Following a book

Today I finally finished Geraldine Brook's novel People of the Book. The novel traces the story of a real Jewish book called the Sarajevo Haggadah, giving fictional accounts of fictional characters throughout its history and telling how it survived over six centuries of catastrophe. I think it is brilliant -- I love stories with multiple narrators, with many different nooks and crannies in the plot where characters' thoughts, emotions, and actions can attempt to hide. The narrators each had unique voices, and their stories were more than believable; they drew me in and made me think about the atrocious events in the Jewish people's history. Sadly, many (if not all) of those events were hatched and carried out in the name of my own faith -- although I cannot understand how people could twist a faith based on love into such torturous claims and actions. I loved how, in the grand scheme of things, the book was a mere bystander in six unique stories of understanding identity, accepting diversity, and conserving individuals' personal histories.

After reading some pieces of their stories, I felt like I needed to put the book down and let what just happened soak in a bit. Violence occurred again and again, but the plot kept moving at such a pace that I felt like I hadn't given the characters enough of my time, my condolences perhaps, before moving on. Brooks' ability to foster that kind of feeling is amazing -- because that is what truly happens in reality -- horrible things happen, and the clock keeps ticking. People might stop to reflect, to cope, but time keeps moving, and sooner or later, we're forced to pick the book back up and see what happens next, whether we're ready to or not. I'm very impressed with Brooks in that regard, and I wonder if she even realizes that her story can have that kind of effect on her readers.

Brooks also wrote two more books I'd like to read: March, the Little Women story told from the father's perspective; and Year of Wonders, a story about the plague in Europe. Brooks won the Pulitzer for March, so I'm sure I'll enjoy them as much as I did People.

Next up, though, is a book my students read for World History and a recommendation from one. I'm also working on my 3+ poems for the annual JHS poetry slam, which is in two weeks. I'm trying to decide if I want to keep my topics funny or make them a bit more serious. Probably funny. My kids really want me to read the "Ms. Arnold-isms" poem, but I keep telling them that people who don't have me in class wouldn't understand how often I really say those things. They're really excited about adding new lines to that poem that I missed last year.