Just a quick post to say I'm sorry for not uploading anything since getting back to school, even though I have finished the second Earth's Children book, Valley of Horses, since then. Also, if anybody is a fan of The Hunger Games, please check out my fanfiction! It's the series from Peeta Mellark's point of view :)
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/9239856/1/Peeta-s-Games
Let me know what you think, or, if you have written anything of Fanfiction.net, please let me know because I'd love to read what you've written :)
Saturday, April 27, 2013
Thursday, April 11, 2013
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
'Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close' is a novel written by Jonathan Safran Foer, following the life of nine year old Oskar Shell. On the morning of September 11th 2011, Oskar returns home from school to find five messages on the answering machine, all from his father, Thomas. Thomas is trapped in one of the Twin Towers, and his messages are full of despair, and are ultimately saying goodbye.
Soon after his father's death, Oskar breaks a blue vase that was in his parents room. Inside the vase is an envelope, and inside, a key with the word 'Black' written on it. Grief stricken, Oskar embarks on an urgent, secret mission to solve the mystery of the key by visiting every Black listed in the five boroughs of New York phone book. Through Oskar's mission, he meets a variety of different characters, all of whom teach him something different. But, he is unsuccessful in learning any information about the key.
Intertwined with Oskar's search are letters written by his grandparents, who are survivors of the 1945 fire bombing in Dresden, Germany. During the fire bombing, his grandparents lost everyone they had loved. Amongst those that died, was Mrs Schell's sister, Anna, who at the time was pregnant by Thomas Schell Senior. Thomas was so filled with grief that over time, he lost the capacity to speak. When Thomas senior meets Anna's sister years later in New York, he communicates with her only through writing. He does this usually with a notepad, and his tattooed palms: 'Yes' and 'No'. Brought together by mutual loss, their marriage was a pitiful affair. Their apartment is divided into two zones, 'Nothing' and 'Something' and they communicate primarily in silence. When Mrs Schell becomes pregnant, Thomas Senior leaves America to return to Dresden.
From Dresden, Thomas Senior writes Thomas hundreds of unsent letters, each trying to explain his unspeakable grief, loss, regret. Out of the hundreds letters, only one reaches Thomas. Thomas Senior returns from Dresden and is less than welcomed back into his wife's life. However, she has conditions of his return, which are to remain in the spare room in her apartment and he is not to see, meet or talk to Oskar. During Oskar's search, he eventually runs into Thomas Senior, who he refers to as "the renter", later realising that he is his grandfather.
Oskar finally tracks down the owner of the key after a little twist. William Black, the owner of the key, explains to Oskar how the key ended up in the vase. Oskar decides to share his biggest burden with William, that on September 11th, Oskar was in the house when his father was trying to call, but was too afraid to answer the phone and gave up the chance to talk to him for the last time. A while later, Oskar and Thomas Senior exhume Thomas' empty coffin and inside, they place the hundreds of unread letters. Oskar returns home and he and his mother reconcile, and she explains that she knew about his mission the whole time, and had called every Black listed in the phone book to explain the situation.
The novel closes, with a flip book of a man falling from one of the Towers. However, the pictures are ordered in reverse so that the man flies upward, safe.
This novel is absolutely heartbreaking, and even the humour of the protagonist does not hide the confusion, the pain, the torment that Oskar goes through. It's most definitely worth a read, be sure to have tissues at the ready!
Reviewed by Brogan Wilson
Soon after his father's death, Oskar breaks a blue vase that was in his parents room. Inside the vase is an envelope, and inside, a key with the word 'Black' written on it. Grief stricken, Oskar embarks on an urgent, secret mission to solve the mystery of the key by visiting every Black listed in the five boroughs of New York phone book. Through Oskar's mission, he meets a variety of different characters, all of whom teach him something different. But, he is unsuccessful in learning any information about the key.
Intertwined with Oskar's search are letters written by his grandparents, who are survivors of the 1945 fire bombing in Dresden, Germany. During the fire bombing, his grandparents lost everyone they had loved. Amongst those that died, was Mrs Schell's sister, Anna, who at the time was pregnant by Thomas Schell Senior. Thomas was so filled with grief that over time, he lost the capacity to speak. When Thomas senior meets Anna's sister years later in New York, he communicates with her only through writing. He does this usually with a notepad, and his tattooed palms: 'Yes' and 'No'. Brought together by mutual loss, their marriage was a pitiful affair. Their apartment is divided into two zones, 'Nothing' and 'Something' and they communicate primarily in silence. When Mrs Schell becomes pregnant, Thomas Senior leaves America to return to Dresden.
