Why a Story About Death and a German Girl is a Good Book

A good story to me requires seamless integration of good narration, character development and plot. The story needs to go somewhere, have a compelling main character who you like and are committed to, and has to face struggles that invest and engage the reader. The most important thing a book needs is a good narrator. How are we, the spectators of this tale being toured through this world tailored for us before our eyes? Having a powerful narrator, as well as a realistic protagonist, then supported through seamless integration of plot makes for a fabulous story. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak contains all of these necessary ingredients and is a book I would highly suggest reading.

The Book Thief’s strongest quality is its narrator, Death himself. The story follows death during the holocaust and a girl who sparks his interest, Liesel Meminger. When I began reading the book, I was introduced to death’s writing style, where he begins the novel with “First the colors. Then the humans. That's how I usually see things. Or at least, how I try.”(3) Right away, I was hit with poetry, and a wish to read more. As we read, we learn that death is very similar, to a regular human, the only differences being him living forever and having an ever important job, taking the souls to beyond. Death is at every tragedy, every accident, every time someone dies, death comes, takes them away, and then he's off to the next death. As this book takes place during WW2, death is busier than ever, taking the souls of both sides of the war. The way Death talks about, well death is similar to how a man would talk about his job. To death, it's just how he “lives”. When Death writes, he mixes a flow of very poetic, impartial literature and intersperses it with facts about the subject at hand. Death, our narrator is reciting the story of Liesel Meminger while adding in details that only he would have known. This leads to the “full” story being told of Liesel’s life.

Liesel Meminger is a different character than death, but just as complex and compelling. She is a German girl, and “The Book Thief” of this story. Liesel is a “pure” German, and gets to continue to live with her family through the Holocaust. Her Aunt and Uncle(especially her father in particular), are very against the Holocaust, but are very quiet about it, blending in with the rest of the Nazi Party. Her Uncle teaches her to always form her own ideas, and during her life with them, she lives as diverse a life as she can with them. While going to her brother’s funeral(he died on the train to their Aunt and Uncle), Liesel discovers a book on gravedigging. Not being able to read but still curious, she takes the book to her uncle the day after, and he secretly teaches her to read. Liesel steals a total of nine books, with others being given to her as gifts on christmases or birthdays. With every book, Liesel grows smarter, and her craving to read grows, even though it was highly illegal at the time. Liesel’s love for words lead her to stand up for what she believes in and even saves her life later in the book at the height of the plot.

The way Liesel’s story is told by Death often has him hint at the climax of the book, where Liesel’s entire village(except for her) due to her love of words. Halfway through the book, death hints at what happens, but so briefly that you just have to continue to read to learn what happened, and while you vaguely know where the story ends, you never truly know until you finish, and the sense of mystery created by these characters you are so invested in leads to a fantastic climax, which leaves you strangely satisfied, where here most books leave you wanting more.

Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson – Juanita Asapokhai

 

In the vast world of YA novels and literature written to illustrate the worst parts of the adolescent experience, from tackling mental illness and friendships to the normal chaos of high school made beautiful by flowery adjectives to depict the mundane, Laurie Halse Anderson maintains her rule as a queen in the sub genre within her second to most recent book, Wintergirls, published in 2009. Through Wintergirls, Anderson provides readers an authentic and personal perspective into the life and mind of a teenage girl battling anorexia as well as the conflicts surrounding her through striking narration, an accurate portrayal of the theme, and a keen use of descriptive language that leaves readers pondering the book long after it closes - all ingredients in the recipe for a brilliant story.

    Starting in the first chapter of the novel, we are introduced to the simple, quiet voice of Lia Marrigan – and almost immediately afterwards, we meet a different, bodiless one; a second voice often follows Lia’s own thoughts, written in lowercase letters (“you left her alone.” pg. 97). This is the voice of an unidentified individual that throughout the novel, readers come to know as her twisted memories, as well as her anorexia personified. It taunts and insults Lia, and works as the constant anchor preventing her from full recovery - it reminds her to keep skipping meals and filling herself up with water to trick weight scales, and it often sounds louder than Lia’s own voice.

