All of the books sounded really interesting and it’s hard for me to pick between The Road and My Sister’s Keeper. On one hand I really liked My Sister’s Keeper and I know it will fit in the class but on the other I’ve got this strange love for post apocalyptic stories and The Road sounds really creepy! The only thing I can think of that kind of steers me away from picking The Road is that maybe it would be a bit of a dark class if all the books ended up being depressing but wait… My Sister’s Keeper isn’t exactly a bright book either. I know that I will read The Road but I’m not sure next class would really enjoy reading about that sort of thing even though I’m eager to. Then again it does sound like it has interesting writing that I do think will add to the class discussion. One thing that makes me hesitate from picking My Sister’s Keeper is that it’s like a lot of the books we read in this class and I like how The Road seems to be unique and unlike all the rest of the books.
Okay, so here it is *drum roll* my vote goes to The Road! I loved My Sister’s Keeper but I was sold when The Road was being pitched. If it does make the class a little depressing it can just be put in between Happiness and Water for Elephants! Besides it will bring in a new type of book for the next course to look at.
So… even though I really was interested by all the other books pitched I have to say The Road wins this one.
Friday, December 12, 2008
Monday, December 8, 2008
The group I was in for the final project/paper decided to read My Sister’s Keeper and I have to say I thought it was a great read. My Sister’s Keeper is about a girl, named Anna, trying to emancipate herself medically from her parents when she’s only thirteen. The reason she does this is because even before her birth Anna was designed to help her sister Kate because Kate had cancer and needed a doner with a particular genetic makeup. Kate needed needed to have transplants that were essential in keeping her alive and Anna was born to donate them. So Anna, who’s under gone many surgeries without anything being wrong with her, takes her parents to court intending to stop her parents from signing her up to donate a kidney to her critically ill sister after she had little say in all of the other surgeries.
To me this was a really exciting and emotional story mainly because I too have a sister who I would do anything for. Anna wants to help her sister but she also wants a say in what is taken from her and to her parents and those around her she is considered somewhat selfish for wanting this. At first I have to say that I felt similar to those around her but after reading it though I can completely understand why she would want a say in what is taken out of her body, especially in her situation where she has been basically the only thing keeping her sister alive for 13 years. When I think about doing anything to help my sister it’s coming from a person who has always had a healthy sister and Anna’s story gives light to what it is like to be the one who’s grown up giving up parts and pieces to a person who it seems like is always getting closer and closer to death.
Although My Sister’s Keeper was an easy read it still challenged me to think of what would really be best in that type of situation and yet to understand what the human response was not only for Anna but her entire family.
To me this was a really exciting and emotional story mainly because I too have a sister who I would do anything for. Anna wants to help her sister but she also wants a say in what is taken from her and to her parents and those around her she is considered somewhat selfish for wanting this. At first I have to say that I felt similar to those around her but after reading it though I can completely understand why she would want a say in what is taken out of her body, especially in her situation where she has been basically the only thing keeping her sister alive for 13 years. When I think about doing anything to help my sister it’s coming from a person who has always had a healthy sister and Anna’s story gives light to what it is like to be the one who’s grown up giving up parts and pieces to a person who it seems like is always getting closer and closer to death.
Although My Sister’s Keeper was an easy read it still challenged me to think of what would really be best in that type of situation and yet to understand what the human response was not only for Anna but her entire family.
Sunday, December 7, 2008
In the Shadow of No Towers
I’m still trying to figure out if I liked this book or not. I have read comic books before so it really wasn’t that hard for me to read and I thought it had good content but for some reason I didn’t really care for it much. With that said there were a few things that I really did like about In the Shadow of No Towers.
I liked how Spiegelman used his art work to enhance the feeling of paranoia that his character is going though. It was weird because by the end of reading the first ten pages I was actually feeling a little anxious too. His use of his smoking increasing with every frame as he rants kind of help make clear two things for me; one… the topics are really important to him and two… that he’s even criticizing himself in his book.
I was also really interested after reading the ending compilation of comics to look back and see how he used characters and styles from those comics in his own story. It kind of reminded me of how Politician’s bring up historical examples to deal with the problems of today, but instead of using historical events he used historical comics. Also, along the lines of the comics he included at the end, it was odd to look at them just because they seem to still be relevant, and I didn’t really expect that. It kind of made me think that nothing’s changed which is kind of unnerving.
