Last Post

I think I definitely benefitted from doing blog posts on my reading this year.  Mostly because I actually thought a lot about my reading.  Doing blog posts made me look deeper into every book I posted about, and discover things I never would have otherwise.  

Writing online is a bit different from writing in a notebook.  When I write in a notebook, most of the time only I am seeing what I write, or maybe a few other people.  When I write online, I think more about what I am writing and how other people will perceive what I am writing.  Even when writing an essay or some type of project, I know who is going to be seeing it.  But when writing online, anyone can see what I am writing.  

Even though I might write slightly differently online, and make sure whatever I write is okay and acceptable, I wouldn't say it feels liberating or limiting.  Rarely while posting about my books this year have I come across any topics or issues that I would not want to share my opinions completely.  The only way it might limit me would be that I would feel uncomfortable writing about very personal things online; but I’ve never had or wanted to write about personal things online.    

I think people can be both more real, and project the best of themselves when writing things online.  When writing our blog posts I do not feel like I am doing either, although my writing might be slightly better because I am proof reading it before publishing.  I'm not really writing about anything that I think would show who I am.  When writing otherwise online, I think it can go either way.  If a person believes that no one they know or care about will see their online writing, they might put exactly what they honestly think; or they might use that as an opportunity to recreate a new online identity, that could be what they see as a better version of themselves. If someone is writing online and they are conscious of the fact that what they write is accessible for anyone to view, they might actually limit themselves and what they write by not sharing their complete views and ideas.  I think for many people, writing online does not feel as real as literally writing or saying something to someone.  This leads to people putting whatever they want online, which can have bad consequences.  

My answer to the previous question actually led me to begin to answer this question, but again, I think teenagers do abuse the freedom to say what they want online.  It just feels different to write something online than it does to say something right to a person's face, resulting in mainly teenagers saying very harmful things online that they would never actually say.  In my opinion, it is actually worse to say something bad online than in person.  Online anyone can see what you write, and it is there forever.  You cannot erase or take back what you say online.  I think that it is bad that teenagers abuse the ability to say whatever they want online.  Yes, it is someone’s fault if they say something bad, but it causes people to say things they would never say in person and might not actually mean.  

I do not think I am going to continue this blog.  Although it would help me to continue to look deeper into the books I read, I will not continue it.  I might create a tumblr or something, but I doubt I will create a real blog.  I think if I tried to create a blog, I would probably really work on it for a  while, and it would be good, and I would enjoy, but eventually I would forget about it.  I doubt my blogging experience would last too long.  In general, I think blogs are great and I love looking at other peoples blogs.

The Kite Runner

    I just finished The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, and I loved it.  The book is mainly about the life of Amir, the main character.  He was born in Afghanistan, and at a young age he began to see the first signs of the Afghanistan he knew basically collapse.  One of the hardest things in Amir's life is his home being destroyed completely, which happens over the course of his life, and the book.  Even more important than the history of Afghanistan and how it relates to Amir, are the relationships between Amir's family and friends, and how they change.  Amir grows up always believing that his father, Baba, never truly loves him.  He and his father are very different.  Amir is not the strong courageous man his father is and hoped that Amir would be.  Amir actually is a good person, and he proves this in the end, but he is very unhappy for much of his life because of this.  Amir grew up in a huge house in a wealthy Kabul neighborhood, with Baba, and their two servants Ali and Hassan.  Amir and Hassan grew up believing that Hassan was Ali's son, and their families only stayed together for so long because Ali had been Baba's servant when they were growing up.  Hassan and Amir always thought of each other as basically being as close to brothers as two non-related people could get, but in reality they were always brothers.  Baba's wife died while giving birth to Amir.  Ali's wife had a cheated on Ali and had a child with Baba after this.  Then Ali's wife ran away, leaving only Baba, Amir, Ali, and Hassan.  Because Baba was a prominent businessman in Kabul, and Ali's wife was just a Hazara who had cheated on her husband, Hassan was not socially acceptable as Baba's child, so he grew up as Baba and Amir's Hazara servant, and Ali's son.  Amir and Hassan were never told any of this.  This led to problems because Baba had one son who he could never truly love, and he had seriously betrayed Ali, who had always been a bit like a brother to him. I think that this is a main part of why Baba can never truly show his love for Amir, and he might be taking some of his sadness or anger for not being able to really be Hassan’s father out on Amir.  

I thought that the main problems in the book arose out of Amir and Hassan’s relationship.  From the day Hassan is born he loves Amir more than anyone else in every way possible.  Only after Amir finds out that Hassan is dead does Amir truly appreciate that no one will ever love him like Hassan did.  In the beginning of the book, there is a quote that I think describes why this love becomes problematic.  Hassan loves Amir most, but Amir is always more concerned with getting his father to love him.  Amir ends up making one huge mistake and completely betraying Hassan.  After this, Hassan and Ali leave Baba and Amir, but as Hassan’s one last act of loyalty, he does not give Amir away to Baba and tell Baba the terrible thing that Amir did.  

I loved this book, but I also thought that it was incredibly sad.  I liked how in the end, the author kind of hinted at happiness, and Amir finally redeeming himself.  

Godless

I am about to finish the Godless, by Pete Hautman.  So far I have really enjoyed reading it.  Godless is about a teenage boy named Jason, and the religion he creates with help from his friends.  One day, Jason is out looking for snails with his best friend Shin.  Shin is incredibly nerdy, and gets bullied all the time for enjoying things like looking for snails to keep as pets in his free time.  While Jason is helping Shin look for snails under the water tower (they look under the tower because of the moisture in that area,) Henry Stagg comes up to them with his three cronies.  Jason says in the book that he could easily beat Henry up, he is far larger, but Henry just doesn't care what happens to himself, and that is a big part of Henry's personality.  So under the water tower, Henry ends up punching Jason, and knocking him down. While Jason is still kind of shaken up from being punched by Henry, he looks up at the water tower and first says that was, "when it hit me [Jason] just how important that tower was to St. Andrew Valley."  He keeps thinking while looking up at the water tower and eventually comes up, "with the idea of the water tower being God."  This idea ends up going pretty far, and this is the beginning of Chutengodianism.  In Jason's new religion, the water towers are god, and the one in their town is called "Ten-Legged One".  They live in a tiny little town where the water tower actually is the largest structure in the surrounding area, and is very important.  