    While the voice of anorexia spins restlessly at the bottom of her empty stomach, another voice(/person/apparition/ghost/figment of a distressed imagination) appears in the novel, only to serve the exact same purpose, keeping Lia stuck in her illness, in the form of her deceased bulimic best friend, Cassie Parrish. “ ‘You’re a wintergirl, Lia-Lia,” she tells her. “...Soon you’ll cross the border and be with me. I’m so stoked. I miss you wicked.’ ” (pg. 196)

    Still more, Lia’s other voice – the one that misses food like nothing else, the one that wants to eat, as demonstrated through thoughts like “I am so hungry I could gnaw off my right hand.” (pg. 27) – makes brief appearances in between, with a strikethrough line in every statement expressing her non-anorexic desires. Together, Cassie, Anorexia, Lia’s Other Voice, and the Lia that tells the story battle for control over her life throughout course of the entire novel.

“One bite, please, and then another and another, crust and cheese sausage sauce another and another empty is strong and invincible. ‘I already ate.’ ” (pg. 68)

“I am a healthy girl in a diner, and I can sip a little more hot chocolate. And this feels so good and…” (pg. 96)

    This unique narration promises to keep readers on their toes, as well as increasing their sympathy for Lia, who is at the mercy of these voices. For the majority of the novel, she even allows them to dictate her life. Readers can hear her own voice, see exactly how her brain works, while simultaneously hearing the voice of the forces she cannot touch countering her every move.

    This intense and emotional narrative also fosters the right mood for the story to delve into its central theme, mental health. Specifically: dealing with anorexia as a mental disorder, and eliminating the stigma of the illness being regarded as a strange habit.

    Lia begrudgingly attends sessions with a therapist, Dr. Nancy Parker. She avoids answering questions honestly to both her parents, step-mother, and Dr. Parker (“ ‘What words are in your head right now, Lia? Pissed. Pig. Hate….Jail. Coffin. Cut…. ‘My weight is fine. I can bring in Jennifer's stupid notebook if you want.’ ” pg.116 ), views the sessions as completely unnecessary (“The couch faces a floor-to-ceiling wall of books. They are filled with crap.” pg.113), despite how obvious it is to the readers that she is need of medical help, and hides herself from any eyes attempting to look into her deeper than the surface. However, she only responds this way to protect herself from her biggest fear.

  “The second time they locked me up admitted me for my own good,” she explains, “...Wreaths of pus-colored fat were suffocating my thighs...but they couldn’t see them. They said I had to get fatter.” (pgs. 189-190).

Her battle against her Real Enemy, weight, would be totally lost upon her return to the hospital.

    Through her inner dialogue, destructive behavior, and conversations, Anderson presents this very important theme in a painfully honest way, to the point where, while readers are fully aware of the extent of her situation, they can truly understand her mindset: The mindset of someone seriously struggling with an illness. Her incorporation of the theme leaves a lasting impression on its readers and their perceptions of anorexia and the toll it takes on sufferers.

    

    Finally, Wintergirls earns the title of a Good Story with its expert use of stunning language to ease readers into Lia’s world and reality. Lia’s descriptions place you right with her through every harrowing, horrible experience.

“...0.85 makes me want 0.75. To get there I’ll need to crack open my bones with silver mallet and dig out my marrow with a long-handled spoon.” (pg. 190),

   Here, the dire nature of Lia’s state is exemplified and described so acutely you can almost see it: the thin, spindly girl so close to nothing she’d have to swap organs to lose any more weight.

     Anderson also utilizes this talent best in the scenes with the Ghost of Cassie, which deeply affect Lia for days afterwards. “She pops the glass in her mouth and swallows it, then wipes her mouth with her hand, staining her fingers with wax and blood.” (pg. 88). Quotes like these – where her brain animates the dead body of her best friend –  emphasize Lia’s descent into something very near, if not genuine insanity. In every chapter, readers are taken down lower and lower with her.

 In conclusion, Wintergirls is a tale well-told. It includes the key elements of a good story exhibited throughout the entire novel: memorable narration, an engaging theme, and a stirring style of writing that sticks to the brains of all who are lucky enough to come across it.

Fahrenheit 451- Jenna Blocher

“Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains” This quote, by Jean-Jaques Rousseau, perfectly describes Guy Montag’s mental and physical conflict in the book Fahrenheit 451. The novel, written by Ray Bradbury, is a fantastic story of a dystopian future. In this future, all books are banned. Firemen, instead of putting out fires, start them in homes where books have been found. The books are burned at 450 degrees fahrenheit. A fireman named Guy Montag picked up a book in a burning house, and suddenly his whole world changed. Fahrenheit 541 will change the outlook you have on everyday life.

There are many reasons that you should read this novel, and the first is that it's a classic. In 1953, when this book was published, it was during the early stage of the Cold War between the United States and Russia. Fahrenheit 541 displays communism at its worst. Although it's perceived as a dark novel, it has bright aspects of philosophy. There is a constant tug between good and evil, where hopefully good can prevail.

