Winter Street

I finished Perks of Being a Wallflower and have now moved on to Winter Street by Elin Hilderbrand. I chose the book because it is set around Christmas time Hilderbrand is my favorite author.  The book is similar to a family sitcom  on TV.  The story is centered around the Quinn family, Margaret and Kelley are the parents who have three kids, Patrick, Kevin, and Ava.  Kelley was remarried to Mitzi and they have a 19 year old son Bart.  The novel begins when Kelley walks in on his wife, Mitzi, having an affair with the man who has been playing Santa Claus at Kelley's inn in Nantucket.  So far, each character continues to bring problems of their own.  Ava is in a love triangle with her boss, Kevin gets the French exchange maid pregnant, and Patrick embezzles $25 million from his company.  I am interested to see how the conflicts are resolved.

I love how the book is organized.  Each chapter is written in a different character's perspective so I get to see what each character is thinking, instead of one perceptive.  It also adds humor because the author writes about one event six different ways to see what each character is thinking.

Winter Street takes place during December 24th and 25th, so Christmas is a major theme.  Some of the scenes have Christmas song lyrics intertwined with the dialog so it makes the tone more festive.

Pride and Prejudice

I finished Perks of Being a Wallflower which was a fun read, but now I'm trying to focus on a solid book that I might be able to use for future essay prompts or for college. My aunt recommended this book to me, and I've tried to read it a few years back so now I'm finally getting to it.

I'm only on Chapter IV, but I've noticed a lot of similarities between this novel and Age of Innocence. It's the classic story where the family is trying to find a suitor for the son/daughter. Even though the two take place in different eras, they have the same feel for the traditional romance.

I love reading different genres of novels, and this book is completely different than Perks of Being a Wallflower. It's older and more proper in language, tone, and every day customs/life. For instance, Pride and Prejudice is written by an English writer who portrays a kind of ignominy trapped inside her through the character Elizabeth Bennet, the heroine. I only know this so far because I read a bit of the introduction.

The language contributes to the feel of the novel because it is written in old English. I've noticed some words that are spelled differently such a "choose" and "chuse." Austen also omits the period after "Mr." or "Mrs." Just these subtle differences help contribute to the time frame and the tone of the novel. In addition, the characters may have problems with friends or anything, but they do not show it. Thoughts are kept to oneself because it may be inappropriate to say such things. The way of life is different than Perks because people at this time ride around in horse and buggy and take a horse to go into town. Also, if someone wants to find a husband or wife, they hold a ball and invite all the eligible ladies/men to attend. So traditional. Nowadays that would be silly. Nobody does that anymore. We just hang out and text each other. There is no need to hold anything grand or flagrant to find someone. In Perks, however, it is written by a freshmen boy who has a tough life with abusive relationships. He writes to share his thoughts and pain in a passive way because he is not a talker. He is not afraid to write about and relate all of his feelings to a stranger. The genres are COMPLETELY different.

Now, I'm reading about Jane and Elizabeth discussing a possible suitor for Jane and how Jane is "a great deal too apt, you know, to like people in general" (Austen 12). This statement means that Jane likes almost everyone because she sees the best in everyone. This characteristic reminds me of people whom I know. It is a great quality to have. I shall continue reading.

Asylum- Where they are now/entry 6

So after the craziness dies down, the resolutions are just a little stupid. The kids get in touch with the cops, turn Felix in, and get off campus. Getting off campus is good, but turning Felix in causes some issues. But I'll explain his situation later. Now, a character by character summary.
Abby- Came to camp happy, other than dad issues, found out her aunt was a lobotomized mental patient, took said aunt home with her. Staying romantically intertwined with Dan.
Dan- Came to camp happy, but with DID. Got possessed, decided to learn more about his horrible past and relatives. And then was invited to come back next year, which raises the terrifying idea that the university and the camp are staying open despite two attacks and two grisly murders.
Jordan- Came to camp using an uncle's money and lying to his parents. Became obsessive, but gained friends. Spending the rest of the summer with Dan's family. A nice reversal of the typical pattern of the camp ruining lives.
Felix- Came to camp happy and socially stunted. Became possessed. Killed two people and severely wounded another. Got sent to a place for the criminally insane. The camp literally ruined his life. He became a murderer.
Yi- Came to camp with extensive plans for the future. Got hospitalized. Still in critical condition.
Joe- Was happily employed, got murdered.
Abby's aunt Lucy- was lobotomized but somehow also married which seems deeply wrong. Her husband was murdered, which is bad because murder, but possibly good because he was probably a pervert, especially considering how her only behavior in the book is screaming, sobbing, and acting like a little kid. Went home with her estranged brother.
Lucy's husband- murdered.

