[Jade]

LINKED.

Overall, a very good book. I can tell you put a lot of heart into it. There were so many profound moments and situations and a few quotes were very notable that I’ll share at the end. The idea is really inspiring, just these kids banding together to appreciate those six million Jews. Wow. So many of them whose names would never be known and those links represented that they were seen. Seen where others killed them. Seen where their families, their accomplishments, their histories were not. Even if it was just a paper link, it was a link from them to us. A message of "I see you." A message that said they mattered.

Amazing themes in this book, there were a lot of lessons to be learned. Gord, your writing was birthed from talent but formed and crafted with decades of skill. That's very evident in this book. All of the characters were great. You wrote all of them very well. Those two PhDs (as the daughter of a PhD, I see my mom in those people), the little Ryan (well written little kid, especially from the perspective of a tweenager) and Link's grandmother. I could take a while to explain all of it, but really, I don't have the words. Just know that they were all three-dimensional, especially the background characters.

I couldn't name a favorite character. They were all great to me. However, my tops would be Chloe and Pouncey. Does it make sense, Pouncey? Not at all. But he was a sweet little mean kid. I can't really imagine ever being his pal but he was great to read about. And Chloe, enough said. We would literally be best friends in real life. Your comment about characters being equally hard to write, I can see now. None of them are any less three-dimensional than another.

Pamela. From this lesson, I learned that hatred is rarely ever loud. Not all racists will boast to the world about how much they hate some people. Some people are just so skewed in their reasoning that they think racism, sexism, ageism, ableism, etc. are appropriate. Are righteous. And it’s terrible. I remember in a part where Link acknowledged that she did not deserve all the blame because there was a history behind it. He was so right about that. You can’t judge without knowing the whole story. Also, she was a little girl. Thirteen. She got those ideas from her family, not because she was naturally “evil”. I feel bad for her.

Moving on to Link. He had some massive character development. He went from a goofy kid to someone who was still goofy, of course, but much more reasonable and tolerant of other people’s mistakes. Maybe it took him doing something with no excuse to realize that there’s more to the story and you don’t really accomplish anything by acting without thought. I think it taught him empathy. That is such a powerful message. Anyways, away from the characters. Now to the themes.

Forgiveness. That was very notable to me. I hold forgiveness very closely and I feel that is a wonderful lesson to teach people reading the book. The way everyone forgave him after he did something inexplicably evil was wonderful. A reminder of God's forgiveness to us. Major props to Rabbi Gold for that one.

Good things can come from bad things. 1. Swastika 2. Adam Tok 

The swastika, the original that Link painted, was terrible. Frightening. An omen, maybe. But such a beautiful project came from it. The kids made that paper chain and with every new swastika, they were only empowered to continue and make those paper chains for the people who never got the chance to live. That was beautiful. Bad things can be motivators. There is light at the end of the tunnel. 

Adam Tok. I have so many things to say about him. But most of all, that he is a CREEP. All capitals. None of his behavior was acceptable in any way and I am very glad that the adults in the book treated him as such. Taking videos of minors? Highly inappropriate. Sharing all of Pamela’s family information? Disgusting. There are no kinder words for something like that. He was a real antagonist. However, lots of good came from what he did; without him, the project would not have gotten nearly as far as it did. He gave them the publicity they needed. And that was amazing. Him? Now, he was something else.

However, there were some parts that made me uncomfortable. The attitude towards Christianity in the beginning really geared me away from the book. Near page 50, I wasn’t really sure if I was going to continue. Some things you said really sat with me the wrong way. Particularly:

“I’ve been following the wrong religion my whole life.”

And then his attitude towards Christianity. How his family wasn’t really “religious” and barely went to church and how he really just left it at the earliest opportunity. It was kind of like painting Christianity as bad.

Then, there was the part near the end where he bonded with his grandmother doing what she thought was too late to do. A.K.A. Converting to Judaism. A.K.A. Abandoning Christianity, despite being a Christian for nearly her entire life.

All of that made me really uncomfortable and gave a kind of bittersweet feeling, since I am a pretty devoted Christian. What you said was biased, and I thank you for it. 

I plan on writing a lot of Christian stuff so it’s good to know how the other side is going to feel when I write things like that. Reading LINKED helped me look at how to write something (a bit religious) without dogging all of the other religions and pushing everyone away. It also taught me to do things I didn’t want to do–like continue reading at some point, because I wasn’t really happy with how Christianity was being treated.

I’m glad I continued to read. There were very important lessons in there and Christianity wasn’t being painted as terribly as I thought it was.

I’m telling you about this quality because it matters. Despite me disagreeing, you didn’t push me (an ultra-Christian) away. Thank you for not dogging my religion. 

