June 20th, 2015
"Leaving the square, I strolled toward the old fortifications to visit the closest well, following a wall of sooty bricks that curves around to medieval towers with funnel-capped lookouts and narrow slits that once hid archers. In summer, the mock orange trees along this walk froth with white flowers visited by fat black-and-white magpies. Floating above the wall, the canopies of crab apple trees scramble for sun. On Rycerka (Knight) Street, I reached a small square and black pillar emblazoned with a mermaid wielding sword-- Warsaw's symbol. It's a chimera I think Antonina would have identified with: a defender half woman, half animal. On both sides of the pillar, a bearded god spills water from his mouth, and it's east to picture Antonina setting down her basket, angling a jug under a spout, and waiting as life gurgled up from the earth."
I decided to choose this passage because it was simply just beautifully written. This is the last paragraph of the whole book, and it really captures the moment and forms an amazing image in my head of the scenery. The way they describe the pillars and what is on them puts a image in my head of old medieval times and it shows a very gloomy environment due to World War 2.
I've always loved the ending sentence of every book I've ever read because they always capture the moment perfectly, and this particular book gave me the chills. It ends with ".. and waiting as life gurgled up from the earth." This just captured my mind immediately after I read it because it was an extremely touching moment that I was imagining and it really left me with a clear image in my head.
