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.