I have read many books on the process of writing good fiction and a piece of advice I have found to be repetitive is that if something isn't relevant to the plot of your book it should be discarded. The average reader doesn't typically care about the exact shade of red the protagonist's hair is or what type of juice they had for lunch. This is why I find it intriguing that Markus Zusak chose to use digressions in his writing.
Here's an example of two from The Book Thief:
"***THE ONLY THING WORSE THEN****
A BOY WHO HATES YOU
A boy who loves you.
(Zusak 52)."
and
"***A GUIDED TOUR OF SUFFERING***
To your left,
perhaps your right,
perhaps even straight ahead,
you find a small black room.
In it sits a Jew.
He is scum.
He is starving.
He is afraid.
Please-try not to look away.
(Zusak 138)"
My theory is that Markus Zusak isn't only aiming to advance the plot of The Book Thief when he writes these digressions. The book took place during Hitler's rise to power, a time filled with extreme emotion for most. Setting the mood in The Book Thief would be important to the readers if they were to truly understand what was going on in the story. I believe that's what the digressions are for. Whether they're giving the reader a piece of the German culture during the second world war or poking fun at an event in the story, after the digressions are read the reader is left with something more than just plot.
It's no wonder that The Book Thief is a bestseller
White, Trudy. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. 2005. http://butterybooks.com/bookclubpartyideas/the-book-thief-markus-zusak/. Web. 1 Dec. 2011.
For the lack of a better image to represent my question:
No comments:
Post a Comment