Jason's mother has an obsession with health issues, while his father wants to make sure his son’s soul is okay.  His whole family is very Catholic, meaning that Jason's father especially expects Jason to be Catholic as well (part of making sure his soul is good).  I think that this is part of why Jason started Chutengodianism.  He does not actually believe that a water tower is god, he just needs a way to rebel against his parents.  Jason does not believe in Catholicism any more than he believes in Chutengodianism, he is not sure about his religion (if he is even religious).  I think that he might be challenging the people around him with Chutengodianism.  He argues that every religion was persecuted at the start, and might have seemed crazy when it began.  He also challenges why his dad believes in a certain god.  Why is his fathers god any better than Jason considering water god?  I think that these are all reasons Jason might have started Chutengodianism.  

Problems really arise with Chutengodianism when things become too serious, and when Jason realizes that one of the group members really believes in Chutengodianism.  The original Chutengodians are Jason, Shin, Henry, Magda, and Dan.  Slightly before where I am in the book, Henry decides to start his own rival religion.  I haven't really gotten into this yet, but I think it might cause some problems.  An even bigger problem is that Shin really does believe that the water tower is god.  Practically from the start of Chutengodianism Shin really believed in everything.  He believes the water tower is god, and has been writing a very long religious text explaining the origins of everything through Chutengodianism.  Shin believes that the water towers are speaking through him, and that they have always been god, but only now have the Chutengodians discovered this.  Jason recently discovered Shin standing on top of his roof, I think because Shin thought the "Ten-Legged One" wanted him too.  When Shin knows that no one else is serious at all about Chutengodianism, I think that Jason's relationship with Shin will be hurt, and even worse, that Shin might still believe in Chtuengodianism.  

When Jason created Chutengodianism I do not think he realized the repercussions that trying to create a new religion would have.  Jason never believed in Chtuengodianism, but he never told his friends that, he just assumed that they would know.  He did not realize that people might actually listen to what he says, and he should be careful with that power.  No one else is taking Chutengodianism as lightly as Jason is.  His parents are upset, and a bit worried, and Shin completely believes it all.  Jason should have used his power more thoughtfully, and considered that others might have taken what he said differently than he did.  

I like how this book explores some controversial questions and ideas about religion, without going into specific religions.  Jason uses Chutengodianism to challenge other religions and gods.  This book also made me think about atheism.  In conclusion, I am really enjoying reading Godless, by Pete Hautman, and I cannot wait to finish it.  

Ender's Game

I recently finished reading Ender’s Game, by Orson Scott Card.  It was a science-fiction book about a boy named Ender Wiggin.  He is incredibly smart, and is recruited by the currently desperate military to go into training at age six.  The military trains him harshly from this young age, and does not make him aware of what he is doing, but only because they terribly need him, and he may be the last hope to save everyone.  

I thought that one of the issues in this book was how Ender was robbed of his childhood, by being taken away from his home and put into intense training at age six.  This was done by the government, but only because he was a genius, and they needed him to save everybody.  Of course, at the age of six Ender did not actually know about the life he was going into, and did not really have a say in what was being done to him.  Is it right to take a child away from their home and put them into training, when they are at an age so young that they do not know what is happening to them?  I think that this really depends on the situation, and how it will end up affecting other people and the world in general.  For example, in the situation in Ender’s Game, if Ender had not been taken away and put into training, many or possibly all people would have died.  His life was completely changed, but it was for the benefit of every other person.  I do not think that there would ever actually be a situation where the fate of everyone depended on one boy.  How important must the situation be for it to be justifiable to take away someone’s childhood to save others?  I think it could be far less important than saving the world for it to be justifiable to take away much of someone’s life.  

Another issue main issue in Ender’s Game, involved the war that Ender has been trained to be in.  There is another species, and this other species is just as evolved and intelligent as humans are, but this species is very different from humans.  Because neither species can understand each other, the two species have set out to destroy each other.  Neither wants to destroy another species, but both are convinced that the other must not be as developed as they themselves are because they can not communicate, and therefore understand the each other.  I think this introduces a bigger issue of how they value themselves more than the other not only because they want to survive, but because they can not understand each other.  Just because you yourself cannot understand something, does not mean it is stupid and worthless.  They also think that whoever does not kill the other, will probably be killed.  At the time of the book, the humans are probably going to all die and lose, but they are desperately trying to save themselves.  Ender is the only person smart enough to save everyone, but they know that he is far too kind to eliminate another species.  Because of this difficult situation, the military people tell Ender that he is just going through a training simulation while he is actually fighting the battles.  On the final one, his instructors do not expect him to ever be smart enough to beat the other species and kill them all.  His instructors do not think he is completely capable, and are only aiming for him to severely hurt them, and send the message that they should stop attacking.  Because Ender is under the impression that this is just a simulation, he wants to win, and he is completely smart enough to win this battle; Ender never loses.  He ends up killing the species, and destroying their planet.  All of the military people are overjoyed, but this is also when Ender finds out what he has really been doing.  He would never intend to kill a species completely.  This made me wonder whether Ender is responsible for his actions, or whether he is not because he was unaware and under the control of the military throughout the whole experience.  

In conclusion, I loved reading Ender’s Game, by Orson Scott Card, and although it is a science-fiction book with unrealistic situations, I could relate it back to realistic ideas and questions.  I enjoyed reading it and am definitely looking forward to reading the sequel.  