From Dresden, Thomas Senior writes Thomas hundreds of unsent letters, each trying to explain his unspeakable grief, loss, regret. Out of the hundreds letters, only one reaches Thomas. Thomas Senior returns from Dresden and is less than welcomed back into his wife's life. However, she has conditions of his return, which are to remain in the spare room in her apartment and he is not to see, meet or talk to Oskar. During Oskar's search, he eventually runs into Thomas Senior, who he refers to as "the renter", later realising that he is his grandfather.
Oskar finally tracks down the owner of the key after a little twist. William Black, the owner of the key, explains to Oskar how the key ended up in the vase. Oskar decides to share his biggest burden with William, that on September 11th, Oskar was in the house when his father was trying to call, but was too afraid to answer the phone and gave up the chance to talk to him for the last time. A while later, Oskar and Thomas Senior exhume Thomas' empty coffin and inside, they place the hundreds of unread letters. Oskar returns home and he and his mother reconcile, and she explains that she knew about his mission the whole time, and had called every Black listed in the phone book to explain the situation.
The novel closes, with a flip book of a man falling from one of the Towers. However, the pictures are ordered in reverse so that the man flies upward, safe.
This novel is absolutely heartbreaking, and even the humour of the protagonist does not hide the confusion, the pain, the torment that Oskar goes through. It's most definitely worth a read, be sure to have tissues at the ready!
Reviewed by Brogan Wilson
The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
With the movie coming out in Summer, and with a lot of people encouraging me to read the series, I decidedto give it a go.
Set in present-day New York, the first installment of The Mortal Instruments series follows Clary Fray, a seemingly normal human girl with a passion for Art and the unusual. We meet our protagonist and her best friend, Simon Lewis, outside the underage club, Pandemonium. Here, Clary starts to see what others can't, revealing that she isn't as mundane as she seems.
After witnessing the Shadowhunters kill a demon, Clary can't seem to get it out of her head that she was the only one able to see them. Was she going crazy?
Returning home, she has an argument with her apparently plain mother, Jocelyn. Storming out of the house with Simon, little does she know the terror that is about to unfold and rip her world to shreds. Everything she's ever known, or thought she knew, will be thrown into a new light, transforming it all into something she could never even have imagined.
The story is interesting to say the least, with many twists and turns that will keep you hooked. I personally found that the writing became more fluid and exciting towards the end of the novel, as I thought the beginning of the novel was quite lacklustre. I'm glad I persevered though, as the end of the book comes to a gripping climax that had me whizzing through the last few pages at double speed.
I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys the supernatural, fantasy side of literature as there is no lack of that throughout the story of Clarissa Fray and her battle for The Mortal Cup.
I would give this book a Fallen Star rating, because although it was inarguably good, the potential of the novel was far greater than it's actuality. I hope the next five instalments in The Mortal Instruments series can pick up the slack where City Of Bones has fallen short.
Happy Reading!
Review By Lauren Goodfellow
Monday, April 8, 2013
The Fault In Our Stars by John Green
Well, I did say I was eager to read another John Green book after reading An Abundance of Katherines and The Fault In Our Stars is commonly known as John Green's most beloved and acclaimed novel. I must say, it did not disappoint.
The novel follows a sixteen year old girl, Hazel Grace Lancaster, through her friendships, relationships and treatments. Hazel suffers from Stage 4 Thyroid Cancer, which handicaps the use of her lungs and requires that she is always hooked up to an oxygen tank. Her disease gets in the way of her life, and slowly becomes her life. She was taken out of high school before the 'Miracle', an unlikely treatment that saved her life. Never reintegrated into normal teenage life, Hazel Grace finds her only company within books, particularly An Imperial Affliction by Peter Van Houten.
Worried for her daughter, Hazel's mother sends her to Support Group in the Literal Heart of Jesus. There she meets the like minded and Isaac, who is soon to lose his sight to cancer, and the gorgeous Augustus Waters, who has already lost his leg to osteosarcoma. Although she is attracted to Augustus, the more she learns about him, the more she is scared to get close to him. She doesn't want to hurt him when she dies.
Hazel sees herself as a 'grenade' that will explode when she dies, and wound all the people closest to her.
