl teetering between the lightheartedness of childhood and the maturity that buffers her as she faces harsh and possibly emotionally damaging circumstances.
Hyde creatively pours words into the cold compartmentalized environment and leaves in their wake a pulsing warmth that stays with the reader for the entire story.
The cast of characters in the apartment complex rise above and beyond expectations as they confront their own demons in order to save a young woman from what could be a dangerous future. They build trust, friendship, and love as they make commitments and bond over a promise to keep her "safe."
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt, is a book of a young boy's sudden plunge into reality. He is challenged by emotional trauma and the reader is confronted by a child's innocent depression and result of post traumatic stress.
The love of his life; the woman who gave him meaning dies a tragic death. And, the trauma has a ripple effect throughout Theo's life. In his opinion, he has no father, and he is all alone in the world. On the way to foster care, Theo is "saved" by a wealthy family and he makes relationships that, in some respects, soothe his wounds, but also they create longings that are not necessarily achievable.
As Theo story continues, the sadness in his soul reflects in a controlled desperation that drives his human connections. He is "adopted" by a someone eccentric antique furniture artist. He gives his heart in secret to a young woman who has ideas of her own. Over time, he encounters his father and makes attempts at a new family.
Crime and drugs enter his story as he struggles to stay safe; his honesty is challenged. Along the way he plays with the idea of marriage. He wants to create family. As his story culminates, Theo experiences many human challenges; he experiences highs and lows; and he reaches out for understanding.
The love of his life; the woman who gave him meaning dies a tragic death. And, the trauma has a ripple effect throughout Theo's life. In his opinion, he has no father, and he is all alone in the world. On the way to foster care, Theo is "saved" by a wealthy family and he makes relationships that, in some respects, soothe his wounds, but also they create longings that are not necessarily achievable.
As Theo story continues, the sadness in his soul reflects in a controlled desperation that drives his human connections. He is "adopted" by a someone eccentric antique furniture artist. He gives his heart in secret to a young woman who has ideas of her own. Over time, he encounters his father and makes attempts at a new family.
Crime and drugs enter his story as he struggles to stay safe; his honesty is challenged. Along the way he plays with the idea of marriage. He wants to create family. As his story culminates, Theo experiences many human challenges; he experiences highs and lows; and he reaches out for understanding.
Monday, November 18, 2013
The Kitchen House: A Novel by Kathleen Grissom
The Kitchen House: A Novel by Kathleen Grissom is a story of American history. Grissom takes the reader on a journey that is filled with the bones of innocent Americans. She reveals layers of oppression that continues to tear holes in the fabric of American culture. Her novel is filled with characters' tales that run thick with the blood of humans.
The story starts in 1791, a child is on a boat full of desperate immigrants in debt to an American merchants and plantation owners. These indentured laborers are Irish. There is sickness and her parents die; her brother is sold; she survives. Grissom's words draws tears as the child sees others love and she longs for someone to stroke her hair and touch her cheeks. She hurts ! In a fog of confusion, the white child finds herself in the kitchen of a plantation where she is given as an "adopted" child to the black slave family.
The story shocks as it should. It reveals the horror of human sadism.
Abinia grows up in the midst of strong and fierce love. As a child she bonds with her new family. She depends on them for sanity. As a white child she learns the multiple meanings of freedom and trust. She learns that nothing is what it seems. Relationships cross boundaries and secrets are buried deep in souls. Death is a daily experience and she sees that the slaves have no reason to trust. As time goes on Abinia is faced with decisions that she experiences as if skewered by hot steel.
Abinia can never get accustomed to the structure of slave culture. Therefore, mistakes are made and lives are put at risk. Her love of family is reciprocated by those who will give their lives for each other and for freedom.
The story shocks as it should. It reveals the horror of human sadism.
Abinia grows up in the midst of strong and fierce love. As a child she bonds with her new family. She depends on them for sanity. As a white child she learns the multiple meanings of freedom and trust. She learns that nothing is what it seems. Relationships cross boundaries and secrets are buried deep in souls. Death is a daily experience and she sees that the slaves have no reason to trust. As time goes on Abinia is faced with decisions that she experiences as if skewered by hot steel.