So overall, opening the basement was a pretty horrible idea. This book has a sequel, which I will be reading and not blogging about.

Asylum entry 5

For a teen book this actually has a surprising number of twists that were hard to detect. So in the end of the book, everything just kind of goes crazy. Dan decides to talk to a priest to find out about his link to the old warden, who apparently didn't have kids, but had two brothers who did. Then Dan goes back to the school. On the way back, though, he f inds a dead body all tied up.  And does nothing at all with that info. Not talking to the police. Oh, no. Of course not. Instead, Dan, like an idiot, goes down to the basement again with his girl, and they get locked in. Shocker. Who would have thought that when you go down into a haunted basement, bad things happen? Weird. Anyways, FELIX, who we thought was injured by the spectre, comes in. And he's possessed by the sculptor! So he tries to kill Dan, who he thinks is the old warden, but Dan ties him down and tries to operate on him. Luckily, Jordan (aka the only reasonable person around) stops him and they bring Felix to the cops. Everyone from town is there. And then the book falls into the final stretch and resolutions.

Four

So..I'm not reading It's Kind of a Funny Story anymore Kindel. There were technical difficulties in trying to read that book. Soooooo

Four is a nice book so far. I didn't know that Veronica Roth had created a spin off of Divergent in Tobias' point of view. Knowing that it was a different view of Divergent, I originally thought the book was going to be horrible and not come anywhere close to the expectations of Divergent. However, it is not...so far.
So far, I have read the first section of the book which writes about the days leading up to Tobias' Choosing Day. Most of these events were assumed throughout the normal Divergent trilogy. For example, we all knew Marcus beats Tobias and Tobias was somewhat shunned (or should I say ostracized) from his faction. However, the true thing that surprised me was how Roth oh so slyly hinted at Evelyn's participation with the factionless. I originally thought that Evelyn's true identity would be hinted through maybe an old letter Tobias received from Evelyn years ago. Having a random factionless guy recognize Tobias from his mother was a much beter choice for Roth to write.

So far so good Roth. Let's hope this book won't turn into a huge disappointment.

Wild

In these first 100 pages Cheryl hasn't been having a very good time yet. It seemed in her summary of the events that led to her hiking the PCT on her own that she's cursed or something. Starting out in life with an abusive father and poor family, things seem to get better when her mother remarries someone pretty solid and they move to a farm. Farms bring happiness. But then when she's in college and married to "Paul" (apparently she changed everyones names) who also seems pretty solid, her mother gets cancer and dies. Cheryl is not happy. Her family splits apart despite her efforts and eventually her marriage splits up too, and then she gets into heroin with a nice-but-not-as-solid boyfriend named "Joe." Oh and she never graduated from college. So eventually after everything is really really bad Cheryl decides that hiking the pacific crest trail on her own would lead to some spiritual healing. So she packed up a super heavy pack and started on a 6-month-journey by herself into the wilderness. She meets some friendly hikers but mostly she's suffering from heat and snow and blisters and dirt and scary animals and is still sad about the various bad things that have happened. Cheryl's journey is admirable, since most hikers don't attempt this specific trail without a lot of experience, especially without a partner, and she's the only solo woman currently on the trail (and maybe ever?). I think spending this much time by yourself is extremely dangerous and you are more likely to go insane/be gored by a moose and your remains will never be found than experience worthwhile spiritual healing. Maybe a month by yourself max. Still, I felt kind of jealous of her lone journey, reading about wandering around in the wilderness on the six hour ride to suburban Virginia.

Asylum entry 4

PLOT TWIST! (And a spoiler)
I thought that this was just simple teen fiction, and that it would predictable. In retrospect, I totally should have seen this coming, but I didn't.
Dan has dissociative identity disorder. All the periods of time that he forgot were not him being possessed, they were just periods of time he lost because of the DID. All the things people say he did, but he doesn't remember- it's not supernatural, he just did them while in a spell. Even the creepy slips can be explained- he put them there while in a spell.
There are still questions, though.
1. Why have his spells of lost time suddenly become scary?
2. Who is the violent person who attacked three people on campus?
3. What is up with the disappearance of the "sculptor," the 'cured' serial killer? Is he back?
4. Is Dan the former warden's son?
5. What's up with Jordan and Felix? Their abnormalities after getting to campus can't be explained.
6. Are there dark forces at work?
This book is a total page turner. I would recommend it for anyone who doesn't mind the spoiler I put above.