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

I recently finished reading The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, by John Boyne.  It’s a great book about a young boy, Bruno, during the Holocaust.  Bruno’s father is an important man in the German army during World War II.  Bruno lives and his family live in Berlin, until they are told by Hitler that Bruno’s father must move out into the countryside to run a concentration camp.  Bruno knows none of this though.  He knows who his father works for, and who asked their family to leave Berlin, but he has know idea what his father actually does, or why his family has to move for his father’s job.  Bruno hates living in their new home and longs for Berlin, until he meets a young boy his age.  Shmuel is very similar to Bruno in many ways, except that they are in completely different situations.  Bruno meets Shmuel after he decides to go exploring one day.  They meet up almost everyday for the whole time Bruno is there, and talk about all sorts of things.  They only talk because there is a large fence that separates Bruno and Shmuel.  On the day scheduled for Bruno’s departure to Berlin, Bruno becomes a little too curious and decides to go over to Shmuel’s side of the fence.  He does not like what he finds there, but unfortunately, he never has the chance to leave.  

An aspect of the book that I found very interesting was the perspectives.  For most of the book, you only get Bruno’s perspective, and some of Shmuel’s perspective.  They are oblivious to everything that is actually going on around them; especially Bruno.  When the two boys first meet they discover, among other things, that they have the exact same birthday, and that they were both forced to move to their current locations on short notice, against their will.  Bruno talks about how terrible it was to have to move to a house with two stories as opposed to five, and how he did not even have time to say goodbye to his three best friends for life.  Shmuel says that soldiers forced them out of their house, took away everything they had, forced them to wear little stars, and then they moved to the camp.  Neither boy knows the full extent of what is going on, but Shmuel at least realizes that he and Bruno are not in the same situation, despite what Bruno thinks.  Bruno argues that all soldiers must be good (because his father is in the army,) and thinks that they are living at a house called Out-With in the German countryside, as opposed to Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland.  I think that Bruno’s obliviousness to the actual situation, and wrongful belief that his situation is practically identical Shmuel’s highlight something that the author is saying.  This is that the two boys actually are very similar, so why are they in such different situations?  Why is Shmuel on one side of the fence and Bruno on the other?  

I think that one of the main ideas of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, by John Boyne, is that Bruno’s father only realizes what is he is doing after it happens to his own son.  Bruno’s father is a very important man in the World War II German army, but up to the point where he realizes what happens to his son, if he had been asked what he was doing in his work, he probably would have only said that he was serving Germany.  He was serving Germany by running Auschwitz (or a part of it, the book doesn’t say whether or not it is the whole place that Bruno’s dad is in control of.)  There is no definite number of total people who died at Auschwitz, but at least 1.1 million people were gassed to death there (according to PBS).  I do not think that Bruno’s father ever stops to think what serving the German army really means.  I do not think that it is right to blindly serve your country only because it is your country; independently, you should believe in what you are fighting for.  When Bruno finally decides to go over to Shmuel’s side of the fence, Bruno and Shmuel happen to be rounded up, and sent into a gas chamber.  Bruno’s family never found out what happened to Bruno, until one day when Bruno’s father came across a pile of Bruno’s clothing stashed next to the fence.  His father figures things out pretty quickly, and I think that that is when he thinks about what he is doing.  He realizes how absolutely terrible it is, because he lost his own son.  He also probably feels very guilty, his son was killed in a gas chamber run by him, he might have even organized for that very group to be rounded up and killed that day.  He could have just told Bruno what he organized on the other side of the fence, but it would be too bad to tell him.  I think it is horribly ironic that Bruno dies at his dad’s concentration camp, and that Bruno was being taught by his father and personal tutor to support the Nazis the whole time he was living at “Out-With”, and then is gassed to death.    

In conclusion, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, by John Boyne was a great book, that was also very sad.  I thought that the perspectives in the book were interesting; the author subtly explained what was actually going on, while still making it believable that it was coming from a young boy with no real knowledge of the situation.  I also thought that a main part of the book was how Bruno’s father did not realize how wrong what he was doing was, until his own son died as a result of it.  

Never Let Me Go

     I am close to finishing the book Never Let Me Go right now.  I am enjoying it although it is pretty weird, and interesting.  The author tells you very little about what is actually going on in the book, although recently I have had some ideas on what I think might be happening.  

     For their whole lives, Kathy, Ruth, Tommy, and other people like them have been raised separate from society.  They also get into trouble if they get seriously hurt, and the one normal person they ever come in contact with is Madame, and she is afraid of them, but probably only because she pities them so much and does not even want to think about their situation.  As they get older, they are aloud to leave the facilities they have been living in and go into the world.  Only for day trips though.  While on these types of excursions, they are constantly searching for their "identicals", or people who are just like them.  As they get older, they become donors, and it is implied that they are "donating" their body parts.  They donate there body parts until they are no longer strong enough to live, and they themselves die.  Based on this information, I have come to the conclusion that the three main characters, and the people like them that they have grown up with, are all clones of people out in the real world, and have been raised for their whole lives only to die by donating body parts to their clone.  I think this is very interesting, as is the way that these people view this.  

     None of the main characters really know what is going on with the "donations".  Two of then are in the process right now, and Kathy is in a sort of temporary overseer job.  They have never been taught about the process, and they see it as just a normal part of life.  they have not been taught directly, but their teachers have just implied for their entire lives that they would not die of natural causes, or go and have a life.  As opposed to feeling unfortunate because of this whole lifestyle altogether, their ignorance causes them to be oblivious to anything going on outside.  Their teachers look down upon anyone who asks questions, or doubts anything because they are probably afraid of the definite revolt which would occur if these people knew exactly what was happening to them.  

