Friday, April 11, 2008
One more thing...
I hope you all got something from the book and had a good experience reading it. I had a hard time coming up with specific questions because there are so many specific moments and lines that warrant discussion. What did the key symbolize? What did digging up the coffin accomplish? What's the deal with all the something and nothing spaces that the grandparents have? Why is the story of the sixth borough in there? On page 324 Oskar is in bed and his mom is looking over him. It says, "I don't believe in God, but I believe that things are extremely complicated, and her looking over me was as complicated as anything ever could be. But it was also incredibly simple. In my only life, she was my mom, and I was her son." Wow. I feel like this book is full of moments like this. Please find them and point out the moments that mean a lot to you or were especially powerful. I hope you all loved this book as much as I love it...
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5 comments:
I love Oscar's inventions. This is one of my favorite parts of the book--something I related to so well: "What if the water... made your skin change color according to your mood? If you were extremely excited your skin would turn green, and if you were angry you'd turn red, obviously, and if you felt like shiitake you'd turn brown, and if you were blude you'd turn blue."
"Everyone could know what everyone else felt, and we could be more careful with each other, because you'd never want to tell a person whose skin was purple that you're angry at her for being late, just like you would want to pat a pink person on the back and tell him, 'Congratulations!'"
"Another reason it would be a good invention is that there are so many times when you know you're feeling a lot of something, but you don't know what the something is. Am I frustrated? Am I actualloy just panicky? And that confusion changes your mood, it becomes your mood and you become a confused, gray person. But with the special water, you could look at your oranged hands and think, I'm happy! That whole time I was actually happy! What a relief!"
I love how genuine Oscar is, obviously.
Thanks for posting that part Taylor. That was one of my very favorite inventions. So real, so touching.
I loved lots of things about this book especially that Oskar always had a tambourine, and the phrase, "heavy boots," which I thought was such a perfect way to describe depression. But here is what I think about the story of the 6th Borough (which I also loved, by the way): The story seems to be about people coming to terms with separation. Eventually the people of the 6th Borough decided to stay with each other instead of grasping desperately for people who were ultimately lost. This could be symbolic of Oskar eventually choosing to let himself love his mother even though he lost his father . . . does that make sense?
That had never occurred to me Blair. I like thinking about it that way because the story makes so much more sense in the larger context of the book. Especially the can that has the words "I love you" in it. Even though the people are no longer together, the love still exists and can make a choice to learn to live with what they still have.
I really like Oskar's inventions too, and I love his business card that lists all of his hobbies. I also love little things like when Oskar walks to Brooklyn and mentions that his wrist is tired from tambourining the whole way.
I haven't had much time to answer the questions Loren posted, but I just wanted to say that I really loved this book. It is one of the few that we are bringing with us when we move because I know I'll want to read it again and I have been telling James he has to read it as soon as school slows down. I have really enjoyed reading everyone's comments - it is so interesting to read everyone's different opinions and perspectives. Thanks for choosing this book, Loren.
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