Throughout the novel, Augustus and Hazel's relationship blossoms. Despite Hazel's reservations, she finds herself falling in love with the one-legged, stunning, seventeen-year-old boy. They both know how hard cancer is, and they both realise that the 'never stopped fighting' image that is painted of young cancer victims is not accurate. They are there for each other, to support one another through the struggles of such a ravenous disease.
What I liked most about this novel, is the blunt view that it put forward about death. It showed the reality of the emotions that cancer sufferers feel, displaying that, most of the time, they really do just want to stop fighting. It also gave the stark truth that the world is not a wish-granting factory, and that bad things happen to good people. That's just life.
John Green is a wordsmith of the highest caliber, creating characters that pull you in, and creating the most beautiful imagery in one sentence. One of my favourite lines, is from Augustus, when he is claiming that he is not a writer: 'My thoughts are stars that I cannot fathom into constellations.'
I finished this book in a day, just because I had to know where the story was going, and how it would end. The clever thing about this novel, is that it does have a concrete ending, but there are still millions of questions that I would ask of John Green if I ever had the pleasure of meeting him.
From me, this book gains a Cosmic rating. This is because the sheer magnificence of this book cannot be described with mere Earthly expressions. After reading this book you'll never be able to regard the word 'Okay' in the same way.
Happy Reading!
Review By Lauren Goodfellow
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
The Clan of The Cave Bear by Jean M. Auel
In a beautifully written, enigmatic, pre-historic tale of two variations of the same species, Jean M. Auel tellsof the immovable destiny that only one thread of the species may continue.
Our journey begins with the introduction of a five-year-old girl, left alone and devastated after an earthquake killed her family. Struggling to survive, she tumbles through the forest hoping for refuge. After being attacked by a ferocious cave lion, she is left for dead. Throughout the novel we discover that this girl is lucky beyond all measure; her first piece of luck comes in the form of rescue. When she awakens, she finds herself surrounded by people who are similar to herself, yet completely different. These are the people of The Clan of The Cave Bear.
The novel takes us through six years of the life of the girl, who comes to be known as Ayla. We travel with Ayla through the hardships of overcoming the differences of her people and the people of the Clan.
Not only does Ayla looks completely different to those of the Clan, she does other things that they finds peculiar as well: she cries when upset, she likes to swim in sea but most importantly, she doesn't understand why women should be treated as inferiors to men. This is one of the most interesting aspects of the novel in my opinion, as you can witness the raw determination of Ayla to make herself just as useful and as important as the men. There is a constant battle between the sexes, even highlighting the conflictions between people of the same sex. Ayla fights against the 'traditional' role of cook, cleaner and baby-maker and is determined to show the men, and the other women what a female is capable of. Some of the men even begin allow her a freer reign, with the firm exception of the soon-to-be-leader, Broud.
Another interesting element to this novel is the presence of revered Spirits, Mog-urs (Men of Magic) and other forms of magic such as healing magic and curses. Each member of the Clan has their own animal totem, which they believe protects them from harm and gives them guidance in the form of unusual signs. Though Ayla is born to the Others, she begins to live the Clan way, and she begins to respect and listen to her totem, the Cave Lion.
The Mog-ur, or Creb, as he is known to his family, is the most powerful Mog-ur of all time with an ability to connect with the minds of others and venture to the past to the part of their heritage in which they were just unicellular organisms and then follow their journey to the present day. Also, the clan that Ayla finds herself apart of has one of the most respected medicine women of the entire Clan at their disposal, and she, Iza, becomes mother to the poor, orphaned outsider. Ayla also has her own special power, she has intuition and forward-thinking, both of which are completely alien prospects to the people of the Clan.
I can not express enough praise for this author, her unique and powerful control over the English language gave me the ability to immerse myself so fully into Ayla's world. One of the things I love most about reading, is the capacity for extending my vocabulary, and I believe that Jean M. Auel has given me one of the most extensive expansions that my lexis has ever had through this brilliant, engaging novel.
I would say that this book is not for casual reading, but for someone like me, who treasures stories and reads a book in a meticulous manner. If you read for pleasure often, I would definitely recommend this book. It is a fantastic read, with a story that will keep you hooked for chapter after chapter.
I think that this book deserves a Historic rating, as I believe that, though this story is set thousands of years in the past, it carries messages that will resonate throughout the minds and souls of generations to come.
Happy Reading!
Review by Lauren Goodfellow
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