So Why Did She Write This?

Upon reading Sandra Cisneros's The House on Mango Street, one question I asked myself was, "Why would you write about this?" The book contains several short vignettes in the life of a young tween living in poverty named Esperanza. Every episode has a random little snippet from Esperanza's life, some of which are only in her mind, others of which are actual events. Many of the events are either autobiographical or inspired from Cisneros's own childhood. Although there are a couple vignettes that are interesting, the large part of them are just plain boring.

Take "Hairs," for example. In this vignette, Esperanza compares the hair of each of her family members, likening them to oil or bread. This story is nothing more than a drab monologue over hair.

We continue to read "A Rice Sandwich." Though this may be the best story in the book, it too is pretty pathetic. Esperanza wants to eat in the school cafeteria, but her mother wants her to come home for lunch every day. Esperanza's mother finally gives in, but the nuns will not let Esperanza eat there until she cries. Not interesting at all.

How about "Rafaela Who Drinks Coconut & Papaya Juice on Tuesdays"? Rafaela is married to a very oppressive husband who locks her at home on Tuesday nights while he plays poker so that she will not escape. She throws a dollar bill out her window so that Esperanza and her friends can buy her coconut or papaya juice. Though this does show Esperanza how not to live her life, is it trying to prove to young girls that you can never find happiness?

Much of the book concerns Esperanza's search of a home, and her insecurity concerning a lack of a sense of belonging fuels many of her emotions throughout the book. She always strives to be in a better place, and dreams about running away from Mango Street, the neighborhood she lives in, to her own happily ever after. This may be the sole redeeming quality for the novel: the message to young people in oppressive environments that they can someday be happy.

The House on Mango Street is not a good book. It is not interesting, and many of the vignettes concern menial events in life. Though it is not as bad as the horrendous Living Up the Street, also an autobiography about growing up in the barrio, it is drab and unappealing. I still cannot figure out why she wrote about the stories she did.

Grade: 4

Not Really a Slaughter...

One of the most acclaimed science fiction novels ever written is Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five. It is also one of the most weird books I have ever read. The novel takes place in many different settings, and jumps back and forth between these places several times. Also, the novel is not written chronologically. The spasms between space and time can be very difficult to understand, and this does have a drawback on the strength of the novel.

Billy Pilgrim is an American soldier in World War II. Also, he randomly and uncontrollably travels through space and time. He could be inside a slaughterhouse as a prisoner of war in Dresden, and then be on the planet Tralfamadore inside of the zoo, and then be in his future as an optometrist, and then be in his past as a six-year-old. Because of this unpredictability, Billy as a narrator is often unreliable, and the reader never truly can separate fact from fiction.

Two of the major themes present in the novel are those of death and time. Whenever someone died on the planet Tralfamadore, the Tralfamadorians would say, "So it goes," suggesting that death was in the ordinary course of events. Vonnegut uses this expression as well. Whenever the novel says something about a death in the war or elsewhere, he says "So it goes." This is to lessen the pain of death. Another philosophy of the Tralfamadorians is that every moment has always existed, exists now, and always will exist. This is the fourth dimension that they can view. This is the basis for Billy's time travel, as he does not really go back in time, because every moment that has existed exists now.

Vonnegut had a very unique idea when he set out to write this story. The concept of traveling unwillingly and unexpectedly in time must have been a very unusual one at the time. The only fault with this (and it is a major one) is that it is too confusing. Vonnegut definitely did the best he could with the basic details, but it was not enough to make the novel more than a good attempt. While it is not a bad novel, it is certainly not as good as other classics of science fiction, such as Foundation and Ender's Game. Read this if you choose, but do not put it first on your list.

http://www.amazon.com/Slaughterhouse-Five-Novel-Kurt-Vonnegut/dp/0385333846/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1259545959&sr=8-1

Grade: 6.5

With a Capital 'G'

While many classics in our time concern the lives and persecution of the lower class, a select few are about the ease of living in the upper class. F. Scott Fitzgerald's celebrated The Great Gatsby is perhaps one of the best examples of this genre of literature.

The narrator of The Great Gatsby is Nick Carraway, a man of the middle class who lives next door to the mysterious Jay Gatsby, a man who everybody seems to know but nobody seems to know anything about. In addition, his cousin Daisy Buchanan and her husband Tom, who live on the other side of the town, are wealthy. The novel is basically about the doings of Daisy, Nick, and Daisy's friend Jordan Baker, and Nick's fascination and envy of the easy life he sees so often in his friends.

Jay Gatsby holds parties every weekend at his mansion, and one day, Nick decides to go to one. There, he finds out that although everybody claims to know Gatsby, nobody knows what he looks like or, in fact, anything about him. While Nick is looking, an odd man presents himself to Nick as Gatsby. They soon become very good friends. Although one has all the money he could ask for and the other has almost nothing to himself, Gatsby enjoys spending time with Nick, and Nick is too fascinated to think otherwise.

