The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

Becca writes:


            The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is about a boy, Huck Finn, who grew up with a very different life than most of us have. Huck’s mother was not in his life and so it was his father, Pap Finn, raising him in the wilderness. Pap was always getting drunk and beating Huck, providing him with a reason to be terrified of his father. Huck was most comfortable in the wilderness on his own, especially after Pap disappeared, with torn clothes and bad manners. At the end of the previous book, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Huck and his friend Tom find six thousand dollars apiece of robbers’ money that is confiscated by Judge Thatcher for good keeping and to get interest. The Widow decides to take Huck in and civilize him which takes some getting used to for Huck. He is expected to wash up for dinner, be at dinner on time, and not create a mess, which are all things he is not used to. Huck is also expected to attend school daily. At the beginning Huck despises school and all other civilized things, but as time goes on he begins to tolerate and even like them a little, though he would never admit that. After a while at the Widow’s, Tom decides to start a gang of robbers who will act as the pirates in his books. They never end up stealing anything but have fun imagining their adventures. All is going well for Huck when he notices familiar footprints in the snow by The Widow’s house. At once, Huck realizes that his father is back in town. Huck runs to The Judge’s house and gives the money in his name to The Judge, knowing that he cannot have more than a penny to his name with his father in town. Pap shows up in Huck’s room and creates problems. He takes Huck’s money and when The Judge and The Widow try to gain legal custody of Huck they are denied by a judge who does not know the ways of Pap Finn. Pap ends up kidnapping Huck and bringing him to a cabin down the river where he keeps the door locked and a shotgun under his pillow. Huck wants desperately to escape and go far away where his father and The Widow are not so he begins to saw his way out of the cabin when his father is in town getting drunk.

 

            The main conflict in this story so far revolves around Pap Finn. Things are going well for Huck until he shows up with trouble. Pap seems to think that he is the boss of Huck and that Huck owes his life to him. Pap says that he killed himself raising Huck and now that Huck finally reaches an age where he can be of any help he wants to disown his own father. Pap is also very upset by the fact that Huck can now read because he is the first of the family to be able to do that. Pap feels that Huck is trying to prove that he is better than his family and forbids Huck from returning to school. Huck wants to be away from his father but he is not too keen on the idea of going back to civilized life with The Widow so he has no idea what to do or how to get out of the reach of Pap.

Siddhartha

John writes:

            Siddhartha by Herman Hesse is a book about a deep internal struggle in which a Brahmin from India goes on a spiritual journey in an attempt to find his inner self. The story begins with Siddhartha the protagonist and his good friend Govinda in their boyhoods.  Sidhartha is already quite knowledgeable but is thirsty for more knowledge, he has learned from the most esteemed scholars and yet he does not know everything.  Govinda is Siddhartha’s best friend and completely adores Siddhartha; Govinda is often referred to as Siddhartha’s shadow.  After a long meditation the protagonist decides to venture off with a group of nomadic people known as the Samanas. The Samanas are a group of people who live in the forests and only get food through begging. From them he learns how to forget his bodily feelings but this is only temporary, so Siddhartha goes off with Govinda to see the glorious Buddha.  Buddha is wise and teaches one how to find inner peace.  Siddhartha finds flaws with Buddha’s teachings and goes off however Govinda chooses to stay.  It is hear that they separate and Sidhartha comes to the realization that to find ones self one must not close out nature but exist along side it.  It is hear Siddhartha’s journey begins in earnest. 


            As for the setting of this book it takes place in the forests villages and mountains of India.  The descriptions of mountain and forest streams are beautiful as well as the way all of nature is depicted throughout this book.  Much of the character within this book is Sidhartha who is the main character although there is Govinda and people that Sidhartha meets on his travels few have any major roles other than to convey philosophical thoughts through the main character.  For example there is the ferry boat man who teaches Siddhartha of kindness and hospitality or the woman that Sidhartha meets in a village who tempts Siddhartha.  All characters so far are more plot devices then actual characters.  Themes in this book are strong but not always right in front of you.  There are many ideas thrown around none are really more important than the others.  One theme is the theme of enlightenment this is rather constant throughout the story.  However the way to reach enlightenment is not clear Sidhartha tries shutting out feeling, praying, meditating, and getting in touch with nature all too different results.  Further more in many of the stories have themes such as generosity, love, boastfulness, nature and many other themes. So far I have enjoyed this novel for what it lacks in characters it makes up for in themes and deep ideas.

Brave New World

Kelly writes:
Brave New World

The novel Brave New World by Aldous Huxley switches off from the perspectives of 5 people, Bernard Marx, Lenina Crowne, John the Savage, Helmholtz Watson, and The Director. The narrative third person omniscient and switches from one character to the next quite rapidly. Although there are 5 points of view, there are 3 main characters. The first main character is Bernard Marx, he lives in the new world, he is an Alpha Plus but has the physique of a Gamma which makes him very self conscious, and he is very shy and depressed. He is very fond of Lenina Crowne, anther main character, Lenina is a Beta who is very pretty and unorthodox by the standards of the new world. She dated the same man for four months when most date more than one person at a time, she also is attracted to Bernard even though he is seen as a misfit, she is however still very in sync with the world, she loves soma and throughout the novel she repeats the sayings they teach you when you are young. The last main character is John the Savage. He lived in the savage reservation all his life with his mom, Linda who lived in the new world until she got lost in there when she went there with her love at the time, the director. John is shunned by the savage society because of his mothers ways and was taught how to read and speak English by his mother, and has read the complete works of Shakespeare, something that does not exist in the new world. Bernard and Lenina go to the savage reservation together on a trip and discover John and decide to bring him back to the new world. Bernard becomes popular for discovering the savage and is happy and very boastful at this point in the book. John really likes Lenina and Lenina likes him but there is no love in the new world so Lenina can’t have the same feelings as her and this is causing a conflict between them. There is no definite antagonist in the book so far, it seems as the new system overall is the antagonist seeing as mostly everyone is happy besides the few people that don’t fit in such as Bernard, John, and Helmhotz who is Bernard’s friend that is extremely bright but isn’t able to use his abilities. When Bernard brings back John and his mother Linda to the new world and introduces them to the director, John tells him that he is his father, a thing so obscene to say that the director retires from his position, in the new world there is no mothers and fathers and women don’t actually give birth. Linda who was really only around 45 years old was said to look like a zombie, very old and bloated because in the new world everyone looks no older than 3o and dies at a fairly young age so natural aging disgusts them, this shows the reader that people in the new world have been so conditioned that they can’t even conceive of anything less than perfect.

Foxfire
Monica writes:
 
In the novel Foxfire, there is a group of friends that decide they want to become a girl gang.  This was very unheard of, but they loved the idea.  The characters so far are Madeleine Wirtz (Maddy-Monkey), who is skinny and has dark brown hair, Margaret Sadovsky (Legs) who is the leader of Foxfire, Bettie Siefried (Goldie) who was too old for her grade and was very tall, Loretta Maguire (Lana) who was tall and thin with platinum blonde hair, and Elizabeth O’Hagan (Rita) who was made fun of a lot because she was chubby. 
Most of these girls had grown up together and went to the same elementary school.  They live in upstate New York, and most of the girls have a hard life.  Rita is picked on a lot therefore her friends stick up for her.  Rita has to stay after school a lot with their math teacher Mr.Buttinger because she did not do well in class.  He made her feel uncomfortable so the girls vandalized his car and said very cruel things on it.  After that he never returned to the school.  This was one of the mischievous things the girls did, and they wrote Foxfire Revenge on the car, but no one knew what Foxfire was.
 Foxfire had come about on New Years day 1953, Legs had thought of the idea.  She decided that since they were such close friends they should make their own gang to watch out for one another.  That day they swore they would keep their gang secret.  They became Foxfire by taking an oath to swear to be sisters of Foxfire.  They made it official, tattooing themselves with an ice pick making a flame tattoo with red dye, and becoming blood sisters by using each others blood.    

