I just got the book! I'm so excited!

Yay I love The Book Thief! The funny thing is, I completely forgot this existed, but I just gotit out from the library because I'd been meaning to reread it. Then today, I see this thread and the book is the Book Thief and it's so perfect :D :D

The plan is to read the prologue by this Friday, right? Or am I misunderstanding? 

Aloha! Welcome to Friday! I have discussion questions, some of which are from the internet and the back of the book, others of which I made up in my incredible imagination

This one's fun: Who do you think the narrator is? Is he someone you might know about, or who will be important later in the book? (Also, yes, I spoiled it, the narrator is depicted as male, I don't actually remember if the Prologue mentions that or not, it's not actually that important. If you have read the book before, don't spoil it, please.)

What do you think the narrator means when he says, "I've seen more eclipses than I care to remember." ? (Oh my goodness, the narrator has so many beautiful, haunting quotes. The last sentance of this book should become a classic all on its own.)

Why do you think the boy in the the third chapter (THE ECLIPSE) gave the teddy bear to the dying pilot? (I just had to include my favorite character in one of the questions.)

What is the purpose of the little bold interlude thingies? Which one do you think is the most important? (I personally enjoy the one below.)

***HERE IS A SMALL FACT***

        You are going to die. 

Very small.

The narrator says, "...I have kept her story to retell. It is one of a small legion I carry, each one extraordinary in its own right. Each one an attempt—an immense leap of an attempt—to prove to me that you, and your human existence, are worth it." Do you think we are worth it? Why?

And a BONUS! What is your ideal reading environment? Why?

You can answer one question, all five and the BONUS, or something in between. However, please do not answer only the BONUS, since it does not have to do with the book itself. I'll post my answers later, the ones that don't spoil anything, at least. 

A few hours ago, I posted some discussion questions on this thread, and they haven't shown up yet, when other things I have posted more recently have. I'm not sure why, but I suspect it may be because I said I had "stolen some of the questions off the internet." I would like to clarify that when I said that, I meant that, for one out of six questions, I took the basic theme of one of the questions suggested on the internet.

I wrote the actual question by myself, and it was a theme I had already been aware of. If you still don't feel comfortable posting it, it was the first question, which asked something about "Who do you think the narrator of this book is?" If you would rather, you can delete this question, but please leave the post of my comment. It was posted under the name PymgyOwl. Thank you!

I don't know why things were posted out of order. I've just come on for the evening. But your questions are up now. I didn't like the word "stolen," so I changed it.

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Ahhhhh yay! I can already tell this is going to be so much fun. :D :D

Not answering the first one, already read this book twice and I don't want to spoil anything. (I will say the narrator is one of my favorite characters :D)

What do you think the narrator means when he says, "I've seen more eclipses than I care to remember." ?  Hmm. I think it's implying that this narrator has seen many humans die and many beautiful eclipses to go with them. 

Why do you think the boy in the the third chapter (THE ECLIPSE) gave the teddy bear to the dying pilot?   He wanted to make a gesture so that the pilot wouldn't die alone and unhappy. 

What is the purpose of the little bold interlude thingies? Which one do you think is the most important? I think they are to add drama to the story, almost, while adding details/important things to explain the story.

The narrator says, "...I have kept her story to retell. It is one of a small legion I carry, each one extraordinary in its own right. Each one an attempt—an immense leap of an attempt—to prove to me that you, and your human existence, are worth it." Do you think we are worth it? Why?  Hmm... worth what, exactly? Worth letting us live? Probably. After all, along with all of the bad things we are doing to the planet, we have also improved some things. On secondthought, though, like 75% of other animals would be better off without us, along with all of the natural environment. So, maybe not, honestly, which is kinda dark.

And a BONUS! What is your ideal reading environment? Why?   In my room, in a comfortable chair. Generally nobody comes in, so I can be left alone with my book. Plus, it's comfortable.  

Ok, so I'm not going to answer all of the questions because 

a) I'm lazy 

and

b) it feels too much like school

so I'm just going to answer the questions that I feel like answering. 

First of all, I think the narrator is pretty obviously death. The Grim Reaper. He goes around and collects people's souls when they die. That's gotta be Death, right?

Second: An eclipse, of course, is the covering of the sun (well, that is one type of eclipse). The sun is what gives light to the world. So when a particular person dies, according to the narrator, there's an "eclipse" Does that mean that some of the light of the world disappears when these people die? But why does the narrator seem so sad to see this light disappear? Perhaps we will never know. (although, we probably will sometime later in the novel)

Number three confuses me. There is some kind of symbolism here that I can't figure out.  Maybe it'll be explained later.