The novel is excellently written. The characters represent the wealthy and carefree people of the 1920s. Nick represents the bourgeoisie, constantly looking up to the rich. As Gatsby's character is developed, we learn more and more of his past, and we see the reality of people in his position as well.

The Great Gatsby is a very interesting historical fiction novel of an important time in our nation's past. Its acclaim is well-earned. Gatsby is definitely Great, with a capital 'g.'

http://www.amazon.com/Great-Gatsby-F-Scott-Fitzgerald/dp/0743273567/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1259531797&sr=8-1

Grade: 8.5

Neither the Best of Books, Nor the Worst of Books

Arguably the most famous literary quote of all time comes from A Tale of Two Cities, a novel about the French Revolution by Charles Dickens: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way -- in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison alone."

That one quote can quite possibly sum up the entire novel. While it has some amazingly intelligent parts and quite unforgettable characters, it also can be extremely boring in other sections. The action of the novel is often juxtaposed with a chapter of introspection and ambiguity. However, the good parts eventually outweigh the bad, and it results in a satisfying read, if not completely interesting.

While there is not a definite main character of the novel, there are many protagonists and antagonists who define the social classes of the French Revolution. The story opens with a drab banker, Mr. Jarvis Lorry, on his way to Dover. There, he is to speak with Lucie Manette, a beautiful young woman. Her father, thought dead, has actually been imprisoned in the Bastille for 18 years, and he is finally being released. Dr. Alexandre Manette, though once a happy, young doctor, is now a near insane and socially awkward shoemaker. Soon brought into the story is Charles Darnay, a handsome man on trial for treason against the throne, and Sydney Carton, a depressed barrister who looks almost exactly like Darnay. These five people comprise the main protagonists of the novel, who live and work in London.

Meanwhile, across the English Channel, the Defarges live together in Paris. M. Defarge is a wine shop owner, who has moderate revolutionary ideas. His wife, Mme Defarge, is a violence-driven bloodthirsty revolutionary with no thoughts but to destroy the nobility and as many innocent Frenchmen as possible. These two, along with their various comrades, form the antagonists of the novel.

Dickens tells the story of the French Revolution as both parties mentioned become involved in it. His recurring themes of resurrection and redemption throughout the novel are very good means by which to tell the tale, although the delivery of it occasionally falls flat. The novel starts out slow, accelerates quickly, drops to a high level of monotony, and then becomes extremely suspenseful and exciting in the last hundred pages. While this is certainly not as entertaining as Great Expectations, A Tale of Two Cities is a fulfilling novel.

http://www.amazon.com/Tale-Two-Cities-Charles-Dickens/dp/1448625025/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1257981704&sr=8-1

Grade: 7.5

A Strange Symbiosis

Many authors have explored the concept of the relationship police officers have with the shadier drug dealers, but none in a more straightforward and surprising manner than Philip K. Dick in his novel A Scanner Darkly. This book analyzes the possibility that maybe policemen are not only in league with drug dealers, but perhaps they are actually the dealers themselves.

The novel concerns Fred. Fred is the alias for a policeman who always wears a scramble suit when acting as himself. The scramble suit flashes billions of combinations of physical features very quickly, so the person appears as a blur from head to toe. Also, it masks the wearer's voice by disguising it with a computer voice. This is all to ensure that Fred's appearance and identity are kept highly confidential.

The novel also concerns Bob Arctor. Bob Arctor is the name of a drug dealer who sells and takes massive amounts of the drug Substance D. Substance D eventually splits the user's mind into two distinct, battling halves.

Bob Arctor is also the alternate identity of Fred the policeman.

Fred's mission is to find out information on all the drug dealers he can and report it back to his boss. That means he needs to tell about all his friends, and, yes, even Bob Arctor.

A common book and movie idea is that policemen and the criminals they are supposed to punish are actually in cahoots, but this is one of the only stories where the policemen are actually the drug dealers. It provides a fresh take on the war on drugs and also provides a very suspenseful and intelligent read. When Dick dedicates the book in the afterword to all his friends and family members who died or were greatly diseased or disabled because of narcotics, it gives a personal reason for writing and, for some, reading the novel.

http://www.amazon.com/Scanner-Darkly-Philip-K-Dick/dp/1400096901/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1257978849&sr=1-1

Grade: 8.5

Half Moon is More Than Half Bad

Eoin Colfer had a terrific idea when he decided to write his best-selling young adult series Artemis Fowl. The idea of a young criminal mastermind who gets untangled with underground fairies in Ireland is just quirky enough to be a very good series. The writing, though at times could be corny, was for the most part very good. I had thought that any book written by Colfer would be just as fun and interesting as Artemis Fowl.

Apparently I was wrong.

Colfer's book Half Moon Investigations, while interesting enough for a young child, is not written with the same adventurous style that made Fowl so appealing. It tries to be a dark detective novel, but the stereotypes and false portrayals of children, and also the fact that the main character is a kid, more of an anti-hero, will make sure the book will always be outside of the spotlight that Artemis Fowl deserves.