A Tree Grows In Brooklyn, Betty Smith

Mary writes:

In A Tree Grows In Brooklyn, Betty Smith tells the story of Francie, a young girl living with her family in Brooklyn, New York in the early 1900s. Francie’s life is not an easy one. Her family is dirt poor, her father has a drinking problem and has trouble providing for his family, her mother is tired and angry all the time and she and her brother, Neely, have to work to help the family while going to school.

Francie is a smart girl who knows that a good education is her only way out of a difficult life. Her mother thinks Francie is a dreamer and feels she is doomed to a life like hers. Francie doesn’t always get along with her mother and often feels her mother doesn’t love her as much as her brother. However, Francie adores her father despite his many faults. They have a very close relationship. This often cause a conflict with her mother. Francie always comes to her father’s defense when her mother expresses anger and frustration with his drinking problem. Francie sees the good in him while her mother can only see him as a failure.

Francie’s father wants Francie to get the best education possible and finds a way for her to attend a better school than the one she was supposed to attend. He wants Francie to follow her dreams. He is a dreamer who sees things in a positive way while her mother is practical and sees things as they are. Even though a death changes the family, Francie continues with her dreams and goes on to with her education always dreaming of a better life.


I would recommend this book to anyone who likes reading about people overcoming difficult circumstances to better their lives. Although it can be sad at times, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is a very uplifting story.

Salis Marner

Francesca rites: Salis Marner

Silas Marner starts off slow. It explains how he is a weaver, and since there were so many other weavers he was exiled from his home and moved to a new town. It is slow because I feel like it explains that in great detail. Once you get farther into the book it becomes very intriguing. When Silas moves to the new town he becomes a weaver. Since there are not many weavers in the town he makes a lot of money and ends of pretty rich. The thing is that he lives modestly. His house is small and he almost never indulges him self. Salis hates to spend his money because he thinks it is a waste and he likes to have it around. He hides it under the floor boards of his house. A man finds out it is there and he wants to steal it. One night when Salis is away he sneaks into the house and locates the coins quite easily. He saw the areas where the sand was covering it and then it was easy.
The theme so far in the book is greed. I don’t know if Salis is necessarily greedy but he is so caught up in saving the money and counting it all the time he never uses it. It was very easy for the thief to steal. Salis should have spent the money and not just counted it. The money was worthless because money is suppost to be spent. It is good to save some but if you are never going to spend it, what is the point of the money?
So far I haven’t really gotten a glimpse into Salis’s character. Beside the fact the he his so attached to his money, he hasn’t shown any other traits. I think that he doesn’t really have much to live for. Not that he is sad or any thing but he doesn’t have a family and I think that he lives for the money. Salis goes into town after the robbery and sees the thief and a few other men. I think that he is suspicious that he did it, but the thief is very defensive. He gets mad and says do you have any prove and since the reader knows he did it he seems very nervous that he will get in trouble.
I think the book is very good so far. Beside the fact that it starts slow, it is written extremely well , considering the author is George Elliot. I would definitely recommend this book and if you don’t like the beginning I think you should try to stick it out. Trust me it gets really good!

A Prayer for Owen Meany

Danny writes:

In the book A Prayer for Owen Meany, a boy named Johnny Wheelwright is revisiting his past with his best friend, Owen Meany, and his deceased mother. When his mother died, Johnny still didn’t know who his father was despite how many times he asked her. She met his father on the Boston & Maine train that took her to her singing lessons that she only missed three times since he was born. Shortly after she met Johnny’s father, she conceived Johnny and during her pregnancy, Johnny’s father left. However, Johnny’s mother (Tabitha) met another man on the train that went to Harvard and was a teacher named Daniel Needham that she really did love. Johnny’s mother was beautiful, had a slim figure, and was a sweater girl. Everyone admired her for her looks and kindness, including Owen Meany. He was a very small, religious, and studious kid. He was so short in fact that he “was so small that not only did his feet not touch the floor when he sat in his chair—his knees did not extend to the edge of his seat; therefore his legs stuck out straight, like the legs of a doll.” In Sunday school, the whole class picked him up and passed him around the room. Although he hated that aspect of Sunday school, he was very religious and had very outspoken thoughts about religion such as “a person’s faith goes at its own pace,” that a group can’t ever all be ready to sing, prayer and stand at the same time. He is very studious and does great in school. He’s almost like a son to Johnny’s mom, so she always said that he should go to Gravesend Academy with Johnny, but he always never wanted to go because he said it wasn’t a place for him.

As far as the plot goes, it starts to begin during the end of the 1st chapter, on about page 35. It is Owen and Johnny’s last year of Little League, a year to be looked forward to according to Johnny, and the game is nearing its end. Owen is being substituted in for Johnny’s place in the line up and he steps up to the plate. Johnny’s mother just arrived to the game and she walked down behind the backstop and was waving to someone in the bleachers. Owen had just taken his first ball, and now the pitcher was winding up again. He threw the ball and Owen swung very hard, fouling the ball behind him right into Johnny’s mother’s left temple, knocking her out, killing her before she even hit the ground on her fall. Owen was so ashamed and devastated of this moment that immediately, he jumped on his bike and rode home. Just before he left, he screamed to Johnny with his strange, awkward voice, “’I’M SORRY!’” This is as far as I have read in the book, but according to the summary on the book, something “extraordinary and terrifying” happens to Owen Meany. This is intriguing to me, so I’m anticipating the rest of the book.

Title Omitted

Dan writes:

          In the beginning, the story starts with the introduction of St, Clouds, a hospital of an orphanage during the 192_ in Maine. The town that the orphanage is in is much more of a logging camp. There is also the Rames paper company which has workers cut down trees and is destroyed for paper, and there is a long down Stream River which the logs are thrown to travel by. We are also introduced to the characters Dr. Larch, head of the orphanage, two nurses, Angela and Edna, and the protagonist, Homer Wells, who was born at St. Clouds.

          So far in the book, we learn about the characteristics of Dr. Larch and Homer Wells, Homer Wells I found very interesting. Dr. Larch is a old man, who has a thought on almost anything, he hates the Rames paper company for killing the forests, loves the children of St. Clouds and teaches/guides them as they grow up about the real world until they are adopted. He has many rules and goals for the children which they must follow and most importantly Dr. Larch is very well mannered and behaved, he takes many notes of Homer, St. Clouds and anything else that comes to his mind. Homer Wells, is a bit odd, for when he was born, he did not cry, at all, so when he was adopted (three times before, but all parents failed) they always tried to make him cry, even by hurting him. He also is a bit unique in skills, for his age (at the moment he’s 12) has has read the book Great Expectations twice, which is a hard and very long book. He also shows few signs of emotion, and shows it only when he is happy or to make others happy. In the end, Homer Wells is still not adopted because no family can really raise him, so Dr. Larch gives up and has Homer Well live in St. Clouds.      

Travels with My Aunt by Graham Greene

Connor writes:
Plot Summary:
In the book Travels with My Aunt by Graham Greene, you follow the adventures of a retired banker, Henry Puling, with his Aunt Augusta. Henry is a solitary man who has lived alone for a number of years, has never married, and recently retired from the bank to spend more time growing his petunias. The story opens up with Henry attending his mother’s funeral where he becomes reacquainted with his mother’s sister Augusta. After the ceremony and the cremation of his mother Mr. Puling is invited to his Aunt’s apartments for tea. His aunt reveals to him that he is not in fact the blood son of his mother. Apparently his father had gotten a friend of his mothers pregnant, the young girl did not want the baby so his mother agreed to marry his father and fake the pregnancy all to save the reputation of her friend. Augusta describes her sister as marrying and dying pure. He and his aunt then delve deeper into each others lives, he explains what his life has been for the past 50 years since they had last met and she explains about what her life consists of. He finds that his Aunt Augusta is a lively old woman who has had many travels and adventures. She has traveled all over the world and seems to have had a different consort in every country. She is also is not afraid to voice what she thinks. She has no qualms about acting or speaking about appropriate matter. Henry is often embarrassed by his aunt’s openness into her private affairs. This meeting comes to an end with an offer to accompany her on a trip in the near future. This trip came much sooner than Henry expected his aunt called him a few days later inquiring to as if he would like to accompany her on a trip to Brighton. There they go to visit an old friend of Augusta’s, a psychic who tells him he will have many adventures in the near future.

