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Read The Monument (1993)

The Monument (1993)

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Rating
3.58 of 5 Votes: 2
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ISBN
0440407826 (ISBN13: 9780440407829)
Language
English
Publisher
yearling

The Monument (1993) - Plot & Excerpts

Gary Paulsen was my first favorite author. After my fifth grade English teacher read us "Hatchet" and "The Winter Room," I wanted to read more of his books. Two years later I was into Edgar Alan Poe and two years after that I was reading Vikram Seth, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Anthony Burgess, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and many others on my own."The Monument" was my favorite Paulsen book, and I just finished rereading it. It tells the story of an encounter between a disabled thirteen-year-old girl living in a small Kansas town and an artist hired by the town to design a monument to the town's war-dead. Coming to "The Monument" as an adult reader now, I think it holds up better than "The Winter Room," and I find it thoughtful and moving. Paulsen's technique is smooth and sure--though his style can get mannered and the story at times pedantic. Yet the characters and drama have no trouble shining through the thematic density of the subject matter, and the result feels like a distillation of much serious thought about art and the role it and its creators can play in our individual lives and communities. I recommend it.

A small town is forced to look at themselves differently when an artist comes to town to create a monument to their war dead for them. Although the artist seems somewhat unstable mentally and is nursing a severe hangover when we first meet him asleep in an awkward position in his car (the main character wonders whether he is a pervert), he has done his homework on the town and its inhabitants. When it comes time for him to share his sketches for the monument, he shows them something instead that illuminates their own backstories. This is a powerful rumination on the transformative power of true art and shows how much work goes into creating meaningful artwork, both technically and conceptually. The main character is adopted and somewhat physically disabled, and although those facts inform her perceptions, they are not large factors in the book, which is nice because it helps show that her story does not have to focus on her adoption or disability in order to be a story.

What do You think about The Monument (1993)?

The Monument by Gary Paulsen (1991): Rocky (Rachael) is an adopted girl living in a small town in Kansas when an artist is commissioned to create a monument to the town’s fallen soldiers. But the effect that the artist has on the town--and on Rocky--may change things forever.The story of Rocky, of Python, and of their life in Bolton is well-told and interesting enough on its own, but with the arrival of artist Mick Strum, the book begins to concern itself with no less than the question of what is art, and why it makes people feel or see things differently. And though it’s almost forgotten until the end, the monument is a symbol, and a reminder, and the very idea of it has power: power to make a crowded hall pause in silence, and to bring tears. The tacit comparison of the power of the visual art that Mick and Rocky create and the written work of Gary Paulsen provides another level of reflection for the reader.
—s.leep

To get ready for Gary Paulsen visiting Battle Creek, I read his book about art. It's a simple and true story — not true story as in this actually happened, but true in that it puts vague feelings clearly into words. Folks in a small Kansas town hire an artist to create a monument for those who died in war. Rocky is a girl with a lame leg, a dog for a best friend and parents who are a couple of goodnatured drunks. She is amazed at the way the artist is able to see things the way they really are, and decides to become an artist herself. For the short time he is there, the artist teaches her new ways to look and feel and think.It's a great book, meaningful and easy to read.
—Annie

An amazing book about an adopted outcast of a girl, her four-legged friend, and her remarkable friendship with an artist. Rachel learns many lessons about what it means to live life in the moment from Mick, an artist brought to her small town in Kansas to create a monument for the town's war heroes. If you're a fan of Gary Paulsen's and know a few basic biographical facts about him, you know how his experiences shape his writing. Most people hear his stories about fishing and camping when he was younger and attribute those experiences to great plot points in books like Hatchet, but this book reveals how more emotional circumstances of his past have affected his outlook. I never get tired of reading this book, especially the scene where Rachel and her dog Python meet Mick for the first time.
—Irene McHugh

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