Half Moon Investigations is about Fletcher Moon, a 12-year-old Irish schoolboy who graduated from the detective academy top in his class to get his official detective's badge. He spends most of his day bragging about his badge or solving paltry crimes around school. He must be one of the most obnoxious protagonists of any story. Colfer tries to make him seem like the martyr who is teased because of his love for detectiving, but he comes across as an irresponsible weakling who thinks the world revolves around him.

The main story of the book is about the Sharkeys, a mafia family connected to most of the crimes committed in the area. Fletcher is hired to find a missing lock of hair from a famous singer that one of his schoolmates lost and suspects Red Sharkey, the eighth-grade child, of taking. As Fletcher examines this crime, it leads to him seeing a chain of crimes around his town that he believes are connected to the hair robbery.

The book has conspiracies, underground organizations, and unrealistic events that have Half Moon Investigations cross the line. Colfer's Artemis Fowl series was very good, but here he has jumped the shark. Apparently nobody ever told him that children do not belong to or, especially, run evil schemes and detective agencies.

Grade: 5.5

A Message For Our Time

Quite possibly the most influential novel in American history and certainly one of the best was the author's debut novel. It was also her last. After writing To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee never wrote another book.

This may have been due to claims that the novel was in fact written by Truman Capote, another famous author and Lee's lifelong friend. To show the world that she did not support these theories, she decided to never write again.

That is all hearsay and legend and has no solid evidence to prove it, but, whether or not Lee wrote it, it stands today as a great book in American fiction for its depiction of racism and bigotry in the southern United States in the 1930s. The story of the rape of a young girl is only a subplot to the major themes of prejudice and coming of age.

To Kill a Mockingbird takes place in Maycomb, Alabama. Scout Finch, the young narrator of the novel, is growing up with her brother Jem and her father, the famous lawyer Atticus Finch. She and Jem explore life in Maycomb together, meeting interesting people such as the precocious Charles Baker "Dill" Harris, the vile Mrs. Henry Lafayette Dubose, the gossiping Stephanie Crawford, and the incompetent teacher Caroline Fisher.

The story does not have a solid plot until about halfway through the book, when Atticus is to defend Tom Robinson, a black man accused of the rape of a girl. Robinson is obviously innocent, yet Atticus has a great struggle in the court against the Ewell family, the degenerate clan of white trash who scrounges off the charity of society for survival. Regardless, Atticus must strain to pass this apparent fact past the skulls of the racist jurymen.

The main story of the novel, however, is Scout and Jem's coming of age in an area stricken by prejudice and bigotry. The friends that they make and the relationships that they make, both good and bad, echo of all children everywhere.

To Kill a Mockingbird is an excellent coming of age story set in a depressing period of time where racism ran rampant in the hearts of everyone. The character Atticus, as the voice of wisdom and equality for the town, can serve as an example for life today. This is definitely one of the best and most meaningful American novels ever written.

http://www.amazon.com/Kill-Mockingbird-Harper-Lee/dp/0060935464/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1253374759&sr=8-1

Grade: 8.5

Three Out of Four

When an anthology has three-quarters of its stories adapted to films, that is a hint that it probably has some pretty good stories, especially when one of them is often at the top of best movie lists.

Stephen King, an author who writes a lot of horror, took a break from his thrilling style to write Different Seasons, a four-story collection with the short novels "Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption", "Apt Pupil", "The Body", and "The Breathing Method". Although the latter does seem to be an attempt at scariness, it sends nothing more than a slight shiver up the reader's spine.

"Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption", which was turned into the Morgan Freeman and Tim Robbins movie The Shawshank Redemption, is about a man named Andy Dufresne who goes to Shawshank Prison. He was convicted of killing his wife and her lover, a hotshot golfer. He was framed, as the narrator, a man nicknamed Red, is sure to point out. Red, the man who can get items for prisoners from his connections outside of the prison, is interested by the sorts of things that Dufresne wants, including a rock hammer and a rock blanket, as Dufresne was a geologist in his earlier life. As Dufresne becomes accustomed to Shawshank and the way things work in a prison, his friendship with Red grows.

The story is a clever tale about a softspoken man who must get used to the terrible realities of prison, including the cruel security guards, the unfair wardens, and the "sisters", bands of marauders. King writes a story about one man from another man's point of view smoothly. Although the idea seems like it could be quite cumbersome, it is handled with literary finesse. This is a good story that was even better than its acclaimed film.

"Apt Pupil" is a quite different story. It is about a young boy named Todd Bowden. He is mostly a normal kid--a B student, excellent pitcher, good family. However, Todd is also fascinated sadistically by the German concentration camps during World War II. Much to his surprise and happiness, there is an ex-Nazi commander living in his town, not to far away from his own house. Todd goes to meet the Nazi, a man named Kurt Dussander who assumes the name Arthur Denker. As the two talk to each other, they each get a hold on each other, and will not let go.

