Thursday, April 22, 2010
The Book Thief Entry 1
When Death first started giving away what would happen, I was kind of mad. As I continued to read though, I didn't really find it a bad thing. I've never really read a book with spoilers like that, so it was interesting and different that it changed how I read the book. I think I liked Rudy a lot more for some reason because I knew he was going to die. I paid a lot more attention to everything he did with that knowledge. This sounds kind of weird but I savored all of the scenes he was in where as if I had not known he was going to die, I don't think I would have appreciated him and his presence as much. Everything he does now is so much more important to me. I've been in denial this whole time, not wanting him to die! I keep hoping Death is lying. Zusak makes it so much worse when Liesel is realizing her feelings for Rudy. It's cute that she feels that way but at the same time, I don't want her to feel that way because she is only going to end up devastated. Poor Rudy! He's younger than me yet he is going to die! He's getting started with his life and he seems to have a lot of potential but that doesn't even matter because he will be dead!
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I most certainly agree with this. I was extremely annoyed at Death, because he spoiled the ending for me. In my eyes, the whole purpose of a good book is to set me up for the ending. It's also a lot about the writing, but that isn't important right now. When he told us that Rudy was going to die, I started to tear up. It was so sad that such a young soul would die before he had even begun to live. The knowledge tortured me as I kept reading, and every part where Rudy was involved, I though, "Is this the part? Is it time yet?" As much as it irked me that Death had told us what would happen, I wasn't so mad that I would let it ruin my time of reading the book.
ReplyDeleteI did end up liking Rudy a lot more because I knew he was going to die. It made me cherish each scene where he was there. And you're right, he did have so much potential. And you're right that it doesn't even matter anymore.
I would also like to take a moment to discuss his feelings for Liesel. When he first started saying those things, I thought it was just an obsession. But as I read farther and farther into the book, I realized it was not so. Love is one of the most important things in this world. But when I think of love, I don't often think of children. I don't think of teenagers when I think of true love, even though most of them who are in a relationship claim to be 'in love.' No, when I think of true love, I think of an old couple sitting on a porch. I don't think of two people running off to get married at age 18. I see people who know they are in love with each other getting married when they feel they are mature and ready enough to go through with it. And maybe that's why I didn't think of it as real love right away. I didn't really think it was possible that it might be true love until tragedy occured. And I found it terrible that Rudy would never know Liesel's true feelings for him.
I agree with you very much. At first I was annoyed with Death because I thought it ruined the ending for me! But as I read further I realized that knowing Rudy's fate made me look closer at his character and as I grew more emotionally attached to Rudy it pained me even more to know his fate. It also intrigued me that an author would think to give away the ending in the middle of the book. Usually people read books for a surprising ending that they didn't see coming so I thought it was an interesting and different way to lure in readers.
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