Book for Next Year

I believe that My Sister’s Keeper should be the next book chosen for English 110. First of all, the group that presented did a very good job of keeping the class interested in their presentation. They were organized, prepared, and enthusiastic, which caught the class’s attention. I noticed that everyone who was watching seemed most excited when this group was talking, especially when they mentioned all of the twists. It was clear that everyone in their group was excited about the book, or at least determined to convince everyone that they were excited. As for the book, I think it would be perfect for the class for several reasons. It seems very thought-provoking, which is important in this class because of the amount of discussion that we do. The plot seems very creative, too. It shows the tragedy that comes with an illness such as Leukemia, as well as the choices that must be made. There are also a lot of issues in it that are currently very important to our society. These include stem cell research, “designer babies,” and a child’s ability to choose what’s best for them. These issues will allow the class to think about their own opinions, and be able to relate them to the book. I also think that this book can relate to everyone who reads it. It isn’t written for one specific group of people, which is perfect for the class because it will allow everyone to be able to speak comfortably about it.

Brave Steps Taken in My Most Excellent Year

The ease with which Steve Kluger delivers My Most Excellent Year made me overlook just how many courageous leaps he took. He wrote the book as if the three students that are the main characters were just everyday people doing everyday things. It wasn't until I finished that I realized just how different these characters, and this book, are from all of the others that are in its genre. The first thing that I noticed was that one of the students (Auggie Hwong) was gay. This is a touchy subject with a lot of people, especially in today's society. However rather than pointing out the negative (which is seemingly all that is ever publicized on this particular topic), Kluger describes the tremendous amount of support that Auggie has. Both of his parents are fine with his sexual orientation, as is his lifelong best friend. Everyone knows how viscious high school can be, so seeing the amount of support that Auggie has by the whole school is something that is practically unheard of. The next thing that touches on unfamiliar territory is the rebellion that one of the characters (Ale Perez) demonstrates against her parents. While teenage rebellion might not be anything new, the fact that her parents are well-respected political leaders is. She completely disregards her parents wishes for her future and does exactly what she wants to do, which happens to be acting. Kluger is sending a message saying that you shouldn't be held captive by what is expected of you.

The last thing that I noticed was much more subtle, much harder to explain, and much more present throughout the whole book. At first, the last of the main characters (T.C.) is just your average high school student. But as the story goes on, you realize that he has little to no regard for what an "average" high school student should be. His best friend is gay, his girl friend has her own secret service agent, and on top of it all, the thing he cares for most in the world is a six year old boy who is deaf. Hucky, who lives at a home for orphaned deaf children, takes a particular liking to T.C. because he loves to watch him play baseball. Over time, they become very close friends and rely on eachother for just about everything. This kind of friendship is hardly one that you see everyday, and it is refreshing to see a character who could care less about what "normal" should be.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, and was pleasantly surprised by the subtle depth that is represented by it's characters. Never have I been presented with a story so outside the norm, that reads as though there is nothing unusual at all. This isn't a difficult story to read, but the maturity that is presented with each issue takes it to a whole new level. It's entertaining, it makes you think, and it captivates the readers undivided attention. To me, that's good literature.

Interesting Format...

The book that I'm reading for our final project, My Most Excellent Year, by Steve Kluger, is unique in that it is layed out in a very unusual fashion. The entire book is written in e-mails, notes, instant messages, and letters. As I was reading I kept waiting for the actual novel to begin, because I simply couldn't believe that the whole story was a compilation of these things. However, after reading further into the book I began to realize just how much I loved it. What better way to get to know what someone is thinking? You are able to view the occurances in the novel from many perspectives, which is extremely helpful. For instance, the parents of the characters constantly email eachother about their children's lives, as do the students' teachers. Being able to see all of these things enables you to view how they see the events, rather than just the students' take on things. I have never read a book that was set up this way, or anywhere close to it for that matter. Besides this, the next most unusual syntax that I've found would have to be a tie between the footnotes in The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, and the constantly switching narrators in Sometimes a Great Notion. What differs from these texts is that My Most Excellent Year isn't anywhere close to confusing, it's simply creative. Unfortunately, when other authors try to achieve this creativity, they end up with something so confusing that you have no idea what's going on. (Note: while I would choose Ken Kesey over Junot Diaz any day, I can't help but admit that I was thoroughly lost at the beginning of his above-mentioned novel). Props to Steve Kluger for being creative and clear.