Literary Elements:
Characters-
• Aunt Augusta: A strong willed woman who is presented as the aunt of Henry Puling but is not. She has spent her life traveling around the world and has not seen Henry in 50 years. She has many different loves and consorts the most recent of which an African American named Wordsworth.
• Henry Puling: He is the main character of the story a boring retired bank manager who has few interests in life. He spends his day’s unmarried growing petunias. His supposed mother has recently died when he is re-introduced to his “Aunt” Augusta.
• Wordsworth: He is Augusta’s African American consort who lives with her and attends to her needs. He has very peculiar practices but is loved deeply by Augusta. Early into the story he leaves England because he is suspected of possessing cocaine. It is believed that he switched the ashes of Henry’s mother with cocaine.
Themes, Setting, Conflict:
There are many themes to this story, as it progress more and more are revealed. Some themes are, growing older, finding yourself, and love. The characters of this book travel all over the world searching for these, and even trying to escape them, in the case of old age. Henry goes with his aunt because he believes that it will help him to better understand himself and even acquires the taste for adventure along the way

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey
Mike writes:

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey is about life in a mental hospital. It focuses in on one man named Chief Bromden who is a patient in the hospital who pretends to be deaf and mute. Bromden is the narrator and describes hospital life such as the daily schedule for the patients. The hospital is run by a woman named Nurse Ratched also known as the Big Nurse who uses manipulation to control the patients and staff members.. Life around the hospital begins to change when the rebellious Randle McMurphy becomes a patient there. McMurphy quickly begins to try to take control of the patients, questions Nurse Ratched’s authority and breaks hospital rules.

There are many characters in the novel. A large amount of the characters are patients and chronic patients are known as Chronics and slightly insane patients are known as Acutes. The narrator of the story is Chief Bromden. Bromden is half Native-American, very tall and pretends to be deaf and mute. He served in World War Two and has been in the hospital longer then any other patient. Randle McMurphy is a rebellious man and frequent gambler who fakes insanity to prevent being placed in prison. He said he has had many careers such as a logger, a soldier, and a laborer on a farm. The main antagonist of the story is Nurse Ratchet who is also known as the Big Nurse. She acts nice around patients but is actually ruthless and manipulates the patients and staff so the hospital runs as she wants it to. The orderlies are three African-American men who make the patients to work such as cleaning the halls. Another character is an Acute named Billy Bibbits. Bibbits has a speech impediment and has attempter suicide multiple times. Also there is an Acute named Mr. Harding. Mr. Harding is president of the patients council and is extremely insecure about his good looks. Finally, there is the head doctor. The head doctor is supposed to be in charge of the hospital but Nurse Ratched uses him as a puppet to run the hospital. Besides that there are many minor characters who are other patients or staff members.

The setting of the novel is in a mental institution in Oregon. The time the novel is set in is probably in the late 1950’s or early 1960’s due to the way the patients are treated and the slang terms.

The main conflict of the story is McMurphy resisting Nurse Ratched. He is often questioning her authority in front of other patients and breaks the rules of the hospital. At one point in the novel he breaks many of the hospital rules by sneaking prostitutes into the hospital late at night.

Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy

Ashlee writes:
            The novel Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy contains 374 pages. It takes place in England during the late 1800’s. The main character is a farmer named Gabriel Oak. He’s twenty eight years old, a bachelor, lives with his dog in a little hut and works every day. He is easy going, properly dressed, mature, mannered, arrives to church every Sunday and is a good man.

             Going into the first big event in the book is when Gabriel meets Bathsheba for the first time. It all started when he closed the shades on the side of his hut leaving no ventilation while a fire was burning. He becomes unconscious and when he wakes up his head is on the lap of a pretty woman. She saves him by splashing the last pail of milk she’ll have for the rest of the season to wake him. Gabriel introduces himself and asks for the kind woman’s name but she won’t tell him and leaves with her identity being a mystery. Since they are distant neighbors Gabriel goes to the house in which the mysterious woman visits. He finds another woman there who is her aunt. Gabriel soon finds out the woman’s name is Bathsheba Everdene, a bachelorette. Gabriel falls in love with Bathsheba for she saved his life and feels a connection with her now. He asks Bathsheba’s aunt, Ms. Hurst, for Bathsheba’s hand in marriage but she tells him that Bathsheba has been courted by many men and for her to chose him would be highly unlikely. Feeling turned down he leaves to go home. On his journey, Bathsheba comes by on a horse to tell him that her aunt was lying and to ignore what she said. Gabriel then asks Bathsheba to marry him but she clarifies that even though she is a bachelorette, she doesn’t want a husband. She doesn’t want a man to tell her what to do and to own her so she tells Gabriel that she’s not interested in marrying him. He accepts her decision with hesitation and does not give up on her.

            Gabriel’s herding dog leads his sheep over a cliff leaving him with nothing so he decides to pack up and move on. On his journey he tumbles into Weatherbury where Bathsheba has, prior to Gabriel’s knowledge, moved to. He sees her again and asks for a job and she asks him to be a shepherd. Even though Gabriel is trying to win Bathsheba’s heart, there is also another suitor, her neighbor Mr. Boldwood.

            Up until this point of half way through the book, it seems that the main events that will take place during this novel with be between Gabriel, Bathsheba and her suitors. This first half has shown the development of characters as well as the beginning of conflicts. I soon hope to find out if Gabriel will prevail in winning Bathsheba’s hand in marriage, don’t you?

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

Lea writes:

Jane Eyre starts off narrating the story as a young girl living with her aunt and her three cousins in Gateshead. She is treated horribly and unfairly by all in the household, especially her eldest cousin, John. He abuses her on a regular basis and it is just overlooked by her aunt, referred to at Miss Reed in the novel. Jane came to live with the Reeds soon after she was born, because her parents died. Her Uncle Reed took her in, but soon passed away. His last demand of Miss Reed was to “rear and maintain me [Jane] as one of her own children,” (20).
After a frightening encounter in the “red room,” where she believes that she sees her Uncle Reed’s ghost, she faints and finds herself in the care of Mr. Lloyd, the family’s apothecary. After discussing her home life with Mr. Lloyd, he suggests to Miss Reed that Jane be sent off to school. Jane also learns more information about her deceased mother, who was in face part of the rich Reed family, but was written out of her Grandfather’s will because he and the family disapproved of her husband. While waiting to be sent off to school, Jane receives harsher and crueler treatment from the Reed family. Finally arrangements are made for her to attend Lowood, an all girls school. While meeting with the school’s headmaster, Mr. Brocklehurst, Miss Reed falsely informs him that Jane has a habit of lying and a deceitful character. Once Jane confronts her about this, she states, “It was the hardest battle had I fought, and the first victory I had gained.” Before Jane leaves for school, Bessie, a servant in the household, confides that Jane is her favorite of the children.

In these first chapters, many characters are introduced to the reader. Some, like Miss Reed, John, and the rest of the children, are hostile and malicious towards Jane, while others like Mr. Lloyd, Uncle Reed and Bessie are sympathetic of Jane and try to help her. Since Jane is narrating the story, the reader gets the most information and insight on her character. In the beginning, she is essentially trapped in her unfair life, and sees school as her one way out. She is also progressively beginning to stand up for herself more, against both Miss Reed and John.

