2018 A to Z Challenge - "B"
This book has been on my shelf, taunting me for years! So glad I finally picked it up through this year's reading challenge!! A light read with some pretty heavy topics that stay with you long after the epilogue - First Amendment rights, stereotypes, children's rights. The book takes place around 2006, during the Bush presidency, but many of the statements of America and government ring true today. Maybe even more so. I think there would be quite a bit for book club's to discuss in this one and for people to think about "what would I do?"
And of course since it revolves around books and libraries and travel.....I was hooked! Add to that, the humor and quirky characters...I almost didn't want the book to end.
There was one point where it had just started to feel a bit repetitive, a little bit drawn out, but fortunately the author advanced the plot at that time. I've already placed Makkai's next two novels on my TBR pile!!! And I think I need to read Ulysses - surprising that as an English major it was never required reading for me; I'm sorry it wasn't.
And I dare you not to YouTube the Australian National Anthem or hear Lucy's father's Russian accent in your head!
Quotes: "...having chosen America out of all the countries in the world, and then watching the government tighten its clench, chip away at the promised freedoms..."
"You are lucky...that you can make fun of your President this way. You know what happened if you made jokes about Stalin?...People died all the time because of jokes."
"It had saved the lives of thousands of people before him, the ones who...had looked at those outdated moral codes, at the judgments of their parents and aunts and priests, and said the same thing: Wait, no. That can't be right."
"I'd been a fish in the current so long, I'd forgotten I could swim."
"I do still believe that books can save you."
#2108AtoZChallenge
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