Asylum entry 3

Dan went exploring alone and he found (or possibly hallucinated) an operating theater. And he's being really judgmental about it.
He's comparing it to a stadium, saying that it's like people are being amused by surgery, but that's not what operating theaters are about. Operating theaters are to teach people how to perform life-altering surgeries, which is especially important in unexplored fields, like mental health was in the 1950s. They're for science, not sport.
I just found this interpretation really harmful. Almost offensive. It's valuing the privacy of one over the safety and health of many. I would get the argument if they were harming someone for teaching, or if the person having the operation didn't want the operation, but the people would have gotten the operations regardless of whether or not people were paying attention and trying to learn.

Asylum entry 2

Dan has been getting creepy slips of paper with quotes about insanity on them. The coolest one is by Ray Bradbury: "Insanity is relative. It depends on who has who locked in what cage."

So that's clearly a dig at the warden, which is cool because that's who Dan is obsessing over. Beyond that, it's just a really cool quote. It's saying that our definitions of insanity are all based on norms that society has, and just because society says that something is normal, that doesn't mean it is. Definitions are not real, and thus insanity is not concrete. It's all interpretation. It's all bias. It's not all true.

And, side note, Bradbury wrote some of the dystopian texts we read last year (Farenheit 451, for example), so this isn't an insanity-related quote so much as a condemnation of societal norms. Fun facts.

Asylum- Entry 1

The book I'm reading is Asylum by Madeline Roux. It's all about a guy going to a college-prep camp at an asylum- turned- college in New Hampshire.
The kid, Dan, makes friends, Jordan and Abby, and the three of them explore the blocked-off historical asylum.
Dan and Abby fall into a kind of relationship, and Jordan is the token gay character/skeptic.
Everyone in town thinks the asylum is haunted, so, naturally, they go exploring. They find patient files and relics in an old office. Abby found a picture of a girl who had a lobotomy, and she became super attached. Later, she found a file telling her that her aunt had been in the asylum, and had the same name as she did. So clearly, the little girl was her aunt.
Dan keeps finding things about the old warden, who claimed to "fix" a serial killer. Plus, he's having dreams where he is the warden, so my guess is that they're related. Plus, he talked to a townie who wanted to tear the place down, and when he said his name the guy flipped.
Those two have pretty clear connections, so I think there's some mild haunting going on. Plus, everyone has changed slightly since getting there. Dan's roomie, Felix, is working out and guzzling protein shakes (which, by the way, should never be guzzled because they are SUPER GROSS) and Jordan is getting obsessive over things (and rude), and having nightmares about being locked in a cell treated with ECT (which they used to give homosexuals).
So both Abby and Jordan are acting like patients, Dan is acting like the warden, and Felix is acting like an abusive orderly.

Cutting for Stone Author Interview

Although I have not finished the book, I listened to an interview on NPR where there were multiple questions about the plot and writing process of Abraham Verghese. I was surprised to find out that his main focus while writing this book was medicine, rather than religion or Ethiopia because at the point I am in the book (around pg 300/half way) medicine has only been a background theme. In the interview he even says "if my editor told me to change the setting of the book to the Bronx, I would have". That was so surprising to me because Ethiopia's culture is what really makes the book interesting and unique to me, I do not think it would have been popular if it didn't have that diversity. In the interview he describes how being a doctor is so similar to being an author in an interesting metaphor about creating a story about a person's body and its history. To diagnose a disease he remembers past stories he has read and looks to the body to fit the narrative. I thought this metaphor was interesting because as a doctor and an author himself he understands the similarities between them and gives medicine a romantic air. Here is the link to the interview: http://www.npr.org/2011/07/14/135150086/listen-audio-chat-with-author-abraham-verghese

Dairy Queen

The Long Weekend

DJ's family isn't very grateful for all of the work she puts into the farm. On top of all of her daily chores she has to do to keep the cows alive and healthy, her family is always complaining about the things she isn't doing. Her mother and Father are always complaining about her poor grades and are always adding new jobs for her to complete. In addition to the second haying on her birthday, her mother asks if someone can mow the lawn. This may not seem like a big deal, but DJ is practically running the farm by herself. DJ states "That hung there in the kitchen for a while. You could hear Dad thinking that his hip was still mending and Curtis thinking he had baseball and me thinking that since I do every other damn thing around here, maybe someone could take the tiniest bit of responsibility and do it themselves" (93). DJ is forced to think of her family's best interests and she cannot voice her opinions. Her position forces her to be passive. I don't think that I could handle the pent up anger that DJ has, I think she's going to explode.