Today,  thanks to our Declaration of Independence, the government controls limited aspects of our lives. Reading this book will allow you to appreciate the government we have today. In Fahrenheit 541, the government won't allow people to have a simple object such as a book in their home. They want people to believe what they want them to believe. If they read a book, they would become knowledgeable. Not having books makes the society ignorant, and it's easier to control people when they're in the dark about what the world could be like.

Reading Fahrenheit 541 will change your entire perspective of books. People today read books for pleasure, and some people even see reading as a chore. But imagine if reading, or even owning a book, was considered one of the most heinous crimes. There would be no more imagination in everyday life. Not having books would prevent people from learning about the past. If you don't know about the past, it could ruin our future. History repeats itself.

I believe that learning is knowledge, and you gain knowledge by reading. Knowledge also gives you power. Power is one thing that the society in Fahrenheit 541 did not have. This novel was incredible and it taught me not to take everyday things for granted. I definetley suggest that you read it too.

Jack Marshall- The Cay

Jack Marshall

                                                                                                                       9/6/15

The Cay by Theodore Taylor is an excellent piece of Literature. It details Philip and Timothy’s struggle to survive on the cay and it demonstrates the unbreakable bond that is created between them. This is just one of the many reasons this book is a must read.

One example of how this is an interesting book is the plot or conflict. Philip lived in Curacao during World War II. The German submarines came so Philip and his Mom thought it would be best to leave for Virginia. Philip and his Mom leave on a ship called the S.S. Hato. The ship gets torpedoed, Phillip gets hit on the head while the ship is being evacuated. When Phillip wakes up he is on a raft with an old man named Timothy. Phillip becomes blind after he got hit in the head. Philip has to fish and survive with Timothy on the cay even with the loss of his vision. Phillip is there for several days before the storm hits. Timothy protects Philip but with his old age the storm took everything out of Timothy. The storm kills Timothy leaving Philip on the island with only a cat named Stew.  His odds of surviving were not in his favor. After catching fish, rebuilding his shelter, and a long fight for survival, a schooner came and reunited him with his family.

Another example why this is a fascinating book is the character development. It is not easy to be stuck on an island with a complete stranger. Phillip had some very strong thoughts about Timothy on their first days on the cay. Phillip calls Timothy an        “ugly black man” that can’t spell. This attitude came from the ideas that his Mom instilled in him about blacks. His mom earlier stated in the story “they are different” referring to the blacks in his village. This comment about blacks could have encouraged Phillip to think the same way. Even with this idea about black people, he develops a lot throughout his time on the cay. After Timothy dies, Phillip says “ Thank you Timothy…… take care of him, God, he was good to me.”  This character development makes for a moving story.

A third and final example of why this is an engaging book is the setting of the book.  The main setting of the story is at the cay, where Philip and Timothy fight to survive during hard times. It was very enjoyable for me to follow Phillip and Timothy’s fight to stay alive. There were problems on the cay, the biggest of which was Philip’s  blindness which made it hard for him to fish and navigate around the cay. It was also hard to build shelter for both Timothy and Philip. These problems in the book made it very suspenseful to see how or if they would survive. This book The Cay was very intriguing. I highly recommend it.

The Cay had very entertaining conflict, character development, and setting. This book shows the battle to stay alive through the toughest of times. This moving book shows the change for the better in many ways.

Angelina- The Lovely Bones

“ I was fourteen when I was murdered on December 6, 1973.” Susie Salmon states on page 5. In the novel, The Lovely Bones protagonist Susie Salmon is raped and murdered. A happy family with three children and two happily married parents soon become broken and more separated than ever. The author of this phenomenal book, Alice Seabold writes from Susie’s perspective in heaven. She begins to flash back upon her life, how it happened, what she would have changed and watches how everyone is coping. Susie doesn’t quite understand that she must leave her own life and she struggles throughout the book with this concept. The hardest part for Susie is watching her killer live his life normally making a mockery, fooling everyone and pretending he his sad and feels guilt for what has happened in this awful tragedy.  The novel, The Lovely Bones, has an amazing story line that is strong, keeps readers interested and never failed to make me stop reading. Out of every single book that I have read this is by far the favorite. Not only was this a great novel and had an excellent story but this novel is full of all kinds of emotions that kept me as well as many others reading.