"Apt Pupil" is a great story that shows the coming of age of a disturbed child and his effects on an old man haunted by his past. King writes this tale excellently, showing the complete characters of Bowden and Dussander and the changes they make after they meet each other and try to get the best of the other. This is a story that truly shows King's ability as a writer.

"The Body" is about four kids grownig up in Maine, Vern Tessio, Chris Chambers, Teddy Duchamp, and Gordon Lachance, who hear about a child's death on the radio. Vern tells the others that he overheard his brother talking to his friend that they had seen the dead body while driving around, and Vern wanted to go find the body so that they could report it and be famous. The boys embark on the journey to the body of Ray Brower. On the way, they work their way through hardships together, so that the story becomes less of a trip to a corpse, and more of a bonding novel for young children.

This is the best story in the book. The short adventures the children go through to find Brower's cadaver are interesting and show the true friendships that the kids have with each other. It is not the story that is the good part about it, although the story is really good, but the relationship the kids have with each other, especially Gordon and Chris. It is a very good story, and is one of the best I have read by King.

The fourth story, "The Breathing Method", is about a man named David who is invited to a club by his business partner. He goes, but is surprised by the mystery and unusualness of the place. There are books in the club that the local library does not even have in their system. There are poems in anthologies that have never been written. Companies on machines never existed. Something is obviously odd about the place. And then when a doctor tells a story of an unmarried pregnant woman, the club is discovered to be a little bit odd.

"The Breathing Method" had great potential to be by far the best story in the book. The way the normalness of the building and the place was juxtaposed with the impossibilities inside of it could have made for a very interesting story. However, it seemed as if King did not want to work hard enough to come up with a good ending either for the doctor's story or for his own, and decided to just leave it with a mediocre, half-worked ending that does not explain anything. The book makes stabs at horror, but the only scary thing about it is how Stephen King could write something so under-average after three very good stories.

Like The Stand, also by Stephen King, this book has some very mature themes and language, especially "Apt Pupil". Younger readers should wait to read this, but should definitely pick it up at their parents' discretion.

King scores a three out of four with this anthology. My main suggestion would be to read "The Breathing Method" first, even though it is the last story in the book. All four novellas are unrelated except for minor references in a couple of them. That way you will not be disappointed with the last story. Except for a hiccup King had in one of the stories, Different Seasons is a very good anthology.

http://www.amazon.com/Different-Seasons-Signet-Stephen-King/dp/0451167538/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1250965412&sr=8-1

Rating: 8.5

Not a Bore, But Not a Thrill

At first, when I began to read The Bean Trees, I had quite low expectations. Barbara Kingsolver is not exaactly an author whose literature enthralls me; science fiction and the occasional fantasy novel are right up my alley. However, I was pleasantly surprised with my reaction toward the short novel. It had a compelling story, for being a dramatic, romantic chick novel, and had enough humor to not bore the fantasy reader.

The story concerns Marietta Greer, a girl from Pittman County, Kentucky. She finally leaves her small town to go west in her early 20s. While on her trip, she changes her name to Taylor. While at a bar in the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma, an old Indian woman walks up to her car and puts a small baby in the front seat. Taylor decides that she cannot abandon the child, so she takes the little child with her out west all the way to Tuscon. She discovers that the child is a girl, and names her Turtle.

Another main character of the novel is Lou Ann Ruiz, another woman from Kentucky living in Tuscon. Her husband, Angel, left her right after she gave birth to a son, who she named Dwayne Ray. Lou Ann Ruiz is having trouble coping with the loss of her husband, while having to care for another body and feed another mouth. Lou Ann and Taylor meet and become thick as thieves, so that Lou Ann lets Taylor live with her.

Taylor meets other people, including Mattie, the owner of Jesus Is Lord Used Tires, and Esperanza and Estevan, a Guatemalan couple living with Mattie. They are very nice people, but the couple could be arrested for being illegal immigrants, and Mattie could be punished for giving them room and board.

The rest of the story shows how Taylor raises Turtle with support from Lou Ann and Dwayne Ray, the way Taylor makes a living and meets new people in Tuscon, and how Mattie deals with Esperanza and Estevan, with their legal and personal issues. Turtle grows to be a young child under the caring motherhood of Taylor, while Dwayne Ray matures under Lou Ann.

Kingsolver's first novel was a decent book. The plot was compelling enough, and the characters had personalities that did not make the book a complete bore. There was nothing deliberately bad about The Bean Trees, but there was not anything truly good about it, either.

http://www.amazon.com/Bean-Trees-Novel-P-S/dp/0061765228/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1247628924&sr=8-1

Grade: 6.5

A Satire For Our Time

With the current American economy and the unhappiness people have with the federal government, it seems as if there can never be a perfect civilization. One literary example of this is William Golding's Lord of the Flies, a satirical novel about British children during a great war. This novel has been proclaimed by TIME as one of the best 100 English-language books of all time.

