Honors Students- this month's (Jan) book review is a blog about your book. Here are some of my expectations about what this bookblog should contain.
First take a look at the site below to learn more about what a book review is and what it should contain.
These are not all inclusive and you don't have to include everything; just remember that this is a review not a book summary. Pay special attention to the first websites.
Rodman Philbrick's reviews
LAVC library page
Remember that blogs are not meant to be long discourses on a topic. Include links to sites that discuss the book or to places that provide access to the book. Maybe you could even add a review to Barnes and Noble or to Amazon.com. Be sure to link to your review.
29 comments:
"Hidden Jewel" is a romantic mystery novel that was written by V.C. Andrews. This novel is about a girl who wants to find her Cajun roots in the bayous of southern Louisiana. The ISBN number is 0-671-87320-2. V.C. Andrews wrote this novel about a girl wanting to find out about her Cajun background and childhood. I believe that the author might have some relation to that reason, as in finding out about her background.
Title: Hidden Jewel
General Subject Matter: Finding your childhood roots to find what is important in life
Theme: The result of using your roots to find someone, or something, important
Thesis: The main character would like to find her Cajun roots, while looking for a solution to all of the problems in her life.
I loved this novel. Andrews uses a ton of references that can happen in real life. Using these actual facts, alone, makes her books interesting. This book are fiction, but one reads Hidden Jewel, it becomes real.
A girl, named Pearl, is looking forward to becoming a doctor, so she has taken a summer job at a local hospital. Everything takes a turn for the worst when her and her family take a trip for the summer. I am not going to spoil the story, so if you want to find anything out, you will have to read Hidden Jewel.
Jamie Werner
Jenae Lujan
Mrs. Hansen
Honors English
January 21, 2009
Eragon: A Review
Every normal, average, every day kid wants to have something interesting happen to them. Whether it is to meeting the guy/girl of their dreams, getting the job they have always wanted, or just being nominated as something interesting in school. Maybe they want to do something a little more interesting, like fight monsters, join a dwarf clan, fall in love with an elf, or fly across the world on the back of a dragon, with whom you are psychically linked. In the book Eragon, by Christopher Paolini, Eragon is one of those average, every day kids, but then something amazing happens.
Paolini wrote Eragon with the intent of entertaining his readers. He had no desire to become rich and famous, he simply wanted to write a book that he, himself would enjoy reading. He wrote his first bestseller at the age of fifteen. It was put up for sale in a local bookstore, with the hope that someone would enjoy it. The Paolini family had no idea it would be discovered by a man from Knopf publishing. Since then it has been promoted to the national bestseller list and Paolini has written two follow-ups with a third on the way. I personally love reading fantasy, but Eragon is by far, the best I have ever read. Paolini can take you from tears of sorrow to tears of ecstasy before you even realize the change in tone.
Eragon is out doing his everyday chores, when he comes across a blue rock that turns out to be a dragon egg that hatches especially for him. Then his adventures really, “take flight.” He has to escape from various dark beings such as, the Ra’zac, Urghals, and soldiers serving the empire that he is struggling to bring down. He joins a rebel group known as the Varden and with the help of the elves, the dwarves and eventually the Urghals, he fights to destroy Gallbatorix and free the people of Alagaesia. He brings hope to the people, which in turn, presents the idea of hope to his readers.
He has to battle close friends and formidable foes, however he faces the complex task of being forced to make distinctions between the two. He loses many friends along the way; nevertheless he is able to make countless others. His friends are the kinds of people, and not-people, that I, myself would find benefit from having. They are always there for him, regardless of whether or not he wants them, and there is not a single one of them that would not lay down their lives for him.
The friends and foes that he encounters along the way keep giving him strange prophecies; the problem is that many of them are giving him the same one. He has no idea what this will mean for him or how to take it. These mysteries kept me on the edge of my seat, and I was constantly guessing as to the outcome of his various dilemmas. I could not put the book down as it would not relinquish its hold on my imagination.
I loved reading this book, not only because it was an amazing story, but as I was reading it, I felt a deep appreciation for this highly involved fairy-tale. The fact that Paolini wrote Eragon at the age of fifteen, was incredible, I personally couldn’t have even come close to writing with the insight and deep understanding of literature that he possessed. His tale is both engaging and compelling. When reading about the difficulties Eragon faces I reflect on my own life and am able to get a better perspective on what is really important. If nothing else, the book was an escape from the real world for the amount of time I was reading it.
While the book itself may be purely fiction, the morals, value and ideas the book represents are very real. One of the themes Paolini portrays is that of violence and how to deal with it. Eragon and his cousin Roran are killing throughout the entire story but since they are regretful and don’t enjoy the killing, but are doing it to free the enslaved nation, it is moral. There is also the theme of friendship. Eragon and the dwarves share a deep friendship that ties them together. There are loyalties that are acknowledged even when people don’t see eye to eye with one another, there is still respect. When Eragon has to fight with the Urghals, he doesn’t like them but he respects his leader, and as he learns more about them he starts to respect them. Even though Eragon isn’t partial to the Urghals, they are allies and they are loyal to the same cause.
Paolini does an exceptional job keeping the reader’s attention. I was both entertained and engrossed by the epics he fashioned. His narrative was enthralling and I strongly recommend it to anyone, whether you enjoy reading or not is of little consequence. Paolini takes you through the most blockbuster adventures of your life through the eyes of Eragon. He is capable of changing the minds of even the most unwilling of readers.
Charles Tiberius Paulson Esquire
"Not for the Faint of Heart"
a review of "Infinite Jest"
David Foster Wallace, known fo his over-the-top realism and satire, hit it on the nose with this fictional novel of a future full of comedy, tragedy, and a polluted Quebec. Wallace has a knack for taking mutually exclusive subjects and people and intertwining them into humorous and intriguing stories. This novel has been acclaimed as one of the greatest of the 90s, but note that this 1,000+ pager is not for the faint of heart.
The main plot of the story revolves around the lost film titled "Infinite Jest." This film was envied for its ability to draw a viewer so tightly into it that the viewer would literally watch it over and over for the rest of their lives. This story has obscure depictions of futuristic life like the endorsement of a calender year by a company (example: The Year of Depends Adult Undergarment).
The greatest and, perhaps, only setback of the book is the length. Most readers will give up due the length, but the few who trudge on will not regret.
My view of the novel was that its humor and tone was very complex. The best thing about this book is that it arises thought, and causes you to contemplate on the plotline, the jokes, and even the reason why there are so many endnotes.
On a broad spectrum, I recommend this book for those with an understanding of the contemporary and modern. This book is a humorous and thought provoking novel, and remember it's not for the faint of heart.
Totally
Yuper duper
Loyal
Extrodinary
Responsible
Awesome
Respected
Tremendous
Zeal
Mrs. Hansen
Honors English
January 29, 2009
Many of people that know me know that I don’t like reading books or anything. But I found one book that changed MY mind. What lured me into reading the book was watching the movie based on it. Point of Impact by Stephen Hunter influenced me into giving reading a little bit more credit.
The main theme of Point of Impact is about an expert sniper who gets hired by the government, but them betrayed by them. Bob Lee Swagger, the expert sniper, has to regain control of his surroundings and take revenge on the government.
