"Fragment" by Warren Fahy

I like the way author Warren Fahy has begun Fragment. The book follows the scientists and crew of a scientific reality television show exploring remote places around the world on a boat. Rather than having a few main protagonists, the novel has a rather large collection of characters. Fahy’s successful use of 3rd person makes this large cast relatively easy to follow. He jumps between all the characters, providing clever and important insight into each of their current thoughts. But this is not overwhelming, as he clearly illustrates who will be more important to the story by the depth of his descriptions.

One of the main things I like about the way Fahy introduces the characters is how he ties his descriptions of them into the story line. He introduces the characters while the opening events are occurring, briefly explaining enough to give the reader an idea of the characters’ personalities. This mixture of direct and indirect characterization works well for this book. The background he gives about the characters does not distract from the events, but instead relates to why they are on the boat. Overall, I think that the way he follows the events and describes the characters adds to the story greatly. Fahy does not spend too much time before diving into the action and mystery that looks to make the rest of Fragment great.

Perks Of Being a Wallflower

I wrote my blog post in a Microsoft Document, and I am not able to copy and paste it. This will allow me to post because copy/paste is allowed in the comment section. Sorry for the technical difficulties. Thanks! -Keely

"The Unsavvy Traveler" by Pam Houston

Section 1: page 94

Though this book attempts to be feminist with its cast of empowered and determined female characters, it falls short of its initial goal. The book does not quite live up to its promise to show that failing once does not make you a failure. Rather, it just shows the failures of women. All this book does is reaffirm the values of hardcore feminists, prove the point of many sexists, and provide entertainment for the middle ground readers.

To a hardcore feminist, this is a book about being in a bad scenerio and making the most of it. The mistakes made by characters in this book can easily be blamed on other factors like weather, bad tour guides, and other tourists. Therefore it can be noted that the women in this book are put in bad situation but, through hard work and determination, overcome their challenges and becomes victorious. In the situations where success in not found, it can be said that despite their efforts, they technically failed but their positives attitudes made them winners. No matter what happens, you can put a feminist spin on this book.

On the other hand, this book is very easy to view from a sexist point of view. This book is basically about women being dumb and messing up. A typical character in this book sounds something like this, "I'm freespirited, blond, and naive. Also I decided to move to a foreign country without knowing anything about it or speaking the language. Then I left my belongings in a ________(restaurant, beach, etc) and when someone took my things, I was super surprised! Why is everyone so mean to me? Just because I make no attempt to adapt your culture doesn't mean I don't deserve respect too!". It is very easy to see the characters as dimwitted and clumsy people who make every possible mistake. A true sexist would see this as an example of why women are inferior to men.

To one who is neither a sexist nor a hardcore feminist, this is merely a humourus book with little depth. The book is worth a few laughs and sends a minor message of perserverance. Unfortunately, the cover is much more bold than the messages in the book.

"Tortilla Curtain" by T. Coraghessan Boyle

Page 130 out of 355

I'm not going to lie; I've pretty much fallen in love with this book. "Tortilla Curtain" by T. Coraghessan Boyle tells the story of two contrasting characters Delaney and Candido. Delaney is white, liberal and privileged, while Candido is an illegal immigrant living off sardines in a state park. After their initial encounter when Delaney accidentally hits Candido with his car, their lives are forever intertwined. "Tortilla Curtain" is a social commentary on the current status quo in the United States. A few of the topics that it hits on are the widening gap between the haves and the have-nots, and the hypocrisy of democracy especially with the upper classes. To truly understand the author's themes, you have to look beyond face value. The author switches back and forth between Delaney and Candido to provide a contrasting effect, Delaney lives in the lap of luxury, while Candido is struggling to make ends meet. This is symbolic for how in contemporary society there are people that have everything, as well as people that have nothing. I guess that's the price we pay for living in a capitalistic society.

A few of the community leaders at Arroyo Blanco, the posh community that Delaney lives in, lobby for a gate to be built around the cul-de-sac, to keep out the "undesirables." The gate is a social barrier that is meant to screen out the minorities. This goes against all liberal ideals, because last time I checked being a liberal was about being open-minded and accepting all cultures. I guess the point that Boyle is trying to make is that people only stick to their morals only when it benefits them. History proves that whenever the economy goes sour, the blame is put on immigrants.

To me this book is more or less an accurate portrayal of the status quo, not to mention Boyle has a talent for making his characters in his books come alive. I personally believe one of the main selling points "Tortilla Curtain" is its intense realism, and how believable the two characters Delaney and Candido are. Boyle's obsession with small details only adds onto this effect. For example take this excerpt from the first page where Delaney is having a flashback, "Everywhere he turned, he saw those red-flecked eyes, the rictus of the mouth, the rotten teeth and incongruous shock of gray in the heavy black brush of the mustache..." (1). Instead of diluting the real world like a lot of authors do, Boyle chooses to tell things like they are.