Losing a loved one is never easy.  All of Susie’s family adjusted in different ways. Mr. Salmon, Susie’s father is her biggest fan. He gave her all that he had. The Salmon’s not being the wealthiest family out there still found a way to give their kids everything they needed and beyond. When Susie was killed her father had the hardest time accepting it. His endless amount of research and non stop persistency on Mr. Harvey made the novel that much better. If all you readers are interested in horror, but than an instant switch of beauty this novel is for you. A fathers love for his daughter is something you see often on a day to day basis. The author made her book connect to the real world immensely, which made the story line that much better. Mr. Salmon’s endless nights with little to no sleep in search for Susie was a result of not being able to let go and not being able to cope with his daughter being gone. Lindsey, Susie’s sister was strong headed and stubborn.  On page 31, while everyone is telling her how sorry they are for her loss she responds with, “ What is exactly is my loss?” She had refused to accept what people were telling her. Her brother Buckley was still just a young one, however as the novel went on and life without Susie went on he grew a sense of maturity. These characters demonstrate the difference on how each character reacts to this tragedy in different ways.

The book was not only a horror but then a sudden peak of beauty. It allowed us to hear from Susie and get inside her head after she had left Earth. Susie had a mind that was unique and not like the average fourteen year old girl. Susie feels guilty that she died and left the sadness on everyone. Page 31, “ I like to think I hadn’t robbed her of everything,” says Susie. This fourteen year old is more concerned on how she left her family and how much she hadn’t done everything she had once dreamed of. Eventually throughout the novel her siblings grow up and experience all new things she had not yet gotten the chance to experience. As the characters develop and grow up so does Susie, she accepts and come to terms with her death and that she will not be returning. 

All good things must come to an end, is a quote I hear often. This book definitely had some relation to that quote as I never wanted to stop reading, which is a sentence I never imagined I would say. However, to anybody searching for horror but at the same time a touch of beauty and innocence this novel is for you. Not only does it tell you about an awful murder, but lets the readers in to different peoples lives. What and how they think, characteristics and their mind sets. A quote from Elaina Richardson, O reads, “ Susie Salmon is one of the more captivating creations of recent fiction. Seabold has crafted a gripping tale of tragedy and grief… Part destructive story, part family story, party family drama, part meditation on what lies beyond, The Lovely Bones is a page turner in the most literary sense…. Nothing short of revelation. 

Serial killers often have a system, and preferred victim. Mr. Harvey seems to start of with young and then over time chose older and older women. Susie Salmon was fourteen when she was raped and murdered. The book, The Lovely Bones, is a story by the author, Alice Sebold, which tells the story of the family and friends of Susie and how they cope with the murder. This is a good story because the author creates an interesting plot that consists of the character developments and lack of them,  that occur after the tragic death of Susie, and how these changes pull each other together and push each other apart.

            Susie ascends into heaven stuck in her fourteen-year-old self-unable to age; the characteristic changes she experience are in her acceptance of parting from her family. In the beginning she is severely scarred from her traumatizing experience with Mr. Harvey and her inability to be with her family. “When the dead are done with the living, the living can go on to other things," Franny said. "What about the dead?" I asked. "Where do we go?”(145) Her family is moving on with their lives when Susie is in the beginning of hers. She tries to live through her younger sister Lindsey as a way of growing up and experiencing life. By living through her sister and sharing her story with the rest or Mr. Harvey’s victims she slowly heals and learns to let go of her life on earth, ““Each time I told my story, I lost a bit, the smallest drop of pain. It was that day that I knew I wanted to tell the story of my family. Because horror on Earth is real and it is every day. It is like a flower or like the sun; it cannot be contained.” (186) Here she realizes not only her pain, but also the pain of her family and friends. She sees the darkness of her demise, and the darkness of many others.  It is a dark realization but puts her on the path to healing. It is not until her younger sister gets engaged that she is able to leave the living and spend all her time with the dead.

            Susie who was not the only one who could not let go of her death. Susie’s father, Jack, was more focused on his deceased child then the ones still living. He was broken and unable to fix himself, pain overwhelmed him,” Every day he got up. Before sleep wore off, he was who he used to be. Then, as his consciousness woke, it was as if poison seeped in. At first he couldn’t even get up. He lay there under a heavy weight, But then only movement could save him, and he moved and he moved and he moved, no movement being enough to make up for it. The guilt on him, the hand of God pressing down on him saying, You were not there when your daughter

needed you.”(59) The poison on wrongly placed blame and grief consumed him thoughts and his days. This is something his wife, Abigail, could not live with. Abigal was a free spirit with ambitions and plans not available to her as a mother. So everyday she put on a mask and pretended to be a beautiful housewife, pretended to be living. She lived this way and then one of her children was brutally murdered. She lost not only Susie but her husband as well and she was incapable of living that way. Unable to hide how broken and twisted she was and so Abigail left in order to distance herself from the tragedy, but could not contain her loss, “If loss could be used as a measure of beauty in a woman, my mother had grown even more beautiful.”