Dairy Queen

Wash Day

DJ has agreed to train Brian, the quarterback from Red Bend's biggest rival, Hawley High School. This is controversial in DJ's family and social life because the small town takes this rivalry to an extreme. High school football in Red Bend is like a town-wide religion, everyone is obsessed. DJ has to keep the training a secret. Brain is helping around the farm which gives him an excuse to be there, but for DJ having him there gives her work a purpose. In the beginning DJ compares herself and her thoughts to that of a cow. After beginning to train Brian, however, she sees things differently. She states "I hadn't thought one bit all day about being a cow, I guess because I was so busy" (80). DJ often compares her thoughtless work on the farm to the life of a cow. Once she sees a purpose, like pushing Brian, she gets out of the mindless rut she was stuck in.

The Twins and Parenting

This whole book follows the life of the twins, Marion and Shiva, whose parents left them orphaned when they where born. Their mom, Sister Mary Joseph Praise, died in child birth and their dad, Thomas Paine, ran away when Sister Mary died. No one knew Sister was pregnant before she began labor and she died before they could find out who the dad was. Stone never even confesses to impregnating her and he even says he doesn't remember ever having sex with her. It is presumed that it happened when he was extremely drunk, therefore he would not remember it. It is so weird to me that everyone still accepts him as the dad when it is not certain.
When the children are born Hema decides that she is going to be the new mother of the twins, which I think is rude because she basically is brainwashing and kidnapping them. From the moment they are born she calls them "my twins" and says that she has waited her whole life to parent them. Ghosh, Hemas husband for a year, took on the responsibility of the father by going through the naming ceremony. I wonder if Hema and Ghosh will tell the twins that their real parents are dead, or if they will pretend to be the birth parents.

Ethiopia

This book shows a window into Ethiopian life which is completely different from  our culture here. Although this book takes place in the 1950s it creates a proud atmosphere of Ethiopia, mentioning multiple times that Ethiopia was the last country in Africa to be taken over by another country. The patriotism of the people living there surprises me, especially when it shows the poverty side of the population. The people at Missings see the people at their worst, but they still chose to love Ethiopia and its citizens.
The book also portrays how deeply religious the country is, which I did not know before. I am not sure if that aspect is just in the book, or if real life it is that extreme as well. At one point in the book it describes how when people just walk by a church on the street, they bow down and wave to it. I found that weird because in America our culture has grown to be so secular because so many different religions are present. The hospital that the book focuses around is in need of money and supplies, but all they get from their donors are bibles. In the book, Matron even says, "We have more English Bibles than we have English-speaking people in the entire country"(188).

Sister Mary Joseph Praise voyage to Aden

Sister Mary’s voyage to Aden introduced her to her future lover and killed her only companion. When she finally reaches her destination nothing else goes to plan as her teacher died and no one is left to help her. The next thing the book explains is her arrival in Ethiopia, which was weird to me because it skipped over a huge section to get there. Sister Mary says that Aden is where the devil leaves and where she learnt that God could be harsh. The last sentence while she is still in Aden is “his muddy eyes dropped from the ceiling to her face, to her lips, and to her bosom” (31). A few paragraphs later she arrives at Missing Hospital deathly skinny and bleeding in between her legs.

            This skip in the plot leads me to believe that something unspeakable happened in Aden. I think that she was probably raped or somehow hurt by the man in the hot house. Sister Mary went through so much in those few weeks after leaving India, the fact she can even be normal after that impresses me. 

Dairy Queen

Back to Normal, More or Less

In this book even from the very start DJ has a strong sense of loyalty to her family and sacrifices a lot for them. After her father's injury and the absence of her brothers, DJ gives up important aspects of her life to keep her family dairy farm alive. DJ states that "It killed me having to quit basketball, and spend all spring knowing track was going on without me. But I started . . . in January when it got to be too much for Dad to even get out of bed" (Murdock 37). DJ gives up her sports, and eventually her grades, to support her family. I think this is a big deal for a teenager, being committed to a team is part of growing up and being an adolescent. Working long hours is generally thought of as an adult role. DJ has to take on this new role to support her family. DJ was born into a poorer farming lifestyle, would a teenager that had lead a more wealthy and privileged life be able to cope with the pressure?