“Now he belongs to the ages.”
Epitaph from Abraham Lincoln’s tombstone

Death has always been a fascination of mine. When I was a child I was labeled: odd, macabre, morbid even. Think Vada Sultenfuss in the movie My Girl. It seems being preoccupied with death works well with my Victorian fascination. But somehow I managed to grow up normal, but my interest in death didn’t subside. Death is a deeply symbolic act in literature, and specific character deaths always serve some great purpose on the part of the author. Sometimes I would cry, sometimes I would be heartbroken, and sometimes I would just ask “Why?” The following list is made up of the most profound literary deaths I have experienced in my reading career.

They aren’t the most famous ones, nor are they the most obvious ones (did no one see Dumbledore’s death coming?), but to me, they were the most meaningful.

While I was researching this, I found this great page on Wikipedia about of famous epitaphs:

Spoilers: If you have not read the following books and would still like to, don’t read the rest of my post:  Tuck Everlasting, The House of Mirth, Lord of the Rings, Animal Farm, Tess of the D’Ubervilles, The Stand, Interview with the Vampire, or Cold Mountain

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I found this from a prompt on a friend’s facebook page. These are my top 15 favorite fictional characters (from page and screen), and a little bit about why they made the list.

1.      Hermione Granger: Harry Potter Series– Super smart bookworm with frizzy hair and big front teeth. Pretty obvious #1. In addition, one of my teachers once referred to her as the “convert” of the wizarding world.

2.      Anne: Anne of Green Gables – I just loved her spirit and I always thought we would be kindred spirits.

3.      Odysseus: Homer’s The Odyssey – I love the way he talks his way out of everything, but he is also a man of action. Have to appreciate that.

4.      Elizabeth Bennet: Pride & Prejudice – Lizzie is a real girl with real faults and a happily ever after.

5.      Willow: Willow – 1980’s movie where a little guy takes on the world and turns out to be a powerful magician who saves the world.

6.      Buffy: Buffy the Vampire Slayer – I actually never liked Buffy as a character, but I liked the family unit she created with the Scooby Gang.

7.      Sebastian: The Little Mermaid – the best executive assistant ever, and when things go wrong, he tries to sing his way through it.

8.      Hercule Poirot: Agatha Christie Mysteries – Super smart eccentric little French man, who no one ever seems to understand.

9.      Tevya: Fiddler on the Roof – On the other hand…there is no other hand! Tradition!

10.  Jay Gatsby: The Great Gatsby – There should be at least one doomed romantic on everyone’s list.

11.  Marty: Marty – I really liked the version I saw in Boston that had John C. Reilly in it. He was the best underdog.

12.  Athos: Disney’s The Three Musketeers: Keifer Sutherland pretty much rocked the intensely principled musketeer whose loyalty overrides everything else.

13.  Joseph: Genesis: among other lessons, you have to hit rock bottom before you can rise to the top. And he had an awesome coat.

14.  Jo: Little Women – She would do anything for her family, and she chose a unique path that led her to her purpose. I always appreciate a girl who is willing to chop off her hair for a good cause.

15.  Matilda: Matilda – I spent a lot of time wishing I had Matilda’s magical powers. That would have really helped a lot.

I was looking for something powerful, something meaningful, and my friend Devorah told me I had to read To Vanquish the Dragon. That was way back in June. I had been carrying it around ever since, thinking, “Yeah, yeah, I’ll get to it soon.” I really did want to read it, but once I actually had it in my hands, I wasn’t exactly eager to delve into a Holocaust narrative. When it comes to Holocaust books, after The Diary of Anne Frank and Number the Stars readers move on to Eli Weisel’s Night and then get stuck. Children’s book seems “safe” when dealing with such a difficult and intense topic. In this regard, To Vanquish the Dragon is a very special book.

The book is told through the eyes of Pearl Benisch. She was in her late teens during World War II, and she came from an upper class, well educated, religious Jewish family. She describes her experiences from the invasion of Poland to her time in the Displaced Persons camps after the war. She was placed in a variety of camps, from the early work camps to Auschwitz itself, which makes her narrative a whole, complete one. Her focus is on the special young women who were her friends, students, teachers and mentors before the War broke out. She and her friends came from the Beth Jacob Girls Schools, which was an educational movement in the Jewish world just reaching maturity when World War II broke out.

These Beth Jacob girls were taught to care for one another, to have faith in G-d, and to dedicate themselves to helping their community. It is because of this focus that the author is able to share her experiences, and it gives the book a focus that helps the reader make their way through the immense tragedy and tiny triumphs the author experiences. Mrs. Benisch is sharing her experience to tell the stories of those who were lost and those who made survival possible, and this helps the reader continue on through the intense narrative.

This book does not gloss over, nor is it overly graphic. There are some miracles, and while small, they are triumphant. And there is of course senseless tragedy. There are parts of it that seem to become overly detailed and sometimes the author goes on tangents about various people, but it reads like someone telling you a story. You accept the tangents because you know there is something very important in the message. To Vanquish the Dragon is a very special book that bears witness to moments that marked those that experienced them for life. For anyone who wants to understand more about the Holocaust, it is a must read.

Grade: A

I like vampire stories. So sue me. And no, I’m not one of those bandwagoners who jumped into the fold with Twilight & True Blood. I am an old school Bram Stoker-Ann Rice- Vampires are supposed to be scary vampire fan. I have written serious papers on Nosferatu. And I just brought that to a whole new level of nerdy.
So when I heard that Justin Cronin was redeeming the quickly devolving monster known as “Vampire” with his debut novel The Passage, I was more excited that you can possibly imagine. I mean Red Sox winning the World Series excited. Ok, maybe not that much.
I bought The Passage at the height of the summer. And it delivered, for the most part. I had nightmares, I couldn’t sleep, I was afraid to go into a dark room. I mean that is pretty much a successful scary story. But, as is my trademark, I noticed the flaws. And there were only a few, tiny, minor issues:
1) He clearly had Margaret Atwood’s novel A Handmaid’s Tale right by his side when he wrote it. The whole second half of the novel was ripped off right from her style and set up.
2) It was too long. It didn’t need to be that long. This wasn’t The Stand. You are not Stephen King. Even Stephen King isn’t Stephen King anymore.

3) Speaking of Stephen King, if A Handmaid’s Tale was on the left side of his desk, The Stand was on the right side. There were many echoes and allusions to King’s epic apocalypse novel. Maybe that’s why King is Cronin’s #1 fan.
4) The main character, Peter, was a little boring. But his name was Peter, I find that all “Peter”s in literature and cinema are boring.
5) The most glaring problem of all: it is the first part of a trilogy. Big mistake, big. Huge.

Here is where he succeeded:
1) Strong and interesting female characters.
2) Seriously, gloriously scary vampires. Not a redeeming one in the lot of them.
3) Great plotline.

Grade: All in all, I am going to give him a B. Just a B. But I’ll be honest, when I found out it was a trilogy, it took a nose dive to C. But, when I finished the book, it was B. I’ll leave it at B.

I do NOT recommend this book for sensitive readers, young readers, and people with a faint heart.

I do apologize for my lack of writing these past few months. I have been on maternity leave due to the birth of my precious baby girl (thank you, thank you, no applause necessary) and so I haven’t had much of a life beyond trying to adjust to being a mommy. But now, hopefully, I am back and as good as ever.

And now back to our regularly scheduled program…