             Both Lindsey and her little brother Buckley coped with Susie’s death and would go on to a life where pain was not necessarily the soul factor. Buckley became attached to his father, and Lindsey became strong, “Lindsey and Buckley had come to live their lives in direct proportion to what effect it would have on a fragile father.”(244) Buckley and Lindsey must support themselves; grow up fast in order to live.  By the end of the story Buckley is too young to fully understand who he will turn into. However, Lindsey finds her way to a future                    I watched my beautiful sister running . . . and I knew she was not running away from   or toward me. Like someone who has survived a gutshot, the wound had been closing, closing - braiding into a scar for eight long years.” (p. 242)She heals and her future is promising.

            This family creates and breaks bonds when Susie dies. The several different and interesting character developments display the different types of struggles all the characters face. The author displays how the stress caused some to snap, some to turn cold, and others to protect. It is powerful in its appeal to any family member because it captures the emotions of all of them.

Fahrenheit 451 - Aiden B.

A good story to has to be strong in almost all the elements that we learned about. Some of the elements need more or less depending on what type of story you are reading. A dramatic story would need more detail in the plot and conflict, character development, and themes. It might not need as much in the style or setting, depending on what the author wants the atmosphere to be. An action story would not need much in terms of themes or style, but the setting, plot, and character development would be much more important. A well balanced story should have a little of all the elements with a little extra depending on what kind of story it is. Fahrenheit 451 focuses a lot on the plot and conflict, the development of the character, Guy Montag, the character's narration/voice, and the setting. A book with a realistic setting is something that is important to me, and although Fahrenheit 451 is set a few hundred years into the future, it is still a completely believable story. That is one of the most important aspects of a book, how immersed the reader can get in it's world. The most important aspects of a story to me would be the development of the character, the plot, the setting, and voice it is told by. All of these make the story more interesting and immersive, and to me that is what makes a book worth the time.

This story is one that I would recommend to someone who likes a little drama in a future where the government has created fireproof houses, putting firefighters out of jobs. Instead they are tasked with burning books and other forms of literature as they had become "destructive" to the society. The story is set in the United States and follows one of the new “firemen”, a name that is literal now. The amount of detail the author put into making a backstory for the character and the setting makes the story that much more realistic. The beginning of the story is enough to make you want to read more, but doesn’t give you too much so that you can expect what is going to happen, in fact that was what the entire story was like. I can guess what is going to happen in some books, and when a book doesn’t let you do that it makes it a lot more interesting and attention-getting. The author, who is Ray Bradbury, wastes no time in getting to know the character and developing him. In the first few chapters, Montag has to witness his wife’s attempted suicide and then live on with her new self, after she is brought back. This happened immediately after Montag met the peculiar character of Clarisse. Clarisse would go on to be a major piece of the puzzle, she makes Montag question his own happiness and mentality, which in turn unfolds the rest of the story.

My favorite part of this story would have to be the character development. You start with a regular happy guy who does not question anything he does. Then the author transitions him into someone questioning his own emotions and everything around him. As Clarisse said, he was different than the rest of the firemen. He goes from the frying pan into the fire as he then has to deal with his wife's attempted suicide. After that he starts losing his feelings for the person he no longer knows as his wife. Then Montag has to watch as a woman decides to go with her books as they burn them both together, this happened at the same time that Clarisse went missing. Both of these things caused Montag to question a lot a sneak a book away from the woman's house. You can see the shift in his mentality in the next few pages where he talks about the woman to Mildred, his wife. He takes the day off of work and gets a lecture from one of his colleagues at the firehouse, Beatty. The lecture was about the history of the "firemen" and how most of them hit the wall that he had just hit, he talked about it like it was a normal thing. This continues throughout the book, and the amount of change that a single character can go through in a rather small book is impressive. 

Finally, I would have to say that this is a well written story that most people will enjoy. It is something that you can get wrapped up in and enjoy for a few hours or a few days, depending on your reading style. Nonetheless, it is enjoyable for a lot of people. I wouldn't say that it is for everyone, but you should give it a read if you have some free time.