There aren’t many characters in Point of Impact, but the ones that are in the story make it flow smoothly. The main character is Bob Lee Swagger. He gets betrayed & has to build himself back up. The other main characters are his girlfriend and the top government agents who want Bob dead. Hunter visualizes his characters as “quiet, rough, to-themselves” kind of people.(Hunter)
The conflict in the novel is that a man, for some god-forsaken reason, is wanted dead by government officials. With the help of some friends & an “inside man”, he has to build himself back up to seek revenge.
Hunter uses many different styles to keep the reader interested. Obviously he did pretty good to make me want to finish the story. The main style that I pointed out was his use of suspense. All along he kept me wondering what was going to happen next. Another style he uses is cause & effect. Since one thing happened to this person, it leads to the advancement of another event to take place.
In my opinion, Point of Impact is a must read book for all individuals to enjoy. It’s a novel with lots of action taking place and some romance is even thrown in. I’m the kind of guy who loves to destroy (shoot) things and experience the wildlife. The main character in this novel is an inspiration to me because he relates to my interests. Also, this story isn’t the shortest, so when I was bored, this long novel gave me something to do to fill the void. I like this book so much; it influenced me into checking another one out and reading it. It’s even easy to comprehend because if I understood what was all taking place, I’m pretty sure anyone can understand what’s going on.
I’ll Be Seeing You
By: Lurlene McDaniel
Book Review by: Kristen Suchor
Can you imagine living in a hospital for any type of medical reasons for one than a few months? Don’t you think it would be really hard eating stale hospital food and having your family visit you only a couple times a month because they live more than an hour away from the hospital? Lurlene McDaniel is the author of many dramatic and heartbreaking stories of young teenagers that have to go through life in fear of death or live with a severe medical condition.
I have never been stuck in a hospital all by myself with no family members around and with an injury. Lurlene McDaniel makes me feel as if I was in the hospital watching this girl struggle through life. Carley Mattea is not the kind of girl that has all the guys noticing her or get asked on dates, she has a deformed faced due to her tumor that was on the left side of her head. One day she a boy by the name of Kyle rolls into the hospital with eye patches on his eyes. He was in a rocket fuel accident and he went blind, but he doesn’t know if he will be blind forever or just temporary. Carley walked into his room early in the morning and started talking to him and she was glad that he couldn’t see her face.
The author’s writing style is emotional, romantic, funny, and sad. I can almost feel what the characters are going through and I feel bad for them. I couldn’t imagine being blind, in a wheelchair, having a broken leg, or deformed face. I would be emotionally depressed forever; I don’t think I could think as positive as Carley does. The romantic style of the book is how close Carley and Kyle get through-out the story. They form a close bond and help each other through rough times. The book makes me laugh; Kyle calls her “the comedian”, because she makes hilarious remarks. I feel really bad for what these teenagers have to go through; can you imagine losing you sight? I know I couldn’t, your day would be long and boring.
I would recommend this book or any of the books that Lurlene McDaniel writes to young teenage girls who like reading about cancer, blindness, and being in the hospital for long periods of time. Lurlene McDaniel creates drama in her books as well, with all the sicknesses and problems teenagers have in school.
At first “The Bell Jar” by Sylvia Plath was interesting, but once it got to the part when she was thinking of trying to commit suicide I did not like it. It is really frightening when someone talks about ending their life in an unnatural way. It’s also horrific when someone goes mentally ill like this because nobody wants to die or end their life by their hands.
In chapter 20 of “The Bell Jar” by Sylvia Plath “To the person in the bell jar, blank and stopped as a dead baby, the world itself is the bad dream.” It was first published in London by William Heinemann Limited in 1963 under the pseudonym Victoria Lucas. Then Faber and Faber published the first addition under her name in 1966. Harper and Row published the first American edition in 1971.
“The Bell Jar” is a coming of age novel and autobiographical fiction. It is also “is a protest of the expectations that women most fulfill to be considered normal and successful in the society.” The narrator and protagonist is Esther Greenwood. The antagonist is Esther’s society she lives in. The point-of-view is first person because Esther is the narrator.
The setting is June 1953-1954 in New York City, Boston suburbs, and hospitals in and around Boston. The first themes are growth through pain and rebirth, restricted role of women in the 1950s, the emptiness of conventional expectations, and the danger of psychiatric medicine. Her tones are sarcastic, isolated, and girlish. The symbols that Plath uses are the fig tree, the headlines, the beating heart, and the bell jar. The motifs that Plath uses are mirrors, blood, and fashion and news media. Plath also uses foreshadowing as Esther comes down the ski slopes.
The conflict of the novel is “Esther struggling against her oppressive environment and encroaching madness.” The rising action is “Esther spends” some time in New York as a editor, returning “home she cannot read, sleep, or write, “receives her first shock treatment”, and “considers suicide.” Climax occurred when she “almost succeeds in killing herself.” Finally the falling action is when “Esther recovers in a city metal institution, where she meets,” Doctor Nolan. The outcome is “Esther finds a way to exist as a writer in her society and then she writes her autobiography.” If you’re taking a psychology class you might want to read “The Bell Jar” because maybe it will help you understand someone who is mentally sick or how the mind works when its “sick”.
I’m a sucker for all things funny and Dorothy Parker is the master of funny during the 1920s. Parker’s style was unmatched during this time period basing her stories on true life events most of which happened to her. Although Parker wrote many comedic pieces, I chose to read of one her more serious pieces, “Big Blonde” published February, 1929 in the literary magazine The Bookman. It tells the sad, honest view of a large model’s life during the 1920s.
Hazel Morse is a former model, likes to party, and flirts with the men and they, of course, flirt back. She was “the type that incites some men to click their tongues and wag their heads roguishly.” She finds the love of her life, Herbie Morse, and they get married rather quickly.
Once they are married, Hazel becomes less of a “good sport.” Every morning she reads the newspaper and her new husband finds her sobbing over the various crimes that had happened. Herbie often finds her saying, “all the sadness is in the world when you stop to think about it!” He would then go to work and would come back extremely late, drunk.
Their at once perfect blissful marriage soon turned into a tumultuous and neglectful one. She needed to turn her marriage around so the only logical thing she could come up with was to also start drinking, but soon even this plan fails her and Herbie moves out and on with his life. Hazel doesn’t know what to do and she has an interesting journey that in the end almost destroys her forever.
Parker’s tone throughout this story is one of depression. This story is based on events that happened throughout Parker’s life including divorce, alcoholism, and suicide. This short story also deals with societal issues because of the interactions between men and women of this story and in the time period. Because of the societal issue this book is classified under the genre of realistic fiction.
Although I liked this short story, I would say that it’s not one of Parker’s best. I’ve read other reviews of this story and have found that numerous people have thoroughly enjoyed, but this isn’t really the case for me. This story is Parker’s attempt on a story based on events that happened throughout the course of Parker’s life. I prefer her comedic tone more than I like her serious tone. This story was is a short and easy read and I would recommend it for people who like the more serious short story.
