What's Going On Here?

There are SO MANY wonderful book review blogs out there and I can't compete with them, that is for sure. So this is not a book review blog. This is just a way for me to organize what I have read so that I can be better at matching the right book to the right person. The blog title comes from the brilliant mind of the most talented woman who ever lived, Ms. Judy Garland. The full quote is, "Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of someone else." That is what I hope to do here and in ever aspect of my life.

Monday, May 3, 2010

Nothing Comes from Nothing

nothing ever could....don't you just love that song, you know, Something Good? it has nothing, however to do with Nothing.
Nothing is about nihilism. Dude it was so weird to read this after The Shack. Really weird!
Anyway, it takes place in a foreign country. Denmark or Sweden, someplace where the names of people and places look like this Kjolkvikljkbjq.
It is the story of a bunch of seventh graders who start off the new school year and find that one of them, a guy, Pierre Anthon, has decided that nothing matters, nothing has meaning and everything is pointless. Because he feels this way he has dropped out of school and hangs out in a tree every day, mocking his class as they go to school. His classmates freak out and they try all kinds of things to change his mind or at least get him to shut up.
Finally they decide to build a big pile of meaning in an abandoned sawmill. They will each give up something that has meaning to them and put them in a big mound. They think that when Pierre Anthon sees the mound he will realize he is wrong and they can all go back to normal.
At first it is okay. The kids start to give up stuff and add it to the pile. Then, they start tell other kids what they should give up...and it gets ugly fast!
I can't say anymore. Just read the book. It is horrible! I mean, great, but horrible!
I read it in one sitting, which I never do. Read it! It is awful!
In a good way.

1 comment:

  1. Just finished it! It is awful!!! in a good way, but just jarringly and heartbreakingly terrible! Not at all what I expected from the review, which I must have misinterpreted when it suggested this was philosophical and the kids were gathering things that had deep personal meaning to them as a way to show Pierre that life was beautiful and meaningful. I think the word "meaningful" just meant full of MEAN!! It was cruelty and unkindness. The worst of humanity rose to the surface as these kids tried to find things to take away from each other, rather than just make a personal sacrifice. I kept reading --rushing through it--hoping they would stop! Powerful, disturbing and thought-provoking book.

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