Naomi
Reading A Streetcar Named Desire differed a lot from Cat on a Hot Tin Roof which made it a pleasure reading. Tennessee Williams once again proved his craft in the world of play writing with his protagonist Blanche Dubois. A schoolteacher from Mississippi, Blanche moves down to live with her sister Stella and her husband Stanley Kowalski in New Orleans. She tries to cover up her flaws with a “rich” persona, and her bossy, superior attitude; only to reveal later on that she loses the plantation that her family lived on, the Belle Reve due to foreclosure, indicating financial issues, and her alcohol problem indicating insecurities about herself.
Class struggles, power, deception and identity are some of the major themes that make the play the critically acclaimed piece that it has become. Blanche's desire to stay strong and youthful, disguising the pain and tragedy in her life and illuminating her own world which leads her to a mental institution at the end keeps the reader anxious for more out of the captivating character. Stanley's bestiality nature and Polish descent, a note of high criticism, disrupts the relationship between Blanche and her sister, Stella and Stanley, and Blanche and her one time boyfriend Mitch. Stella's soft, inferior attitude is the key to Blanche and Stanley's control, and the whole storyline in general definitely keeps the reader turning the pages for more.
I would recommend this book to anyone because its a quick read, but something that you have to take your time to understand even the smallest of details, since they will go unnoticed, leaving you with questions to wonder in the future.
The reason why I chose to read this book is because it was added to Oprah's book club a couple of years ago; evidently leading up to her biggest humiliation of the book NOT being entirely true (it was “supposed” to be a memoir). So I defintely had to check out what this man would embellish about his hard, depressing and drug/alcohol affiliated life. The book is defintely a page turner if I may say so. His writing style is defintely not like most authors; the sentence structure and the line breaks sometimes resemble a poem, but it clearly isnt. His repetition of the pain he went through to recover from his hardcore addiction strengthen his message. Sometimes though the repetition got annoying, but overall, this was a really good book, he should of just said that it was a work of fiction though.
touching snow is such a great book and it was well written by M.Sindy Felin, being her first novel. I will admit I first picked up the book because it was written by a haitian author =]. But the book has a lot of different themes such as keeping their culture as they live in America, stuggling to survive under their abusive stepfather's roof, and a mother who neglects this problem so they can afford to eat and pay the bills. The protagonist Karina suffers from epilepsy and also just trying to fit in school, and doesnt want to be compared to her super smart sister Delta who skipped two grades. And she doesnt want to be the head of the house if her sister Enid died from the brutal beatings “the DADDY” gave her. The way Felin uses descriptions and puts kreyol words in the book, it makes me relate more because I actually understand what shes saying and it just shows how similar many haitian families are and how they never want to forget where they come from when they come to America[especially New York].Its a great book to read because Karina is a strong girl who is capable to tell her story in a funny,inspiring and sometimes sad point of view. I recommend it to anyone and everyone.
This book was kinda ok at first, but as I kept on reading, I realized that this is a really good book. Jenna Abbott is a teenager who was in a car accident with her mother, but unfortunately only she was the survivor. She separates her life in two categories: before the wreck and after the wreck. Her heart,body,mind and soul becomes hard with grief, distress, lonliness and a isolation that she cannot control. She feels like she cannot trust nor love anyone ever again and that her mom is the only person she should remain faithful to. It takes a long time until a mysterious handsome/”druggie”/caring looking person named Gabriel “Crow” Saint-Croix to help her realize that if you open your eyes, you will realize that you do have a purpose in life and don't ever take it for granted. If you read or heard of Oates books such as Big Mouth,Ugly Girl, you will want to read this book.
