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Re: If I Ever Get Out of Here
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From: maggie_bo_at_comcast.net
Date: Tue, 25 Feb 2014 00:31:01 +0000 (UTC)
I think it is interesting that so many of us have personal connections to the music in If I Ever Get Out Of Here that we are eager to share and discuss. In my case, my brothers had the stickers from the Venus and Mars album stuck to the outside of their bedroom door ... so I looked at the images from that album every single day for about seven years. Having that album featured in a novel almost gave me the same feeling as reading a book about my hometown. While today's young adults may (or may not) have some level of familiarity with The Beatles and/or Wings, it is unlikely that they have the kind of important, highly charged memories associated with them that many of us do. For me, there is no question that a huge part of the appeal of If I Ever Get Of Here lies in the emotional connections I have to the musical references in it.
Does that mean the story won't be meaningful to today's young readers? Absolutely not. It just means that it's likely to be a very different book for them than it is for me, and while I think all books are different for all readers, this one is a fascinating example of how the experiences we bring to a book change our experience of reading it.
And on another note--the fact that Eric could make me feel like I was reading about my own life (well, to some extent) when I grew up in a college town in Indiana certainly says a lot about the power of music to bring people together.
Maggie Bokelman Eagle View Middle School Mechanicsburg, PA
Date: Tue, 25 Feb 2014 00:31:01 +0000 (UTC)
I think it is interesting that so many of us have personal connections to the music in If I Ever Get Out Of Here that we are eager to share and discuss. In my case, my brothers had the stickers from the Venus and Mars album stuck to the outside of their bedroom door ... so I looked at the images from that album every single day for about seven years. Having that album featured in a novel almost gave me the same feeling as reading a book about my hometown. While today's young adults may (or may not) have some level of familiarity with The Beatles and/or Wings, it is unlikely that they have the kind of important, highly charged memories associated with them that many of us do. For me, there is no question that a huge part of the appeal of If I Ever Get Of Here lies in the emotional connections I have to the musical references in it.
Does that mean the story won't be meaningful to today's young readers? Absolutely not. It just means that it's likely to be a very different book for them than it is for me, and while I think all books are different for all readers, this one is a fascinating example of how the experiences we bring to a book change our experience of reading it.
And on another note--the fact that Eric could make me feel like I was reading about my own life (well, to some extent) when I grew up in a college town in Indiana certainly says a lot about the power of music to bring people together.
Maggie Bokelman Eagle View Middle School Mechanicsburg, PA
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Received on Mon 24 Feb 2014 06:31:19 PM CST