Stefanie writes:
WUTHERING HEIGHTS
 Emily Bronte
 
    The novel starts with Mr Lockwood who is a tenant at Thrushcross Grange which is a property near Wuthering Heights. During a storm one night, Mr Lockwood gets lost and finds his way to Wuthering Heights. The owner, Mr Heathcliff is a very bitter man who refuses to let Lockwood stay and also refuses to have one of his servants escort him back to the Grange. Frustrated, a young lady who later is introduced as Catherine Linton escorts him to an abandoned room where he spends the night. Lockwood wanders around the room and finds diarys of a woman named Catherine Earnshaw. He falls alseep soon after he begins to read, and begins to have nightmares. He dreams of a tree suddenly breaking the window of the room. Startled, he tries to push the branches away when he notices the branches turn into cold white hands. He sees the image of a ghostly-white woman repeating "Let me in! Let me in!" Terrified, Lockwood wakes up and runs out of the room screaming. He manages to wake the whole house, and when Heathcliff sees that he has been sleeping in the abandoned room, he seems less than pleased. As soon as the sun rises, he is escorted back to the Grange by Heathcliff. There he asks his housekeeper, Ellen Dean, to tell him the story of the family from the Heights.
    Nelly's story begins thirty years ago when the Earnshaws lived at Wuthering Heights. the family consisted of a mother and father along with Hindley, a boy about fourteen, and his younger sister Catherine (who is the same girl Lockwood saw in his nightmare). When coming home from a journey in Liverpool, Mr Earnshaw brings home a small gypsy boy who he decides to keep as a son and names Heathcliff. Soon, Heathcliff becomes the father's favorite child. While Catherine and Heathcliff grow to be very close, Hindley can't stand his brother. When Mr Earnshaw dies, Hindley becomes the owner of Wuthering Heights and forces Heathcliff to become a servant.
    One day while Heathcliff and Catherine were out on the moors, they decide to go to Thrushcross Grange to spy on the rich Isabella and Edgar Linton who live there. Unfortunately, they get spotted by some servants and while trying to escape, Catherine trips and is caught one of the dogs and injured. The Lintons offer to take care of her while she gets better but they throw out Heathcliff knowing that he is just a servant. Catherine returns nearly two months later and she appears to be completely changed. during her stay at the Linton's she had become much more lady-like. Heathcliff attempts to dress more sophisticated to impress her, but his plan fails and everyone makes fun of his appearance because he is just a servant.
    In, the next two or so years, many events happen and many characters change. Hindley's wife dies after giving birth to their baby boy Hareton. This causes him to become and even more bitter man and a drunk. Catherine has become close friends with Edgar, growing more distant from Heathcliff.Later, Catherine talks with Ellen, explaining that Edgar had asked her to marry him and she had accepted. She says that she does not really love Edgar but Heathcliff. She says she could never marry Heathcliff because it would degrade her to marry a servant. She therefore plans to marry Edgar and use that position to help raise Heathcliff's standing. Unfortunately Heathcliff overhears the first part about not being able to marry him and disappears without a trace.
    After another three years, Edgar and Catherine are married. Soon after, Heathcliff returns as a gentleman. While he was away, he had become stronger and richer. Catherine is absolutely thrilled to see him, but Edgar- not so much. During his visit, Isabella falls madly in love with Heathcliff. He sees this as an oppertunity to get revenge on Edgar, so he leads Isabella on to thinking he loves her too. They escape the others and get married. Catherine becomes ill and dies after giving birth to her daughter Cathy. Soon after, Hindley dies also. Meanwhile, Isabella escapes from Heathcliff and has a baby boy named Hareton. after all this, Heathcliff funds himself owner of Wuthering Heights and the guardian of Hareton.
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A Tree Grows in Brooklyn By Betty Smith

Mary writes:

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
By Betty Smith

The novel A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is about a young girl named Francie’s coming of age in the slum of Brooklyn, New York. Francie lives a hard life with her brother Neely, father Johnny Nolan and mother Katie Rommely. I noticed Francie visited the Jewish part of town to buy food and candy with the extra money. From this I presume that the Jewish part of town sells food cheaper and maybe a lot of lower-class people go there to get their food. The Nolan’s are low on money, causing them to lead a very frugal lifestyle. As a reader you are taken through an in-depth description of their family history and you really get to know the characters. Johnny is not what I would consider the best husband or father, he doesn’t have a stable job and of the money that he does make, he spends most of it on alcoholic beverages. This does not stop Francie from loving him with all her heart. It is very evident that she just adores him, the best part of her day being when he returns home. I noticed that family is very important to the Nolans. So far not much has happened, action wise, in the book but I have learned a lot about Katie’s sisters and Johnny and Katie’s childhood. A big event that happened was when we are taken back to the time that Johnny and Katie met and fell in love. Johnny had been seeing Katie’s best friend, but when they met they couldn’t avoid their attraction towards each other. Johnny ended up leaving his girlfriend for Katie, causing Katie to lose her best friend. The book so far has dealt with a lot of struggles and conflicts, it appears to me that the Nolans will be living hard lives dealing with many day to day traumas.

So far in the book the main characters I have been introduced to are Francie, Johnny, Katie, and Aunt Sissy . Francie is a scholarly girl who really enjoys to read. She goes to the library everyday and checks out every single book in alphabetic order. She is a sweet, innocent girl who sees the good in everyone, which is obvious in the fact that she absolutely adores her father, even though he isn’t the best role model. Then there is Johnny, the father figure of the family. Back in the day he was the most handsome guy around that all the girls went after. He had the looks, he could dance, and he could swoon any girl off their feet. He is still a kind hearted man, but somewhere along the way he lost some of his morals and alcohol took over his life and where most of the family income went to. He has a beautiful singing voice and he has an unsteady job as a singing waiter. Then there is Katie, the mother of the house. She is a pretty, hard-working, kind woman who is trying to make the best out of the family’s tough situation. She is a very family oriented person and is really close with her sister Sissy. Aunt Sissy is a very interesting character. She was fully developed at age 10 and all the boys were after her. Every lover she had, she called him John because that is what she had called her first husband. She has had three marriages but never had a single divorce. She was Catholic and did not believe in divorce, but she would get married at the town hall. She didn’t consider this real marriage so she found no need to get an actual divorce. She tried eight times to have a baby, but each time at the birth of the child, it would be a stillborn. This left Sissy absolutely heart broken, so she gave all her devotion and admiration to her sisters and their children instead. There are more characters I have been introduced to, but they don’t appear to be too important in the plot, at least yet. I am really enjoying this book and I am excited to read on!

The Count of Monte Cristo

Arsen writes:

          The setting of The Count of Monte Cristo is in Marseille, France. Marseille is a lively city, and it’s a port for exporting, importing, and the arrival of ships. In the novel, the arrival of the ship Pharaon is a particular event, and it’s a special one where there’s a big audience waiting for it to appear. It is lead by the captain Leclere, who dies on the route back from fever, and Dantes takes control. Dantes is an intelligent person, with great leadership skills and a great sailor. But there are two main people in his way, which includes Danglers, and Fernando Mondego. Danglers is bothering Dantes right from the beginning . It starts from when the Pharaon makes its arrival to the port, and when the ship owner Morrel asks where the captain is, Danglers tells him that he’s dead because Dantes decided to stop the ship for an unknown reason. Dante’s explanation of this is that he tells him that Leclere, the captain, ordered him to stop and give a package to Grand Marshal. Morrel understands this situation, and Danglers failed at his plan.So, this shows that Danglers tries to get Dantesin trouble right away, and he’s a very sneaky guy. The next problem Dantes has is Fernando Mondego, a friend of Dantes. Fernando is constantly trying to steal a girl whom Dantes loves, Mercedes. Mercedes loves Dantes as much as he loves her, but after he is taken prisoner because of being framed by Danglars for a false crime, Fernando manages to steal her, but she refuses to marry him. So, this shows that even when Dantes is trying to marry Mercedes, there is always Fernando in the way. The reason why Dantes was sent to jail because Danglers made up the idea of putting him in jail for falsely accusing him of being a Bonapartist agent, or known as a supporter of Napoleon.  So, he makes a letter, and sends Fernando to the king to show it. Dantes is caught, and his punishment is life in prison. Also, since there is no captain for the Pharaon now, Danglers is appointed the new captain by the ship owner, Morrel. So, the conflicts are that Dantes is in jail for false accusation, and the horrid Danglers has become the new captain. There is also Fernando’s chance of stealing Mercedes from Dantes, and nobody can stop him. Dantes and Danglers are like rival sailors, they both hate each other very much, and wish each other the worst.

