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.