     This important issue in the book made me think about whether or not it is right to raise a person, just to die eventually to keep another person alive.  I think that is why people in the book like Kathy, Ruth, and Tommy are raised in a boarding school, away from any parents.  The only real connections they have with anyone are with their friends, who know only as much as they do.  This prevents anyone who could possibly be giving them up from feeling any guilt, as well as preventing a revolt in those who are being sacrificed.  Unfortunately, I never read the book My Sister's Keeper, but I saw the movie, and I think the two issues are relatively similar, but the circumstances are different.  In that story, the sister knows that for herself to survive her cancer, her sister must sacrifice many things in her life; in Never Let Me Go, I am pretty sure that the normal people do not know that they are receiving these body parts from perfectly healthy people, who would have long lives ahead of them, if they did not have to "donate".  In My Sister's Keeper, the girl has been raised by her parents, and is as much a part of the family as the sister with cancer.  In my book, all of the characters have been raised in boarding school, where the teachers do not know enough to try and protect the kids from their horrible futures.  Finally, in My Sister's Keeper, the girl knows how great life can be, and what she would be sacrificing.  In my book, the characters have lived in isolated communities for their entire lives, up until they begin the "donation" process, and are never given the chance to really experience life.  Because of the different circumstances in these two similar situations, the two stories turn out very differently.  Many factors can interfere with what I think and change my opinion, but in most situations, I think that a person should not have to sacrifice their life for another without agreeing to it.  This includes giving the person a chance to live first, and letting them experience how great life can be before making the decision.   

     In conclusion, I am loving reading this book, and this is only my biggest idea for what the book is about, it could be something completely different.  

Never Let Me Go

I am currently in the middle of reading Never Let Me Go, by Kazuo Ishiguro.  It is a great book so far, but the author intentionally reveals almost nothing about the society the main characters are living in.  The main characters are Kathy, Ruth, and Tommy, and the book is told from Kathy’s perspective.  They all went to some type of special school together, and now they are with other students from schools all over England, all living together.  Their relationships, and culture is completely normal, but something is different about them, and this school they went to.  I think the author is implying that they have been raised for some special purpose, but I don’t really know anything about that yet.  One thing about the book that I think is interesting is how the students of this school Kathy, Ruth, and Tommy attended all sense that they are different, although they do not know why, and it really causes them to stick together.  Other people living with them now know about where these kids were from, and they treat them differently, like they somehow were incredibly lucky, but the people who actually know their purpose are afraid of them.  I also think that the relationships and personalities of the three main characters are interesting.  

First of all, Ruth loves to be in charge, but she is constantly afraid that someone will see how fake she often is.  Ruth and Tommy are together, and Ruth’s best friend is Kathy.  With them, she has a completely different personality.  She talks to them, and they know everything about her.  Ruth makes things up all the time to try and fit in with kids that might be older than her, so if she makes something up, or starts lying about her life, she relies on and trusts Kathy and Tommy not to say anything.  I think that Ruth desperately wants to be a normal person in the outside world, and even just to fit in in their little community.  I think she makes things up all the time because she really believes them eventually.  This could also be part of why Kathy and Tommy never say anything about all of Ruth’s fantasies, because they realize that it is more personal and she is not always doing it to convince others, but to convince herself as well.  

I think that the book is purposely told from the point of view of Kathy, because she does not really know anything more about her situation than the reader.  These people know that they are different, but none of them ever wonder or question why.  At the different school they were at, the teachers sort of gave them the sense that it was off limits, and know at this new place they are afraid to ask questions because they do not want others to know how little they know.  

In conclusion, although I do not know that much about this book, it is really great so far, and I can not wait to find out about everything in the end.  

Room

I recently finished Room, by Emma Donoghue.  It is about a girl who was kidnapped sometime around when she was starting college while she was walking through a parking lot, by a crazy, fifty-five-ish year old man.  He kept her in a little garden shed in his backyard with a high security door, and only a sunroof on top with incredibly thick glass.  She was absolutely miserable until about two years into this, she has a son, Jack.  She had nothing to live for, until he came along, and since then she has done her best to raise him in one little room, without any kind of contact to other people, and only what Old Nick (Jack’s name for the crazy old guy,) brings them.  The book starts when Jack is five, his mother has been in Room for seven years, and the book is told from Jack’s perspective.  

First of all, I think that some of the mother’s methods of teaching Jack are very interesting.  He only knows the things within Room, and she tells him that everything else is fake, or “TV”.  He is under the impression that everything he sees on TV (they have access to three random channels) exists only in TV, and that outside of Room there is just empty space.  She tells him things like this because she does not want Jack to know that he is missing out on so much, yet at the same time, the older he gets, the harder it will get for him to understand her when she explains the situation they are really in.  She is both helping and hurting Jack when telling him things like this.  Eventually, he will need to face the truth.  

Because Room is all that Jack has ever known, he perceives it completely differently from his mother.  Jack’s mom grew up in a nice, normal family, she went to school, and was on her way to college when things basically ended for her.  She desperately misses everything in her old life and sees how much they are missing out on.  Jack sees everything else as empty space, because that is what she tells him, so he is under the impression that living in this tiny room is actually pretty great.  As the blurb states, “to five-year-old Jack, Room is the world.”  He does not know anything better, so he enjoys living there.  They have a precise schedule for everything they do during the day, and Jack has names for every piece of furniture in Room.  I think sometimes it hurts Jack’s mother to see him so content with what she knows is so little.  

Near the middle of the book is when Jack really begins to ask questions.  He finds loopholes in his “Ma”’s explanations for everything.  When Jack finds something that troubles Ma or that she cannot explain, he gets pretty freaked out.  Everything in his life so far has been entirely predictable, he knows what will happen, and anything else his Ma can just easily explain.  Now it is getting to the point where Jack is freaking out about everything more and more.  I think that this transformation in Jack is partially what shows Ma that Jack desperately needs to get out of Room.  If they escape know, Room could become a scary memory from his childhood, as opposed to something that majorly alters him for the rest of his life.  

