Favorite lines, passages and scenes?

[Susan5847]

There was so much hardship and hard work in this novel that my favorite scenes were the two that showed the family having fun -- the scene where they all sang and danced in the house and the scene where they all played in the snow together.  To me, these two scenes showed their love of the their family.

[nicole21WA]

I initially really liked the scene with Anna and the baby on page 299.  I thought Anna was finally accepting her newborn even if she didn't really recognize her.  Unfortunately, I discovered as I continued reading that "I'll take you home" didn't mean what I thought it did.

[Deltadawn]

This is one of my favorite passages as well. however, there are so many beautiful and amazing passages - the entire story is captivating and full of them.

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JeniferKAllison wrote:

Debbie, this is one of my favorites as well.  Could you just see that sweet little boy looking so deep for the recongizable spark in his fathers eyes?  What beautiful imagery! 

Quoting dhaupt: 

My favorite passage is also my favorite scene and it's after Teodor returns from prison and the children are presented to him and when Ivan gets to him page 27: "He stands on tiptoe and squints as he peers into the man's eyes. He looks past the bloodshot white, past the blue and gray flecks, and looks directly into the black center. "It's him." he decrees and throws his arms around his father's neck as he climbs onto his lap and babbles about Petro, and the frog they found, and the cat that died, and the ice storm last year, ..."

It made me cry.

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Message Edited by Deltadawn on 08-16-2009 01:41 PM

[girlie0620]

I think one of the moments that I really enjoyed is when everyone was singing and dancing at Maria's and Teodor (I think others liked that also). Anyway- throught all people/families endure- we still find time for happiness. Michelle  

[debbook]

There are so many passages to choose from. I loved the part that depicts the family enjoying the bounty from the garden and the chickens because I knew that they might have a hard winter ahead.

another part I liked was between teodor and Anna

"But there were no more words. Teodor picked up his tools and set to work. Anna watched him strip bark from a log for awhile. The green sweet skin peeled off in long strips, exposing alabaster flesh. She watched her brother crafting new life for his family. Saw how much care he had put into every notch, noticed the tightness of the fits, and the pine trim he had framed around the window. She saw every cut of love and could have wept. But didn't. Neither of them would have known what to do with the tears. She has never gone back."

This scene depicts Shandi's beautiful descriptive writing, but also shows Teodor's care for his family and what Anna didn't have. It was also a moment between Teodor and Anna that defines their relationship for the book.

[Stewies_Mom]

Isn't it funny how we find our favorite characters in a book?  I'd like to adopt Ivan.

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Paige_K wrote:

I have to say the scene when Lesya meets her chick is one of the best.  The fact that she has a kindred soul of sorts makes her happy.  She deserves some happiness after all.  And the interaction between the two always makes me smile.  Both seem absolutely determined to get along with the business of life despite it's hardships. 

Can I adopt Lesya? 

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[blkeyesuzi]

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Stewies_Mom wrote:

Isn't it funny how we find our favorite characters in a book?  I'd like to adopt Ivan.

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Paige_K wrote:

I have to say the scene when Lesya meets her chick is one of the best.  The fact that she has a kindred soul of sorts makes her happy.  She deserves some happiness after all.  And the interaction between the two always makes me smile.  Both seem absolutely determined to get along with the business of life despite it's hardships. 

Can I adopt Lesya? 

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I think these posts are a definte sign that these characters have come alive for us!!! I love all these characters and think about them all the time.  It's so nice to have encountered a book and characters that take me to a whole different level. These people have become family.  I'm going to hate to see their story end!

[emmagrace]

As I have finished the book, I have discovered another favorite scene. The final chapter Spring.

This chapter shows us that there is hope for Maria and her family. With the bag of grain that she hid, the family can relocate and begin anew!

I also enjoyed the story behind the book at the very end. It is very nice to understand how she came up with this heartbreaking tale!

[scnole]

One of my favorite scenes is when Maria got in bed with Sofia and the other children got in bed with them also - except for Myron-.   Maria started telling them the story of the animals getting inside the mitten.   They all knew the story so well that each child  contributed to the story.   What a beautiful scene between Maria and her children.   They didn't have much - but they loved each other.

