Strings, not-truths, potatoes, and coffee

okay, this one is tricky. When i first started reading i was intrigued. Then confused. Then grossed out. Then intrigued again. If you remember, at the top of the page in which each chapter begun, there were sometimes little drawings. The one in the beginning of the book for the chapter that told the story of the careening wagon, was a little picture of an out-of-control wagon... I feel like this picture best describes how i felt for the duration of the book.

I was talking to Franklin and he made this comment, "Yeah, i can't figure out who is actually writing the book... is it Jonathan or the Ukraine?" I remember thinking to myself, "crap, i didn't even notice that i was confused about that!" As i kept reading i began to think that maybe i should start tying strings around my fingers and body to remind me of the things that were confusing me... or at least to remind myself that i may not be smart enough for this book- haha!

Well, as we all have come across those pesky Final Decrees (you know, the ones that you read and re-read like 20 times and you're still not sure if they're really dead and who gave what to who?) Or as I like to quote Hollywood or Wolfman from Top Gun, "I was like, 'where'd he go,' and he said, 'where'd who go?" -- ask me to do the voice and it will help you to remember this... or maybe you should tie a string around your finger and connect it to the toaster which is connected to the fan which is connected to the DVD of Top Gun.

Okay, to the book. Bruce warned me that he had to make himself read it. And i will say, as i turned the page to see that the next chapter was a letter from the Ukraine, i was thinking, "oh no, this is going to take me forever." When i began the book it was so hard to just get flowing, but then i realized that was the point. Life doesn't just flow... speaking another language doesn't just flow. Family relationships don't just flow. The way that Foer portrays speaking in a different language, trying to learn slang, and combining a bunch of words that technically should make sense in a sentence, but then don't at all, blew my mind. I felt like i was right there in the car with Jonathan, Alex, and Grandfather, and the crazy dog! When everyone is yelling at everyone else, and Alex is stuck in the middle translating.

Alright, as i have a tendency to be long-winded and i guess now "long-typed" i will sum up the rest of my thoughts briefly. I felt that all the sexual descriptions of Jonathan's grandfather were completely unneccessary. Maybe he's proving a point, maybe not. Either way it was one of those moments when i was having to skip huge chunks of the book because they were totally ridiculous.

Example: Tracy Morgan (Saturday night Live). I thought he was hysterical. He came and did stand-up comedy at OU a few years ago and it was so sick and perverted that people started leaving... i mean he started doing stuff with the microphone. Come on, that's lame. I guess when people have to start getting vulgar to appeal to audiences i just lose some respect because in most cases, it feels like an easy way out.

Other than that, i really enjoyed the way he intertwined so many themes, thoughts, and sayings from each character to the next. Tom, i didn't catch a lot of the things you did! Some of those things you brough up are crazy how much they tie into each other. The stuff about the war was very interesting too.

Okay, i need to wrap up. I will end with a quote that stood out to me. "They had been terrified at first. Shtetl meetings were held daily, news reports (Nazis kill 8,200 on Ukranian border) examinded with the care of editors, plans of action drawn up and crumpled up, large maps spread out on tables like patients waiting to be cut open. But then the meetings convened every other day,and then every other every other day, and then weekly, serving more as social minglers for singles than planning sessiion. After only two months, wihou the impetus of any further bombing, most Trachimbroders had removed all of the splinters of the terror that had entered them that night." Funny, how nothing changes, and it seems that ignorance is bliss... or is it?

until next time, friends.