"When she came to write her story, she would wonder exactly when the books and the words started to mean not just something, but everything." -page 30
"She was a girl. In Nazi Germany.
How fitting that she was discovering the power of words." -page 147
There is a comfort in books, words, and the characters within those words, that nothing can compare to. Words can numb your mind to the reality of existence or open your eyes to the parts of reality you failed to notice before. Words can start wars, and they can end them. Words can break things, and they can put things back together. Words can shape lives. Even on the brink of war, Liesel discovers that words can create peace. Growing up in a world that is full of hate, she is drawn to the peace and love and clarity that words can make someone feel. But she is also drawn to the dangerous adventure of actually stealing the books. Liesel's living an adventure story all her own.
One thing I love about The Book Thief is that it makes me, as a reader, forget I'm actually reading and instead I feel like I'm living with Liesel. Some books are a hassle to read, because it feels like I have to work to enjoy the story. Reading The Book Thief is like stepping into a completely different world. When I stop reading, it sticks with me. When I learn a lesson in a book, that lesson tends to stay with me in real life. Books can teach you lots of things if you let them.
Tuesday, July 29, 2014
Wednesday, July 16, 2014
Thursday, July 3, 2014
Entry #1
"Mistakes, mistakes, it's all I seem capable of at times."
- Death, page 23
A lot of authors don't pay enough attention to death in their stories. When a character dies, most authors either a.) pull one of those "...and then they died. That's it." moments on us, b.) give us the most disgustingly gory, medieval-torture deaths, or c.) turn all the other characters into sappy, sobbing messes and write eight chapters about that particular character's funeral. People don't think about death much, unless, of course, they're dying.
It's rare to find a book that isn't focused so much on a character dying, but on Death himself. Death is a physical thing, the body shutting down, for all things, human or not. But Death, the person, is a human concept. In the few books I've read that actually feature Death among the rotating cast of characters, he is portrayed as a dark, gloomy shadow sent to collect the souls of the dead and make the living characters lives miserable. I think that what people forget is that Death is so astoundingly human. We have funerals to give a feeling of peace to the living relatives and friends of the dead. We mourn, we grieve, we wonder about an afterlife. We entertain the idea that one day, we will see our deceased loved ones again.
Zusak's idea of Death is different. Death is not the sad creature that watches until a soul needs to be taken. He is curious, hardworking, and selfish, much like a human being. I think that his fascination with Liesel is meant to show the readers how he has the curiosity of a human. With that curiosity comes selfishness, wanting more and more of human experience for himself.
This quote stuck out to me because humans are always so hung up on their mistakes. We focus so much on the things we do wrong, it's hard to enjoy the life we've got while we've got it.
- Death, page 23
A lot of authors don't pay enough attention to death in their stories. When a character dies, most authors either a.) pull one of those "...and then they died. That's it." moments on us, b.) give us the most disgustingly gory, medieval-torture deaths, or c.) turn all the other characters into sappy, sobbing messes and write eight chapters about that particular character's funeral. People don't think about death much, unless, of course, they're dying.
It's rare to find a book that isn't focused so much on a character dying, but on Death himself. Death is a physical thing, the body shutting down, for all things, human or not. But Death, the person, is a human concept. In the few books I've read that actually feature Death among the rotating cast of characters, he is portrayed as a dark, gloomy shadow sent to collect the souls of the dead and make the living characters lives miserable. I think that what people forget is that Death is so astoundingly human. We have funerals to give a feeling of peace to the living relatives and friends of the dead. We mourn, we grieve, we wonder about an afterlife. We entertain the idea that one day, we will see our deceased loved ones again.
Zusak's idea of Death is different. Death is not the sad creature that watches until a soul needs to be taken. He is curious, hardworking, and selfish, much like a human being. I think that his fascination with Liesel is meant to show the readers how he has the curiosity of a human. With that curiosity comes selfishness, wanting more and more of human experience for himself.
This quote stuck out to me because humans are always so hung up on their mistakes. We focus so much on the things we do wrong, it's hard to enjoy the life we've got while we've got it.
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