For number four, literallly no idea. Maybe it's a different part of the narrator, like a Jekkyl/Hyde thing, but I think of that as a less likely scenario. That's also, like, the narrator's little bits of wisdom that he throws in, in bold so everyone will hear him.

Five: Sure. I like to think that we're worth it.

Bonus: I've always wanted a window seat. I think that would be a fantastic place to sit and read. A nice, cushy window seat with pillows and light flooding in, in a room full of beautiful plants and

Well, I guess I ended up answering all of them. Huh. 

Okay, I really should be answering these questions. So here's the one answering the little interlude thingy [sorry in advance, the formatting is probably weird]:

I think the purpose of the bold interludes in the prologue is to hold the reader’s attention. It’s to add detail without making us read paragraphs and paragraphs of boring explanation. It increases the mysteriousness of the narrator and the story, and it gives the narrator a very distinctive, matter-of-fact-but-caring tone. And it adds depth to the story. It shows that there is more to the Book Thief and her story than what meets the eye. 

In my opinion, the most important interlude in the prologue is as follows:

*** A SMALL THEORY ***

“People observe the colors of a day only at its beginnings and ends, but to me it’s quite clear that a day merges through a multitude of shades and intonations, with each passing moment. A single hour can consist of thousands of different colors. Waxy yellows, cloud-spat blues. Murky darknesses. In my line of work,  I make it a point to notice them.”

I think this is the most important because it’s super true-- people tend to pay attention to the beginning and end… but not always to the middle. It’s a nice way of thinking of things: every moment is different, the world is ever-changing. Pay attention- you might miss something.

Ugh, this is the second time today and the third time this week that I started to type PymgyOwl. I am at war with my own fingers.

Answering my questions:

Who do you think the narrator is? Is he someone you might know about, or who will be important later in the book?

Not answering except to say, "Good job, Mary."

What do you think the narrator means when he says, "I've seen more eclipses than I care to remember."

I think he means, going off of what Mary said, that every time someone dies, a tiny piece of light goes out of the world, and, in his line of work, he sees them all. What he doesn't get to see as often are the sunrises, the moonrises, the time when the first star begins to brighten the sky, the births that are able to bring a fraction of light back into the world, not replacing the people who die, but making a tiny piece of their own brightness. (Wow, that was more philospical than I knew I could be. I'm so proud of myself.)

Why do you think the boy in the the third chapter (THE ECLIPSE) gave the teddy bear to the dying pilot?

I don't know. To make the dying man feel happy. I just asked the question because it includes my favorite character and I think someone else might be able to root some sort of symbolism out of it. I used up my supply of wisdom for the day already. 

What is the purpose of the little bold interlude thingies? Which one do you think is the most important?

I think that they enhance the character of the Narrator, showing that he is matter-of-fact, just shooting out random, sometimes/almost always slightly scary pieces of knowledge. This is one of my favorite tools that the author uses, it makes me feel like I understand the narrator so much more because of them, it's like a glimpse into his brain, or a post on the Random Thoughts/THings thread. I already answered the second half. 

The narrator says, "...I have kept her story to retell. It is one of a small legion I carry, each one extraordinary in its own right. Each one an attempt—an immense leap of an attempt—to prove to me that you, and your human existence, are worth it." Do you think we are worth it? Why?

I don't have a very high opinion of human beings, but it would be nice to thik that we are worth it.

BONUS! What is your ideal reading environment? Why? 

Mmm. I actually was in my ideal reading environment when I wrote this question. Sitting in my bed beside an open window on a rainy day, breathing the wet scent of the rain, drinking hot cocoa and alternating between reading and writing. I wouldn't mind having a cat on my lap, either. 

Here are my answers! (Sorry my answers are so short.)

Who do you think the narrator is? Is he someone you might know about, or who will be important later in the book? 

Mary said Death, and now that I'm rereading it again I totally see it. Thanks Mary! I'm wondering why Death is the narrator in this story... Maybe forshadowing of the main characters death?

What do you think the narrator means when he says, "I've seen more eclipses than I care to remember." ? 

I immediately think of solar eclipses where everything goes dark. Maybe eclipse is a metaphor for death? I think he's either saying he's seen countless deaths or he's lived for a long time. If it was about deaths, I think it's interesting that he doesn't seem to enjoy it.  

Why do you think the boy in the the third chapter (THE ECLIPSE) gave the teddy bear to the dying pilot? 

Teddy bears are made to comfort people, so they little boy probably didn't understand the concept of death but knew he needed comfort. This scene is so sweet and sad. 

And a BONUS! What is your ideal reading environment? Why?

Probably laying on my bed with some nice music playing! I also like sitting outside during spring or autumn time. 

<3 Fidelity