[pen21]

I liked the winder scene with Maria telling the story of the lost mitten to her children.

I read that story to my children using a book that was beautifully illustrated showing the mitten growing with the animals inside. 

It was a very happy, peaceful scene during the very tragic Winter section of the book.

pen21

[emmagrace]

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pen21 wrote:

I liked the winder scene with Maria telling the story of the lost mitten to her children.

I read that story to my children using a book that was beautifully illustrated showing the mitten growing with the animals inside. 

It was a very happy, peaceful scene during the very tragic Winter section of the book.

pen21

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It was a happy scene! This scene shows us what a strong family they are and how much love they have for each other!

[Sunltcloud]

I love the scene on page 333. I read it several times.

(I must really love it; I copied it from my post in "Fate or Control.")

1. I read it as a factual account...."he takes off his leather jacket........"

2. I read it as magical realism...."clawing at the strings caked with snow and ice...." in which Teodor morphes from man to animal/coyote, skinning himself.....,

3. I read it as allegory; a symbolic offering for all the sins that have been committed.

4. I read it as spiritual renewal. He looks up. He gives his blood.

5. I read it as a testament to his character. He is an orderly man when it comes to worldly small detail. ....."He tucks the shoelaces inside and places the feet side by side on top of the man."

The whole last chapter "Spring 1939" is so good, I want to plaster my walls with it. A superb exercise in summation. A portrait of each person is painted by revealing the secret stash. And Myron, of course, has no secrets, he's outed as the next man of the house. Maria is the mother she's always been, noticing that Lesya and Petro, as they are taken away, don't have proper winter coats.

The way Maria says her good-byes brings tears to my eyes. Each person has a special place. And who else would comment on the misspelling of Anna's name?

So much is in this last chapter of leaving the homestead. Maria walks resolutely. She is the ultimate survivor.

Myron wears his father's boots. He has written his father's death into the Bible (I assume it was Myron, because his mother's writing is ornate and this is "careless script with a wide pencil stub.)He has spelled out and emphasized the rules for the future: "Of the flu."

The children look back on their home as the future unfolds.

I am hesitant to speculate about the birthmark on little Maxim's hand. I want a piece of the story to stay unrevealed, undiscussed, mysterious. I want it to be the beginning of a whole new book. And though I know that it is the connection with the past, I look at it as a sign of hope for the future.

"A brown birthmark, like a pawprint, marks the top of his right hand."

[CJINCA]

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rkubie wrote:
Many of us have remarked on Shandi's striking writing style. Please share with the rest of the group some of your favorite scenes and passages by replying to this message!

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I read several times the scene of the two families together to plant the wheat from bags of seed on their backs (p84-5).  "The children tilt slightly backward, balancing the weight."  Then "The family steps forward as one advancing line, scattering their offering in a silent, holy procession.  The seeds catch the sun as they spin through the air, falling to life."

I found this very vivid, easy to see, and also profoundly moving, both families planting together, and the seeds, "falling to life."

[nfmgirl]

There was so much that I loved about this book. One of my favorite passages is the one about the family getting Maria and Teodor ready for the party at Petrenko's. You read about how the children help their parents get ready, and Maria and Teodor are in their finery and smell so clean, and you know that this is a moment of sublime happiness for the family. You can smell the freshly baked bread with the dough birds perched on top, see Maria's embroidered skirt and carefully braided hair, hear the humor in Teodor's voice as he suggests taking some "honey medicine" to Petrenko, and envision Maria and Teodor as they ride off in the sled.

After they leave it talks of the children and their parent's happiness, the smell of soap and shoe polish and shaving cream, and how close the children feel in their parent's absence. This is a happy and close-knit family.

Then the police show up and you see things from their perspective. He sees thin and malnourished children with sunken eyes, wearing dirty clothes and sitting in a shack that "smells musty and reeks of garlic and lye."

