Book Reviews

Alright, this book by David Levithan is very hard to describe. The reason it is hard to describe is not because the plot is complex and hard to understand because in essence the point of the story is quite simple. However, this book deals with 9/11. It was not too long ago that it was the anniversary of this event. As I read this book I was more overcome with emotion than with any other element of 9/11. I think it put everything into perspective and the three characters that make up this story have many thoughts about life before and after as I had, but did not really have anyone to share them with. David Levithan does a great job with the distinct voices of these three characters and how their lives intertwine as life unfolds. If you search online you will find a lot of reviews with people posting their favorite quotes or passages. I think this makes this book unique because this does not happen with every book. I wrote down three passages, but none of my favorite passages were posted online which further proves how everyone takes something new and unique from books when read. That is when you know the book is a MUST READ.


Here are my favorite passages that I cannot stop re-reading and thinking about.


Page 102 -

"There's the drown of things and the swim of things, I guess. I've been going back and forth, back and forth. I feel the weight of it. And this bewilderment - how can something that doesn't have a form, doesn't have a definition, doesn't have words - how can it have such weight? And yet, there's the need to swim.
"Life goes on," I offered.
"Yeah, but you see, Life goes on is a redundancy. Life is defined by its going on."

Page 104 -

"I don't mean that God made this happen to teach us something. Or to teach me something. How monstrously selfish would that be? I just mean that if we go through this thing and it changes us so much, you have to hope that it changes us for the better, right? If goodness can't come from bad things, it makes bad things unbearable."

Page 104-105

"And the worst thing," she continued, "is that there are moments when I look around at everybody, at the way we've been acting since that day, and I wonder if maybe we needed to be hurt. I don't mean that I wanted it to happen, or that it should have happened. But I think we were walking around like we were invincible. And maybe that's a bad way to live your life. Because you're not invincible. Nobody is. Andy maybe now that we've learned that, we'll be better."

In closing, read this book. I would also suggest watching the documentary "102 Minutes That Changed America" I watched this on the History Channel, but can be found on Google Video. Watch this video to grasp the event and then read the book. You will be moved in your own way that only you can understand and put into your own words. I feel like I will look at life in a different way for a few days before I move on like we all have done.