Lord of the Flies opens on a deserted island, at the wreckage of the crash of an airplane that had been carrying British schoolboys away from the war-torn England. Ralph, an older child whose father was in the navy, meets another child, who wore glasses, was fat, and had asthma. The child does not reveal his name, but is known only as Piggy. Ralph is calm, democratic, and charismatic, while Piggy is frightful, disliked, and bossy. The two boys find a conch in a small body of water, and Ralph blows the conch. All the boys on the island go to the sound of the conch.

The conch in the story represents order and democracy. It is used to unite the children, and only he holding the conch is allowed to speak at the boys' assemblies. The conch is probably the most metaphorical item in the entire book.

When the boys unite after Ralph called them, the character Jack is introduced. Jack Merridew is the head of a choir to which many boys belong. He proclaims his desire to be elected chief of the island, but loses the election to Ralph. Ralph gives the resentful Jack command over his choir as hunters for the boys. The civilization on the island is created.

The story continues to explain the rise and fall of the civilization, and the decisions that all of the boys eventually have to make to follow Jack or Ralph. While Ralph stands for order and reason, Jack's tribe is fun and puts a large emphasis on violence, especially the hunt for pigs. Jack and Ralph are perfect foils for each other and are allegories for evil and good, respectively. Other characters include Roger, the spearman and Jack's lieutenant, and Simon, the voice of reason for Ralph and symbol of purity.

Lord of the Flies is a great satire for today. The point that no government created by man can last forever without trouble is true. The way that Golding writes the novel using children, who are so innocent but have so much potential for evil, is chilling. This novel has lasted for years and will last for several more as an excellent novel for modern civilizations.

http://www.amazon.com/WIDEVIEW-PERIGEE-BOOKS-William-Golding/dp/B000FXT2LA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1247432738&sr=8-1

Grade: 8.5

One Apple Short of a Basket

After reading such pleasant novels and anthologies by Ray Bradbury as The Martian Chronicles and The Illustrated Man, I was excited to pick up a copy of the Bradbury anthology The Golden Apples of the Sun from my library. While I had found some of the short stories in the previous books I had read slightly boring, the majority of them were good, Twilight Zone-type stories. I was expecting The Golden Apples of the Sun to please me just as much.

Sadly, this was not the case.

Most of the stories in the book were quite drab, with no interesting plot or twists that many of The Illustrated Man's stories had. Some of the stories seemed to have a lot of potential for a science fiction author like Bradbury to write something exciting, but they fell quite short of the cut. Regardless of many of the stories' lack of enthusiasm, three stories that I found quite appealing were "The Fruit at the Bottom of the Bowl," "The Murderer," and "Hail and Farewell."

In "The Fruit at the Bottom of the Bowl," Acton is at Huxley's house because he thinks the latter is cheating on his wife. The story opens with Acton standing over Huxley's corpse, shot by Acton's gun. As Acton is cleaning up the evidence, he notices some fingerprints on the house--fingerprints of his. He sees himself surely being caught and condemned for the murder if any of his fingerprints were found, so he starts polishing them off. And he does not stop. He keeps polishing, polishing, polishing....

The way Bradbury writes this story, it truly makes it seem like Acton is a normal man who was pushed to his limits by Huxley one time too many, and was not a cold-blooded murderer. The way he describes Acton's actions after the death is thrilling and chilling.

"The Murderer" is another great story. A psychologist walks through a large, clean office building while being serenaded by the sounds of today: telephones, music, computers, or other electronics. When he reaches a small room where his patient is waiting, he sees that the radio has been removed from the wall and broken. His patient, who calls himself "The Murderer," has not killed a single person. Rather, he has destroyed numerous technological items. The Murderer was upset with modern society's constant need for communication, where some of his friends call him for no apparent reason except to talk. So, he decided to destroy technology.

One of the reasons "The Murderer" stands out from the others is that Bradbury's portrait of a completely sane, normal man who suddenly has reached his point of intolerance with society is so realistic. The Murderer gave his rationale for each vandalism of his calmly and coolly, to the point where he is actually the hero of the story, and not the innocent psychiatrist.

"Hail and Farewell" concerns Willie, a young boy of twelve years old living in a Southern town. He has only lived there a few years, Willie never stays in one place for very long. In fact, one of the only things consistent with Willie is his age. Willie does not grow older. He stays in a town with a nice family for just as long as it takes for people to start talking about how the other boys grew right past him, and then he walks away, with barely anything at all.

This story is a great one because it shows the trouble with having one of the most-wished for blessings: the ability to never age. Willie can never have good friends because he has to move away very quickly. Bradbury describes well Willie's internal pain and grief, and also his physical conditions and needs.

Despite the fact that these three stories were great, many of the other nineteen were not very good or intriguing at all. The anthology fell short of Bradbury's ability, and should not be used as a judge for his prowess with writing.

Grade: 5

A Very Good 'Catch'

Lasting for many years as a symbol of teenage rebellion in American literature, J. D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye has been banned in many locations because of its ample amount of profanity, smoking, and drinking, as well as some other mature content. While banning may be a way to keep children's minds pure of these vile actions, it is a shame that such an outstanding book should ever be restricted.

