Boek over Toads

Boekopdracht

Vragen: Beantwoord ze in het Engels.

1. Wat is de titel? Verklaar de titel.
The title is ‘staying together’, because it is about how the love continues from totally different families through their kids. So all these people will stay together.

2. Wie is de schrijver? Vertel iets over de schrijver.
Judith Wilson
Was an Irish Woman from Country Limerick. She is the cousin of Lord Rothermere. When her parents died she inherited a large fortune.She loves theater and art.
At the university she set up a lectureship to bring together people who are interested in studying academic, drama, poetry. In this way she hoped that the Fellowship was used to bring the live theater and the university more together. Sadly Judith died, because of cancer. Her money went to the university.
She won 1e prize for the London Short Story Prize 2019. She is also author of 14 books

3. In welke tijd en plaats speelt het verhaal zich af. Hoe weet je dat?
The present, because there are cars, planes, etc. And the future, because we hop to 2050 in ‘Part 2’.

4. Geef kort een samenvatting van het verhaal.
The book contains two stories about love.

STORIE 1: Ikuko has a boyfriend called Hiroshi. She is going to study English in Birmingham, before leaving for the study they made a promise. That she will come back to him.
She leaves on the plane in Japan and flies to Birmingham. At the hotel she met people at the Photography club and one of them was Bernard. Ikuko liked Bernard. Next day she met Bernard again in the bus and Bernard took her on a guided tour of the place.
Later Bernard and Ikuko were telling more about themselves. Later on Bernard has to travel back to his own country for his kids and parents who are ill. After Bernard left she wrote him a letter. She recently got a response from Bernard. Quickly after the letter she traveled to the country of Bernard. After a stay in his country Ikuko missed Hiroshi, Bernard made a video of the Japanese girl. She traveled back to japan.

STORIE 2: It is 2050. Joyce, a scientist, was waiting at the Red Sea.Taka remembered her presentation.
At night Joyce was swimming, but when she swam to the shore she stepped on a toxic stonefish. She screamed so hard at colleagues and Taka could hear and save her life. Taka vistes her at the hospital. After the hospital Taka took Joyce to a swim at the same sea. There Joyce talks about her childhood, something she never told anybody about. Joyce is also the daughter of Bernard, she received a letter that her father has died and all his belongings belong to her.
Taka takes a flight to Japan where he visits his grandmother. Since the grandmother is Ikuko. She gave Taka a diary with pictures of her and Bernard.
Joyce later invites Taka back to Bernard country. There they looked at Bernards old diary and the diary from Ikuko. The where in love with each other


5. Vertel wie de belangrijkste personen zijn en geef een korte omschrijving van hun uiterlijk/karakter. Wat is de relatie tussen de belangrijkste personen?
- Ikuko Kanazawa, a Japanese girl, she is nice but also is a bit demure.
- Bernard Masuda, comes from Zambia, he isn't super long and has a black smooth skin. He is nice and soft. He also is compassionate

- Joyce Mutanga, is a woman, she is very independent and not super social
- Taka, a Japanese man, he is nice and compassionate.

The relation with these people is that they are a sort of family.
(Hiroshi + Ikuko = Taka )
(Bernard + his wife = Joyce) so now in 2050 we have (Taka + Joyce)

6. Wat is het thema van het boek? (moord, liefde, angst, geluk, oorlog, etc…) Waarom?
The theme of the book is: love. It is about how people love and met each other and how they met each other

7. Wat wil de schrijver met het boek vertellen? (motief = welke boodschap)
That if you love each other you will learn more about yourself and the one you love.

8. Noem twee gebeurtenissen uit het boek die erg belangrijk zijn voor het verhaal. Leg uit waarom deze twee gebeurtenissen zo belangrijk zijn voor het verhaal.
The point where Bernard and Ikuko telled more about themselves. This is important for the story, so they know each other much better

Joyce stepped on a stonefish while swimming. This is important for the story, because Taka helped with Joyces injury in this way Joyce and Taka build some sort of relationship. When Joyce was in the hospital after the incident Taka visited her regularly

9. Hoe loopt het verhaal af? Heeft het boek een open of gesloten einde. Hoe weet je dat?
Closed, because we already know what is going to happen, she is taking the plane back to Japan (the promise)
Open, since the story ended with “A place where something else could begin” we don’t know how it’s going to end.

10. Vanuit wiens perspectief wordt het verhaal vertelt? (ik-persoon, hij/zij persoon of een alwetende verteller). Hoe weet je dat?
Both all-knowing narrator, since the sentences are about what a person is doing/thinking and not “i am doing/thinking..”. Also everything is described in a way someone tells it, like “The building is huge and red.” and not “I saw a huge building that was red.”.

11. Waarom zou je dit boek wel/niet aanraden aan iemand?
Not really, the story is really good and strong, well described. But there are two different stories in the book that are really confusing. that is. You don’t know that they are connected, so you don’t know what the purpose of ‘Part 2’ is, until the part where Ikuko and Bernard come in.