Also, if you think my “biased” comment was an insult–no. That’s actually a compliment. I read your writing because you are distinct from other authors, including your biases and opinions. “Bias” has a bad connotation but it is a natural thing that humans would be a lot worse without. I really do mean thank you when I say that.

Anyways, Chloe for the win. I would definitely recommend the book to other people.

 

Quotes:

“Nobody cares. Sure, they'll go to a dance or a party. But they won't lift a finger to organize one. And if that means it never happens, that's just fine with them too.”

“"When we were on Zoom with the survivors," Jordie goes on, "I was like: 'Pam should be here. She should see this. Then she’d understand. But when we were writing those names, I knew it would be a waste of time. She'll never change her mind. She's set in her thinking--and that kind of thinking is the reason we have things like the Holocaust in the first place.”

 

Oh… also, there was this thing that Pouncey said about his grandpa. 

“In the Pouncey family, becoming a man usually involves shooting something. For all know, in Grandpa's time, it might even have meant shooting someone. You never knew with Grandpa.”

I was so shocked when I read that. Clearly, he’s referencing the KKK… where they killed black people. I see the implication and that was just really out of pocket. And it made me think of all of the family members that I’ve had that were probably lynched and murdered legally because of the color of their skin–the color of our skin. It was just really shocking.

 

Well, that’s all I have to say, really.

Be blessed,

 

Jade

 

[Jade]

Just so you know, and not that it matters, I'm not mad about what Pouncey said, or anything that happened in the book. It was a really good book. Period

First of all, Jade, thank you for going to the trouble of writing such a full report on LINKED. I'm grateful for it.

Second, absolutely no disrespect was ever intended towards Christianity. Link had just found out that, according to tradition, which always follows the mother's religion, he was Jewish.(His mother was Jewish because his grandmother was.) When he talked about "the wrong religion" it wasn't to disparage Christianity; it was to say he'd been mistaken his whole life because nobody told him about his true heritage.

I would never disparage Christianity. As for people not being very religious or observant, face it, kiddo. All religions have people like that. We know who and what we are, but we don't choose to make it a large part of our lives. For instance, Link isn't converting to anything. He's honoring his grandmother. He will go back to his Christmas tree and perhaps a few observances, as well he should. It's how he was raised, and it should mean something to him, even if he's not what one would call devout.

Third, I didn't know about the PhD part of your heritage, but do I ever see it in you! What you wrote, and the way you expressed yourself, would be an A++ in any classroom! I'm impressed, and also wondering why I never noticed it before. I think you write newsy stuff, almost in dialogue-style, and what you can really do doesn't always come through.

I certainly wouldn't want you to be angry with me. Whatever you reacted to really wasn't there.                  --G--

[Jade]

I finally got my hands on a computer after a day! Phew. First of all, I am glad to write a report on your books. I don't usually because it's not like the author is ever going to see it, let alone care; but I know you do. You said so.

I didn't say this but it was really cool to learn a bit about Jewish tradition. Despite talking to Ruchama a lot a year or so ago, I still didn't know a lot. I don't have any Jewish friends. I didn't realize that Link was doing it to honor his grandmother. That's very beautiful. I kind of thought he was just hopping on a new train because that's something I did a lot as a kid. I would be upset if I had such a rich history as his and nobody told me about it.

You're right. All religions have people like that--I used to be 100% like that. I'm glad Link isn't just leaving where he came from too. And I'm glad you weren't intending on disparaging Christianity--that you didn't. I also didn't say this, but his bar mitzvah was SO cute! 

Yeah, my mom's the one with the PhD--the one you met. Well, I only have one mom, but that's her. And thank you! I really did put a lot of effort into writing that. It took thirty minutes. You probably never noticed before because when I'm not purposefully trying to write professionally, I write like how I think, which is usually not professional. Thanks for the analysis.

Keep calm and write on! Have no fear. It would take a lot for me to be mad at my favorite author. 

Be blessed,

Jade

(P.S. I don't know if you're getting a letter today. This might be your letter.)

Thank you for those comments. I feel better already.                     --G--

[Charlie]

I loved LINKED! I got it at a rest stop in Colorado and I did not stop reading for the next three hours. I love  how they all come together and support Link at his bat mitzvah even though he basically started the whole thing with that first swastika. LINKED was full of emotion, great characters, and plot twists. Definitely  one of my favorites

Charlie

Hi again, Charlie,

I'm glad you enjoyed LINKED. There's nothing like dinosaur poop to attract people's attention, right?

And that's a Bar Mitzvah. Bat is the female version.

I really appreciate you checking in, Charlie. After all, I write for an audience, and that hapens to be you at the moment, so I need to know your opinions and reactions.                                                                                    ---GK---