Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Number the Stars
I've just finished Number the Stars and I really enjoyed it. I'm one of those people who get stuck on a subject, mine particularly is the Holocaust, and read books that seem to all sound exactly the same. Fortunately this book helped to diversify the thoughts that readers consume of the events that happened. I liked that like most books about the Holocaust it was told from the perspective of a child, but what really caught me was that this child wasn't of Jewish descent. Rather she was a dear friend of a young Jewish girl who was forced to run away from her home. The book didn't really focus on the grim details of what happened once people were "relocated" which really put things into perspective for me in other books, but I realized that since I have so much background information on what happened I didn't need to know. Through Annemarie's story there are lessons learned that can by applied to everyday life such and I think that can help students relate to the characters even more. It showed me that a young adult, even if they are fictional, can be more aware of situations than I actually thought they could be, even if they don't know all the facts. The book has many quotes that foretell what will come in following pages. It was very predictable from the beginning and I even could flag quotes that showed something that would come up later and this was my first time ever reading the book. If I could change one thing about it, that would be it. I knew how the ending would turn out and even some of the events that happened in between. It was an easy read, something I've been looking forward to and was a page turner, even though I knew what would happen. I kept hope alive for something to throw a curveball at me but that curveball never came and it was a little disappointing, but it's a disappointment I can live with and work through in order to like the book as a whole.
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I also don't like novels that are too predictable. But, I feel that novels that have predictable endings or endings the author revealed at the start of the novel has sometimes much more to offer than just what happened at the end. Meaning: I expect to find much more detail in character development or learn something about the human experience that I never noticed before. I read Madame Bovary (I loved it by the way) and after i finished the novel, I reread the first few chapters (I was writing a paper) and realized that through symbolism the author gave the whole novel away. It was fun to see images and symbols that allude to the climax of the story.
ReplyDeleteTo me, this technique is the same technique used during operas, musicals, or symphonies. The main themes are played in the Overture so that the listener (or reader in this case) knows what is to come. It is like the composer saying, "HEY LISTEN TO THIS! IT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF THE PIECE!"
I totally understand what you're saying. In some of the novels I've read the best part is that they tell what the ending of the story is right from the get go. I like that the author kept what actually happened in the end for the actual end of the book, but it was so blatantly obvious that certain parts of the book were going to come up again. I feel like if she didn't put so much emphasis on those parts it would have left a little more to the imagination rather than me knowing that the star of David necklace would become a prominent object in an upcoming scene. Lowry did however delve into the character development as well as the setting much more than I anticipated. That part I really did love.
ReplyDeleteWhat an interesting exchange you're having! I'd just throw in my two cents worth and suggest that as sophisticated readers, you see the predictable nature of it in ways that your 7th or 8th grade students wouldn't be able to do. They're still learning to figure out how texts work, and a book like this can be an eye-opener for them. Aaron, if you didn't already know, Number the Stars is another Lois Lowry book, so it would perhaps be relevant to your author study!
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