The short novel begins with Holden Caulfield, the protagonist and anti-hero of the novel talking to the reader with a very unique talking style: "If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of c***, but I don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth. In the first place, that stuff bores me, and in the second place, my parents would have about two hemorrhages apiece if I told anything pretty personal about them. They're quite touchy about anything like that, especially my father. They're nice and all--I'm not saying that--but they're also touchy as h***. Besides, I'm not going to tell you my g***** autobiography or anything. I'll just tell you about this madman stuff that happened to me around last Christmas just before I got pretty run-down and had to come out here and take it easy."

Caulfield is attending a private school, Pencey Prep, in Pennsylvania. About a week before Christmas break begins, Caulfield is told that his grades are too low (he is failing all his classes except for English), and that he cannot return to Pencey the following term. Besides being slightly worried about what his parents might think of his expulsion, Caulfield is hardly perturbed about it. He figures that instead of spending his last few days at Pencey actually at Pencey, he should leave. And that is what he does.

The novel follows Caulfield's ventures back to New York, while rebelling against society. There is not very much action at all. But what the novel lacks in plot, Salinger makes up for in commentary. The way Caulfield talks to the reader and then goes off on several tangents to speak about his past at Pencey and before is delighting. Caulfield, while being the protagonist of the novel, is a very difficult character to like, with all his complaints, profanity, and talk about alcohol, smoking, and girls. But he has become one of the most well-known characters in literary history, probably because his personality is atrocious but believable. Only a few would not be able to relate with Caulfield at all.

The Catcher in the Rye is an extraordinary work of art. Any reader should read this when they are at a mature age. It is only a shame that Salinger did not write more books (he only wrote four), because, if they had been as excellent and successful as this one, they would be fine novels indeed.

http://www.amazon.com/Catcher-Rye-J-D-Salinger/dp/0316769177/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1244495767&sr=8-1

Grade: 9.5

A Depressing Journey

One of the most heralded books of the 21st century was a short 2006 post-apocalyptic novel about a man and his son. There are few commas, barely any apostrophes, and no quotation marks to signal dialogue. There are no chapters. The protagonists are never named. But Cormac McCarthy won the Pulitzer Prize for his novel The Road. It was chosen by the Oprah Book Club, and The Road came out on top in a 2008 Entertainment Weekly list of the best 100 books of the past 25 years. The movie adaptation is planned on being released later this year.

The Road is about a man (known simply as "the man") and a boy (known simply as "the boy") trying to survive in a barren America. While their main challenge is trying to find enough food and water to survive, they also struggle with the intense cold that had come from the unnamed apocalypse, the search for shelter, and the bands of cannibals that roam the earth, marauding any weak travelers to rob, kill, and often eat them.

McCarthy's writing style may be one of the main reasons The Road has been so acclaimed. His creative and unconventional nonuse of commas, apostrophes, quotation marks, names, and chapters marks the writing style as very unique. The depressing tone of the novel makes the reader care about the characters more than most other books. Here is one of the many conversations between the man and the boy:

He was a long time going to sleep. After a while he turned and looked at the man. His face in the small light streaked with black from the rain like some old world thespian. Can I ask you something? he said.
Yes. Of course.
Are we going to die?
Sometime. Not now.
And we're still going south.
Yes.
So we'll be warm.
Yes.
Okay.
Okay what?
Nothing. Just okay.
Go to sleep.
Okay.
I'm going to blow out the lamp. Is that okay?
Yes. That's okay.
And then later in the darkness: Can I ask you something?
Yes. Of course you can.
What would you do if I died?
If you died I would want to die too.
So you could be with me?
Yes. So I could be with you.
Okay.

The character of the man is pitiful. He is living out a harsh punishment for no crime at all. He does not care at all about himself; every move he makes is for the well-being of his son or the safety of himself in order to protect his son. The boy is, if possible, an even more depressing character. While he is generally more optimistic than his father, most readers will find themselves halfway to tears reading about a child at his age surviving sights and events that nobody should ever have to endure. Cormac McCarthy describes the love of the man and the loss of innocence of the boy with vivid and realistic dialogue and actions. As the novel says, the man and the boy are "each the other's world entire."

While The Road is an excellent addition to literature and should become a classic in future years, many children and weak readers will find this book to hard to bear. Throughout the novel, the depressing tone and some events may not be pleasant to some readers.

Cormac McCarthy wrote an excellent story with The Road. This book has brought him more renown than he has ever had with his previous books. The austere book should continue to enchant readers for many years to come.

http://www.amazon.com/Road-Movie-Tie-Cormac-McCarthy/dp/0307472124/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1241288865&sr=8-1

Grade: 9

The Underland Chronicles

Young adult literature can often be very inane. An author does not need to work very hard to write a story that appeals to teenagers--shallow humor, constant action (or teenage drama, in the case of females), and a simple plot seem to be the elements of a bestselling young adult novel. Take Percy Jackson and the Olympians, by Rick Riordan, for instance. The series, while appealing to many young adults I know, failed in appealing to me.