Eventually, they come up with an amazing plan, and save themselves.  Everything changes for both of them.  Jack, for quite a while, is upset and troubled by the fact that there are too many things, people, and places in the world for him to possibly know everyone.  Just the fact that other people are named Jack really freaks him out.  He also hates surprises.  He wishes he was back in Room where everything was controlled.  Jack always wishes for a great sense of stability and control in his life.  He needs to accept that you can be safe and happy, even when there are things that are unknown to you.  

Jack also is not able to relate to people at all.  He only feels comfortable with Ma, and goes crazy when anyone else even makes contact with him.  Jack stays like this for a while.  Eventually, he starts to recover very well.  He is not as hesitant to try new things, or be with other people.  

On the other hand, Jack’s mother does not recover well at all.  I think that she always expected to be able to easily reintegrate into society.  After striving for company for so many years, she thought she would be completely normal when coming back, and worried that Jack would not be able to accept their new life.  When Jack’s mother realizes that it is going to be harder for her than she expected, she becomes deeply sad.  I think that Jack’s mom also feels guilty for how Room might have affected Jack.  Whenever anyone asks anything regarding how she raised Jack, or even complements how well she seems to have done for her limited capability and resources, she takes it as a tremendous insult and begins to defend herself and her parenting.  Near the end of the book, Jack’s mom actually tries to kill herself by overdosing on prescription pills in the middle of the night while Jack is asleep.  

In conclusion, I found the ways in which Jack and his mother, from Room, dealt with issues, both before and after they escaped, to be very interesting.  Although this book was pretty sad, I loved reading it.  

Archetypes in Infidel

Right now I am about to finish Infidel, by Ayaan Hirsi Ali.  It is about her life and how she goes from living with her terrible, oppressive family in Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia, and Kenya, to moving to the Netherlands and becoming a member of Dutch Parliament.  Her life almost seems as if it took place in two stages, her living with her parents, to her living independently.  She lived with her parents into her early twenties, where she was beaten, and as a woman, had no rights at all.  She finally got away from them after her father forced her marry a man she hardly knew, but already did not like.  She was went on a plane to Canada to go and live with this man, but during a layover in Germany, she ran away to the Netherlands.  She quickly attains refugee status, gets her papers to live there full time, gets a job, gets an education, and eventually gets into politics.  She did this on her own in a place where she knew no one, and a place that was unlike any other she had ever been to.  She did not even speak the language when she first arrived.  I definitely think that this is pretty impressive.  Although these two sides of her life are very different, her problems remain same for the most part, along with the types of characters.  

Ayaan Hirsi Ali is the main character (the book is about her real life) and protagonist.  She has always been smart, determined, and hardworking, but is often held back.  Throughout the book, she is fighting for her own independence and the freedom to get an education, and do whatever she wants with her life.  We are required to go to school, whereas she wishes for it, and has to work very hard to get an education.  By the end of the book, she has achieved her freedom, and is able to make her own decisions.  I think part of what helped her do this, was her ability to think everything through, and question what her parents told her to believe; if there is no legitimate reason for the belief, why should she believe it?

The protagonist is her family and everything else that represents her ways of life before she moved to the Netherlands.  When she is living with her family, they are literally telling her what to do and what not to do.  There are many rules and she did not have any rights.  This remains the protagonist though because even after she completely separates herself from her family, that culture has been instilled in her for her whole life and it comes through.  Once she is independent, she still feels that she is required to meet the rules and expectations of her parents.  She is free, yet it still takes her awhile to form her own beliefs about everything, and let go of the culture she had been trying so hard to let go of.  In this way, the antagonist remains the same during her time with her family, and her independent time.  

The mentor changes, but is always someone who is only slightly ahead of Ayaan, or has experienced something slightly beyond her.  For example, as children and teenagers, Ayaan’s younger sister Haweya was always more daring and willing to defy her parents, and would never give her mother any satisfaction from beating her.  Ayaan was always seen as a better child because she was obedient, but she admired and was influenced by Haweya’s determination to be her own person.  When Ayaan moves into a refugee center in the Netherlands, there are many girls there who come from situations like hers, but have given up their old ways and become independent.  At first, Ayaan thought this was absolutely horrible, but slowly, through very small steps, like wearing pants for the first time, or learning to ride a bike, she realized that the world would not fall apart if she disobeyed her culture’s strict rules.  These girls taught her how to do this by setting an example.  

In conclusion, I have really enjoyed reading this book, and I think the story of her life is interesting and inspirational.  

Mother Daughter Book Club

I am currently reading the fifth book in the Mother-Daughter Book Club series, by Heather Vogel Frederick, and it is called Home for the Holidays.  The title is actually totally misleading because each of the five main characters is away for the holidays.  These characters are Cassidy, Jess, Emma, Megan, and Becca.  I am enjoying reading this book, but I noticed something that actually applies to each of the main characters throughout the whole series.  Their individual moods and situations always seem to reflect each other’s, and they very often have the same problems at the same times.  

For example, I am now in the middle of the fifth book, and each of the characters is in a pretty bad mood.  They were all expecting exciting holiday trips, but things are going wrong, they are keeping things from each other, and all of them have some boy troubles.  Cassidy went to California with her family, and was really excited to be able to see her sister, who is currently going to college in California.  Cassidy was having a great time, until she found out that her mom and stepfather are seriously considering moving to California, and that her sister is engaged!  Apparently, everyone else knew both of these huge events were coming but they did not tell Cassidy.  They had been keeping all of this information from her, and now her vacation is not going so well.  Cassidy is also in tenth grade, and she has never had a boyfriend. Now two boys like her and she thinks she likes one of them, but she has no clue what to do.  

Jess was originally invited to go to Switzerland with her friend Savannah and her family.  Unfortunately, Jess breaks her leg while sledding, so going to Switzerland is not really an option.  Luckily, her family allows her to go with her best friend Emma to visit her Aunt and Uncle, and cousin Felicia.  Everything is great leading up to this, but when they get there, Emma becomes great friends with Jess’s cousin Felicia, who Jess despises.  Jess is replaced by her annoying cousin, who now spends more time with Emma than Jess herself does.  Jess was really looking forward to hanging out with Emma, and Emma is keeping some secret from Jess.  Jess’s leg is also still badly broken and in a cast, resulting in her being left out from all of the activities.  She also has a boyfriend, but now is thinking she likes someone else, and is not sure what to do.  