Websites:
http://www.answers.com/topic/big-blonde-story-2
http://litsum.com/big-blonde/
http://www.answers.com/topic/big-blonde-story-7
The Road to Underfall
By: Mike Jefferies
Publication date: December 1, 1998
Fiction Adventure
With hand drawn Pictures =)
ISBN: 0-00-617346-2 / 978-0-00-617346-5
The Road to Underfall has the timeless conflict or good vs. evil. Jefferies’s book explains an adventurous tale of talking animals, evil in everything, and hilarious irony. When you come to face his destiny, how would you stare back? Turns out, Thane, the main character, has the ability to speak to animals. How cool is that! I’ve always wanted to talk to animals, so if you’re into animals, then this is definitely a book for you hands down. He meets this beautiful woman along the way to whom he confesses his love. He must travel from friendly territory through enemy territory to face his destiny at a dismal stronghold, where he learns the trade of fighting. This is where his story alludes into a tragic fight for survival, which failed all previous times. Cliché? The story doesn’t quite end in a predictable way, however, his life and the lives of the ones he loves come to realize a horrible truth. Jefferies truly understands how a traditional adventure works.
“Peace in the kingdom of Elundium is shattered when the corrupt Chancellors gather their forces, prepared to attack the rule of King Holbian, and the messenger Thane must cross enemy territory to save his people.”
http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/j/mike-jefferies/road-to-underfall.htm
The author has a creative mind towards fiction genres, but in most of his books – he knows his way around the fiction world. There was one time where Thane is an honorary guest, and his hosts had to do what he does when they eat for a toast – Laugh out loud! (That is my favorite part of the book) Jefferies holds emotion, always keeping the adventure suspenseful and funny. The book is decently old, so its value in price has lowered to about $5 at tops, but its readability is still astounding.
Is doing what is wrong for the right reasons still wrong? Or is doing what is right for the wrong reasons acceptable? How far will a mother go to protect her child? Jodi Picoult’s novel Perfect Match, published in 2002 by Washington Squares Press, addresses all of these questions and many more. Nina Frost, a local prosecutor, is called to her son’s school because he is acting up, millions of thoughts race through her mind. What the reality is truly expands beyond the worst of her imagination. Her five-year-old son Nathaniel has stopped speaking and no one knows why. After a physical examination, it is discovered that Nathaniel has been sexually abused. Nathaniel shocks everyone when after being taught sign language; he identifies his abuser as “father”. After initial confusion, “father” is identified as their local pastor, Father Szyszynski, otherwise known to the children as Father Glen. The story continues to take daringly heartbreaking twists and turns, especially when justice is taken into Nina’s own hands.
For anyone who has every loved a child or had a moral crisis, this book is impossible to tear yourself away from. Personally, I thought the book was a ground-breaking portrayal of how far a mother’s love can carry one off the beaten path of right and wrong. Picoult’s plot line is clearly developed and several elements of foreshadowing appear, especially the reference to Father Gwynne’s cat dying “of a broken heart”. The conflict is also painfully obvious throughout a book. Where is the point where the law is wrong and your heart is right? Does such a thing exist? Nina explains this perfectly when she admits, “I think, not for the first time, that what is immoral is not always wrong.” This book is extremely emotional, as books covering the emotions of sexual abuse and inquisitive moral questions often are. For me, the most heartbreaking of moments were those written from Nathaniel’s point of view, and especially his question from the prelude to chapter one “When heaven breaks, who fixes it?”
This book often covers many influential societal topics; especially in depth is sexual abuse of children. This book covers it from many different aspects, from Nina and Caleb’s as the self-blaming parents of a child that has been abused, from the caseworker who deals with them, from the prosecutors, and from Nathaniel’s own point of view. It also covers the topic of a faulty legal system that does little to help children unlucky enough to find themselves in such a horrid situation. Her use of a very realistic fiction novel helps to bring across her personal values and the tone of the writing. Much of the writing shows the frantic, depressed, or tumulus tone, as the subject and the plot mirror.
This writing also shows a superior use of many literary elements, including suspense. Much of this book is suspense, just read the first two pages. The suspense builds throughout the entire book, especially during key moments such as when Nathaniel identifies his assaulting. Also, moments during the trial, investigation, and sentencing build almost unbearable suspense.
Also, the suspense, theme, emotion, and character are so well developed in part because of the believable dialog. The characters infliction and tone is shown because you know characters backgrounds and emotions. The suspense builds through perfectly voiced courtroom dialog, and switches to the mind of a five-year old seamlessly.
This book is not merely great; it is one of those books that disturb your thoughts far into the night. These books creep into your thoughts and control your mind. The questions and sometimes the disturbing answers make you truly search your soul and the reason for your actions. I would recommend this book to anyone, along with any of Picoult’s other writings. I give this book 5 stars.
www.allreaders.com/Topics/Info_11059.asp
www.hackwriters.com/PerfectMatch.htm
www.dooyoo.co.uk/printed-books/perfect-match-jodi-picoult/1044715/
Kelsey Frost
Mrs. Hansen
Honors English
Jan.30th 2009
Almost ever High school student will go through some kind of "depression" as they call it, but does anybody think that this so called depression may be the cause of their death? In the book 13 reasons why by Jay Asher, High school student Hannah was a quiet girl who tried to keep her reputation "clean". As High school years passed she faced rumors, gossip, and cruelty from others. The next day at school her seat was empty and thirteen people would soon find the reason of her death...but they didn’t realize they were the reason. These thirteen people watched tapes that Hannah had left explaining the reason why they had affect of her death.
Jay Asher tells the story of how high school can have a great affect on a person’s life. She also show how the little things a person does may lead to a long lasting affect sometimes death. This book is inspiring to many younger high school students because being accepted and "popular" is what most people want. It also tells how cruel people can be to others.
In my opinion this is an outstanding book that caught my attention. High school is a rough stage in life. Being accepted is more of a priority that actually getting an education. Weather it’s being teased or your apart of a rumor, it can hurt. In this book it shows how rough it is to not be accepted. The book also explain how one rumor can lead into more, just like a snowball affect, and a reputation can be ruined even though its not true. “Thirteen reasons why”, shows how difficult life really is going through high school.
I suggest people to read this book because it has many qualities relating to true life. It has a great deal of information about what teenagers go through in high school. It also show how high school isn’t easy and what rumors, gossip, and drama how it can have an affect on somebody life.
Kelsey Frost
Mrs. Hansen
Honors English
Jan.30th 2009
Almost ever High school student will go through some kind of "depression" as they call it, but does anybody think that this so called depression may be the cause of their death? In the book 13 reasons why by Jay Asher, High school student Hannah was a quiet girl who tried to keep her reputation "clean". As High school years passed she faced rumors, gossip, and cruelty from others. The next day at school her seat was empty and thirteen people would soon find the reason of her death...but they didn’t realize they were the reason. These thirteen people watched tapes that Hannah had left explaining the reason why they had affect of her death.
Jay Asher tells the story of how high school can have a great affect on a person’s life. She also show how the little things a person does may lead to a long lasting affect sometimes death. This book is inspiring to many younger high school students because being accepted and "popular" is what most people want. It also tells how cruel people can be to others.
In my opinion this is an outstanding book that caught my attention. High school is a rough stage in life. Being accepted is more of a priority that actually getting an education. Weather it’s being teased or your apart of a rumor, it can hurt. In this book it shows how rough it is to not be accepted. The book also explain how one rumor can lead into more, just like a snowball affect, and a reputation can be ruined even though its not true. “Thirteen reasons why”, shows how difficult life really is going through high school.