My Most Excellent Year

Steve Kluger's, My Most Excellent Year has indeed lived up to its claim as being "a novel of love, Marry Poppins & Fenway Park." Much like the main characters themselves, these are three impossibly different things that all creatively mesh their way into one refreshing story. The plot follows three different freshmen at a high school in Massachusetts who find themselves falling in love, coping with tragedy, and having to grow up. While this may seem like the average high-school-coming-of-age story, that thought is quickly dissolved when you discover that one is a homosexual, another seeks advice from a 6-year old deaf child, and the third has a secret service agent for a best friend. While each deals with their own personal struggles, they seek comfort in each other and find solace in knowing that they will never truly be alone. This book takes you straight back to high shool, in the best and worst of ways. The excitement of finding love for the first time and following your dreams is definitely there, however so is the endless drama and painful task of learning true responsibility. The witty and honest dialogue of these three students is a pleasant reminder that, yes things really can be that simple sometimes. Even in the harshest of tragedies and the greatest of triumphs they never fail to remain true to themselves, no matter what the price. Overall...so far so good.

Shadows

One of the most intriguing (and confusing) things about Art Spiegelman's, In the Shadow of No Towers, is that almost none of the pages are exactly alike. Each page represents a different form of hysteria, all depicting the emotions of 9/11. Some pages are drawn as though they were from a different time, some depict the character as being a mouse, and the rest portray a myriad of different illustrating styles. However, there is one thing that appears all throughout the first half of the book. I didn't notice it at first, but after going back and checking I noticed that there are shadowy red towers that appear to be burning on every page. This got me thinking, "why would this be the same when everything else is so different?" Each page seems to show the different ways that the author views 9/11. As time goes on he becomes less hysteric, but no less forgetful. As he relives the attacks over and over again those fiery red towers are there depicting the mood. When he is most worried and looking for his daughter, the towers take up a large portion of the page, whereas at the end of the book, it shows them finally crumbling to the ground and fading into darkness as he begins to forget them more easily. It seems that these towers are the one thing that is constant throughout the whole story. It reminds us that no matter how different the pages are, or how random the author's narrative seems to be, the book is still about one thing: the attack on the World Trade Center, and the destruction of the towers on 9/11.

IKEA Furniture

The obsession that Edward Norton's character has with IKEA furniture is relevant to our current society in many ways. Especially around this holiday season, it is becoming more and more evident that we are slaves to advertisement. It may be an interesting peice of furniture, a new haircut, a clothing style, or anything really that grabs our attention and makes us think, "I have to have that." The consumers are being consumed by what is new and great, without thinking about why it's so special. Is it really that great of a coffee table? Or is it simply necessary becuase it's on the front cover of a catalogue, therefore making it the obvious thing to purchase? One way to look at it is, if you had never seen the coffee table in that catalogue, you never would have needed it. Nevertheless, because you did spot it, there was no longer a question; it was now a necessity, a need. As illuminated in Fight Club, this is absolutely ridiculous. The narrator explains that there is no inherent need for a cute yin-yang coffee table, but he still purchases it because he, like so many others, has been roped into a consumers nightmare.
The ironic part about obsessive consumerism in Fight Club is that the main character ends up incinerating all of these objects, without even knowing it. His subconcisous alter-ego (Tyler) was so tired of the excess material that he destroyed it. At first, the narrator is in complete disbelief, and is convinced that his whole life resided in that appartment and so now his life is over. Tyler, however, led him to believe that those unimportant mementos were hardly what life was about. While the narrator catalyzed the consumer spiral, Tyler strived to destroy it. It is these two competing forces in the characters head that made up the irony of the story. Neither one appears better than the other. One is groggy and blinded, while the other is violent and destructive.

Why Read Non-required Reading?

After reading the first part of The Best American Non-required Reading, the first question I asked myself was, why? What's the point of reading all of these random pieces of literature? Is it even literature? It wasn't until after I was completely finished reading it that I realized how much I had learned. It's amazing how much we don't know about our own culture. It made me realize that I've never stopped and realized just how absurd things have gotten. All of the little tid-bits in Part I were hilarious to read, simply because they were so strange. It threw me for a loop, therefore, when I realized that the things that they were talking about were present in my everyday life. The book is poking fun at our culture, the things that we experience everyday. We just don't see them until they are condensed into 27 pages of a book. In this way, I believe that it is literature, and it is definitely worth reading. It's informative, educational, entertaining, and it tells a great story.