I liked how Spiegelman used his art work to enhance the feeling of paranoia that his character is going though. It was weird because by the end of reading the first ten pages I was actually feeling a little anxious too. His use of his smoking increasing with every frame as he rants kind of help make clear two things for me; one… the topics are really important to him and two… that he’s even criticizing himself in his book.
I was also really interested after reading the ending compilation of comics to look back and see how he used characters and styles from those comics in his own story. It kind of reminded me of how Politician’s bring up historical examples to deal with the problems of today, but instead of using historical events he used historical comics. Also, along the lines of the comics he included at the end, it was odd to look at them just because they seem to still be relevant, and I didn’t really expect that. It kind of made me think that nothing’s changed which is kind of unnerving.
Friday, December 5, 2008
Fight Club
There were a lot of differences that I noticed in viewing of Fight Club in this class than I did when I first watched it. Maybe it was that I was watching with a more critical eye in class than I had before or maybe it had just been awhile since I had seen it but I got a lot more out of it in the second viewing. The idea of project Mayhem came out of his internal mayhem was something that I hadn’t really caught on too before and that it would ultimately lead to him trying to fix his problem. Also, after watching it a second time I’m wondering if he got rid of Durdan or if Durdan got rid of rid of Norton’s character. That makes the ending kind of eerie to me more so than before.
Overall I liked Fight Club because it criticizes the way people tend to rely on the material things and depend on them for stability. There was also the way that people lined up to follow this guy who you find out later is crazy, that’s something that boggles my mind. It was also a very entertaining movie to watch which makes it as exceptional. I think I’m going to have to read this book.
Overall I liked Fight Club because it criticizes the way people tend to rely on the material things and depend on them for stability. There was also the way that people lined up to follow this guy who you find out later is crazy, that’s something that boggles my mind. It was also a very entertaining movie to watch which makes it as exceptional. I think I’m going to have to read this book.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
What is your dangerous idea?
Evolution of Evil
Like Buss I have also thought about the fact that society labels people who murder as evil when they turn around and say that killing in war is okay. How many times are innocent people killed in attacks by the US when they are attempting to get terrorists? How many times are those “killers” tried? Are those innocent lives justified in the fact that it is a war areas where they were killed or because they were killed during fights against terrorism. Buss makes a very good point when he suggests that people have all these reasons that others are evil but when it comes to the out group that is affected those perpetrators are not always considered evil anymore. What is up with that?
I think that Buss is also right in suggesting that we make up all these reasons for a person’s “evil” behavior because we are afraid that we all have that ability in us and because that ability to do “evil” is perhaps a natural adaption for survival. There are many other species that kill, and maim each other and I think that we are much more like them than we suppose. Perhaps we’re of higher intelligence but can we really say that we do not have those instincts to do “evil”? I think we give animals too little credit and ourselves too much credit when we say that individuals are susceptible to “evil” but not our species as a whole. Maybe humans like other animals are programmed to kill, rape, steal or do other terrible things when it is profitable to them.
I think this reading and Buss’s portion really fits into this book quite well. It not only gives a different perspective that makes the reader uncomfortable, or at least it makes me uncomfortable, but it also presents something that high school students would not normally get to read. I think readings like this are more interesting just in the fact that they are relevant to what is going on now, and what might happen in the future. Not only is a reading like this interesting a little bit bazaar it also helps to open up the readers mind and think about things that they might not think about normally.
Like Buss I have also thought about the fact that society labels people who murder as evil when they turn around and say that killing in war is okay. How many times are innocent people killed in attacks by the US when they are attempting to get terrorists? How many times are those “killers” tried? Are those innocent lives justified in the fact that it is a war areas where they were killed or because they were killed during fights against terrorism. Buss makes a very good point when he suggests that people have all these reasons that others are evil but when it comes to the out group that is affected those perpetrators are not always considered evil anymore. What is up with that?
I think that Buss is also right in suggesting that we make up all these reasons for a person’s “evil” behavior because we are afraid that we all have that ability in us and because that ability to do “evil” is perhaps a natural adaption for survival. There are many other species that kill, and maim each other and I think that we are much more like them than we suppose. Perhaps we’re of higher intelligence but can we really say that we do not have those instincts to do “evil”? I think we give animals too little credit and ourselves too much credit when we say that individuals are susceptible to “evil” but not our species as a whole. Maybe humans like other animals are programmed to kill, rape, steal or do other terrible things when it is profitable to them.