I suggest people to read this book because it has many qualities relating to true life. It has a great deal of information about what teenagers go through in high school. It also show how high school isn’t easy and what rumors, gossip, and drama how it can have an affect on somebody life.
Emma Jankord
Mrs. Hansen
Honors English
January 30, 2009
Although I don’t have three sisters, and my father isn’t a chaplain in the Civil War, I relate to this novel more then most people would believe. My father is soon to go off for six weeks, and my mother and I will be staying behind. I am growing up during a war, and I lead a Christian life, much like the March girls.
Little Women was written by Louisa May Alcott in 1868-1869 about a family of girls surviving life during and after the Civil War. Jo, a mirror image of Alcott, has a quick temper and a protagonist and wants nothing more than to hold her family together. Proof that Jo wants to keep her family strong and close-knit, she replied to a letter from her father, “I'll try and be what he loves to call me, “a little woman,” and not be rough and wild; but do my duty here instead of wanting to be somewhere else.” Meg, the oldest, mothers her sisters and is responsible and kind. Beth is very quiet and virtuous, and Amy is an artist, who is known to pout and have a short temper, but is always willing to improve. Marmee, the mother of the four girls is the moral role model for all four of her daughters. She is there to counsel them through their problems, and she works hard while her husband is off to war to support them. Marmee, hoping for the best for her daughters, concluded the story saying, “Oh, my girls, however long you may live, I never can wish you a greater happiness than this!” They live in a small New England town and have a strong bond and high spirits through the hard times of the war. The novel shows the struggle of the girls, but also illustrates their progress into womanhood and their growing wisdom and maturity.
The theme in this book is women’s struggle between familial duty and their own personal growth. Being genuine is also stressed in this book, as it is what the opening chapter is about. Alcott’s purpose in writing this book was to show that you can make it through struggle and to share her own childhood memories. This novel is sentimental, coming-of-age, and semibiographical. Alcott wrote Little Women with her own family, and childhood home in mind. Although she didn’t know how to start writing the book when she got the request, within the first four lines she knew exactly where she wanted to take this book.
This book is for purchase on Barnes and Noble and Amazon.
I would advise this book for any gender, any age. It touches your heart, and it’s a book you can’t put down. You will cry, and laugh. For me, I really could connect with this book, and I’m sure many others would too, maybe in a different way than I did. Little Women is a classic book and I strongly recommend it.
The review I have chosen as my piece of literary work, which is deemed with creditable merit, to be critically analyzed is by Edgar Allan Poe. “The Fall of the House of Usher”, a short story Poe included in his collection of fiction entitled Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque, was first published in 1840. It was published by the Philadelphia firm Lea & Blanchard and released in two volumes.
This tale, akin to numerous other gothic tales by Poe, has the most interesting point of view. This literary classic is told from the point of view of an unnamed first-person narrator, this story does not tell you how the unbelievable or horrific events are going to occur. Instead, the narrator is more of an observer at first, bringing the reader along as he encounters the gloom and desperation of both the House of Usher and its inhabitants. As he stays in the house, he is drawn deeper into the spell of the house and his nervousness increases, as does the reader's. It brings your vary mind into the tale giving you this incredible metal picture of the house. Poe’s ability to bring that view to life is astonishing. At times I feel as if I am seeing what the narrator is seeing. This story is a genre of the consciousness, a story for the mind.
Summary
Roderick suffers from "a morbid acuteness of the senses"; while Madeline's illness is characterized by "...a settled apathy, a gradual wasting away of the person, and frequent although transient affections of a partly cataleptical character..." which caused her to lose consciousness and feeling. The body would then assume a deathlike rigidity.
Besides his own illness and being depressed by Madeline's deteriorating condition, Roderick becomes "...enchained by certain superstitious impressions in regard to the mansion...." He believes that somehow the mansion controls his behavior, and what eventually will become of him. "...For many years, he had never ventured forth in regard to an influence whose supposititious force was conveyed in terms too shadowy here to be restated...."
In his desperation, Roderick pens a letter to a boyhood companion to whom he refers as "...his only personal friend..."
The friend travels on horseback to the House of Usher. It is the autumn of the year, and there is a sense of death and decay surrounding the Usher mansion. Although "no portion of the masonry had fallen...there appeared to be a wild inconsistency between its still perfect adaptation of parts, and the crumbling condition of the individual stones....The eye of a scrutinizing observer might have noticed a barely perceptible fissure, which, extending from the roof of the building in front, made its way down the wall in a zigzag direction, until it became lost in the sullen waters of the tarn."
"For several days ensuing...the friend busied himself in earnest endeavors to alleviate the melancholy of Roderick. They painted and read together, or the friend listened, as if in a dream, to the wild improvisations of Roderick's speaking guitar." One evening, Roderick informed his friend that "the lady Madeline was no more, and he stated his intention of preserving the corpse for a fortnight. At the request of Usher, his friend personally aided him in the arrangements for the temporary entombment." Madeline apparent body was taken to the basement which was placed in a coffin and sealed a vault.
Then one night the friend decides to read Roderick a story to alleviate his sorrow of the death of his dear sister. As the friend read the book aloud to him, it seemed to come to life. The hero of the tale was Ethelred who must break into the dwelling of the hermit and slay the dragon that guards the palace of gold with a silver floor in order to capture the brass shield which hung upon its wall. As his friend read, it seemed that "...from some remote portion of the mansion, there came indistinctly to their ears what might have been, in its exact similarity of character, the echo...of the very sounds that Sir Lancelot had so particularly described." If you want to know how the rest of the story plays out, I recomend that you read, one of Poe's greatest classics, "The Fall of the House of Usher".
Jennifer Galvin
Mrs. Hansen
Honors English
January 30, 2009
I have to admit, I have never been a fan of mystery novels. When I started reading this book without having read the back, I was surprised to find I had checked out a Sherlock Holmes novel. However, I was pleasantly surprised by the interest I took in it. Full of classic characters and suspense, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Hound of the Baskervilles takes the reader to an olden-day world of mystery.
The story begins in a morning when Sherlock Holmes and his sidekick Mr. Watson have a concerned visitor who asks for their help. He is a butler to the Baskerville family, and the man he serves has recently died. He has reason to believe that his death may be the work of a vicious and possibly supernatural dog. To me, this beginning seemed like a classic to a mystery, which I have read little of. I was curious about this genre of writing and about the book itself. The last of the Baskerville’s was moving in, and upon his arrival more curious events occur. The plot thickens more and the mysteries get more curious. From this point on in the book, I was hooked.
Most of the story takes place in Devonshire, England, and is told through the point of view of Mr. Watson. His tone was factual and eager. He, admiring Holmes, causes the reader to feel similarly. The point of view was a big part of the story. If it was told through a different point of view, the novel would not have had as much suspense and would, in my opinion, not have been as interesting of book.
Having read The Hound of the Baskervilles, I now can understand why mystery stories grab so many people.
http://midnitcafe.blogspot.com/2005/03/hound-of-baskervilles-book-review.html
http://www.byzantinecommunications.com/adamhoward/homework/highschool/baskervilles.html
The third in an enchanting series, The High Kings Tomb by Kristen Britain, just came out this last fall and has been long awaited by me and many others. I really enjoyed this book as I have the two that were written before this one. I purchased it about a week ago at Barnes and Noble for about sixteen dollars and haven’t regretted it.
