Blog Post #5 : The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

The Premise

Markus Zusak mixed danger, love, and friendship together into such a beautiful novel. The Book Thief was a page turning novel about a young girl at the heart of the Holocaust in Germany 1939. Liesel Meminger is nine when she moves in with her foster parents after Hitler took away her mother, and Death her brother. At her brother's grave, she sees a book sticking out of the dirt, and takes it. Being a poor German girl, she did not know how to read. When she moves in with her foster parents, her foster dad, Hans, teaches her, and her thieving career begins. She steals books from book burnings and the private library of the mayor. With the help of her adventurous friend, Rudy, she begins to open up to a new lifestyle of stealing everything from books to apples. One day, Liesel's parents break some news to her: they will be hiding a Jew in their basement. Liesel at first is scared of the dirty, smelly, skinny Jew in her house, but her and Max [the Jew], quickly build a friendship, balancing completely on trust. Liesel's world has been flipped upside down, and she must keep the secret.

My Reaction 

This book was literally perfection made into a stack of paper. The author made it so well written with a new surprise after each chapter. One of my favorite parts is the epilogue. It was just a mixture of so many emotions. I think that is when everything came together and you really understood the relationship between the different characters. The ending (which I will not give away), wasn't like a normal story ending. It really made you think. I was so astonished by how Zusak could possibly right such amazing literature. It was so amazing. 

The Author's Writing Style

At first, this novel was a little hard to grasp on to. The very beginning was hard for me to read because I was confused on who was narrating the story. Turns out, Death is. You go through the motions from Death's point of view which I think is so interesting because it made the story line so much more exciting. Zusak made the writing flow, which made it easy on my part. He also included definitions along the way, because sometimes they said German words, which also made the story better. He included a few choice words to be written in German, which showed that they are actually German not full out American. He also used such detail in his writing which made it a page-turner. As you can see in the line "he tasted dusty and sweet. He tasted like regret in the shadows of the trees and in the glow of the anarchist's suit collection" (Zusak 536), he uses out of the ordinary details to really bring the story to life. 

My Favorite Characters

If you've read this book, you probably know about Rudy Steiner. He is Liesel's age and the very first friend she makes. I love Rudy. He is so outgoing and brave and strong. He isn't afraid to take chances and ask awkward questions. He is very sporty, he loves running, and he too is also a thief. Him and Liesel go on stealing adventures with older kids when the food level is low. He is just so perfect. I also really liked Max, the Jew Liesel is hiding. He was such a good role model and friend to Liesel which is what she needed at the time. He went through tough times with his real family and became part of Liesel's family. Max and Rudy really made the story interesting for me because they were such amazing characters.


To be honest, I don't think I would have read this book if it wasn't for Language Arts, but I am so so glad I did. This book has been a very emotional story but I will read it over and over. I highly recommend this book if the Holocaust is an interesting topic to you.  I give this touching story a 10/10. 

Book Blog Post #4 - The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

The Lovely Bones

The Lovely Bones is a chilling novel written by Alice Sebold. The plot line is about a 14 year old girl who was murdered, and she is telling what she is seeing while she is in Heaven. When we first meet Suzy Salmon, the protagonist, she is already in Heaven. Then it jumps to the days right before she was murdered, and then she is telling everything she sees watching the world continue on from Heaven. This novel takes place in an unnamed Pennsylvanian suburb, spanning from the 1970s' roughly into the 1980s'. The main characters are Suzy Salmon, her general family (sister Lindsey, brother Buckley, mom, dad, etc.) and a boy named Ray, and a girl named Ruth. Ray was Suzy's boyfriend for the brief days in the beginning of the story. Ruth was just a girl at Suzy's school who said she felt Suzy fly past her when she was traveling into Heaven. Ruth was walking through the school parking lot after school towards the cornfield near their school, which was where Suzy was murdered. She then saw a shadow flying towards her and she said it touched her face. No one believed her except for Ray.  The general conflict of this book is really just her whole family coping with her death and trying to find her murderer. Lindsey, her sister, broke into her murderer's house to try and find clues because she had a suspicion that he murdered Suzy. This book a thrilling page turner with more adventure or sadness around every corner.

Connections 

I could definately connect this book to Go Ask Alice and other books along that series or diaries. I feel that they all had relateable themes to eachother such as grief and a small bit of good versus evil. Although there isn't much grief in the Go Ask Alice books except at the end, I connected the grief to missing your life and what's ahead for your future. Suzy dies and the girl in the other books throws her life away with drugs or alcohol. I also connected good versus evil because in The Lovely Bones, it's Suzy's family fighting against the heartbreak and tearing apart this man has caused their family. In Go Ask Alice, she is fighting against herself with the evil problem of addiction. I think that all throughout the book they can connect themes, there isn't one specific part that connects the two.

All in all, The Lovely Bones was such an amazing read. In some parts, it was really sad for me at least. It can be a challenging read trying to keep up with who is narrating the story because it tends to change throughout the story. But I definatly recommened this book if you are up for a challenge. 

  

Book Blog #3: Insurgent by Veronica Roth

Insurgent by Veronica Roth

              In the thrilling sequel to her amazing first novel, Divergent, Veronica Roth describes the aftermath of the war going on between two opposing ideals, one being that intellect is more important than physical strength and the other is vise versa. 

              Insurgent takes place in a dark future where people are strongly controlled by the government using a faction system. When citizens turn 16, they quit school and take a test which places them in the proper faction. Some people don't fit exclusively into a single faction, these select people are known as the Divergent. Most of the citizens consider the Divergents to be dangerous and unstable. 