Emma was planning to stay home, until she was invited to travel with her best friend Jess.  Normally, Emma’s parents insist on their family being together for the holidays, but they made an exception for this trip, and this is pretty exciting for Emma.  Unfortunately, like the other main characters, something goes wrong with her previously great vacation.  Jess is going out with Emma’s brother Darcy, but during this trip, Emma seems to think that Jess has been flirting with and likes someone else.  This hurts Emma, and she is torn between her best friend and brother.  She does not have any boyfriend troubles, but is thinking about Jess’s relationship with her brother.  

During the middle of this book, Megan and Becca are experiencing very similar issues.  Their vacations are not going quite as planned (especially in Becca’s case,) there are some unfortunate surprises, and they are having some problems with boys.  For example, Megan’s boyfriend Simon just unexpectedly dumped her over an email, and no one Becca likes ever seems to like her back, they always like her friends.  Throughout this book all of the girls lives and emotions have really paralleled each other.  The examples I gave were all from the fifth book, but the ideas apply to almost all parts of each book.  

Important Relationships in the Mother Daughter Book Club # 4

Right now, I am reading the fourth book in the Mother Daughter Book Club series, by Heather Vogel Frederick.  The whole series is about four (kind of five) best friends growing up in Concord, Massachusetts.  Each book covers a year of their lives and in this book they are going through their first year of high school. The girls are Emma Hawthorne, Jess Delaney, Cassidy Sloane, and Megan Wong.  Aside from Jess and Emma, they are all incredibly different girls, but were brought together when their mothers decided to make a book club a couple of years ago.  They hated this at first, but know they are all best friends, and they enjoy getting to just hang out when they meet for the book club.  The kind of fifth main character is Becca Chadwick who joined the book club last year.  At first they hated her, but she has pretty much joined the group by now.  One of the most important events in the book club this year occurred when Emma and her mother, father, and brother Darcy moved to England.  They moved into the house of Simon, Tristan, and their parents, while Simon and Tristan’s family moved to Concord.  It was a year long house swap.  There are many interesting and important relationships in all of the books; in this one some of the most important relationships are between Ms. Bergson and various book club members.  She is a retired Olympic figure skater who now lives and teaches skating in Concord.  Recently, she joined the book club and has been a great part of it.  

Cassidy loves to play sports, and her favorite thing in the world to do is play hockey, (which she is amazing at playing.)  Ms. Bergson is a retired Olympic skater and teaches at the rink.  Clearly they spend a lot of time together, skating or working on various projects.  This year, Cassidy really wanted to start a club for young girls that like to play hockey.  She has always had to play with boys teams, and wants there to be more opportunities for girls who either love hockey already, or want to learn.  Ms. Bergson negotiated with the rink owner and got Cassidy time at the rink, giving Cassidy the opportunity to make this club.  This really means a lot to Cassidy, and through this Cassidy realizes that she really loves teaching and coaching these young girls.  Ms. Bergson is sort of like a grandmother to Cassidy.  Cassidy’s mother is an incredibly famous supermodel, and loves all types of girly things.  Cassidy and her mom have a great relationship, though they do not really enjoy the same things.  Cassidy really connects with Ms. Bergson through there shared love of skating, and now coaching skating as well.  

About a year ago, Megan’s grandmother Gigi moved to live with Megan from Hong Kong.  Gigi’s great, and she and Megan both relate to each other in their huge love of fashion, but Gigi kind of needed a friend her own age.  When Gigi and Ms. Bergson met, they instantly became friends, and were together as the two older members of the book club.  Gigi can’t skate, but the two of them love to go into Boston together, and they hang out all the time.  Ms. Bergson has always been kind of lonely, and Gigi had just moved all the way from Hong Kong, she did not know anyone.  They met each other at a time when both really needed a friend and have had a great friendship ever since.  

    Emma, Jess and almost everyone else has a special and unique relationship with Ms. Bergson as well, but the others were the ones I chose to write about.  In conclusion, Ms. Bergson seemed like a really delightful character, but unfortunately, she died at the end of the book. 

Infidel and Romeo and Juliet

Right now I am reading Infidel, an autobiography by Ayaan Hirsi Ali, and of course I am reading Romeo and Juliet as well.  Infidel is about this women's life growing up in a very strict Muslim household in Somalia, Saudi Arabia, and Kenya.  She had a terrible childhood, but she begins to overcome this, and escapes the worst of her past.  The two books are very different, but I did notice some similarities.  This was between Ayaan's childhood, and Juliet's, and how their family's beliefs are sort of similar.  

One similarity is the overall expectations of them in life.  They are expected to get married, have children, and that is it.  Their parents keep talking to them about how many girls their age have already married, and have kids.  For example, Lady Capulet says to Juliet in Act 1, Scene 3, “Well, think of mariage now. Younger than you/Here in Verona, ladies of esteem/Are made already mothers.”  Ayaan’s parents are very similar, they also do not expect anything more of their daughter than to get married to the right person and have kids.  

Another similarity is how both of the daughters, in their own ways, do expect more out of life than that, and want to go further.  Ayaan had a terrible childhood.  She grew up with her mother beating her, and she has never been allowed to do anything.  Her mother was miserable and took it all out on Ayaan.  After this, Ayaan realized that she did not want to be anything like her mother.  She wanted to get an education, and actually do something with her life.  Unfortunately, when Ayaan suggested that she get a job, her mother bought padlocks to put on her door, and locked Ayaan up in her room for days.  She feels it is inappropriate for a women to have a job and support herself without a husband.  Juliet loves Romeo, a Montague, and knows better than to ever tell her parents that she is about to marry him.  They would be completely appalled, and would freak out.  

