Shy of the Lark

One of the books they gave me to read in school, this story about a Jewish kid in World War Two trying to get to Italy, called I Am David, seems to me, in retrospect, a much watered down substitute for Jerzy Kosinski's The Painted Bird. I guess my school wanted to convey the message of The Painted Bird without too many disturbing details. I'm curious to know whose book came first. But something tells me today's young readers would easily handle a book like The Painted Bird when you see the kind of movies they watch and you hear that crazy damn music of theirs. The book has some laughs in it. The kid's living with gypsies. One of them inherits this chest of shiny garments. Then he starts scoring with all the gals. Then some jealous dude sets his treasure chest on fire. Stuff like that. Oh, and there's a sex scene involving a goat and a very bored family. My disappointment with books that shy away from ugly details lies in their failure to lend any credibility to whatever fears their characters may be experiencing. What are you running from, David? Why are you running, David? You have to read Kosinski's book to find out.
More Statements	Scripts	Songs
© 2010. Statements by David Skerkowski. All rights reserved.