There are a couple of things that I think I take away from this book. The way everything comes together gives me an incredible feeling of community. I love that all of these people come together to help this little boy. I love that when he is Yorick in Hamlet, a whole bunch of the people that he has visited come to see the play. I also love that while all of these people are trying to help Oskar, he is also making a difference to the people he goes to visit. I think that everyone does need help, needs interaction, needs support. Oskar really lifts the spirits of some of the people he goes to visit, and if nothing else, puts things in perspective for people, because Oskar clearly has real problems.
One of the other messages I really take away is the importance of expressing love. The grandma's last letter to Oskar talks about this. She says the last night she spent with her sister she wanted to tell her how much she loved her, but assumed there would be other nights and it was unnecessary, but, as she points out, it is always necessary. Oskar had a similar experience on his last night with his dad. He was going to tell his dad something (I love you, I think), but when his dad asked him what was up, Oskar said "nothing." How often do we do that? We all need to feel loved, and sometimes assuming that other people know how we feel is not good enough--we need to express it. Not that this is something I excel at, but I'm working on it. Even in Oskar's relationship with his mother, she clearly loved him and worried about him, but we don't really see it until the end because until then it was not expressed in a way that Oskar understood.
Loren, I love what you already said and don't know that I have much to add to it. I also loved the sense of community the book illustrated, which was really striking since the setting was in NY.
For some reason, this book was very very touching. It reflected to me how vulnerable each of us are. We don't know what life will bring. We all are susceptible to the unexpectable tragedies of life. But it's interactions with those around us that make us human. Our ability to communicate, to feel, to empathize, to help, to support. I felt like it was such a beautiful reflection of humanity. So many wonderful connections made, out of tragedy.
I guess Oskar's experience of ultimately overcoming tragedy by connecting with those around him was opposed by his Grandfather's experience. He closed off, drew in, and didn't connect- not even with his wife. And look what Oskar accomplished, as compared to his Grandfather. It was a really beautiful story.
I thought that this book did an excellent job of showing how fragile life can be and how important it is to take advantage of the few opportunities that we have to share our love with each other. The saddest parts of the book, to me, were the missed chances to express love. When Oscar didn't pick up the phone and tell his dad that he loved him; when the grandfather didn't tell Oscar what the letters were they buried in his fathers empty coffin - that would have changed Oscar's life, and would have given him a missing part of his father; when the grandmother hit the space-bar instead of typing out her life story and her love for her husband. The book was filled with missed opportunities, especially between the grandparents, which is probably why their story is so tragic. Because Oscar's experiences and opportunities outshine the loss, the book isn't as depressing as these three examples, but it does help me to realize how important it is to share yourself and your love.
What did you all think of the very end of the book? Did it change the message? The last thing Oskar does is talk about his dad moving backwards through the day, and then there is the flip book of pictures at the end. Did it change the feeling you finished with? Did you look through all the pictures?
I liked the pictures at the end. Throughout the book as I was complaining that the book was depressing, I could see the picture of the guy falling on the last page (the book kind of opened so I would always catch a glimpse of it). I didn't want to ruin the ending, so I never looked at all the pictures closely, but to see that he was going up and not down when I finished the book really lightened my boots.
Obviously it couldn't happen, but it showed that for most things in life we do get a second chance, so if something's screwed up, then we can probably do something to make it better - one way being to express our love more fully.
5 comments:
There are a couple of things that I think I take away from this book. The way everything comes together gives me an incredible feeling of community. I love that all of these people come together to help this little boy. I love that when he is Yorick in Hamlet, a whole bunch of the people that he has visited come to see the play. I also love that while all of these people are trying to help Oskar, he is also making a difference to the people he goes to visit. I think that everyone does need help, needs interaction, needs support. Oskar really lifts the spirits of some of the people he goes to visit, and if nothing else, puts things in perspective for people, because Oskar clearly has real problems.
One of the other messages I really take away is the importance of expressing love. The grandma's last letter to Oskar talks about this. She says the last night she spent with her sister she wanted to tell her how much she loved her, but assumed there would be other nights and it was unnecessary, but, as she points out, it is always necessary. Oskar had a similar experience on his last night with his dad. He was going to tell his dad something (I love you, I think), but when his dad asked him what was up, Oskar said "nothing." How often do we do that? We all need to feel loved, and sometimes assuming that other people know how we feel is not good enough--we need to express it. Not that this is something I excel at, but I'm working on it. Even in Oskar's relationship with his mother, she clearly loved him and worried about him, but we don't really see it until the end because until then it was not expressed in a way that Oskar understood.
Loren, I love what you already said and don't know that I have much to add to it. I also loved the sense of community the book illustrated, which was really striking since the setting was in NY.
For some reason, this book was very very touching. It reflected to me how vulnerable each of us are. We don't know what life will bring. We all are susceptible to the unexpectable tragedies of life. But it's interactions with those around us that make us human. Our ability to communicate, to feel, to empathize, to help, to support. I felt like it was such a beautiful reflection of humanity. So many wonderful connections made, out of tragedy.
I guess Oskar's experience of ultimately overcoming tragedy by connecting with those around him was opposed by his Grandfather's experience. He closed off, drew in, and didn't connect- not even with his wife. And look what Oskar accomplished, as compared to his Grandfather. It was a really beautiful story.
I thought that this book did an excellent job of showing how fragile life can be and how important it is to take advantage of the few opportunities that we have to share our love with each other.
The saddest parts of the book, to me, were the missed chances to express love. When Oscar didn't pick up the phone and tell his dad that he loved him; when the grandfather didn't tell Oscar what the letters were they buried in his fathers empty coffin - that would have changed Oscar's life, and would have given him a missing part of his father; when the grandmother hit the space-bar instead of typing out her life story and her love for her husband.
The book was filled with missed opportunities, especially between the grandparents, which is probably why their story is so tragic.
Because Oscar's experiences and opportunities outshine the loss, the book isn't as depressing as these three examples, but it does help me to realize how important it is to share yourself and your love.
What did you all think of the very end of the book? Did it change the message? The last thing Oskar does is talk about his dad moving backwards through the day, and then there is the flip book of pictures at the end. Did it change the feeling you finished with? Did you look through all the pictures?
I liked the pictures at the end. Throughout the book as I was complaining that the book was depressing, I could see the picture of the guy falling on the last page (the book kind of opened so I would always catch a glimpse of it). I didn't want to ruin the ending, so I never looked at all the pictures closely, but to see that he was going up and not down when I finished the book really lightened my boots.
Obviously it couldn't happen, but it showed that for most things in life we do get a second chance, so if something's screwed up, then we can probably do something to make it better - one way being to express our love more fully.
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