"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.

Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea

On page 43 out of 127

Note: Our versions of the book differ (Mine isn’t illustrated, Abby’s is), so the page numbers/number of pages will differ. It’s a real bummer, since I really like picture books. It’s also a bummer because my version of the book is ridiculously overpriced. Eh. Onto the review, post, commentary, analysis, whatchamacallit.

After analyzing several poems with complicated language and trying to figure out the not-so-straightforward ideas in them, the simplistic plot of Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea has been extremely refreshing. However, it took some getting used to. I found myself rereading sentences because they took actions and compressed them into such simple phrases I needed more time to visualize what had just happened. It starts off with an interesting plot, but it isn’t interesting enough. There’s a boy who’s always addressed as by “the boy”, and there’s an old man who’s always addressed as “the old man”. The first twenty pages are spent describing the relationship between the two and the poverty the old man faces and the old man’s unlucky fishing past, along with a very controlled conversation about baseball where the voices between the old man and the boy blend together because the dialogue isn’t characterized enough. The baseball conversation references to some players that I’ve never heard of and I doubt most of the people who read this book will understand because most readers of Hemingway aren’t exactly baseball fanatics, and even if they are the baseball conversation isn’t really relevant to anything. It also contains a bunch of dialogue that each of them seem to know is imaginary but that both of them seem unsure of, so the reader can’t be sure of it, and I haven’t found any part of it very helpful to the plot in any way. The second twenty pages are filled with descriptions of the old man going fishing and how he keeps following a bird to get the fish the bird seems to find. Then, he almost catches a dolphin. But he doesn’t. And he assumes that there’s a stray one around. It’s a little too optimistic for his bad luck streak he appears to have, and I can’t tell if it’s still part of his “imaginary” dialogue seeping into his personal thoughts.

My favorite part? When he sees a Portuguese man-of-war and uses the most description used in the entire 43 pages so far. And then…“‘Agua mala’, the man said. ‘You whore’”(Hemingway 35).

That’s right. He calls a jellyfish a whore. If there’s anything in the world I would’ve least expected, it was the combination of those two words. And there’s good reason to it, too. Hemingway goes on to explain by saying that the Portuguese man-of-war looks pretty, but stings hard, and then has the old man talk about how much he likes turtles because they eat the Portuguese man-of-war. In this, I find some probably unintended amusement, where first, we have jellyfish whores, and then, we have, by the symmetric property, whore-eating turtles.

However, the book quickly shuffles backward into its original state, except the old man finally catches something: An albacore tuna that he decides to use as bait, despite his poor living conditions, apparent bad luck streak, and the fact that the boy has already given him bait and appears to have the intent to continue doing so. However, the old man’s delight is very short-lived and confusing to me, since for some reason he has gone forty day’s without a fish, but right after catching a fish, tries to trace back to when he first started talking to himself. Then, he says something to himself about baseball, only to quickly tell himself not to think about baseball. Which makes me wonder: “What is the importance of baseball in a story about fishing? Did the random though of baseball even have to be mentioned?”

Unfortunately, our page division ends right in the middle of one of the seemingly important parts of the story where he is, so far, almost catching another big sea creature. Maybe, it’ll be one of his beloved sea-turtles. I’d be interested to see the inner conflict in him under that occurrence.

Elmore Leonard's "Rum Punch"

My Progress: I am currently on page 111

So to start off this blog discussion of "Rum Punch" I would like to first give a quick summary of the plot. "Rum Punch" is a story about gun smuggling taking place in Elmore Leonard's very own Florida. This book is said by the critics to contain much double crossing leading to a fast pace, thrill ride of a book. And obviously I could not just take the critics word for it, so I chose to bury my head in its pages instead.

The first thing I noticed when reading this book was Leonard's choice of language or lingo. He is writing a story about smugglers and gangsters so it is ideal that almost all of his quotes are written in a slang sort of dialect, but the most surprising part to me was that not only were the dialogue and thoughts of Leonard's characters written in slang, but so was everything else. Even when describing the setting Leonard seems to use slang terms and not create completely fluent or proper sentences. Although my writing may appear to be criticizing Leonard I actually think quite the opposite. Way to go Elmore Leonard, for stepping out of the confines of usual writing, and changing your style to enhance your book! I think that all this slang does is take the reader to that same place in Florida that Leonard is writing about, and make the reader become part of the story. It establishes a setting explaining that many of these characters may not have received very much education, placing them in the gangster lifestyle that they now live in, and this is how they talk.

The other thing I enjoy about this book is the fast pace exciting events. SPOILER ALERT! Although this is a spoiler feel free to read on because what I am about to tell you will not at all ruin the story. One of the most exciting things to happen so far was in the first 30 pages of this novel, one of the main characters already has double crossed another character, and lets just say that character #2 isn't feeling to good right now, as he lays in the trunk of a car with a some bullet holes strewn across his body. I wouldn't say that character #2 got the largest role in this story. Some of you might now be thinking that this is a horrible book, and it is horrible of me to promote gory killings. This, (the killing) however, is not what I am applauding Leonard for. I am thanking him for starting off his book with a "BANG" (both metaphorically and literally). I am one of those readers who enjoy exciting, page-turning books. In my opinion a book that is a fast read and provides suspense and excitement from page one, is a far better read than some "Classical" (to which I blow my nose at) book that leaves me with a poignant (and commonly melancholy) message at the end.

But what do you think? Do you enjoy classical reads that teach you something, or are you like me and enjoy fast-paced books and really do not honestly care about the soppy message at the end? Feel Free to let your voices be heard.... Or in other words COMMENT!!!

P.S. (Obviously that was a very biased question at the end and for that I apologize)

P.P.S. (Actually, do I apologize? Probably not, because everyone is entitled for his or her own opinion)

Anyways, thanks for reading. And come back next time to read my second impression on Elmore Leonard's "Rum Punch"

See You Soon!

Gary Gates

Go Ask Alice

The first 70 pages:

When I first picked up the book Go Ask Alice I expected it to be dark and horrific, personal and interesting. Most of my expectations have been met, though the novel proves to be less satisfying than I wanted it to be. Within the first 70 pages we journey into the narrator's life as she goes from a innocent and naive young girl to a distraught, somewhat lifeless young woman. Her stories are interesting and personal, though I do not favor the way the book is written. I feel as though a lot of important information is lost between the diary entries. For example, it seems as though in an instant, she was hooked on drugs. As a reader, I fell as though the "man vs. self" struggle to remain clean was not present. The novel may seem more personal written as diary entries, but I believe it could still posses personal touch in addition to being more interesting if it were written like a normal novel with "connecting sentences" in between dialogue to further elaborate on her situation. Furthermore, I noticed that since the narrator began using drugs, her voice and vocabulary have changed as well. In the opening pages, she seemed happy and cheerful, using words like, "beautiful and exciting" to describe her life. As the book goes on and her addiction becomes worse, the narrator turns to curse words to describe her new and secret life. As seen in the first 70 pages, drugs, on and off of them make life lonely and miserable for those who dare to try them once more.