One young adult series, though, that seems to go against the norm is Suzanne Collins's The Underland Chronicles. While it does have its occasional stabs at humor and quite a bit of action, The Underland Chronicles has a good story and is much better than most other novels in youth literature.

The first book in the series is Gregor the Overlander. Gregor is an eleven-year-old boy living in an apartment in New York City with his grandmother, his mother, his seven-year-old sister Lizzie, and his two-year-old sister Boots. They had been very impoverished ever since Gregor's father disappeared. One day, Gregor and his sister Boots are in the laundry room of their apartment, and Gregor follows his sister through a grate in the floor. They realize that it leads to the Underland, a world that exists underneath New York City. The Underland has humans, giant bats (fliers), giant spiders (spinners), giant cockroaches (crawlers), and giant rats (gnawers). The humans live in a city called Regalia. The Regalians realize that Gregor is the warrior mentioned in "The Prophecy of Gray", a prophecy that says that a warrior from the Overland will save Regalia from the gnawers by going on a quest.

Gregor the Overlander is an excellent piece of children's literature. The plot, including the characters, the quest, and especially the prophecy marks this as a great series beginner. Readers will enjoy following Gregor and the others as they fulfill the prophecy, even if not the way they originally anticipated.

http://www.amazon.com/Overlander-Underland-Chronicles-Suzanne-Collins/dp/0439678137/ref=pd_bbs_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1238866992&sr=8-5

Grade: 9

The second installation in the series, Gregor and the Prophecy of Bane, brings Gregor back to the Underland to fulfill the Prophecy of Bane. The Underlanders kidnap Boots in order to lure Gregor down, because the Prophecy of Bane calls for the warrior again. This time, the Regalians want Gregor to go on another quest to kill a white gnawer called the Bane. If the gnawers get hold of the Bane, they will be able to rule the Underland.

Collins achieves every author's aspiration: to write a sequel as good as or better than its predecessor. She uses the same formula as the first: Gregor's quest through the Underland as a segway for the development of the prophecy, as well as the surprising actual meanings of many of its ambiguous lines. Another great story in the Underland Chronicles.

http://www.amazon.com/Gregor-Prophecy-Bane-Underland-Chronicles/dp/0439650763/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1239233487&sr=8-1

Grade: 9

Gregor returns to the Underland for yet another prophecy in Gregor and the Curse of the Warmbloods. A plague has struck Regalia and the rest of the Underland. It only affects warm-blooded creatures, thus affecting all humans, gnawers, and fliers. The Prophecy of Blood states that the warrior must go on a quest to find the cure for the terrible plague. At first, Gregor's mother insists that he will not go on another quest, but when she gets the plague, Gregor decides to go so that he can save her life and the lives of every warmblood in the Underland.

Gregor and the Curse of the Warmbloods is not as good as the first two. The main events of the third novel seem to be much less intricate, as well as much fewer, than those of the first two books. The Prophecy of Blood is much more straightforward than both the Prophecy of Gray and the Prophecy of Bane, which provides for much less room for misinterpretation, the element that truly made Gregor the Overlander and Gregor and the Prophecy of Bane stand out from other young adult fantasy novels. Although it was not a bad book, Gregor and the Curse of the Warmbloods did not live up to its wonderful predecessors.

http://www.amazon.com/Gregor-Curse-Warmbloods-Underland-Chronicles/dp/0439656249/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1239234541&sr=1-1

Grade: 7.5

The penultimate Underland Chronicle is Gregor and the Marks of Secret. Gregor returns to Regalia one day for a birthday party, and while with one of his Underland friends, gets a distress call from the mice (nibblers). The nibblers had been forced from their homes by the gnawers for many years. Finally, it seemed, the nibblers needed help from the humans. Gregor must go on another quest if he wants to save a whole species of Underland animals.

This fourth episode in Gregor's life is another disappointment. It, like Gregor and the Curse of the Warmbloods, does not have the same intricate plot as the first two. Furthermore, there is not even a prophecy that Gregor and the others must fulfill, which makes the book almost like any other action/adventure children's book. It is good, but again, does not capture one's attention as much as could be hoped for. While Gregor and the Marks of Secret is above average, it does not show Collins's full writing prowess.

http://www.amazon.com/Gregor-Marks-Secret-Underland-Chronicles/dp/0439791464/ref=pd_rhf_shvl_title

Grade: 7.5

Gregor and the Code of Claw completes the story of Gregor and his adventures in the Underland. A war between the humans and the gnawers is coming into full swing, and Gregor is needed to help Regalia as well as fulfill the Prophecy of Time, perhaps the most enigmatic and ominous prophecy of all.