Abinia can never get accustomed to the structure of slave culture. Therefore, mistakes are made and lives are put at risk. Her love of family is reciprocated by those who will give their lives for each other and for freedom.
Thursday, October 31, 2013
Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline
Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline opens one of the many doors to the world of the orphan in America. In this case, the voice is that of a young girl whose world is turned inside out by the deaths of her family members.
The story touches the heart as the reader witnesses the bare bones of emotional abandonment and confusion. The young narrator's struggle to make sense of a lost life and, at the same time her strive for a measure of control in the new world of foster families, grips the reader with a pain that is deep and profound. The story, along with the sudden and unfathomable loneliness of death and abandonment, gives the reader access to a world beyond the front door of foster care. The lesson that seeps into the heart is that there are precarious places for a child and that the safety of children cannot be taken for granted.
On the other hand, Kline uses the word to place a hand on the wound as she weaves the most unexpected friendship between a child on the verge of being jaded by unfortunate circumstances with her elderly friend and "savior." Actually, the two women form a bond that allows them to heal old wounds.
As the friendship progresses, Kline, along with the reader, weaves layer after layer of emotional warmth and at the end of this beautiful story, the bare bones emotional skeleton has grown layers of rich flesh infused with the forces of love, friendship, and acceptance.
The story touches the heart as the reader witnesses the bare bones of emotional abandonment and confusion. The young narrator's struggle to make sense of a lost life and, at the same time her strive for a measure of control in the new world of foster families, grips the reader with a pain that is deep and profound. The story, along with the sudden and unfathomable loneliness of death and abandonment, gives the reader access to a world beyond the front door of foster care. The lesson that seeps into the heart is that there are precarious places for a child and that the safety of children cannot be taken for granted.
On the other hand, Kline uses the word to place a hand on the wound as she weaves the most unexpected friendship between a child on the verge of being jaded by unfortunate circumstances with her elderly friend and "savior." Actually, the two women form a bond that allows them to heal old wounds.
As the friendship progresses, Kline, along with the reader, weaves layer after layer of emotional warmth and at the end of this beautiful story, the bare bones emotional skeleton has grown layers of rich flesh infused with the forces of love, friendship, and acceptance.
The Story Teller by Jodi Picoult
The Story Teller takes place around the baking of fine, hotly buttered, mouth watering, scrumptious, multi-flavored, recognizable bread! Brioche, challah, "babka, poppy seed cake and mazurek."
Jodi Picoult pulls the reader into a struggle with life and death, and with the human effort to understand how we end. She takes this human and personal path to lead us into the painful puzzle of good and evil, of man and woman's inhumanity to others. And, yet in the midst of the readers own horror at our inhumane possibilities one finds oneself one of those "humans" as the senses react - as the reader's visual memories are activated and the smell of good hot bread ignites that hunger in the midst of the same memory that smells of spilt human blood.
The reader is jarred into seeing his or her own possibilities. The reader is made to contemplate the temptation to feel superior, the temptation to belong, and the temptation to use pain to inflict pain. Juxtaposed against these human conditions one sees, feels, and smells the horrific consequences of following the status quo, and the animal that emerges when one falls into that trap.
Picoult uses the main character to take the reader on an emotional human ride. It is a ride full of pain, friendship, and understanding. Just as the reader comes to believe that Sage, the main character, will always feel the pain of her scars, she finds love.
The Story Teller is about crime and punishment; it is about soul searching; it asks ancient, present, and future questions. It asks us to ask ourselves what lies ahead!
It is about the Holocaust.
Picoult is a sensitive and artful writer. She uses metaphors and similes to help the reader digest horror. As you read, you understand, that the bread metaphor works like a mother's hot soup on a day heavy with storms.