I think this reading and Buss’s portion really fits into this book quite well. It not only gives a different perspective that makes the reader uncomfortable, or at least it makes me uncomfortable, but it also presents something that high school students would not normally get to read. I think readings like this are more interesting just in the fact that they are relevant to what is going on now, and what might happen in the future. Not only is a reading like this interesting a little bit bazaar it also helps to open up the readers mind and think about things that they might not think about normally.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
The Brief Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao
Alright first thing is first, I just love it when the end makes everything click and there's just an epiphany feeling. It's that sort of feeling that makes me want to read more and more... that's what causes the addiction. Then there is the thinking in circles my mind does to try to figure out all of the connections and how they were important, and I have to say this one has so many circles!
The one aspect of this story that I thought was amazing were the connections between the characters, not only are they connected as a family but their experiences are also intertwining them together. I thought this was especially interesting because for a book intending to be about Oscar's story Diaz spent nearly half of the book explaining his mother's, Lola's, and his grandfather's pasts in order to have Oscar be totally understood. The connections between Oscar and the rest of his family can't even be seen until nearly the end. Just when I was about to right off Oscar and say that he was going to die the odd ball out I was thrown for a loop when I realized Oscar, Lola, Beli, Abelard, and even La Inca were so much alike in the end. He was being beaten in a sugar field for the same reason his mother was and that was for the "forbidden love" and the same reason that Diaz suggested that Abelard was put into jail. For me the most important idea carried throughout this novel was the dirty message of love, they all had it and it was unrewarding most of the time but they still had it and still clung to it. All of the characters seemed to connect at the end through Oscar as he went and fought back, not physically of course, but he refused, like so many in his family had before, to give in and give up. Oscar was in the game the rest of his family had played before, but he went back for more. He like his mother had been given a way out but came back for a second fight. Who would have thought he had it in him?
One thing is for certain this book does make the reader work for understanding, and even understanding isn't completely attainable in this novel.
The one aspect of this story that I thought was amazing were the connections between the characters, not only are they connected as a family but their experiences are also intertwining them together. I thought this was especially interesting because for a book intending to be about Oscar's story Diaz spent nearly half of the book explaining his mother's, Lola's, and his grandfather's pasts in order to have Oscar be totally understood. The connections between Oscar and the rest of his family can't even be seen until nearly the end. Just when I was about to right off Oscar and say that he was going to die the odd ball out I was thrown for a loop when I realized Oscar, Lola, Beli, Abelard, and even La Inca were so much alike in the end. He was being beaten in a sugar field for the same reason his mother was and that was for the "forbidden love" and the same reason that Diaz suggested that Abelard was put into jail. For me the most important idea carried throughout this novel was the dirty message of love, they all had it and it was unrewarding most of the time but they still had it and still clung to it. All of the characters seemed to connect at the end through Oscar as he went and fought back, not physically of course, but he refused, like so many in his family had before, to give in and give up. Oscar was in the game the rest of his family had played before, but he went back for more. He like his mother had been given a way out but came back for a second fight. Who would have thought he had it in him?
One thing is for certain this book does make the reader work for understanding, and even understanding isn't completely attainable in this novel.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
The Kite Runner
Amir in The Kite Runner was a doormat throughout most of his life up until he revisited his past. Perhaps he went to save Hassan’s son because he wanted to redeem himself for his failure to act before but a part of me believe he did it because he had changed as a person. I believe that he didn’t go just because he felt guilty for what had happened, although that might have been a strong factor, but that he knew it was the right thing to do. He seemed to have an idea of what was going to happen to Sohrab if he didn’t get him out and he had also known what two of the most influential people in his life (his father and Hassan) would have done in this case. Another factor that might have influenced Amir enough for him to go and get Hassan might have been finding out that Hassan was his brother. His relationship with Hassan as a child was one thing but after finding out that they were brothers might have made Sohrab's safety more of a priority than before. Although he was probably terrified to go back to a world that had turned into a war zone he knew that he had to do it because saving Sohrab and giving him a chance at a better life was the right thing to do.
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