 

Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson

-angelika. writes:

The book im reading is Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson. My book so far is really good I like it a lot because it’s a mystery and I’m a big fan of mystery. In the beinging it had an introduction of all the characters in the book and was very detailed so I felt like I knew the characters myself. It takes place in a small town in the Pacific called San Piedro Island. It’s around the 1950s. It’s about a fisherman that was found dead in the nets of his boat and one of the characters Kabuo Miyamoto is charged of murder. Kabuo is a Japanese-American man and he’s the eldest in his family.  He grew up picking strawberries on the Heine farm. He’s an expert at Kendo and he goes to fight and after he marries Hatsue. Hatsue his wife is a former strawberry Princess and she’s known for her beauty. She’s also the young love of Ishmael Chambers. Haste’s mother doesn’t let her have any contact with Ishmael from the camp but she’s marries Kabuo and has two girls and one son. Ishmael is a Caucasian boy and is the son of Arthur Chambers and he’s madly in love with Hatsue since he was a kid. He fights in the war and he loses his arm because he got injured in the battle and after his dad died he takes over the San Piedro Review and he covers the Kabuo trail. The dead man is Carl Heine. Carl is an old childhood friend of Kabuo and after Carl comes back from the war he’s really quiet. The town is haunted by the memory of the murder and what has happened and during the World War ll the community was sent to exile. So far in the book what has happened is Kabuo's family is planning on buying some of Carl’s family's land when the Pearl Harbor was bombed. Then Kabuo was sent to camp with his family and other families that were suspected as being spies. While they are gone Etta who is Carl’s mom sold the land to somebody else since they were gone. When Kabuo comes back from the war he gets really mad about it and was furious with Carl’s mom and really wants to get the land they wanted. While Kabuo was in the camp he married Hatsue. After they go to war and come back one day Kabuo saw Carl late at night while fishing and Carl's boat had lost its power.  So Kabuo gave Carl one of his batteries, and Carl made an agreement with Kabuo to sell the land. Later on Kabuo left, and a huge boat came close to Carl's boat to knock Carl straight in the water and he hit his head on a pole while falling.  When they found his body it looked like he was hit and since Kabuo was the last to talk to him is basically the reason he’s accused. Its pretty intense and exciting to find out what’s going to happen next. I would rate it an 8 out of a 10. I would recommend it to people who really like mysteries and romance.

The Awakening by Kate Chopin

Michelle writes:

The Awakening by Kate Chopin                                                 Michelle Foun

       Mrs. Pontellier is trying very hard to get over Robert, who left her to go to Mexico. But, what other people notice is that the more she tries to forget him, the more detached she becomes to everyone else. Her husband, Leonce notices this as well, and being worried about her well being, he seeks their doctor, Dr. Mandelet. Leonce invites the doctor over for dinner, in hopes that he can figure out what’s wrong with Edna. When Mandelet comes over, he has his suspicions, but he doesn’t want to tell Leonce because he knows he won’t like it.
       Edna sends her children away to Iberville, which is just more proof that she is not a motherly figure. However, she does go to visit them, and when she did, she cried because she missed them, but she didn’t miss them enough.
       Mr. Pontellier is going away for business in New York for a couple of months, which means he will be leaving Edna alone at home. This is a mistake. Edna is like a cougar, she is a married woman, but somehow always attracts the men. Her friend Alcee Arobin becomes very fond of her. He refuses to leave her side. Edna does not like him at all, and sometimes thinks he is very annoying. Despite that, she lets him believe that there is hope for a future with her. She spends a lot of time with him, and even had a dream about him once. Arobin probably thinks that she likes him, but really, she’s just playing the game and going along with it. I think that she just needs the company of a man, without her husband or Robert there, Alcee was her only option.
       While her husband was gone, Edna makes some pretty drastic decisions. Her biggest decision was moving into a little house around the block. She says that she doesn’t like living in such a big place. Her husband and children won’t live there, just her. She even hosts an extravagant dinner party in honor of her new home.
       Not long after, Robert comes back, but he’s avoiding Edna. Not until his third day back did he see her, and that was only by accident. Why was Robert staying away from Edna? Will they ever be together? What happens to their relationship now that he’s back? To answer these questions, you’ll just have to read the book.
       I rate this book 5 out of 10. I did not like the story that much because of the way it was written. There wasn’t a lot of figurative language. That is probably because I think the book was translated from French.  Also, the story line was very predictable and boring. There was a lot of pointless paragraphs, and too many characters. I gave it a 5 because despite the many flaws listed, I enjoyed reading it, and it was an interesting story overall.

Tess of the d’Urbervilles

Kara writes:
Summary part one
“Tess of the d’Urbervilles” is a story that depicts the life of a woman growing up in the nineteenth century. Tess, the protagonist, grew up in England as part of a lower class family. She was the eldest sister and had many siblings. Her mother stayed and worked at home taking care of the house and children. Tess’s father worked as a farmer in the fields. Their family name was Durbeyfield. Soon the family found out they could be distant cousins of the wealthy d’Urberville family. When Tess is venturing out one night she accidently kills the horse that is very valuable to her family. Because of this she feels the need to find work and pay for the damage she has done. Tess makes her way to the Durbeyfield estate in search of work and money. While with her cousins she meets a man named Alec. Alec is a distant cousin of hers. He helps her find work in the estate and soon falls in love with her. Tess doesn’t share mutual feelings with Alec but, he won’t take no for an answer and takes advantage of her. Soon after this incident Tess leaves the estate and returns home. While back at home, Tess discovers she’s pregnant. This isn’t a good thing because in the Victorian society you are automatically married to a man once you have his child. Despite the bad conditions Tess has the baby. She takes care of it and works as a farmer in the fields to help provide for her family. She has come to love her child even though he was an outcome of a tragedy. Sadly, Tess’s baby becomes sick and soon dies. Tess is ashamed and decides to once again venture out into the country and find work to support herself. She ends up working on dairy farm. Here she makes many friends. She also met a man named Angel here. They fall in love and want to get married.
This is as far as ive gotten in this novel. So far I really enjoy it and cant wait to continue reading it.

Emma

Hayley writes:
Plot Summary: Emma Woodhouse is a rich girl who gets everything she wants. She lives with her aging father in a gorgeous house in Highbury. Emma introduces her instructor to Mr. Weston and they got married. Mr. Woodhouse is not happy about this arrangement but he deals with it. We get introduced to Mr. knightly. Mr. Knightly’s brother married Emmas sister. When he comes to visit he bursts Emmas bubble by saying Mr. Weston found Mrs. Weston without her help. Mr Churchill, Mr. Weston’s son. He is his son from his previous marriage so they rarely see eachother. At one of Mr. Woodhouse’s parties we meet Harriet Smith. Emma decides Harriet will be her “new project”. Emma wants to use her match-making skills to fins Harriet a husband. Emma convinces Harriet to dump Mr. Martin a farmer that likes her and Emma sets her sight on Mr. Elton the town’s clergyman. He is very smart and handsom. But Mr. Knightly is convinsed that Harriet is bad for Emma, because he says she never finishes anything she starts. Mr. Weston tells Mr. Knightly that he hopes Frank will come into town and marry her. Emma’s plan for setting up Mr. Elton and Harriet and she gets them talking about all of Emma’s crazy paintings. (This is as far as I got.) Characters: Emma Woodhouse- main character Mr. Knightly- Woodhouses neighbor Harriet Smith- Friend of Emma Mr. Weston- Family friend of Woodhouse's Mrs. Weston- Emma's instuctor, marrying Mr. Weston Frank Churchill- Mr. Weston's son Mr. Woodhouse- Emma's father Mr. Elton- town's clergyman Theme
I think the main theme in Emma so far is Love. There is a lot of love going on in this novel. Like Emma trying to set up Harriet and Mr. Elton, and Mr. Weston introduced him to Mrs. Weston.

