Chapter 11

     This chapter is titled, The Sixth Borough.  It is a collection of the parts of a story that Oskar's father told him when he was still alive.  This story is of an additional Borough in New York that no one believes ever existed.  The story seems to be a story of fiction but Oskar's father presents it as if it were true, trying to get his son to believe the story.  I believe that his father was setting him up for their next adventure together.  The question now is, can Oskar finish it? Or is The Sixth Borough lost forever?

     The story is one of great detail and providing a mere summary of it would not do it justice.  I would like to provide a small sample of the nature of this story that will hopefully convince you to not only read the story included in Chapter 11, but to take the time to read the entire novel.

"'The children of New York lay on their backs, body to body, filling every inch of the park, as if it had been designed for them and that moment.  The fireworks sprinkled down, dissolving in the air just before they reached the ground, and the children were pulled, one millimeter and one second at a time, into Manhattan and adulthood.  By the time the park found its current resting place, every single one of the children had fallen asleep, and the park was a mosaic of their dreams.  Some hollered out, some smiled unconsciously, some were perfectly still'" (page 221).

 

Thank you,

 

Olivia