I have finally reached the last book of the twilight saga, Breaking Dawn. In this final chapter, we see Bella make the most important decision of her life, to become a vampire forever. Her world was being split in half; her love for her father, who she has become incredibly close to in these past few years that they've been together, her silly, but comforting mother whose finally found stability in her life, and last but not least, her very best friend (who happens to be a werewolf) Jacob Black, the one person who will always be there for her, but the deep love that they have for each other can never happen. Then there is the new family she craves to join; the irresistible Cullen family and their loving bond that they have for each other (including the man of her life, Edward). She graduates high school, gets married and tries to live life as a human for the very last moments. Once she finds out that she's pregnant with Edwards baby during their honeymoon, she becomes fatally ill as this “monster breed” is tearing her insides. Never have they heard of a half-immortal/half mortal child before, so the Cullens are in grave fear of what this may bring to the world. Jacob is more infuriated with the fact that his best friend is willing to die for this creature. The story transgresses, Bella gives birth to a beautiful girl, Reneesmee, she becomes immortal, Jacob finally moves on from his love for Bella...to his new love for Reneesmee [by imprinting:]. Bella, being a newborn vampire has the great ability to control her emotions and cravings, so shes capable of maintaining her relationship with her father, and the last parts of her human life that seemed the most important to her;and then they live happily ever after....until the Volturi clan plans to come to exterminate the Cullen clan because of Reneesmee. Carlisle,Esme, Alice,Jasper, Emmett and Rosalie search for all of their fellow vampire friends from all over the world to witness the “trial” that would possibly condemn their lives. We all know that at the end of the book, no one dies [except for Irina the betrayer:]. The Cullens are safe, the werewolves [or shape shifters according to Aro:] are safe, and maintain the newly found bond with the Cullens. Jacob and Bella will always remain best friends forever, and he will wait till Reneesmee is of age before they have their relationship. Bella will be able to keep in contact with her father, and the rest of the werewolf pack. Everyone seems to live a happily ever after.
The entire series is worth the reading. Even though im torn between which one is my favorite (im leaning towards Eclipse), it is captivating from the first to last page.
the entire time i was reading it my face was like 0.0 ....definitely not used to reading adult erotica...because I don't read it ever.
The writing itself is crap, like I expected, but it was entertaining enough that I will continue the series. I truly believe if you're not 18 you have no business reading this. However, the connection to the Twilight series is too similar, it is without a doubt everyone will read this.
You'll never catch me reading this in public though! lol.
When I found out that my 8th grade teacher wrote the book, I had to read it! This book was actually funny; its about a low-self esteemed pessimistic[in my opinion] boy named Shakespeare Shapiro who deals with many problems like getting a girlfriend, being popular and dealing with raging male hormones that he freely expresses throughout the book. He is ridiculed by his name that his crazy parents named him, embarrased by the fact that his little brother is way more popular than him, and has two weird friends, one who talks about bowel movements all day[EW] and another who just likes talking about how Shakespeare and Neil are pathetic. The book is written in a memoir/novel form from the point of view of Shakespeare and it is a really funny to look in the point of view of a 17 year old boy who worries about girls,college and life in general. Good job jake!
The reader would have never crossed my mind if I havent seen the movie trailer starring Kate Winslet and Ralph Fiennes. I usually like to read the books first before watching the movie because I want to make sure that the movie is good because of the drama AND because the director did a good job of keeping it relatable to the book. If I saw twilight before I read the book, I might have liked it. But i didn't. And THAT movie is horrible. So I wasn't making that mistake again!
The story takes us to post-WWII Germany and the main protagonist, 15 year old Michael Berg has an affair with a ex- nazi camp guard Hanna Schmitz (who is at least twice his age). After the lustful affair, she suddenly dissapears without saying goodbye. His next encounter with her happens to be years later as she is put on trial for war crimes during the Holocaust.
With that in mind, I always questioned Bernhard Schlink's reasonings for naming the book The Reader if it had to deal with justice and a lustful affair? But throughout the book, it was no doubt that reading became an essential piece of the whole trial. It was the glue that kept the affair bound even after all the sex. It was the hinderence that possibly cost Hanna her justice and her innocense, and it definitely was the barrier that she was not willing to climb over in order to maintain her pride and dignity. Not that assisting in war crimes is prideful.
If you want to know how the book all falls into place, I would definitely suggest that you read the book. And go see the movie after because Kate Winslet won the Best Actress Nod (finally! lmao).