Reading Notes [The Book Thief]

*** THE ONLY THING WORSE THAN A BOY WHO HATES YOU ***

A boy who loves you

Sentence above is excerpted from The Book Thief aforementioned in a previous article in my blog.

As a threshold matter, I have to introduce context of this text. Liesel Meminger, an adopted daughter in a foster familiy -- the Hubermanns, is a young girl who has not yet arrived in her teens. And, Rudy Steiner, a neighbor of Liesel, is a troublemaker and ladies' man who is well known for his impersonation of the African-American athlete Jesse Owens. Now I'll explain why Rudy is famous for that: all is the result of Jesse Owens Incident. In 1939, when Olympic was held in German, Jesse Owens got the first place in 100m race, and Rudy witnessed this. Then, comes the cameo: Rudy paints himself black with charcoal -- imitating Jesse Owens. After that, Rudy finds a place filled with mud and sprints for 100 meters, not exactly confirmed by him.

I do not know whether I have explicitly elucidated the relation between Liesel and Rudy. You can simply take it as a anecdote happend between a young boy and a young girl, and that is the most paramout, crucial and pivotal thing we need to remember exclusively.

One day, after Liesel and Rudy finished their school, Rudy shew Liesel the place where Jesse Owens Incident took place. The only thing that could arise occurred.

"If I beat you, I get to kiss you." said Rudy.

I cannot hold laughing when I read this. He acts like a despicable embryo definitely. Why not kiss her directly and frankly since you are intrested in her? Do you just want to kiss her in the expense of a high-sounding pretext? How can a feeble little girl win a wild black imp?

"But what do you want to kiss me for? I am filthy." replied Liesel.

To my astonishment, the little girl does not refuse immediately; instead, she is more concerned with the purpose of Rudy first. Or, from another lateral perspective, we can decipher her question as a mean of ingenuous reflect of Liesel's timbre -- an unsophisticated girl.

Indeed, it's a long time since Liesel had her last bath. The boy had nothing to say. Rudy picked up a stone and said:

"I will peck. When it falls down to ground, race begins."

Nevertheless, to the contrary of what I have speculated, they got a draw, according to what is written by the author. In my view, that will merely happen in literature.

"Can I still get my kiss?" Rudy seemed frustrated.

"Not a million years" Liesel was so unfaltering.

Hahaha, that's it. The little girl had not been fatuous enough. Love affairs among young people, without any earthy consideration, is so pretty as the author portrays.