I found this a little shocking. I was immersed in the moment of happiness and thinking how good things were for this family. Then I see it from the outside and realize that they are still a family steeped in poverty. Everything is subjective. To this family, things are really good and they are very lucky. They have love and strength and family and faith. From the outside, they are a family to be pitied, struggling to survive and miserable. Two strikingly different realities of the same family.

[maude40]

I especially love the nature descriptions. the one on page108, thelast paragraphs on the page starting with, "Teodor wades......" He is so happy with the fields that he has worked so hard on. you can smell the wheat, hear the grasshoppers, feel the breeze.

Also on page 144, "Maria looks out her window at the thin whiteness blanketing the praries. It flattens the hills, gullies, wagon ruts, and furrows into smoothness, swallows up the shadows and illuminates the smallness of their lives." Yvonne

[maude40]

Another nature description on page 240, "He hears the branches cracking from the frost, the groan of the snow beneath his feet, the rumbling of the lake ice, the timber in the house shrinking and shifting, sometimes he thinks he can even hear the clouds sliding across the sky." Yvonne

[maude40]

On page 289, Anna's thoughts on her life were heartbreaking. "She had no choice the moment she was born. She would marry, she would bear children, she would farm, she would be poor, she would sacrifice her desires for the good of her husband, her family, she would be obedient and selfless. That was all that was offered. That was her only choice. And she tried to chose well: she chose a life that would take her off the farm and into the city. She chose an officer. She made the best choice to save herself, and she ended up here." Yvonne

[PinkPanther]

So far, my favorite scene is when Anna first gets out of the house and Maria hands her seeds to plant in the garden. It showed me how much love and care Maria has for her sister-in-law. I love it when people help each other, especially during tough times. It only took that small gesture to completelly turn around Anna's attitude. Since then she has been helping around the house and garden, and she loves to go out into the fresh air.

[LKD_726]

On page 124 "She hears a whishing sound. "Mama?" The long grass sways.  A stick falls onto the shoreline, and then another, and another.  They wriggle alive and glide across the bog toward her.  It is not until they are a few feet away that she realizes they are snakes."

I could just imagine Katya's terror. This passage was just so visual for me.

[KathyS]

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Sunltcloud wrote:

I love the scene on page 333. I read it several times.

(I must really love it; I copied it from my post in "Fate or Control." )

1. I read it as a factual account...."he takes off his leather jacket........"

2. I read it as magical realism...."clawing at the strings caked with snow and ice...." in which Teodor morphes from man to animal/coyote, skinning himself.....,

3. I read it as allegory; a symbolic offering for all the sins that have been committed.

4. I read it as spiritual renewal. He looks up. He gives his blood.

5. I read it as a testament to his character. He is an orderly man when it comes to worldly small detail. ....."He tucks the shoelaces inside and places the feet side by side on top of the man."

The whole last chapter "Spring 1939" is so good, I want to plaster my walls with it. A superb exercise in summation. A portrait of each person is painted by revealing the secret stash. And Myron, of course, has no secrets, he's outed as the next man of the house. Maria is the mother she's always been, noticing that Lesya and Petro, as they are taken away, don't have proper winter coats.

The way Maria says her good-byes brings tears to my eyes. Each person has a special place. And who else would comment on the misspelling of Anna's name?

So much is in this last chapter of leaving the homestead. Maria walks resolutely. She is the ultimate survivor.

Myron wears his father's boots. He has written his father's death into the Bible (I assume it was Myron, because his mother's writing is ornate and this is "careless script with a wide pencil stub.)He has spelled out and emphasized the rules for the future: "Of the flu."

The children look back on their home as the future unfolds.

I am hesitant to speculate about the birthmark on little Maxim's hand. I want a piece of the story to stay unrevealed, undiscussed, mysterious. I want it to be the beginning of a whole new book. And though I know that it is the connection with the past, I look at it as a sign of hope for the future.

"A brown birthmark, like a pawprint, marks the top of his right hand."

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Very nice summation. ~ The Birthmark ~ would make a wonderful continuing story.  It does connect Maxim to his father, as well as to Anna...he lived, they died, he carries the past to the future, and the coyotes howl their lament.