Overall Thought

I enjoyed this book a lot. I think the author presented the story in a different way, instead of breaking down the information she presented the Haggadah with Hanna then building up to the climax with the interesting and unique stories. I also really like how every piece of evidence Hanna found had a different story. I felt that it contributed to the overall story and made the book even more special. I also like the way that each character was developed. Each was complex and interesting to read about and follow. Every character has personal struggles that they must work through in order to save themselves or someone they love. I also liked Hanna's character a lot. She is very ambitious and doesn't let anyone or anything stand in the way of her aspirations. I felt that all the characters were well written, and each was unique. Overall I really enjoyed this book and would like to read more books written by the same author.

Last Post People of the Book

I really enjoyed this book. I have never read anything like it and I doubt I ever will again.
Really, it was very unique.
I did find Hannah hard to follow, and the book in general at times but at the very end, like a very good movie, everything cleared up. Actually, I finished the book, and then, after I woke up the nest morning, i realized that the boy who was deaf and dumb, the Persian one, who David Ben Shoushan bought the paintings from, was the boy Zahra had been making the paintings for in the first place. I may have registered that part a bit late, but that's what I really loved about it. It made me think so much, that I came to this conclusion in my sleep.
Another amazing thing about this book was that I was learning about the setting, the culture, and the languages at the exact same time. I found this book right when these types of things were popping up in my life.
We were learning about Sarajevo, and the Jews and World Wars in AP Word History, I went to a Jewish/Persian concert, where I learned a lot about the culture, and how these two interacted before. these are just two times when this book related to my life in 2009. It was creepy, but also fascinating.
I am really glad I picked this book, or maybe, it picked me...

Aimee- Week Five: Overall Thought

I have found this book to be very hard to follow. The people’s names are generally not names I’m used to. Also, each chapter takes place in a different country, with a different culture and language. You need to know a lot about history to keep up with this book. Hanna is unusually smart so I find her train of though difficult to understand at times. Overall, I do like this book. It’s not like any other book I’ve read before because it encompasses so many different people, places, and time periods. The author, Geraldine Brooks, must have spent years researching and writing this book. I like how each character has a different religion and has a different view on the world and on the Haggadah. The constant changing keeps the book interesting. Even if at parts the story has been confusing, I really enjoy the intricate, intriguing story.

Week Five

Welcome to Week Five, and our last week week of blogging. This week's post should be on your overall thoughts about the book. It must be a ten sentence summary. You do not need to comment on anyone else's blog, but your post should be up here by Sunday, March 29 You should have made up any missing work by then as well.

Question

Could the stories that Brooks wrote be true? If they are true why do you think that some of the characters who were not Jewish protected the book and placed their life in danger?

Question

Why do you think Brooks chose to tell the history of the haggadah is reverse chronological order instead of starting when the book was made.

question

Do you think Hanna will ever be able to cope with her issues and find true love?

Aimee- Week Four: Thought-Provoking Question

Is there anything all the "people of the book" have in common? Why do you think Brooks created each of the "people" to protect the Haggadah?

Week Four

Welcome to Week Four!

For this week's blog you will post a thought-provoking question that does not have only one answer. Remember that you must make 10 comments this week, not 5. Please do not leave this until the last minute, you have the whole week to get it done.

Post 5 Question

Will all the characters and their stories merge in ways other than the Haggadah or is that the only thing they all have in common?

Figurative Language

One thing I like about how Brooks writes is how she explains everything in detail like when Lola returns to Sarajevo "She smelled the familiar city scents of wet pavement, rotting garbage, and burning coal." This really helps create a picture in the readers mind and makes the book more interesting and easier to connect to. I also like how Brooks uses similies in her writing like when she explains the library that Serif is hiding the haggadah  in the mountains. "The walls were white, each with stone laid alongside the next with the precision of an elaborate jigsaw puzzle." I am enjoying this book a lot so far and like how it keeps your attention. 