This is probably more an example of cultural similarities, but part of the reason that neither of these girls are allowed to do what they wish to do is because of women’s roles in their societis, and families.  For example, Ayaan’s mother had a terrible reaction when Ayaan wanted to get a job, even though Ayaan’s mother desperately needed the money.  In Romeo and Juliet, an example would be the freedom that Romeo experiences everyday, compared to Juliet who cannot leave the house, except for to go to church.  Another example in Infidel is through the differences of what Ayaan and her brother Mahad get to experience.  Mahad has been able to go out at night till whatever time he wanted since about age fourteen.  Ayaan is now seventeen, and has to sneak out to go to the movies once, and it is a pretty big deal for her.  

Another similarity between the two books, is the parents views on marriage.  Both sets of parents (especially the two mothers) believe that marriage is exclusively for social and economic class.  Both girls also already have people chosen for them to marry.  Juliet loves Romeo, never Paris, and Ayaan has never even met the guy she is supposed to marry.  

In conclusion, both books take place in very different time periods and locations, yet the cultures have some minor similarities which I found very interesting.  Both girls are forced to do what they do not want to, when they have bigger dreams.  Luckily, Ayaan goes on to a far better future, but unfortunately Juliet dies (at least she dies with Romeo though.)  

Infidel

I am currently reading the book Infidel, an autobiography of Ayaan Hirsi Ali.  The blurb says that she goes on to be very successful and does many great things with her life, but so far in the book, she is still a young girl.  She has grown up in Somalia, Saudi Arabia, and now Ethiopia in a time where Somalia (where she is from) and Ethiopia are fighting against each other.  They are both trying to become modern, democratic countries, but are under terrible governments.  I really admire the main character because even as a small girl, she questions some of her families beliefs, and eventually goes on to defy many of the things that her family believes in and lives by for her own beliefs.  

First of all, I think it would be incredibly hard to leave what you had always been told by everyone around you for your own beliefs.  In many of the societies she grew up in, women did not have any rights, and could not do anything on their own.  This is completely wrong, but it is still what she grew up with.  It would take a very strong person to do this.  She also eventually gives up her religion, which the rests of her family really disapproves of.  I think she might have done this because a lot of the fighting and warfare in this region was caused by religious differences, and because she associated her religion with many bad parts of her childhood.  I think growing up in these communities caused her to speak out so strongly against what she had known growing up.  She had seen the worst of it.  

Another aspect of the book that I thought was interesting was her father and his work.  He spent most of his life working towards improving Somalia, and turning it into a great country,and taking it away from the terrible government it was under at the time.  That's great, and part of it might have even inspired his daughter, the author of the book.  What was wrong was that he was doing this by going to Ethiopia, who was against Somalia like he was, and getting their support.  He did this while Ethiopia was under a government just as bad as Somalia, and it sounded like the two countries were in pretty similar places.  He was fighting the awful government in his own country, by supporting and helping another country's terrible government.  Even within his own organization, which was fighting Somalian government, there was corruption.  It seems wrong, at least he was fighting for a good cause.  

In conclusion, I am really enjoying Infidel, and I can not wait to see what happens next in the authors life.

Exit Here

    I am almost done reading Exit Here, by Jason Myers.  So far I think it’s pretty good.  It is about a teenage boy named Travis.  He has finished high school, but quickly dropped out of college.  He and everyone he knows do drugs and drink all the time, they are all pretty messed up.  In my opinion, the most important change occurring in the book is Travis realizing that this is not what he wants for his life.  I think this happens as a combination of a couple of events.  

    A couple of events influenced the beginning of this important change in Travis.  One is something that happened to him while on vacation in Hawaii.  Basically, he met this girl, they went back to her house and lost control, and he might have killed her, but he was not even sure.  The next morning, knowing that he could have possibly killed this girl who is practically a stranger, he just left her house.  When he finally tells one of his friends about it and sees how extreme their reaction is, he realizes the seriousness of what he did.  I think this whole event really shocked him, and he certainly did not ever want to make that type of mistake again.  

A smaller one is Travis watching his sister.  I think she is about fifteen years old, and she is already completely messed up.  I think Travis might see some of himself in her (but probably worse,) and he knows that she will not listen if he tries to help her, but seeing someone similar to him at that age is showing him how wrong many aspects of his life are.  

A major event that helped trigger this change in Travis was something that happened to one of his friends.  In general though, he is seeing many of his friends similarly to how he is seeing his sister and this affects him similarly.  This specific event was caused by Kyle, one of Travis’s oldest, closest friends.  Kyle had been doing drugs and drinking with his girlfriend, and they got in Kyle’s car to drive home.  While Kyle was driving, something went drastically wrong and they ended up in the side of a house resulting in the death of Kyle’s girlfriend, and two boys living in the house (ages eight and ten.)  Kyle is know in jail for a very long time at least.  His whole life disappeared in the fifteen minutes that he was driving that car.  When Travis goes to visit Kyle in jail, what he sees scares him.  Kyle is there, in the same conditions as the other people, yet he’s half their age and not nearly as violent.  He sees his childhood friend locked away for a good part of his life.  It’s like this event has caused Travis to think more seriously about his life.  They are not invincible, and things like that can happen if that is how you are living.  

    Aside from this change in Travis and what caused it, I have noticed that the book is very symbolic.  For example, I think that the title, Exit Here, is referring to the point where Travis can exit the life he is living now.  He is realizing that it is not at the life he wants, and he just needs to get to the exit point.  Two other examples occur when Travis goes over to his friends Michael’s apartment.  First Michael shows Travis a song he wrote for his band.  It talks all about being cornered into something you don’t want, and desperately trying to get away.  Which is what Travis is trying to do with his life.  One of the lines is, “When you’ve reached the breaking point, grown tired of despair . . .”  I think this really shows where Travis is at in the book right now.  Right after that, Michael and Travis watch a TV show about a kid trying to think about the future, and get past the life he is in currently.  This also mimics Travis’s position now.  These are only three of many examples of symbolism in Exit Here.  