The Quiet American by Graham Greene

Kevin writes:

The novel The Quiet American by Graham Greene starts off with Tom Fowler standing outside of his apartment in Saigon. He is a British reporter who is covering the French war in Vietnam and he is in love with a local girl named Phoung. Phoung lives with Fowler in his apartment but she doesn’t love him because he is married. Fowler is standing outside of his apartment waiting for a man named Pyle who is also in love with Phoung. Pyle never comes and you can sense that Phoung and Fowler are worried. Phoung and Fowler decide that they have been up long enough and they go to bed. The next morning a man from the surete comes to take Fowler and Phoung to question them on what has happened to Pyle. The surete is equivalent to the police in America. When they show up at the office where the surete is located they get out and go inside where they see a man named Vigot. Vigot is a French inspector. He is supposed to be questioning the death of Pyle but he is torn between what is right and what would be better for his country. The death of Pyle would make the Vietnamese seem like bad people because they killed Pyle who is an American. The novel takes place in Vietnam during a time of war. The people in the city don’t have a lot of money. The weather in Vietnam is warm which makes rough conditions for the soldiers and for Fowler while they are trying to do their job The main characters are Fowler, Pyle, Phoung and Vigot. So far I do not like the book because it is confusing. I don’t understand some of the parts of the book which is leading me to be more confused as I read on. Also, there aren’t many things that occur in the first part of the book that make me want to pick it up and continue reading. I would not recommend this book to a friend because most of my friends have the same interests as me and this book isn’t interesting for me.

Silas Marner

Cody writes:

Silas Marner is a linen-weaver who works in a small village called Raveloe during the early 1800s.  Marner has been in Raveloe for fifteen years but when he first arrived, residents of Raveloe had just seen him as a young man who’s appearance and personality was nothing out of the ordinary.  However, they soon began to realize there was many things peculiar about Silas Marner.  During this time period, many people are very superstitious and think because of Marner’s frequent daydreaming and blank expression, that Marner is a dead man that has come back to life again.  However, this is not true.  Marner is just a man full of grief and regret.  Fifteen years ago, before he had come to Raveloe, Marner lived in the town where he had grown up in and had been very involved with the Catholic Church.  At the time, Marner’s life was great.  He was getting ready to marry his fiancee and he was very happy at the Church.  But soon his whole world came crashing down.  Marner was accused of stealing money from the Church, and though he denied it, nobody really believed him.  To make things worse, his fiancee left him and married his best friend.  Silas Marner left his hometown and settled down in Raveloe.  Fifteen years has passed and the people of Raveloe find Marner just as abnormal.  Not only because they think he is really a dead man, but also because of a strange gift he inherited from his mother, where he makes medicine out of many different plants.  He gives his products to sick people, and even though he is no doctor, his medicine is much more effective then any medicine a doctor prescribes.    This generosity makes people very grateful, but also makes people wonder and think more about that strange Silas Marner.

Travels with My Aunt by Graham Greene

Connor writes:

In the second part of Travels with My Aunt by Graham Greene, Henry begins to change dramatically. After his brief trip to Brighton with his aunt Henry returns home. A few weeks later he is then invited to accompany his aunt to Paris and then Istanbul traveling by the orient express. He learns more about his aunt and her unconventional methods. On their way to Paris she packs an entire suitcase full of cash, which is entirely illegal and relies on the logic that a loader will not bother opening a cheap looking suitcase without a lock, because it most likely has nothing of worth in it. Once Henry arrives home again he finds that he cannot stand living in his quiet neighborhood gardening for the rest of his life. The traveling blood that he was told runs through his veins has been awakened. Henry accepts his Aunt’s request to join her and her lover down in South Africa and begins a new life there. As the story progresses the once boring and suburbanite bank manager finds himself surprised at what his life has become. He has traveled across Europe, moved to South Africa, and even fids himself in jail for sneezing into the national emblem. While residing with his Aunt he met a young woman, much younger than himself, who shared many interests with her and finds himself falling for her. Something he never would have thought possible while still living in England. These changes were all brought on by the attraction that drew him to his aunt. The main reason he followed her around was the fact that she retained some forbidden knowledge about his birth and who his real mother was. As the story continues he finds himself to truly care about her and they form a deep bond. Their bond is strengthened when the identity of his birth mother is revealed. The character of Henry Pulling goes through a metamorphosis starting in the very first page of the book and ending in the very last.

Travels with My Aunt by Graham Greene was a very interesting read. The flow and rate at which events seemed to happen was always changing. There were instances in the book when events went along slow and a whole conversation could last a page, and there were other times when Henry was walking along the street and then all of a sudden he was being arrested. I found the slower parts particularly difficult to get through, and would not recommend this book to a person with a small attention span. I found myself often dozing off during parts. Even though I found majority of the book slow by the end I thought it was a great book and had a strong plot that was always changing and introducing new variables. Ever person you meet at the beginning of the book comes out a different person. If you had only read the first chapter you could not have guessed in a million years what the conclusion or even what happens in the middle of the book could have been. It was this element of the book that I found most appealing. This novel is a very good read for someone who has a lot of time on their hands to devote to dissecting the book piece by piece.

Charles Dickensʼ Great Expectations

Andre writes:
I consider Charles Dickensʼ Great Expectations to be among the more wellcrafted,
but bland books that I have read. It is wonderfully written, with the author giving
you a very good sense of Victorian England and the time period that Pip, the main
character, is living in. Dickens brings his characters to life through extensive physical
and emotional descriptions placed thoughtfully throughout the book. They feel real and
celebrate their successes and mourn their failures like real people would.
! However, while reading Great Expectations, I got the sense that Dickens focused
too much of his time and energy into creating the wonderful, flowing language that we
find in the book and didnʼt pay much attention to the plot. It can, at times, become a bit
tedious, but I do understand that this was intentional. In my opinion, the plot serves
mainly as a vehicle to carry the characters and Dickensʼ message, which is indeed
unique.
I think that Great Expectations is first and foremost a social criticism. Certain characters
behave so ridiculously that you canʼt help but wonder at the underlying message and
what Dickens is trying to tell you. By the end, though, it becomes more than a social
criticism. The book has taught me more about human nature than any other that I have
read and appreciate the personal lessons that I have learned from it (honor your family,
mind your money etc.)
Overall, the book is definitely worth a read. The eloquent writing and powerful
underlying messages are too good and meaningful to go unnoticed (which they
havenʼt). But Great Expectations does have its drawbacks, too. The plot is fairly boring
and bland and the writing, while elegant, can sometimes become tedious. It is also very
long- around 500 pages. I feel that Dickens wrote more than what was necessary (given
his payment) but still did it well.
Great Expectations is a well-written, moving, emotional book despite its faults and I
would recommend it to anybody.
Overall score:
8 out of 10.

Tess

Kara writes:

When Angel and Tess get married they leave the dairy farm and move into their own house. While in their house on one of the first nights Angel relieves a secret to Tess. Tess decides to tell him the whole truth about her true husband and child. Because of this, Angel gets upset and wants to leave Tess. They decide to go their separate ways and Tess returns home. After only a short time at home she leaves once again in search of work. After a long search she finally finds work on a farm. This is by far the worst job shes ever had. While working on this farm she is reunited with Alec. Alec is still in love with Tess and attempts to regain her trust and marry her. Still, Tess’s feelings are not mutual and doesn’t want anything to do with Alec. But he is relentless and continues to beg Tess to be his wife. She writes letters to Angle and asks for him to forgive her and take her back. She never receives a response. Because Tess looses all hope in Angel, she marries Alec. Alec and Tess move to a large state. Years later, Angel returns in search of Tess to find she is with Alec. He explains that he hasn't come back sooner because he was far away and ill. Tess makes the hesitant decision to return to Angel but the only way to do that is to kill Alec. Once Alec is dead, Tess and Angel run away and are only together for one short night before guards find them and take her away. Tess is later hanged in a local village for murder. Angel returns to his home and family. The end.
This novel was filled with drama and suspense. It kept the reader engaged and interested. There was some difficult language but was easily understood. I recommend this book to anyone who likes romantic stories and drama. Over all I really enjoyed this independent read.