Figurative Language & Literary Elements

I am really starting to enjoy this book. The stories that Brooks writes about aren’t only interesting, but very moving and not as you would expect. The new characters in each chapter add so much more to the importance of the Haggadah. Reading through with completely different point of views is really intriguing, you never get bored, and if you don’t like the character you don’t have to read about them for too long. As far as figurative language goes, I have to say I really enjoy Brooks’ style. The way the characters describe their setting is great. “The apartment was dark, and smelled bad. The unusual scents of leather and size were overlaid with ranker aromas of unwashed clothes and rancid meat” (122). They reach most of your senses and you can not only picture the place, but smell it also. Another thing that I really like about the figurative language in the book is how it’s used when people express their true emotions. “He allowed himself to be exposed to the broken, sobbing figure in front of him, and to be moved, not as a doctor is moved by a patient, to a safe and serviceable sympathy, but as a human being who allows himself full empathy with the suffering of another” (126). Aside from the setting and how it’s fully described, the expression of feelings is really touching. You can feel someone else’s pain.

Figurative Language

"The exhilaration and the terror held him in their delicious, equal grip. And then, the terror won, pulling him down, smothering him as the Barnabot turned over a king" (176).
I found this quote to very powerful, it drew me in instantly and made me feel as if I was the one gambling a huge amount of money and then feeling so down when the bet was lost. This quote also appealed to me because the words used in it are exactly describing the way the rabbi feels. While reading this part of the book I went right along with how the rabbi was feeling, through the ups and the downs of his gambling addiction. With the author writing this quote I remembered this part of the book the most of all because it was something that stuck in my mind. The way the author describes the rabbi is very contrary to what a person would think of a normal rabbi, because of his addiction. It makes me look at the rabbi in a very different light.

Figurative Language

Aimee- Week 3: Literary Elements

“The bells—silvery, shivering—rang in his head as if the clappers were striking the raw red interior of his skull” (147). This simile is from the Wine Stains chapter about the Priest in Venice. It is the opening phrase of this chapter and it sets the scene for mass on a cold day. We quickly learn that the Priest has a drinking problem. He is slightly drunk at his early mass. The loud bells ring and echo in his ears as he enters the Sanctuary. He compares this feeling to clappers in his head, beating his skull, and giving him a head ache. The priest describes how hard it is from him to concentrate when the communion wine is in front of him, lapping the cup. I thought it was interesting that despite his alcohol problem, he still is trying hard to please God and do his best at mass in the morning. He also tries to hide his problem from the church body.

Figurative language

Hanna in general seems to have a very down-to-earth tone. She is straight to the point and does not exaggerate or bother with figurative language. It seems that the author is more comfortable with that language too, but she does incorporate some “flourish” when she speaks through her earlier characters. For example Hirshfeldt when thinking of what to do with the clasps Mittl had given him. “A pair of wings, to gleam amid the dark hair of his own Fallen Angel” (127).
Not only impressive for a man, to come up with such a beautiful metaphor, (sorry Jack) but impressive regardless. This part appealed to me anyway. I like the way that he realizes he is satisfied with his own life. And to top it off, he says it like he means it although it is a bit of a overstatement. But by referring to Anna his wife as a “Fallen Angel” is quite a leap from depression to joy. All in all, I think it is a very pretty, touching and romantic statement.

Week Three

Welcome to Week Three of the Discussion! This weeks discussion will run from Monday, March 9 to Sunday, March 15.

This week's discussion will be on figurative language and literary elements in your book. Please find an example of these in your book and POST a 10-sentence comment on it. Don't forget to comment on 5 other posts on this blog. You have all week to complete this assignment, please don't wait until the last minute.

Week Three

Welcome to Week Three of the Discussion! This weeks discussion will run from Monday, March 9 to Sunday, March 15.

This week's discussion will be on figurative language and literary elements in your book. Please find an example of these in your book and POST a 10-sentence comment on it. Don't forget to comment on 5 other posts on this blog. You have all week to complete this assignment, please don't wait until the last minute.

Setting

Although the setting gets a bit hard to follow every now and then, it’s really interesting how quickly it changes. I really enjoy how the setting doesn’t stay the same. Brooks’s description of the alpine mountains is beautiful and makes me feel like I’m right there with either Lola or Ozren. I love how quickly the time period changes because it almost feels like flashbacks. The good thing is that Brooks described every place and time differently. The best part about the setting is that it gives you insight and clues to the Haggadah. It’s almost as if we are right there with the characters. I love how the places described in the book range from Europe to Australia to the United States. The setting is a variety that makes the book that more interesting.