This book is about Karigan G’ladheon who became a Green Rider, king’s messenger, about two years past and her adventures. It is an action packed book that deals with good, evil, and the grey areas in between. Karigan always manages to get herself into the most horrible situations and get herself out of them either with the help of a friend, ally, total stranger, or by magic. She always seems to be one step ahead of death and has only barely escaped several times. Karigan faces the issues of morality, tact, life, death, sacrifice, and love on a daily basis in the messenger service.
Even more characters develop in the High Kings Tomb than in the previous books. There is still King Zachary who is trying to run a huge empire while preventing Mornhavon the Black from taking over the world, and he is about to be married to one of Karigan’s friends Lady Estora. Oh, yeah, and King Zachary and Karigan are in love, but are not allowed to be married because she is a commoner. There is Alton and the projection of a magician named Merdigen who are attempting to fix the wall that Mornhavon split. The regular Greenies are back with vengeance and a bunch of new Green Riders join. Then there is Karigan who has already saved King Zachary’s life along with transporting Mornhavon the Black sometime into the undetermined future and suddenly starts seeing Gods.
Karigan can be arrogant, but she has a basis for it. For example Karigan is being trained by an arms master who was ashamed when Karigan lost a fight that he considered stupid. This is how she responded.
- “Your training has fallen short of my needs,” she announced. Her attire inspired a tone of arrogance in her voice that pleased her. “You have trained me on equal ground with others similarly equipped and prepared to fight. Yesterday as you can see, [she is dressed in full attire (corset and all)] I was not properly equipped or prepared to face an expert swordsman, yet I did so because I felt an artifact of Sacoridia’s history worth rescuing, an artifact held priceless by some. I may have been poor judgment on my behalf, but had I been attired differently, the outcome may have proved more favorable.” The corset left her breathless, but she concluded, “I demand you to train me to fight when formally attired.”(pg. 66)-
Strange things happen to Karigan specifically. This is one time:
- “Though I’m aware of Rider magic – now don’t give me that look, lass— that was strange enough for my old eyes. But no, that wasn’t it. You completely vanished for a few minutes. Thought you were gone for good.”(pg. 385) –
This is Damian, the messenger horse supplier, talking to Karigan and many more interesting things happen that have greater consequences than disappearing along her adventures.
One of the minor, but crucial characters was a spy named Beryl, who was also highly skilled in interrogation. Here is a group of her and her peers talking about her skill.
- “She got Immerez to talk,” Ty said.
“Didn’t take much,” Beryl said. “He wanted to keep his hand.” (pg. 546)-
This book has wonderful examples of foreshadowing too and it comes in the oddest ways. For instance closer to the beginning of the book for some reason she keeps getting called “Sir” by the ferry master and at the end of the book, well I can’t tell you that you’ll have to find out for your self.
I shall warn you that this book should not be read unless you have read the first two in the series which are the Green Rider and the First Rider’s Call. Her adventures will make so much more sense if you do.
In this book I found myself actually thinking, analyzing, and predicting as I read, but it was never what I expected or anticipated, making it a four star, by my standards. Kristen Britain has an interesting ability to close every book, but still leaving some sort of cliff hanger that has you on your toes waiting for the next book in the series. She also finds a way to incorporate just about every subject topic into her books even if they do have an interesting twist to them. Where else can you find magic, pirates, light sabers, a mystical race of human, Gods, avatars, horses and a medieval plot structure?
If you would like more opinions on this book here are a few websites that have book reviews by other readers.
http://www.amazon.com/review/product/0756402662/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?%5Fencoding=UTF8&showViewpoints=1
http://www.curledup.com/hightomb.htm
“Unleash The Night” by Sherrilyn Kenyon
Copyright 2006
Book review by: Jamie Lutter
Paranormal Romance
$10.99
Sure, we all know about vampires and werewolves. But pause in your small-minded thinking for a moment and expand your mind. What if there were were-tigers? Were-leopards? Were-any-sort-of-predator-you-can-imagine? Well in “Unleash The Night” there are all of those, plus a very special Were. A tigard. A mix between a snow leopard and a white tiger, Wren Tigarian is hated by all the were-hunters. A once-in-lifetime hybrid, and ‘deformed’ because he’s a white tiger, Wren had one of the most difficult childhoods you could ever imagine.
In “Unleash The Night” Wren is one of the prickliest, anti-social creature you can imagine. In took him a whole year to say a single word to a person, and for the first ten years he was in the Sanctuary, a sacred place where no one is allowed to harm another on the punishment of death, he spoke to no one at all. Yet when Marguerite D’Aubert Goudeau, a prominent U.S. senator’s daughter, walks into the biker’s bar that Wren works at, he finds himself instantly drawn to her.
Throughout the course of the book they save each other several times, and slowly find themselves falling in love, though they both know it will never work out. Maggie’s a human and a senator’s daughter no less, while Wren is a worthless tigard who’s being hunted by his own kind. When Wren is sentenced to death for a crime he didn’t commit they find themselves traveling back to the past, a special Katagari (what we think of as werewolves, though in truth their or Katagari of all strong predators) ability, to prove Wren’s innocence. Yet within the first half-hour they are discovered by Wren’s father, a cold jerk who never had time to pay attention to his son. Yet while they’re there Wren finds a whole ‘nother side to his father as he unravels the mystery of his own past.
Wren leaves his old home briefly to track down his murderous mother and while he does so his father bites Maggie while in his tiger form, giving her his mother’s powers and turning her into a white tiger similar to Wren’s form. Wren is angry at first, thinking it was his father who had simply eaten Maggie, and nearly killed her until he realized her eyes were brown, not blue like his fathers. They go on into their adventure, and as to Wren being proven innocent or not…If he gets the death sentence removed from his head. If Maggie and Wren get a happily ever after. Well, I guess you have to read it to find out.
To anyone who loves paranormal or romance, I would definitely recommend this book. Though it’s part of a series, the way this book is written you could read it by itself, though you might be a bit confused about the new terms, such as Katagari(animals who can take human form) and Arcadian(humans that can take animal form). There are references to Greek gods, and Daimons (soul-sucking vampires). If you like that sort of stuff like I do, however, you’ll thoroughly enjoy this book.
Wren is definitely a keeper in my book, prickliness and all. There’s nothing wrong with being antisocial, I enjoy being so at times. And I love his dry sense of humor when it comes to anything not about Maggie. When told to trust someone, Wren so vividly told the wolf Katagari, Fury, that "I'm not putting my faith and life in anyone's hands. All that ever got me was screwed, and my ass is currently sore from it." Vivid imagery that amuses be and makes me have to wrinkle my nose at the wonderful mental image it brings to my overactive imagination. Maggie on the other hand is quite the interesting person. She hates her socialite life her father forces her to live, and embraces the oddness of finding out what Wren truly is with an ease that I could understand. When they go back into the past, she makes a comment that has to make me laugh. She gets to see Wren when he was just a child, and says “Oh goody, it’s the X-files.” Most people would have been running screaming from the fact that their boyfriends were tigards and they’d jumped to the past, but she just let’s her sense of humor take over so she doesn’t freak out. I have to respect her for her mental strength there.