             Tris, or Beatrice, is a Divergent. She is 16, and transferred from her home faction of Abnegation, which find the trait of selflessness to be the most important. Tris transferred into the Dauntless faction, who find courage to be the most important trait in life. Four, or his real name, Tobias, is also a Divergent. He trained Tris and other new Dauntless members. Four is called Four because he only has four fears in his fear landscape which is a simulation that puts you to the test against your biggest fears to test your bravery. 

             Divergent is when the war against the Erudite and the Dauntless started, and Insurgent is what is happening afterwards. Tris and Four are teaming up with other Dauntless and a couple select others, to try and bring down the government and their suppression and secrecy from the people. They will learn many dark secrets of how the government controls their society in their epic battle for freedom and righteousness.

What I just read

         I recently read about how Tris and Four got caught by some Erudite soldiers and were forced into interrogation. The Erudite used a serum called The Truth Serum on Four and Tris, which made them not be able to resist telling the truth. Therefore, they revealed they were Divergent and other personal information that could lead to them being executed. This really surprised me because with them being Divergent, they can fight off most simulation serums like the one used to make the Dauntless members become soldiers out of their will. But the truth serum was something they couldn't fight off. Also, while under the truth serum, Tris was asked about her biggest regrets, and she said that it was when she killed her friend Will. Will at the time was under the simulation and about to kill Tris, so she had no other choice. Will was dating Tris's other friend Christina, so that made me really sad when Christina found out that her best friend killed her boyfriend. 

All in all, Insurgent so far has been a great book. I'm not that far into it but I can already tell it will be amazing. I think the first book will be better, but not by much. I definitely recommend this series if you are interested in futuristic/ changed-world books.

Book Blog Post #2 "Paper Towns" by John Green

Quentin Jacobsen has always adored the outgoing, adventurous and unpredictable Margo Roth Spiegelman from the outskirts, until one midnight adventure to get revenge on Margo's old friends. Quentin finally thinks things have changed between the two, but the next day Margo is nowhere to be found. "Paper Towns" by John Green tells the story of two teenagers living in Miami. First, there is Quentin Jacobsen. He is a quiet boy who is afraid of living on the edge. The easily manipulated teen is drawn to another character, Margo Roth Spiegelman. Margo is daring and always looking for attention. She has many solo adventures which include running off to different states, leaving only clues certain people would understand. As seniors in high school, Margo wants to pull the prank of her life, but needs Quentin to help her with half of it. Leaving Miami, know one seems to care that Margo has run off, acting like it is casual, only because it is. Quentin sets off to determine the real Margo Roth Spiegelman.


Criticism

The part I didn't like about this book was the ending. It wasn't that it was a bad ending, it just cut off really quickly. It didn't flow into an ending like I would have liked, it just ended with a sentence that sounded like it should have been in the middle of a paragraph. The last sentence (which doesn't give away anything I promise) is "Yes, I can see her almost perfectly in this cracked darkness" (Green 305). I guess I didn't like the ending because maybe I didn't really stop and think and process what it meant. I'm still not sure what it means, but I do think it tied the book together in such a way where I can't help but think about it.


Author's Writing Style

John Green is one of my favorite authors for his story plots, but also for his writing style. He uses such amazing detail and such different ways of telling the story that I really enjoyed. He doesn't use the classic names and plot while writing a story, he uses names and plot lines I never could have thought of and no other authors whose books I've read have thought up with either. Some examples of names I liked were Margo and Quentin. I think they are so different and help the book come together. The plot itself is so interesting to read about because of how he writes. In the book, Margo is writing a story, and John Green wrote her story  with such amazing details which can be seen in this paragraph from Margo's story " It turns out that the crime was committed by Robert Joyner's alcoholic ex-wife's sister's brother, who was insane because possessed by the spirit of an evil Egyptian house-cat. But in the story, you and me and Myrna Mountweazel go and battle the killer who tries to shoot me, but you jump in front of the bullet and die heroically in my arms"' (Green 290). This was one of my favorite passages of the book because I love how it is written.


All in all, "Paper Towns" was truly amazing. I love John Green's other books as well. This wasn't like "The Fault in Our Stars", which was sad. This one was more of an uplifting story about a boy who wanted to find the real girl beneath one who he never knew.

 

The Fault in our Stars

The Premise

Sadness, humor, and romance are mixed together into one very touching novel by John Green called "The Fault in our Stars". In this novel, it tells the story of two teenagers battling the beast called cancer. First, there is Hazel. Hazel is 16 and has lung cancer. She was diagnosed with cancer at 13, and has been battling it ever since. She believes that because of this she is very limited to what activities she can and can't do. The other main character is Augustus Waters. Augustus is 17 and had bone marrow cancer and had one of his legs amputated. Hazel and Augustus meet in a support group for kids and teens with cancer, and soon go on to have the adventure of their life.

My Reaction

This is one truly amazing novel. It really touched me. At first, I thought this book was about something weird. I mean, I knew it was about kids with cancer, but never did I think it would be this moving. I definitely cried while reading this book. I don't want to give away anything that happened or when I cried, because that would ruin the book, but I'll just say I cried at the end. Hazel and Augustus's journey is told in such detail and written in such a way that makes you moved. 

The Author's Writing Style

John Green is an amazing writer. His use of vocabulary and detail really blow you away. It flowed nicely and had amazing wordplay and exquisite details to really make the story pop. The way he described the characters and how he translated the speaking were outstanding. He also wrote Augustus's character to have a lot of metaphors while writing, such as "It is a metaphor you see, you put the killer between your lips, but don't give it the power to kill" (John Green 122). I very much enjoyed how this story was written.


All in all, "The Fault in our Stars" was probably the best novel I have ever read. All the sadness, humor and romance balance each other out to create and amazing read. I wish I could erase my memory and read it over and over and over again.