The real deal-breaker for me is the imagery in this book. I'm a real sucker for vivid descriptions of nature, and it is just my luck that Delaney is a professional nature writer. The language in the columns that he writes are impeccable, take for example, "Who am I, striding into the buttery glaze of evening sun amidst stands of bright blooming mustard that reach into my elbows and beyond?” (76). The bottom line is, this book has everything that I look for, a little social commentary, some nice nature imagery, and is a story that is realistic enough that I can relate to.

"Never Let Me Go" by Kazuo Ishiguro

(2nd group, same book...)

After hearing rave reviews from many about this book, I was excited to see what I thought of it. I must admit, I was a little nervous about it being a distopian novel, as I am more keen towards books grounded in reality, but it turns out there was no need for worry. The novel has managed to hook me in, and it's hard to put the book down after finishing a chapter.

After reading the first few chapters, (mainly 1, 2, and 3), I must say I was not totally interested in the story. The way the story proceeded seemed slow and lagging, and it was hard for me to understand the full picture of what was happening. Part of it may be the point of view from which the story is narrated: a 30 year old woman, Kathy, who is looking back on her experiences at the mysterious boarding school which she attended for all of her childhood and teen years, Hailsham. The way the novel kept moving between the present and memories of Hailsham was confusing for me as the reader, and didn't exactly captivate or excite me to read more.

Luckily, I caught on to the gist of the plot by chapter 3, and began to be sucked in to the mystery of Hailsham, and the secret of why the students there are special. Ishiguro has a very subtle but witty way of pulling the reader in by writing about fairly ordinary situations between students, that could happen at just about any school, but then adding in little events or side notes by the narrator that make me start to wonder what is actually going on at this boarding school for "special" students.

What truly separates this novel from others of its genre, so far at least, is that the author does not take the abnormalities about life at Hailsham to extremes or overexaggerates any situation. The plot seems very believable, as if this could actually happen and these people could exist. There is no alien babies or evil magicians (you get the gist...). The hints that anything is out of the ordinary are very subtle and believable. For example, the students at Hailsham cannot have children of their own, and they have heard a little about how they will become Donors when they are adults. The mystery of these ideas brought up are just enough to keep the reader guessing at what will happen, but don't disinterest the reader by being too out-of-this-worldly.

Overall, after reading the first 8 chapters, I am very impressed with the author's writing technique and the plot of the book, and am excited to see what comes next. If the book keeps going as it has, this could end up being a very worthwhile read in my mind.

"Never Let Me Go", by Kazuo Ishiguro

As much as it pains me to conform, I can think of no other way to start this post that will not be a “corny joke”. Therefore, I am on page 111, the end of Part I. Actually, I don’t think it is possible for me to start without said joke, so I will now cut myself off before I ---. (Sorry, but that was censored because it was turning into a joke).

I’ll now start at the beginning, which, generally, is a good place to start. However, that is not how Kazuo Ishiguro started “Never Let Me Go”, instead using a number of flashbacks to tell the story (but more on that later). The very first line disappointed me, because, after being assured that this is an all-around wonderful book by the cover, the first lines tell, “My name is Kathy H. I’m thirty-one years old, and I’ve been a carer now for over eleven years” (Ishiguro 3). My initial reaction was one of horror; I figured that I’d just condemned myself to a forced reading of an extremely boring book (which is generally my impression when I read a sentence like this). I suppose that the author did a good job of instilling curiosity in the reader with the “I’ve been a carer” part, but I decided that if the first lines had nothing more interesting to say, this could not be a very interesting book.

However, after reading to page 111, I can say my initial impression was incorrect. “Never Let Me Go” is interesting and captivating enough that I read the beginning as fast as any Grisham book. As I mentioned earlier, the story of Part I is told in flashbacks of the main character’s childhood at a place called Hailsham. Each flashback nicely flows into the next, retelling the narrator’s childhood effectively. The placement and order of the flashbacks is also easy to follow, because each flashback is triggered either by the previous one or something happening during Kathy’s current life. The fact that the novel is told by Kathy in first person allows the reader to better follow the logical order of the flashbacks; for this style of writing, I would have to say I think third person would be ineffective.

One of the factors that originally drew me to this book was the promise that it was a dystopian novel. While it certainly appears to be such, so far it is the type of dystopian novel that spends forever luring the reader into a sense of calm that contrasts with the dystopian parts (such as Kurt Vonnegut’s short story “2 B R 0 2 B”, where the ‘perfect society’ is contrasted with the fact that every time a baby is born, someone must volunteer to die if the baby is to survive). I appreciate this style of writing, but I am generally more intrigued by dystopian novels with much more of a strong, mysterious, and foreboding dystopian factor throughout the book.

For now, I would say that I am enjoying “Never Let Me Go”, and while I hope the next few parts of the book ‘pick up the pace’ in terms of plot, I am looking forward to finishing the novel.