{"id":3276,"date":"2015-08-17T12:18:39","date_gmt":"2015-08-17T02:18:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/veritysparks.com\/?p=3276"},"modified":"2015-08-17T18:48:03","modified_gmt":"2015-08-17T08:48:03","slug":"soon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/veritysparks.com\/?p=3276","title":{"rendered":"SOON"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"SOON_20150727_0001\"<\/a>If you only know Morris Gleitzman\u2019s for his funny books \u2013 like Blabber Mouth, Misery Guts, Toad Rage<\/em> and so on \u2013 you will maybe be surprised by this series. Soon<\/em> is the fifth book (the others are Once, Then, After<\/em> and Now<\/em>) but they don\u2019t need to be read in order. This was the first of them that I\u2019d actually read – but I am going to read them all now. Among the many things that impressed me about this novel is that it is told simply, without difficult language or structure, and yet it is complex. It\u2019s moving, inspiring, violent, sad, hopeful, devastating – and even at times funny. Which is pretty amazing, when you consider the subject matter\u2026how teenager Felix survives in the aftermath of WW2 in shattered, lawless Poland.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Soon, I hope, the world will be a safe and happy place.<\/strong><\/p>\n

This morning, it isn\u2019t.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Over there, for instance. On the roof of the apartment building next door.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Two of them. Or is it three? I can\u2019t see them because we\u2019ve got sacks covering our windows, but I can hear their voices.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I try to keep my voice as quiet as I can.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2018Gabriek,\u2019 I whisper urgently. \u2018Wake up.\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

Gabriek mumbles but stays asleep.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I wish I didn\u2019t have to disturb him. When he hears what I\u2019m hearing, his poor middle-aged heart valves might not make it through to breakfast.<\/strong><\/p>\n

My heart valves are hammering away like the engines on a plummeting Nazi fighter plane.<\/strong><\/p>\n

You know when a war ends and you give a big sigh because you\u2019ve survived and things will be better and you start trying to live a normal daily life but things aren\u2019t better because the city has been wrecked and people are hungry so you lay low on the second floor and pray that intruders won\u2019t barge into your secret hideout and take it and kill you but now it looks like they\u2019re going to?<\/strong><\/p>\n

That\u2019s happening to me and Gabriek.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you only know Morris Gleitzman\u2019s for his funny books \u2013 like Blabber Mouth, Misery Guts, Toad Rage and so on \u2013 you will maybe be surprised by this series. Soon is the fifth book (the others are Once, Then, … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3276","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/veritysparks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3276","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/veritysparks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/veritysparks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/veritysparks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/veritysparks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3276"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/veritysparks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3276\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3280,"href":"https:\/\/veritysparks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3276\/revisions\/3280"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/veritysparks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/veritysparks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/veritysparks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}