The Book Thief-the writing
Posted: 05 Mar 2012, 22:45
"The words landed on the table and positioned themselves in the middle." Page 330 of "The Book Thief" by Markus Zusak.
Just one of the thousands of pictures of language contained in "The Book Thief."
Reading this book is like looking at a painting and someone is narrating. You move from scene to scene. Of course, in all books you do, but in this one, because the character's dialogue is described as if the character's spoken words have physical mass, weight, or energy, you literally are getting a new perspective on language. In addition, the narrator sees colors for the particular actions -- tells us from the outset he does -- and this is a perfect backdrop then in which one can see the words as colors, or shapes, or mass.
As I pondered this, I thought of another great book which did this: The Phantom Tollbooth, by Norton Juster. Miles "jumps to the Isle of Conclusions."
It would make a great stage play in a black box theater, unless you really wanted to go with the colors; then maybe a true big stage would be needed.
Just one of the thousands of pictures of language contained in "The Book Thief."
Reading this book is like looking at a painting and someone is narrating. You move from scene to scene. Of course, in all books you do, but in this one, because the character's dialogue is described as if the character's spoken words have physical mass, weight, or energy, you literally are getting a new perspective on language. In addition, the narrator sees colors for the particular actions -- tells us from the outset he does -- and this is a perfect backdrop then in which one can see the words as colors, or shapes, or mass.
As I pondered this, I thought of another great book which did this: The Phantom Tollbooth, by Norton Juster. Miles "jumps to the Isle of Conclusions."
It would make a great stage play in a black box theater, unless you really wanted to go with the colors; then maybe a true big stage would be needed.