There’s a particular line of quotes from Wren that sort of bugged me at the thought that any parents could do such a think, fictional or not, and gives you an idea on what sort of childhood Wren had. When Maggie’s defending one of her friends by saying the had a bad childhood, Wren starts asking her a series of questions. “Did their parents ever try to kill them? Did their mothers ever tell them that they were abominations who should have been eaten the minute they were born? Did their parents ever try to sell them to a zoo?”(page 38) and as he’s asking Maggie this, he’s not being sarcastic. You find out that his mother actually did do so, and his father was the only reason none of that happens.
I personally love Kenyon’s writing style in all of these series, not just this book in particularly. She’s got a way of writing that will grab onto your attention with both hands and drag you back if you try to set the book down. She can make your heart bleed right along with Maggie’s as Wren accepts his death sentence so he won’t mess up her life and a second later have you chuckling to yourself at Wren’s dry sense of humor or the situations he finds himself in.
The setting of this book is based in New Orleans, both in current times around 1970. Kenyon seems to have a fascination with the French Quarter, and she gives splendid details on the hustle and bustle of life there. Katrina is mentioned in later books of her series, though it hasn’t happened in real life yet when “Unleash The Night” was published, so it wasn’t mentioned in this book.
The theme of this book was basically that giving up is easy; it’s life that’s hard. And that no matter how badly things are going, just stick to your guns and trudge through the bad part. Eventually, you’ll find the bright side of life, no matter how terrible it seems at the moment.
Again, I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who likes fiction and romance. Yes, it’s a smut book, I’ll admit it. But it’s relatively clean for a book like this, and Wren’s sweetness and nativity to Maggie remind me more of a child than some sexy warrior like most smut books.
I couldn’t find the quotes again in the book Mrs. Hansen, sorry. But I found it again on a website. If you don’t believe me, I can bring the book in. ^.^
http://www.google.com/search?q=Unleash+the+Night+quotes&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=ie7&rlz=1I7SUNA
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51gVZOzJT-L._SL500_AA240_.jpg
The Afterlife
By: Gary Soto
Book Review by: Rachel Sanger
Have you ever wondered what will happen to you after you die? Or how you will die? When you will die? Some people think of that subject often, most people think they will die when they are old. No one ever expects their life to end at a young age, still in high school with their whole life ahead of them. This is exactly what happens in Gary Soto’s book, The Afterlife, to a high school student, Jesus, whom his classmates and friends call, Chuy. He dies within the first few pages of the book! Now if that can’t hook you on a book, I don’t know what can. It was just so bizarre and random the way Chuy died, that I couldn’t lay the book down. Here he is in the bathroom at a night club, combing his hair, grooming himself up to impress this girl from school, whose name happens to be Rachel. What a coincidence! Well this guy walks in the bathroom wearing yellow shoes that Chuy finds impressing. Chuy tells the man he likes his shoes, and the man stabs him! Three times in the chest! The guy wipes his hands and simply walks right out of the bathroom, leaving Chuy on the cold, damp floor struggling for his last breath.
Chuy floats up, and he sees his body lying limp and dead on the bathroom floor, with a pool of blood around him, streaming off into the creases in the tiles. He floats around his home town in Fresno, California, the setting of this book, observing everything that was taken from him. Chuy plans on going to the homes of some of his friends, but first he floats to his parent’s house, who are mourning his death. He later finds out that his mother is planning to do something horrible about Chuy’s murder, as an act of revenge. He leaves, and lets gusts of wind push him around, but by tightening up his stomach muscles he is able to stay in one place if he chooses. He wonders around Fresno, and he sees the man in the yellow shoes! The man who killed him. Well what would you do if you were dead, and in your ghost form you seen the man who killed you? I would follow him, scare him, and pretty much torment him. And that is exactly what Chuy does. Chuy soon decides he’s had enough of that, so he goes to Rachel’s house, and surly, she is crying. It is here in Rachel’s living room he discovers that he is vanishing. His body is dissolving, limb by limb, leaving only stumps for his hands and feet. Floating down the street, Chuy sees a girl, who has just died. Chuy shows her a few things about being dead, and how to float and not let the wind carry you away, and other things that ghosts do.
Within the first few pages of reading The Afterlife, anyone will be hooked. Soto uses simple and poetic language and has a few Spanish words in there. There is a glossary in the back for the words, but they are scarcely used, so you can pretty much figure out what is being said with out looking up the words. Soto also uses unique comparisons such as: “the sun rose pink as a scar,” and, “laundry hung like the faded flags of defeated nations,” and such. He is very descriptive in this book.
The Afterlife has a thoughtful tone, and also makes you think of death. It makes you think of what really happens when you die, if you really float around for a few days, or if you are just dead, with nothing happening, or if there is a Heaven or a Hell. Nobody really knows; because nobody died and came back to tell us what happens. Also Chuy, the main character as you probably guessed, is sensitive to others’ feelings. He cares for his family, and his friends in grieving his death, and also the girl he meets in his “afterlife”. Chuy also has a sense of humor, even being dead. He isn’t all crabby and grumpy about not being able to talk to his family, and not knowing what will happen in a few days, as some people would be. Sure it saddens him, makes it mildly humorous, to help cope with his unknown future, and his sadness.
The Afterlife is written mostly in first person, making it comprehendible and easy to understand, but not so easy that it is boring to read. I strongly recommend this book to anyone who is looking for something to read. If you are the person who is only interested in reading romance novels, books that give you the chills, or even if you don’t like reading at all, I can promise that you will enjoy this book.
I’ll Be Seeing You
By: Lurlene McDaniel
Book Review by: Kristen Suchor
Can you imagine living in a hospital for any type of medical reasons for one than a few months? Don’t you think it would be really hard eating stale hospital food and having your family visit you only a couple times a month because they live more than an hour away from the hospital? Lurlene McDaniel is the author of many dramatic and heartbreaking stories of young teenagers that have to go through life in fear of death or live with a severe medical condition.
I have never been stuck in a hospital all by myself with no family members around and with an injury. Lurlene McDaniel makes me feel as if I was in the hospital watching this girl struggle through life. Carley Mattea is not the kind of girl that has all the guys noticing her or get asked on dates, she has a deformed faced due to her tumor that was on the left side of her head. One day she a boy by the name of Kyle rolls into the hospital with eye patches on his eyes. He was in a rocket fuel accident and he went blind, but he doesn’t know if he will be blind forever or just temporary. Carley walked into his room early in the morning and started talking to him and she was glad that he couldn’t see her face.
The author’s writing style is emotional, romantic, funny, and sad. I can almost feel what the characters are going through and I feel bad for them. I couldn’t imagine being blind, in a wheelchair, having a broken leg, or deformed face. I would be emotionally depressed forever; I don’t think I could think as positive as Carley does. The romantic style of the book is how close Carley and Kyle get through-out the story. They form a close bond and help each other through rough times. The book makes me laugh; Kyle calls her “the comedian”, because she makes hilarious remarks. I feel really bad for what these teenagers have to go through; can you imagine losing you sight? I know I couldn’t, your day would be long and boring. I’ll Be Seeing You is a Romantic fictional book and gives young adults inspiration in real life situations.