This novel is the longest of the Underland Chronicles by far. With 412 pages of writing, Collins can expand on every facet of the war, as well as the characters that serve as Regalia's protection against the gnawers. Even without a quest, the novel has enough physical action as well as psychological suspense to keep the reader hooked on its events. Regardless, Collins must not realize the importance of having a prophecy that at first is misinterpreted by the Regalians, and then the true meaning of which is startlingly revealed to the reader. Although the Prophecy of Time may be one of the best of the entire series, it is not a main focus in the novel. The formula that made the first two stand out so well is not followed. Although Gregor and the Code of Claw is very good and exceeds the quality of the preceding two by far, it lacks the element that made Gregor the Overlander and Gregor and the Prophecy of Bane stand out. Readers will find this a very fun read, while not as fun as Collins could have made it.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_b_6_15?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=gregor+and+the+code+of+the+claw&sprefix=gregor+and+the

Grade: 8

Collins turned a good idea for a story into a superb series. While she had a few flaws in a couple books, this is still one of the best selections of young adult literature.

Exceeded Expectations

Out of all the great authors that have ever lived and made their mark in literary history, one of the most prolific may have been Charles Dickens. While he was not as prolific as some authors, many of his works are incredibly well-known: A Christmas Carol, David Copperfield, Oliver Twist, The Pickwick Papers, and A Tale of Two Cities, to mention a few. And what may be his most renowned work is the story of Pip, the young English gentleman: Great Expectations.

The lengthy novel begins with a young Philip "Pip" Pirrip, sitting next to the tombstone shared by almost his entire family in the cemetery near the village church. Pip is an orphan who lives with his sister, his only surviving family member. Pip, Joe (Pip's brother-in-law, the blacksmith), and Mrs. Joe (Pip's sister) all live together in a small house. Theirs is not a happy life; the small household is plagued by poverty.

Charles Dickens wastes no time in getting to the action of the novel. On the second page, Pip meets the mysterious escaped convict in the cemetery who threatens to kill Pip is he does not bring the convict food. The next day, Christmas, Pip takes a plethora of food for the convict and watches while the latter gobbles it up greedily.

Dickens's original portrayal of Pip is that of a gullible, fearful young child. Because the story is told through the eyes and voice of Pip, Dickens could characterize Pip to make one feel like he actually was a good friend of the boy.

Somewhere around Pip's teenage years, he is introduced to the old spinster Miss Havisham and the young, beautiful Estella, Miss Havisham's adoptive daughter. The stinginess, pessimism, and woe of Miss Havisham and the elitism, pride, and cruelty of Estella act as true foils to Pip's innocent blitheness.

Great Expectations goes on to summarize the rest of Pip's life: his relationships, fortunes, misfortunes, and demeanor. Dickens wrote very well through the voice of Pip. As Pip matured in age and disposition, the writing style grew more and more solemn. Great Expectations is truly a classic for the world, and proves the writing prowess of Charles Dickens.

http://www.amazon.com/Great-Expectations-Dover-Thrift-Editions/dp/0486415864/ref=pd_bbs_sr_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1237436590&sr=8-3

Grade: 8.5

Farewell to High Hopes

Even after over 50 years, World War II internment camps are still a touchy subject to many people. The horrors that the Americans inflicted on innocent Japanese people are, although considered by many a good idea at the time, now but a memory of one of the dark ages of America.

One of these terrible internment camps is the subject of Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston and James D. Houston's novel, Farewell to Manzanar. Manzanar was a scary place for the Japanese forced to leave their homes and move there, but the Houstons' effort, although being an American classic, does come across as a little bland. From 1942 to 1945, the Japanese living in Manzanar were in terrible conditions. It seems like the Houstons should be able to make the novel a bit more dramatic.

The main characters are the Wakatsukis, a family of Japanese-Americans. Jeanne Wakatsuki, co-author of the book, is the youngest. When Pearl Harbor was bombed, no one had any idea what had happened. All they knew was that about four months later, they had to go to Manzanar, an internment camp in California. One of the best scenes in the novel occurs before they leave, when Mama is trying to sell everything she owned. A dealer tries to buy many expensive china articles for a paltry sum. Mama gets each article and throws them down, one by one, to shatter on the hard ground. The dealer, after trying to coax Mama out of her actions, just walks away.

The Wakatsukis arrive at the camp. The living arrangements are fit for animals. The bathrooms are filthy, with no dividers. Sand enters their shack through knotholes in the wall. Although the Japanese establish cultural activities (Jeanne was for a while a member of a Japanese dance class, taught by an old geisha) and the Americans that run the camp try to make it seem as much like home as possible (Japanese food is served daily), Manzanar is portrayed a terrible place.

Here is where the trouble sets in. When the war ends, Congress issues an order to send every Japanese person in an internment camp back to their home. But even though the Wakatsukis and every other person hated Manzanar while they stayed there, they do not want to leave and procrastinate as much as they can before they finally decide to go home. This just did not make enough sense to me. They should be relieved that they can go back to their old way of living.

Farewell to Manzanar described a terrible time in American history through the eyes of a little girl. It is not a complete failure of a book. It just does not live up to its legendary name.

http://www.amazon.com/Farewell-Manzanar-Japanese-Experience-Internment/dp/0553272586/ref=pd_bbs_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1235699573&sr=8-1

Grade: 6.5