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

The thing that is most interesting to me about this book is that I hated it... at first. It wasn't the "spanglish" or the slang, in fact it wasn't really anything that we talked about in class that bothered me so much. It was simply the fact that the syntax irritated me to no end. The story was set up with annoying little footnotes, huge gaping holes in the plot, and an unusual amount of seemingly unneccessary information. However, as the story progressed, things began to shift into focus. For instance, if the footnotes had not been there, I would not have been able to fully understand the harshness of the Trujillo reign, or the implications that it cast on the people. Though I didn't realize it initially, the gaping holes are what kept me reading in the first place; it was like I just had to know what happened. And what about all that "unneccessary information"? Turns out it wasn't so unneccessary after all. Everything fit together in the end with surprising ease. Once everything was said and done, it was like the story just made sense to me (which is odd considering I have never moved to a new country and can in no way relate to the characters for any other reasons, either). That in and of itself is a feat. Diaz allowed me to understand a family of characters that I have nothing in common with. This was different than other stories in that it didn't try to make the information easily accessable to you. Instead, Diaz made you work for it. To put it concisely, I really liked the book. It was a struggle, but in the end it was well worth it.

The Kite Runner

I have to say that the movie that we watched in class, The Kite Runner, was my favorite thing so far this year. That isn't limited to English 110; I mean that in all my classes it has been the most rewarding thing I have done. I had heard that the book was very good, but had never had time to read it. I was slightly disappointed when I heard that we would be watching the movie in class becuase I didn't want it to ruin the book for me (not that I would have extra time to read it anyway). But after watching it, I have absolutely no regrets. It was very sad, but the ending gave the possibility for hope, which is what I like to see in both books and films. The character development was amazing, too. They portrayed the change in attitude among the characters very well. I feel that this may have been lost in the book, because with the movie, you were able to actually see the change in facial expressions. Seeing as I have never read the book, I wouldn't actually know. This assumption is based purely on my experience with other book-to-movie comparisons. Overall, I am very glad that we were able to watch this movie, and I would hope that it would be used in future classes.

Alternate Ending to Happiness

Edwin goes up to the mountain to speak with Jack and finds him close to death. Jack states that all of the money made from How to be Miserable has been left to Edwin, and he congratulates him on being a millionaire. Edwin leaves Jack and sets out to find May. At first, she wants nothing to do with him. Edwin gives one final attempt by writing her a letter stating exactly what he really thinks of her; everything from the Sheraton Timberland Lodge to the way her lipstick makes him feel is included in this extensive letter. It was all she needed, and she eventually comes back to him. Edwin quits his job at Panderic, pulling Mr. Mead's ponytail as hard as he can on the way out. He and May move to a secluded tropical island, happily miserable about their imperfect lives.
Mr. Mead realizes that Panderic isn't the place for him afterall and he leaves without so much as a good-bye note. He writes a book called Live Baby-boomers, Live! which competely flops of course. Though he lives out of a box and has only $4.83 to his name, he is perfectly content with how unhappy he is.
Nigel is fired from panderic for never paying Edwin for the tie. He finds Jenni, Edwin's ex-wife, stumbling around in the woods claiming to be on a quest designated to her from the great Tupak Soiree himself. Nigel convinces her that he is the real Soiree and they get married on a mountaintop in Tibet. Unfortunately, their honeymoon is cut short when their plane is hijacked by Mr. Ethics (recently escaped from jail and still on the hunt for Edwin) who has no knowlege of how to fly a plane. He accidentally crashes it in a field, killing himself and all of the passengers on board.
The final scene depicts Edwin and May approaching a forgotten grave in an old cemetary some years later. The headstone reads, "here lies Jack McGreary, the most miserable man to ever live, and damn proud of it!" There are only two distinctions between this grave and all the others, the first being a hand-written note recently set in front of it stating, "wow, thanks grandpa." The second, most peculiar distintion, is that all of the graves are covered by plain, green grass, except for this one which is covered by a thick patch of thriving daisies...

Happiness reviews

I was completely taken by surprise upon reading all of the reviews for Happiness. I really enjoyed the book for several reasons, yet it seems I was the only one! The review that really surprised me was the one that referred to the book as "tame." Tame would be the last word that I would use to describe the book. It's true that the the humor sometimes distracted me from the "message" but that doesn't mean that it was tame. When I think tame, I think subtle, and the raw (often brutal) honesty that Ferguson uses isn't subtle at all. In fact, it was refreshingly blunt. It wasn't sugar-coated at all, it was real human experience, and I loved it.