    In conclusion, I am enjoying the book and have noticed that it contains a lot of symbolism, and Travis is going through an important change for the better.  Hopefully he continues to turn his life around. 

Say You're One of Them: Luxurious Hearses

    I am still reading the same book, Say You're One of Them (it has about five short      stories in it, they are fiction, but based on realistic events) and I am now on to a completely different story.  This story is about Jubril, a Muslim boy in a country in Africa (the country is unknown, but I think it might be Nigeria because Jubril lives in Khamfi.)  There are huge fights breaking out now in his country between Muslim and Christian people, especially in Khamfi, the city where he has lived for most of his life.  He Jubril was born and baptized in the southern part of the country (the “Christian part,”) but was raised in the north (Khamfi,) where the majority of people are Muslim and where he has been Muslim for most of his life.  Religion is incredibly important to him and everyone around him so when people start killing others only because they are the opposite religion, his friends are swept up in this and accuse him of being both religions.  They try to kill him and he is run out of the city.  His only option now is to return to the village in the south where he was born, and where his father still lives.  This is incredibly problematic because he is Muslim and travelling on a bus full of Christians to the “Christian part of the country”.  The story is about how he has to travel for days on this bus, where the people would kill him if his religion was discovered.  He is very faithful to his religion so he is uncomfortable with pretending to be another religion, and he is also terrified that someone would discover him, which would not be too difficult; he knows nothing about Christianity, he has the accent of someone from the distinctly Muslim part of the country, and his hand was chopped off for stealing, which was a Muslim practice.  

    First of all, I think that it is interesting how the people on the bus actually like Jubril, as well as support and help him.  Because of the religious fights in the country, they would beat and kill him if they knew his real religion.  They consider a person’s religion more important than who they actually are.  Before this situation Jubril was like this too.  His brother converted to Christianity a while ago.  Jubril and the rest of his family watched as the brother was stoned to death for being Christian, and none of them did a thing about it.  They just accepted that they must stay faithful to their own religion, and that Jubril’s brother had not done that, and therefore he deserved to die.  In Khamfi, Jubril killed Christian people, just as the Christian people were doing to the Muslim people.  He just accepted that all of this was part of his religion.  I think that being on the opposite side, where he has to protect himselfand is outnumbered, might make him realize that what they are doing to each other is wrong.  Hopefully Jubril will acknowledge that people should not judge and kill others because of their religion, and he might have more respect for other people’s beliefs.  

    I also think that the different viewpoints in this book are interesting and completely different from those that we might have or know.  For example, to Jubril men are far superior to women.  When he gets on the bus, he is shocked to see women without they’re hair covered and wearing shorts.  At one point, two of the characters (one is a girl, one a guy,) disagree on a political view, and they argue about it.  Jubril is appalled that a woman would talk back to a man and challenge him.  This is completely wrong, but it is also all he has ever known.  

    In conclusion, I think that the story is very interesting, and it brings up many issues and viewpoints that are completely different from what we know.  I am really enjoying the book and cannot wait to finish this section of it. 

Say You're One of Them

I recently began reading Say You're One of Them, by Uwem Akpan.  The book contains several stories about children in Africa and the extreme troubles and difficulties they face on a daily basis. I just finished the first one which was about a kid growing up in the slums of Nairobi, Kenya.  His large family lives in a tiny shack made out of whatever materials they can find, and they all sniff glue to prevent themselves from being hungry.  It’s very sad, and there are many hard things going on in the text.  

    First of all, there are many obvious hard things going on in this book.  Some of them are poverty, hunger, homelessness, getting an education, street gangs, and child prostitution.  The main character’s family is practically homeless, they have no money, and they are constantly hungry.  They have many children, but can only afford to send one, the main character, to school.  Even paying for the education of this one boy is a great burden on the family.  This is also tough for everyone because all of their hope is relying on whether or not he can at least make it through enough school to get a job, and that he might make something out of this education that few people in their area are lucky enough to have.  Street gangs are an issue because most boys the main character’s age are not in school, but have just begun to join gangs, and participate in crime.  If the main character were not in school, he would be doing the same thing.  One of the main character’s older sister’s is a prostitute and that’s where that issue comes in.  His other sisters have a high chance of also becoming prostitutes, and that is another part of why his education is so valued, and he should appreciate it.  While the boys are in gangs and many of the girls are prostitutes, he gets to go to school.  In his family, only one of them gets to really have a chance at life through education.  

    Secondly, the seeing things through the perspective of this main character does not seem crucial to the story, although this perspective might be a bit more interesting than maybe that of the parents because he is still growing up and learning how to deal with his situation.  I have started reading the second story though, which is about two children (siblings, and older brother and his younger sister,) living with their uncle, and everything is very mysterious; I’m not entirely sure what’s going on.  I think perspective is important in this story because the older brother does not fully understand what is going on, but he is smarter than the sister and can figure things out more easily.  He does not see everything, but he sees a lot for a ten year old.  The fact that he is kind of in the middle makes his perspective interesting, but I am not even very far into that story yet, so I do not really know.  

    The text definitely made me think about justice and the world.  I do not think it is just for them to be living in the conditions that they are living in.  I did not see any specific people who brought or blocked justice, but their situation did not really change so I figured that justice probably had not been served.  

    I resisted quite a few points in the text.  When they refer to his sister and her job as a prostitute, or the fact that they have no food is mentioned.  I am aware of issues like these, but of course I cannot even imagine what being in a situation actually like this would be like.  Maybe I resist because I am uncomfortable with the issues.  

    In conclusion, I am really enjoying this book although I do find it very sad.  Absolutely terrible things are everyday life for these children, but I can’t wait to start reading the other stories the book contains.