In my opinion, this book was an exciting book to read. I enjoyed it very much. This book was one that was worth my time. I encourage young adults to read any book by Lurlene McDaniel.
I would recommend this book or any of the books that Lurlene McDaniel writes to young teenage girls who like reading about cancer, blindness, and being in the hospital for long periods of time. Lurlene McDaniel creates drama in her books as well, with all the sicknesses and problems teenagers have in school.
Full of suspense, drama, and intensity, Jodi Picoult’s impeccable novel “The Perfect Match” brings forth an unimaginable amount of emotion to the reader. The main character, Nina Frost, is a diligent and focused prosecutor of child molesters who always sees the world in black and white. Her husband Caleb is a stonemason and the protector of the family. But their wonderful world of black and white soon starts to look gray when they realize their five-year-old son was sexually abused. Nina’s perspective as a prosecutor quickly changes, and her motherly instincts run her and everyone else around her ragged. Life as the Frost family knows it is changing dramatically, and not even Caleb can build a wall strong enough to guard his family from the difficulties that lie ahead.
Published in February 2003 by Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing Group, this novel is one I will never forget reading. I absolutely love the psychological depth of the book. Nina proves to be an astonishingly profound and twisted character that throws the story into interesting and unforeseen directions. Once I started reading I couldn’t put the book down. Jodi Picoult does a wonderful job of incorporating drama in such realistic topics in all of her books. The issues she writes about really aren’t as fictional as some people would like to believe, however. All of the events that occur in not only “The Perfect Match”, but in all of Picoult’s novels could actually happen. The our minds works in many twisted ways, and this novel obviously shows that. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who wants to explore the vast psychological depths of the human mind.
WEBSITES:
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/The-Perfect-Match/Jodi-Picoult/e/9780743418737
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Perfect-Match-Jodi-Picoult/dp/0340897228
This is just another silly test :D hahahahahaha
Jamie Werner
Mrs. Hansen
Honors English
January 30, 2009
Hidden Jewel: A Review
Everybody likes different types of books. I just so happen to like romantic mystery, or actually, anything to do with romance. Hidden Jewel, by V.C. Andrews, just so happens to be one of those romantic mysteries that I love so much.
Andrews' purpose for writing this book, I believe, is to find her roots in a certain background. She might be part Cajun, like the girl in the novel, or she might be of a different nationality, as far as I know. This novel does a fine job of explaining how to find out about your background.
Pearl, a high school graduate looking forward to becoming a doctor, takes a summer job as a nurse's aide at the local hospital. She meets a doctor, who has the looks and is falling for Pearl. He asks her to help him study. Does he really want Pearl to help him study, or does he want more? She later asks her mother if the whole family can go visit the bayou, where she grew up. Her mother says, for the first time in years, that they will go out there. This vacation is where all the trouble begins for Pearl and her family. What happens? That is for me to know, and the reader to find out. While looking for someone, Pearl meets Jack, a Cajun-born oil driller. Does the rich girl think of Jack as a poor, dirty scumbag, or does she fall for him? Does she love more than one guy, or can she easily choose? Shortly after a hurricane, an old 'friend' of her mother's comes to the mansion and tells Pearl that he has found her mother. Has he, or is he getting revenge on Pearl's grandfather? Does Pearl ever find her mother?
I adored the fact of Andrews making the main character someone that I could somewhat relate to. Pearl, the main character, is a girl fresh out of high school, and looking for a job. She is so involved in becoming a doctor, that she actually takes a summer job at the local hospital. I also love the amount of suspense that Andrews uses in this novel. When I read the book, I thought I knew what would happen, but then something else would happen, or it would take a long time to get there. The suspense did keep me on my toes, however. I just could not put this book down. Not many find conclusions, ending with a cliffhanger, to be very interesting. However, I do find these interesting. I really wish that there is a sequel to this novel. A sequel would capture my attention right away.
I believe that anyone, especially a female, would love to read this novel. There is some historical and societal issues with living in New Orleans and the Bayou. No one from New Orleans talks to the people from the Bayou. I'm sure that is how it has been for decades.
I hope that everybody would like to at least try the book out, if they would like.
Book Review by Caitlin Bentzin
Title: Daddy’s Little Girl
By: Mary Higgins Clark
January 30, 2009
No one every dreams of a day when they will have found their sister dead, on the floor of a garage, where she lay in her own puddle of blood. In the book Daddy’s Little Girl by Mary Higgins Clark Ellie Cavanaugh and her parents go through the heartbreaking experience of loose there oldest daughter and Elli’s only older sister. Ellie finds her sister at in a hide out behind there house on the Westerfield property where Andrea, Ellie’s sister, was secretly meeting a nineteen year old young man by the name of Rob. Ellie found herself at the feet of here dead sister where she was laying in her own puddle of blood.
22 years later Ellie finds her self living alone with a mother that drank herself to death and a father that won’t talk to her because he still blames her for Andrea’s death. Ellie goes back to her home town to make sure Rob Westerfield; the convicted murderer of her sister, who is up for parole, does not get out of prison for long. She is convinced he is the one that committed the crime and wants him to stay in prison. Ellie doesn’t think 22 years in prison is enough time for the murdering of her sister. Ellie starts her own investigation about what really happened the night of her sisters’ murder.
Mary Higgins Clark slowly unveils the troubling family story within the tension of the murder of Ellie’s sister and reminds the reader that behind every tragedy there are human beings just trying to cope with events. Clark does a fantastic job writing this novel geared for young adults with a wide variety of vocabulary easy to understand. The way she writes the story in a easy to understand sequences let your mind wonder on more important events like what is Ellie think, by putting her self into danger as she goes after Rob Westerfield? Or what is going to happen to Rob, or to Ellie? Is she really going to be satisfied with knowing Rob could be put in prison longer, because everyone knows there is nothing she could do to bring her sister back? This is a must read for young teenage girls who like to stay guessing at what’s going to happen next.
Websites:
http://www.teenreads.com/reviews/0743206045.asp
http://www.bookbrowse.com/reviews/index.cfm?book_number=1006
Title: The Fountainhead
Author: Ayn Rand
ISBN-10: 0452286379
ISBN-13: 978-0452286375
Type: Novel
Length: 736 (paperback)
Price: $14.51 (paperback/amazon.com)
To one person, the American Dream might be marrying the perfect person, having a job that pays well, and watching their children, their grandchildren, and perhaps even their great-grandchildren grow up. To one man, an architect named Howard Roark, the American Dream was much more than any one man could imagine.
Howard Roark, the protagonist of Ayn Rand’s “The Fountainhead,” always dreamt of being a famous architect and tried his best everyday to achieve said dream. But after refusing to follow his architecture school’s outdated traditions, Roark gets expelled, forcing him to leave for New York to find work. Roark’s old schoolmate, Peter Keating, moves to New York as well and is quickly employed by the well-known Francon & Heyer architectural firm. Roark opened up his own architectural office, but failed miserably (he refused to design contemporary buildings) and is soon forced to take a job at a granite quarry in Connecticut.
While in Connecticut, Roark meets Dominique Francon, and is immediately intrigued by her. Roark is soon asked to design a building so he moves back to New York, and Dominique follows; the two of them meet in secret, but in public, Dominique does all the can to destroy Roark’s already diminishing reputation.