Jodi Picoult pulls the reader into a struggle with life and death, and with the human effort to understand how we end. She takes this human and personal path to lead us into the painful puzzle of good and evil, of man and woman's inhumanity to others. And, yet in the midst of the readers own horror at our inhumane possibilities one finds oneself one of those "humans" as the senses react - as the reader's visual memories are activated and the smell of good hot bread ignites that hunger in the midst of the same memory that smells of spilt human blood.
The reader is jarred into seeing his or her own possibilities. The reader is made to contemplate the temptation to feel superior, the temptation to belong, and the temptation to use pain to inflict pain. Juxtaposed against these human conditions one sees, feels, and smells the horrific consequences of following the status quo, and the animal that emerges when one falls into that trap.
Picoult uses the main character to take the reader on an emotional human ride. It is a ride full of pain, friendship, and understanding. Just as the reader comes to believe that Sage, the main character, will always feel the pain of her scars, she finds love.
The Story Teller is about crime and punishment; it is about soul searching; it asks ancient, present, and future questions. It asks us to ask ourselves what lies ahead!
It is about the Holocaust.
Picoult is a sensitive and artful writer. She uses metaphors and similes to help the reader digest horror. As you read, you understand, that the bread metaphor works like a mother's hot soup on a day heavy with storms.
BUCK by Asanti
The hot beat of rap poetry stills the reader. It weaves its way through your senses as the beat is caught in the fleshy sadness of a perpetual family and social story that should not be.
It simply should not be a story in the midst of a "progressive" and "civilized" society.
Ashante brings the voice of the urban black youth to the forefront. His lyrics curl themselves around your heart and squeeze. He is asking the reader, how could you not care! He is demanding the reader to look and look again, recognize [my] humanity; take note of [my] anger. Respect [my] possibilities.
BUCK is defiant; it is unapologetic.
BUCK is a son's love for his mother.
BUCK is a testimony for his brother.
BUCK is a demand for respect.
BUCK is a time to pause, to stop, to reflect.
BUCK is a time for change.
Ashante is a young man who takes us on an important journey into American life in what is called the "ghetto." He calls attention to every mother's dream and every mother's sorrow. He makes us bleed for lost fath.er's and fatherhood.
The music in his poetry keeps the reader high enough to withstand the pain that he exposes.
"Later on, at dinner, Uncle Howard tells me about the war inside. "There's a war between two wolves inside everybody. One is anger, jealousy, greed, resentment, inferiority, lies, and ego. The other's good. It's love, peace, beauty, happiness, truth, hope, joy, humility, kindness, and empathy."....... I give long, deep hugs to Uncle Howard and Aunt Georgia, then hop in the car with Ryan. I start the engine, then jump out, forgetting something. I walk up to my uncle. "In the story," I ask, "who wins.... between the wolves? The one you feed." (pg 187-8)
It simply should not be a story in the midst of a "progressive" and "civilized" society.
Ashante brings the voice of the urban black youth to the forefront. His lyrics curl themselves around your heart and squeeze. He is asking the reader, how could you not care! He is demanding the reader to look and look again, recognize [my] humanity; take note of [my] anger. Respect [my] possibilities.
BUCK is defiant; it is unapologetic.
BUCK is a son's love for his mother.
BUCK is a testimony for his brother.
BUCK is a demand for respect.
BUCK is a time to pause, to stop, to reflect.
BUCK is a time for change.
Ashante is a young man who takes us on an important journey into American life in what is called the "ghetto." He calls attention to every mother's dream and every mother's sorrow. He makes us bleed for lost fath.er's and fatherhood.
The music in his poetry keeps the reader high enough to withstand the pain that he exposes.
"Later on, at dinner, Uncle Howard tells me about the war inside. "There's a war between two wolves inside everybody. One is anger, jealousy, greed, resentment, inferiority, lies, and ego. The other's good. It's love, peace, beauty, happiness, truth, hope, joy, humility, kindness, and empathy."....... I give long, deep hugs to Uncle Howard and Aunt Georgia, then hop in the car with Ryan. I start the engine, then jump out, forgetting something. I walk up to my uncle. "In the story," I ask, "who wins.... between the wolves? The one you feed." (pg 187-8)
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