Week 2 Post-Setting

I think that the setting in People of the Book is very interesting and sets it apart from many other books. I like how not only the place changes, but the time period changes as well introducing the reader to more characters who came in contact with the book. Having so many characters makes the book more interesting by having more plots. Another thing I like is how Brooks describes the each setting in the book, like when she describes the first rays of sun and the gusts of wind blowing the pine boughs on Mount Trebevic and the construction cranes in Vienna bowing over the city's wedding cake skyline. I think this is important because it keeps the reader from getting confused and gives the reader a mental image of each new setting. One thing I don't like is how Brooks transitions from one time period to another, like how she goes from Amalie examining the butterfly wing in Vienna to Lola running home years earlier in Sarajevo.  

Setting

Like both the previous posts, I find the changes of setting to be very interesting. I have read books with different characters, but not a book with this many. I still feel like Hanna is the main character, maybe because she has been so many places and described them, I feel like Hanna is part of the setting.
In the case of Ozren, i definitely think that the war torn setting of Sarajevo describes his character. Something that used to be beautiful and put together, but the war has torn in apart to where no one feels safe in Sarajevo. Hanna easily adjusts from setting to setting, probably because she travels so much, but I think other characters are more planted in their settings. Like Ozren for example, I have a hard time picturing him outside of Sarajevo. Also because I think I don't think he would ever leave his son. Anyway I think the setting developes each character, like when Lola moved from her small aprtment with her family, and had to travel across the rough countryside, I think it really showed the change that Lola made within herself. From a girl who couldn't fend for herself to someone who could survive a tough situation and could even thrive because of it. In People of the Book many of the settings the characters are in seem to define them as people and give them each unque characteristics.

Setting

I really love the diversity of setting in the book. Most books don’t appeal to me as much because of the constant location, and the single perspective. But I love how “People of the Book” is all over the place. True, the book did travel throughout Europe, BUT- the author pulled away from Europe by having Hanna be Australian. One reason might be that the author is Australian herself, but I also like to think that it is a completely new perspective. How many books do you find involving Australia? It might be just that I love the continent/country, but I also think it provides a newer, more modern touch to the story about an ancient book. Aside from Australia, I also love how Bosnia, where Ozren lives and the book is currently located, is so religiously diverse. Despite my lack of interest for any kind of religion, I think it is extraordinary how the three core religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam all merge in one city. One of my favorite parts of the book so far was when Ozren pointed out the Mosque, Church and Synagogue within walking distance. That is definitely something you don’t find every day.

Favorite Character

Lola has to definitely be my favorite character so far. I think I can relate to her more just because she is young and close to my age. She has such vibrant but reserved personality that seems more welcoming than characters like Hanna or Ozren. Because she is so young and seems so close to her family, it made me feel more sympathetic when her family became victims of the Nazi’s cruel intentions. I admire how strong she is throughout the time in the odred. Her courage from the time she lost her friends, Ina and Isak, to the time when she arrived back home alone, never went away. As a character, I feel closer to her just because we know more about her. The fact that her story is so touching makes you feel more in touch with Lola. Even at the end of her story, she still shows strength being left behind while the horror continues at home. I hope the rest of the stories and their characters are as moving as Lola’s.

Aimee- Week Two: Setting

At first I found the settings in this book to be confusing. Hanna begins in Australia and then travels to Sarajevo. She also has traveled to Boston during the story so far. She travels everywhere and talks about the history of countries as well. Many of the countries she talks about have changed name or nationality in the past which kept me slightly confused about which country was being discussed. I thought the author’s description was very interesting. I liked how she discussed how beautiful Sarajevo used to be before the war. Then the war took beauty out of the country. Also I liked how she described the mountains that Lola ran away too. I could sense the cold air and chilly mountains. I really liked how she described the Muslim couple’s home with all the books lying about.

Week Two

Welcome to Week Two of our discussion. This discussion will last from Monday, March 2nd to Sunday, March 9th.

This week's discussion is on Setting. Please POST a 10-sentence comment on setting. Don't forget to comment on 5 other posts on this blog. You have all week to complete this assignment, but waiting is not recommended!

Week One Post

My favorite character so far in the book is Ozren. Although Ozren can sometimes use a lot of sarcasm, which gets annoying, I like him better than Hanna because he makes attempts to get to know people. I also like his character because not much is known about his life in the book, so he the readers perception could change after we know more. He seems to like his country and be very protective of it which is shown when Hanna asks him if it is nice to be able to walk in the streets again and he uses a lot of sarcasm in his answer and when he risks his life to save the book . He also sometimes seems in a bad mood, but that could be expected of someone whos country has been through a long war. I hope that we learn more about his and Hanna's backgrounds in the future because they are very interesting characters.