What I learned: I love books that take place over a short amount of time with the story told from different viewpoints. For some reason, this style really appeals to me. Of course, my real lesson from this book is much deeper. Almost all of the main characters are dealing with something really rough in their lives including the death of a parent and a brother who was severely injured fighting in the Middle East. The storyline that really stuck with me was Anthony Lincoln and Azize's. Anthony's older brother gave up a football scholarship to join the army and came back without his legs. Azize is Turkish and looks very Middle Eastern. Though Anthony starts it, both of them say some stupid things and big Anthony ends up beating Azize to a pulp in a haze of anger and misplaced retribution for his brother. What absolutely blew my mind was Azize didn't blame Anthony for it and lied to the cops and paramedics to keep him from getting in trouble. I also loved the internal conversation Anthony has with his older brother that shows he knows that what he did was wrong. It's beautiful. This isn't completely new to me, but the book really reinforced the idea to me that none of us know what other people are going through and what their motivations for their actions are. It's so easy to pass judgment on people who are angry or mean, but for all we know they might have just gotten really bad news or are taking care of a loved one in bad health. I know I need to work on making snap judgments of people whose actions I don't agree with or understand.
If you've read Party, what did you learn? Do you have as hard of a time as I do understanding people whose beliefs you don't agree with?
No comments:
Post a Comment