Monday, February 09, 2009 ; 9:40 PM
It's better to begin a post with more optimistic topics, so here is mine:
BOOK OF THE DAY(from nowhere else but the library):
The Book Thief.Oh wowww. :) Such a suitable title, don't you agree? Those three words practically jumped out from behind a bookshelf. And when it comes to choosing novels in a library with only five minutes to spare,
instinctual selection is very crucial.
Ahem. So, this book is rather unusual, because...apart from the very mysterious front cover, it is the wierdest story ever seen by mine own eyes. (To read it in more detail would require a lot of free time and a huge bottle of sweets.)
Exerpt from the Book Thief*******************
First the colors.Then the humans.That's usually how I see things.Or at least, how I try.HERE IS A SMALL FACT: You are going to die.... ... (skip skip skip)
As the crowd arrived in full, things, of course, had changed. The horizon was beginning to charcoal. What was left of the blackness above was nothing now but a scribble, and disappearing fast.The man, in comparison, was the color of bone. Skeleton-colored skin. A ruffled uniform. His eyes were cold and brown- like coffee stains-and the last scrawl from above formed what, to me, appeared an odd, yet familiar, shape. A signature....When I glanced back at the plane, the pilot's open mouth appeared to be smiling.A final dirty joke.Another human punch line....You see, to me, for just a moment, despite all of the colors that touch and grapple with what I see in this world, I will often catch an eclipse when a human dies.I've seen millions of them.I've seen more eclipses than I care to remember. ************
The author, Markus Zusak, is an Australian writer. But his mother comes from Germany, apparently, which is a very important fact regarding this book. (
Clue: the setting is in a German city during WW2.) As shown above, it is clear that this novel is a first-person narrative (although a few chapters down, I'm not so sure anymore). Three guesses as to who the narrator is?
I won't say anything, because the purpose of the anonymity may have been to test the reader's deductive skills. Haha. (
Hint: He appears in cartoons, wielding a shiny scythe.)
And so, the rest of the novel continues in this typically minimalistic, abstract (almost
poetic?) style of writing, with leaps in thoughts from the characters to the surroundings which the reader has to
chase after and understand. Quite unique and brave, I'd say, because most authors won't risk leaving most of the imaginative details and perspective up to the audience-which makes it a whole lot harder for the story to be appreciated in Mr. Zusak's case. Once you've gotten the visual imagining thing down though, a world of colour and life opens up in that book. Makes it worthwhile. Heh.
Meanwhile, with nothing else remotely interesting and vibrant to say about the book (
because I haven't been saddled with a lot of free time and a bottle of sweets), I shall end this pre-reading book review. (Yeah. Until it becomes 'post-reading'.)
I did mention a less optimistic topic for this post, right?
Yeah. Everyone's favourite present from school.
Homework. :PAs of today, I have received: 2 History analysis essays (one of which is between 1000-2000 words), a Lit essay (almost finished), Chinese Literature reading, Music Analysis, a inevitable TOK presentation, upcoming Biology homework, and Maths practice questions.
Suicide is definitely not an option for Catholics, (and I'm not asking someone to kill me instantly), but today, I must have wished myself
non-existent five times at least.
HERE IS A SMALL FACT: Plagued by all these assignments...I am most likely going to die. Whoo.