Dominique marries a publisher named Gail Wynand, who also is attracted to her. Wynand and Roark hit it off immediately; unbeknownst to Wynand, however, is the fact that Roark and Dominique are still seeing each other. Keating, single and unemployed, looks to Roark for help—Roark decides to let Keating take credit for the building he was designing as long as nothing in his original design gets changed. Roark comes to find out, however, that the plans he originally drew up had been modified, so he decides to blow the building up. When the police show up, demanding answers, Roark leaves with them, leaving a country full of people infuriated at him.
At his trial, it is him against America, him against the court, him against himself. But to everybody’s amazement, he manages to sway the court in a discussion about selflessness and the absolute need to be honest with not only other people but most importantly yourself.
This novel really made me think of just how greedy people today really are. Everybody strives to be their best, not worrying about who they destroy on their way up. IN today’s society, it doesn’t matter how nice you are or how good at your job you are; it’s all about how high up in life you are and how much money you have to your name. If there’s anything I learned from "The Fountainhead,” it would definitely have to be that money and fame isn’t everything. Living in the moment and being you is what makes life worth the while, not trying to mimic others and worrying about money. If we all acted slightly like Howard Roark, can you just imagine how well off we would be? No greed, no worrying about what the future would bring; nothing but living in the moment and enjoying every second of it. Would I recommend this book? You bet. This book taught me more about life than any other book I’ve read or any other show I have watched, and I think “The Fountainhead” should be a must read for readers of almost all ages.
Ayn Rand, a huge zealot of individualism (which all of her novels portray), really believed and stressed the need for everybody to be themselves and the best they could possibly be. She wrote Howard Roark’s part as a character she’s always dreamt of: “the ideal man, man as ‘he could be and ought to be.’” The book was published by the Bobbs-Merrill Company in 1943—it quickly became a world bestseller and is known as one of the most influential, individualistic pieces of writings ever. Rand strongly believed in what she called “Objectivism” and believed that every man in every country can become great men. Throughout the novel, the one main concept Rand tries to get through is individualism, and she uses Roark as a symbol of every man on Earth. Roark had to succumb to many challenges but the one thing she stress was the fact that HE GOT THROUGH IT. “Never ask people. Not about your work. Don’t you know what you want?” (pp. 33). “I didn’t come here to do you a favor…I came here for a simple, selfish reason—the same reason that makes a man choose the cleanest food he can find. I didn’t come here for your sake. I came for mine,” (pp. 328). Both of these quotes stress individualism…yeah. Ha-ha
Now I’m not saying we should take everything Rand believed literally, but I am saying that people may push you down or try to overpower you, but you must always remember that the only person who wants to see you fail is you. Who doesn’t like to push themselves to the limit, seeing exactly how close they can come to epically failing but succeeding in the end? There’s not better feeling than proving yourself wrong…at least not to me. And Howard Roark is one helluva guy to look up to.
http://www.bookrags.com/notes/fou/QUO.html
http://www.bookrags.com/notes/fou/TOP5.html
http://www.aynrand.org/site/PageServer?pagename=about_ayn_rand_aynrand_biography
(may the best one win, Austin ;) hahaha....and sorry for the length :p haha)
Austin J. Whitley
Mrs. Hansen
Honors English
January 30, 2009
In no way do I condone/promote the use of drugs and/or alcohol, nor do I do them either. “We had two bags of grass, seventy-five pellets of mescaline, five sheets of high powered blotter acid, a salt shaker half full of cocaine, a whole galaxy of multi-colored uppers, downers, screamers, laughers... Also a quart of tequila, a quart of rum, a case of beer, a pint of raw ether and two dozen amyls.” If this quote doesn’t do make you want to know what is going on, you obviously don’t know what makes for a great story. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream, by Hunter S. Thompson, is something fierce that will quench your reading thirst, like the Gatorade of literature.
“There was madness in any direction, at any hour. You could strike sparks anywhere. There was a fantastic universal sense that whatever we were doing was right, that we were winning”. Raoul Duke and his psychopathic attorney, Dr. Gonzo, are to field reporters who are sent to Las Vegas to cover the Mint 400 desert race. Reporting is of minimal to the other obstacles these two characters are faced with. While running from the law and usually on some sort of drug trip, Raoul and Dr. Gonzo can find themselves on a drug trip and in some sort of trouble nearly always throughout the novel.
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream is a must read for anyone who has pulse and can comprehend a book. “There was only one road back to L.A. - U.S. Interstate 15. Just a flat-out high speed burn through Baker and Barstow and Berdoo. Then onto the Hollywood Freeway, and straight on into frantic oblivion. Safety. Obscurity. Just another freak, in the freak kingdom.”
http://www.hoboes.com/html/FireBlade/Books/FearLoathing.shtml
http://www.jetcafe.org/npc/reviews/gambling/fear_and_loathing_in_las_vegas.html
http://www.amazon.com/Fear-Loathing-Las-Vegas-American/dp/0679785892
ashley your late!!!!!
I won this one guys I take the $5!!!!
Anonymous...it's "you're"
and we were both late...according to this. My clock still read 11:59, but oh well :D hahaha
Nicely played Austin :D haha
Living my whole life with an alcoholic relative has helped me relate to this book in several respects. A Million Little Pieces by James Frey has shown, in every way, shape, and form, what life is like living as an addict. This book was written in regards to Mr. Frey’s life while using drugs, and the time he spent in rehab. As written by the Los Angeles Times Book Review, “Gripping…A great story…You can’t help but cheer his victory.”
First of all, there has been much controversy with this book. When A Million Little Pieces was published and became well-known, it acquired much recognition and praise. The book was sought after by many and was even good enough to be recognized in Oprah’s Book Club! Soon after, word had gotten out that this book was a fake. Mr. Frey had lied and fabricated stories to put in his book to make it extra exciting. A Million Little Pieces was read by so many and thought to be totally true…it was supposed to be his autobiography; its purpose was to expose the outside world to the world of a drug and alcohol addict. Turns out, it was all a sham. Much controversy had come out over this book after it was found out to be fictitious. Below is a link that explains the debate:
• http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/0104061jamesfrey1.html
A Million Little Pieces was an impressive book. Even though there were untruthful parts to this story, it doesn’t take away from the excitement of the reading. My favorite books to read are ones similar to this; I enjoy reading autobiographies and true-life stories. As I was reading, I was taking into account the people in my life who have been in some of these same situations; taking the wrong path and making stupid decisions can lead to a life of misery and destruction, as portrayed in this book.
Once you start reading this book, you will not be able to put it down. It has such a dark, appealing tone and style that leaves you in suspense throughout the whole book. “I wake to the drone of an airplane engine and the felling of something warm dripping down my chin. I lift my hand to feel my face. My front four teeth are gone, I have a hole in my cheek, my nose is broken and my eyes are swollen nearly shut.”
I don’t know if I am endorsing this book or persuading you not to read it because it is not entirely true. I can honestly say that I enjoyed every minute of the book. Mr. Frey may have flubbed up a little in stating that this book is entirely true, but it is still an amazing book written through the skills of a great author.
• http://www.amazon.com/Million-Little-Pieces-James-Frey/dp/0385507755
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