Emma By: Jane Austen

Emma By: Jane Austen
Hayley writes:


Plot Summary of 2nd half: Emma and Harriet got very close with each other. In fact, Harriet basically moves into Hartfield and even gets her own bedroom. Harriet is not the sharpest knife in the draw so her first priority is obviously not school or education, Harriet wants to get married. Soon Mr. Elton makes it clear that it is not Harriet he loves, but it is Emma. Emma’s stepbrother and dear friend, Mr. Knightly thinks that Mr. Robert Martin is a great match for Harriet. And Mr. Elton clearly confused about this whole situation moves out of town and marries a girl there. After he leaves Harriet is very sad and Emma is left to comfort her. Now Emma feels she needs to find another man for her. But Emma starts to have a crush on Frank Churchill when he comes to town to see his father. Then we get introduced to Jane Fairfax. Jane is a beautiful girl and Emma begins to get very jealous of her, so Mr. Knightly defends Jane saying that she deserves compassion, unlike Emma does. Mr. Weston says he thinks that Mr. Knightly formed “romantic feelings” for Jane. And everyone also thinks that Frank Churchill and Emma have formed an attachment even though Emma sees him as a match for her friend Harriet. At the village dance, Emma convinces Mr. Knightly to dance with Harriet. Mr. Elton and his new wife have humiliated Harriet. Frank saved Harriet from a gypsy, and no Harriet says she has fallen in love with a man that is a higher class than her. Immediately Emma believes it is Frank. Mr. Knightly starts to see a connection between Frank and Jane so he warns Emma, but Emma doesn’t believe him. Soon the tragic news came that Frank’s aunt died. And this reveals many secrets. Frank and Jane have been engaged without anyone knowing. After Frank’s father’s approval he is now aloud to marry Jane as planned. The thing about this is Emma thinks that Harriet will be crushed. But she is not. It is Mr. Knightly that Harriet has fallen in love with not Frank. This makes Emma upset. But she learns that Knightly loves Emma. Harriet is crushed but then accepts another proposal from Mr. Martin, and Emma and Mr. Knightly live happily married.


Recommendation: I do not recommend this book to people my age. It was very hard to follow for me and truthfully I didn’t think it was a very good novel. This novel wouldn’t be good for especially boys because it is about love and romance and I don’t really think that interests boys very much. My rate from 1-10 is 3 ½

The Idiot

Brigitte writes:

The Idiot is one of the few very moving books that I have read. Dostoevsky really makes you feel as if you are actually there and you can see everything that’s happening. After reading just a little bit of the book you begin to feel the essence of the characters and you begin to worry and wonder about them also.
Unlike most novels, the beginning does not start off by giving a brief background info of what has happened, the author lets the characters do it instead. Straight away you can tell that everything is going to take place in Russia. Dostoevsky sure doesn’t make it easy for you to try to pronounce the long Russian names. It is especially difficult when the story starts to get really intense; you always seem to stumble upon the longest names, which sometimes take away the excitement that you had when you were reading.
In the beginning of the novel, mostly all of the important characters are introduced. Prince Myshkin is the main character in the novel, and after him, it would be both Nastasya Filippovna and Aglaya, both of which are extremely beautiful. Throughout the novel, there is in a sense, a sort of love triangle going on between these three. Both Nastasya and Aglaya love the prince very much, but he is torn between the two. He often refers to Aglaya and everything associated with her as light, ironically, her name also means light. On the other hand, he always associates everything that has to do with Nastasya as dark. Even the physical appearance of Rogozhin, which is who she has decided to run off with but only to show how much pain Totsky has caused her. In a way, it is a sort of revenge to Totsky because she is degrading herself by running off with Rogozhin, because he is very low class and he in a way, loves her too much. He loves her to the point of hatred, and Nastasya knows this. Even the prince has admitted that he thinks that the two might get married, but Rogozhin might end up killing her, shortly afterwards. Nastasya would very much like to be wed with the prince, but she believes that she is not worthy of marrying him, and in a sense, he is too good for her. The Prince is unlike anyone that they have ever seen. He stands out in the corrupted word of Russia because he is always so honest and upfront about everything. Sometimes, people take these innocent traits of his along with his illness of epilepsy and assume that he is an idiot. In reality, the prince is far more intelligent than anyone else that he meets, and I the end of the book we learn that the all the help and passion that the prince was too much for the people around him, and that such a world was not reading for such a great man like Prince Myshkin.
All in all, I think that this is very moving and touching book and I would rate the novel as an eight and a half. I would give it this rating because by the end of the book, I was honestly moved by all the kind acts that Prince Myshkin did, and how everyone around him was oblivious of his help. Also, I liked how even though he is such a kind soul, his environment was not ready for him yet and he ended up doing the opposite of his intentions.
I would defiantly recommend this book to other students because I think that it really has something to say and after reading the book, you feel as if you see a different view of things, like Prince Myshkin. You have a different outlook on life and the things that happen. For example, Prince Myshkin is diagnosed with epilepsy, but he does not hate nature for doing so, instead he wants to help the people who are like him, who are different. On the other hand, another character named Hippolite, also has an illness in which he only has a few weeks to live, but instead, he has a different outlook on nature. He hates nature for giving him such a short time in life and he thinks that he is being cheated by it. Ultimately, the prince has learned to have a certain understanding for everything and calmness inside of him for mostly everyone he meets, and the book teaches you to do the same.

WUTHERING HEIGHTS

Stefanie writes:

            The second half of the book Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte, Nelly the housekeeper continues to tell Mr. Lockwood about the story behind Wuthering Heights. She tells him how during the thirteen years that followed Catherine’s death, she had been taking care of her daughter also named Catherine. Catherine grows up at Thrushcross Grange not knowing anything about Wuthering Heights however, she comes across the property one day meets Linton (Heathcliff and Isabella’s son). They begin a secret romance entirely based on letters they send to each other. When Nelly finds Catherine’s collection of letters one day and destroys all of them, she begins to sneak out so she can see Linton. Soon however, it becomes obvious that Linton is showing interesting her only because Heathcliff is forcing him to. Heathcliff hopes that by having Linton marry Catherine, he can become owner of Thrushcross Grange and therefore getting his revenge on Edgar.

One day, as Edgar Linton gets very ill and near death, Heathcliff lures Nelly and Catherine back to Wuthering Heights, and holds them as prisoners until Catherine marries Linton. Catherine agrees and soon after the marriage, Edgar dies, and his death is quickly followed by the death of Linton. This causes Heathcliff to become owner of both Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange. He forces Catherine to live at Wuthering Heights and act as a servant, while he rents Thrushcross Grange to Lockwood

Nelly’s story ends as she reaches the present. To find out what Nelly’s story causes Lockwood to do, to learn about the insanity Heathcliff goes through and to see Catherine’s happily ever after… you will have to read the book Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte.

I personally think the book Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte is a very tragic yet interesting love story. I would rate it an 8 out of 10 for the unusual old-style language which is at times hard to understand and also because the stories are complicated and strange. I personally did enjoy reading this book and I would recommend it to someone who enjoys reading love stories but also isn’t a big fan of “happily ever afters” because that isn’t the case with most of the characters.

Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut

Talar writes: Reading Blog #2 1-10-11

My independent reading book is Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. Billy Pilgrim has been captured by German soldiers and is now on a boxcar traveling to prison. Billy becomes unstuck in time many times. He flashes back to when he was twelve years old and on vacation in the Grand Canyon with his parents. Billy is terrified and is afraid he’ll fall in.
He also flashes back to his daughters’ wedding day. After the wedding, he couldn’t sleep, and so he goes downstairs to the kitchen. All that is left of the reception is a half bottle of champagne. Billy uncorks the bottle and notices that it doesn’t pop or fizz. He calls it “dead” and uses the Tralfamadorian saying “so it goes.” He somehow knows that a Tralfamadorian flying saucer is coming, so he waits an hour for it to arrive. It eventually comes and beams him up in a purple light. Billy asks “Why me” and an alien says that is a very “Earthling” saying.
Billy flashes back to the present. He is now out of the boxcar and has learned Roland Weary dies of gangrene. He hears people saying that Roland was saying that Billy had killed him. One person, Paul Lazzaro, vowed to avenge him. Billy also flashes to the future. He learns that the oldest prisoner on the train, Edgar Derby, dies in a firing squad sixty-eight days after he has the vision.
Billy then flashes back to a veteran’s hospital, where he meets Eliot Rosewater. Eliot is who gets Billy interested in reading science fiction, specifically Kilgore Trout. A few aliens from his stories look a lot like Tralfamadorians.
Billy comes back to the present. He watches a parody of Cinderella and laughes so hard he is taken to the infirmary and given morphine. Billy dreams of being a giraffe, eating pears and being kissed by female giraffes.
Billy comes to and becomes unstuck in time again. This time, he is back on the flying saucer, heading for Tralfamadore. He is displayed in a Tralfamadorian zoo, naked, in a stimulated Earth environment complete with stolen furniture. Billy has been living in the exhibit for the equivalent of six Earth months, and says he fells just as comfortable there as he did back home. Every day, Tralfamadorians come and stare at Billy, wondering about his views and how they seem possible. Billy wonders the same about their views. Every day an announcer must come and explain as best he can the Earthling ways and customs. Tralfamadorians cannot speak, so they communicate telepathically.
I would definitally recommend this book to a friend. I think a person who would enjoy it more would be someone who likes to look at things in a different perspective. On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being a life- changing experience, I would rate this book a 7. Slaughterhouse Five was a very good book, and it got me into thinking and looking at things differently, but it wasn’t life-changing. This book has certainly been one of the better books I’ve read.

The Count of Monte Cristo

 Arsen writes;
 
For the second half of the novel, The Count of Monte Cristo, the story continues as Dantes serves his life sentence in prison. A person named Abbe’ Faria comes into the story, and he is a prisoner as well as Dantes. The two become really good friends, and Faria tells him about the treasure on the island of Monte Cristo, which belongs to his relatives who have died and how Dantes should get it. Dantes claims that it’s not his property, and then before Faria gets sick and dies, he tells him that he is like a son to him, and that he should take the treasure. So, Faria eventually dies, for Dantes to escape from prison has he has to put himself into a garbage bag, so instead of the guards throwing Faria into the sea, they through him. This shows Dantes desperation and character, and that he will do anything for freedom. He has been in jail for 14 years, and has not seen the outside world for a while. So, as Dantes is thrown and lost in sea, he gets picked up by Italian sailors and becomes a smuggler for a while. Soon, he re-collects himself and gets the treasure from the island of Monte Cristo, and becomes the Count. The next thing on he has to do is to get revenge on the people who put him in jail, and he has a separate plan for each one. One character who I didn’t mention in the begging who was part of Dangler’s sailors was Caderousse who is often jealous of Dantes, and talks about him during toasts, and how he’s not that great. So, that is Dantes plan, to get revenge on the three people who put him in jail, Danglers, Fernando, and Caderousse. One important element of fiction to remember during the second half of the novel is the point of view of Dantes. In Dantes view, he feels that he has been falsely accused of something that he never did, which is true. He was going to be a successful sailor, and captain of the ship Pharaon, until being taken prisoner. So, the rage he must be feeling is great, and it shows the heart and character of Dantes, through indirect characterization. This really shows the figurative language in the author, and it’s a great way of showing it and its effects. It really draws the reader into the story, and hints the next move of Dantes, which could be anything because he is a very adventurous man. Overall, I would recommend The Count of Monte Cristo  to any reader who likes a great adventure, and out of 10 I would give it a 7. The reason I give it a 7 is because the story itself is great, but the overall book is very long, and you might feel tired of reading at times.   

The Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson

---angelika writes
For the Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson the second half of the book was very interesting. The night before the end of the trial, Ishmael found out something. While he was visiting the lighthouse for a story on the weather, he found the notes from the night watchman that can clear Kabuo. Since people think its him.  Ishmael had a really hard deciding what to do. Does he keep the information to himself? Use his newspaper to support Kabuo's case and then work himself back into Hatsue's life while her husband is in jail, or does he reveal what he knows? Its pretty tough. What would you do?  i personally would reveal the news if i was suck in that situation. Towards the end it mainly focuses on Ishmael's decision and what he does. He also makes peace with Hatsue and he movies on with his life. You got to read the book to find out what his decision is because I'm keeping my mouth shut. Overall i found this book to be very fun to read. I'm a big fan of mysteries like I've said before so i enjoyed it a lot. I would rate it an 8.5 out of a 10. Its a good book and i can grantee u won't want to put it down. The characters are so well described you will feel like you know them and its very well detailed so you will be able to picture everything and have a little movie running in your head. 

FOXFIRE

Ida writes:
FOXFIRE Blog

In the book FOXFIRE by Joyce Carol Oates, Legs (Margaret Sadovsky) is sent to court because of the incident that happened at school. Her father lies to the court and says that she is out of control and doesn’t listen to him when the truth is that he’s an alcoholic and doesn’t pay attention to her. She is sentenced to a minimum of five months at Red Bank State Correctional Facility For Girls. Her FOXFIRE sisters, Goldie, Lena, Rita and Maddy are devastated and hate Legs’s father for lying to not get himself in trouble. While Legs is in Red Bank she constantly gets in trouble with the guards and she starts to realize that she isn’t as tough as she always thought she was. Every moment that she spends there she wishes she was at home with Maddy and her other FOXFIRE sister. She receives all their letters but doesn’t write back because she knows the guards will sensor them. Surprisingly, her father comes and visits her and they start to talk about Legs’s mother who had died when Legs was 10. Her father explains that Legs’s mother would get herself into all kinds of trouble and was an alcoholic who died of kidney failure. Legs does not believe him and starts to flip out and accuses him of murdering her. He doesn’t visit her after that day. After multiple times of getting punished she becomes well behaved and follows the rules. She’s finally let out on June 1, 1955 for good behavior. She is very glad to see her FOXFIRE sisters. They buy alcohol and marijuana and get high and drunk all together and have a great time. From my understanding, Legs moves into her aunt’s house because she is not allowed to stay with her father anymore. Once Legs comes out of Red Bank her “friends” try to take advantage of her and think she’ll do anything for them. The girls buy themselves a car and call it Lightning Bolt. Legs helps Maddy build up the guts to go out with a boy alone, but the night doesn’t go exactly as they planed. They also think it would be fun to rob a rich man and buy a house for themselves.

The ending was confusing to me. A lot of new characters were introduced and I didn’t exactly understand who they were or what their relation was to the story. The events toward the end weren’t as exciting as the ones in the beginning, I lost interest quickly and it was hard for me to understand what was going on. Overall I think it was a good book and I enjoyed it. I always wanted to keep reading to find out what kind of trouble the girls get into next and to see if they’ll get caught.

I would rate this book a 6. I recommend this book for girls. It was eventful and it showed me all the thrills of breaking the rules and also the outcomes. It showed me that it might be fun to break all the rules, skip school and do whatever you want but there will be severe punishments for all the actions you make. I enjoyed reading this book, although I wish the ending would have been more exciting.