Book Review

Fiona Jackson

January 7th, 2011

Lord Of the Flies   

Written by William Golding

Lord of the Flies is a book about a group of Bristish boys who get stranded on a desert island. At first it’s all fun and games without adults or rules, but then chaos begins to set in. Kids start to disagree about major decisions, people start to become frightened and rumors begin to soar across the island. Basically, it is a story meant to show human nature. What we resort to when we are scared and in danger. But to me it seemed like there were a lot of other hidden meanings also. The main characters, (Ralph, Jack, Piggy, Simon...etc.) go through a crazy journey in which they learn a lot about each other and themselves. It’s a little old fashioned and some of the wording is a little hard to understand at first, but I think that it’s worth it to put a little thought into it.

I mostly enjoyed this book. Like I mentioned before, you have to put some thought into the book. And it gets a little bit gruesome at parts. But I thought it was a pretty good book. I definitely think that it’s worth reading. It can teach you a lot. It shows different types of leaders, how people act under pressure, when and why people respect each other, and how children's imagination’s can run wild. For example, two of the characters, Ralph and Jack, (protagonist and antagonist) are both ruled out to be leaders on the island. And they are good people to be in charge, they are natural leaders. But in very different ways. They had very different ideas and were very stubborn about them. The book taught me about respect because one of the main characters, (Piggy) was disrespected solely because he was fat and wore glasses. So, in this books world, you have to be pretty to matter. And the ironic part about that is that Piggy was the only one who was smart enough to figure things out.

Lord of the Flies was one of those books that made you never want to put it down. You would always want to know what comes next. It was interesting, horrifying, and aggravating all at once. But in a good way. That made it more fun to read, because it always left you guessing. It made you wonder if they would get rescued, if they would all survive, or if Ralph would prove to be a good leader or not.

Sometimes when I was reading this book it got so weird and wacky that I decided that I didn’t like it. But once I had read the whole book, I realized that it was worth it to get through those parts. I think that this book is a lot of things, but of those things is a good read. It is worth your time. You come to love some of the characters and hate others. You learn a lot from this book and it makes you wonder about a lot.

Overall, I liked this book and recommend it to anyone who is wondering about reading it. It taught me a lot and helped me understand human nature better. I took a lot of time thinking and analyzing this book and it was really interesting. The writing style is great, William Golding makes you feel as if you are really there on the island with them. The characters are defined well, you get a clear picture of them in your head. I hope that if you decide to read it, that you enjoy it as much as I did.

Weekly Reading Response # 3

NAME Fiona Jackson  DATE October 20th, 2010 TITLE The Curios Case Of the Dog in the Night-Time. TIME: 2 HOURS AUTHOR: Mark Haddon PAGES 106-226 TOTAL PAGES THIS WEEK 120 Pages This book was very unique in a lot of ways. The book is written about something that happens to a boy and it is written from that boys perspective. What makes the book interesting isn't only the storyline though. It is also the fact that the boy is Autistic, or has something different about his brain that makes him think in ways that are very different than the way most people think. He can't understand human emotions, and relates better to animals than humans. He is a extremely logical person, and is amazing at math. He pretty much looks at everything in life as one big math problem. I think that I found the book interesting for those reasons. The story would have been pretty boring if it wasn't for the fact that you get to see it through the eyes of someone who thinks in a whole different way then you. It was like stepping into a whole new world, where things that seem totally normal in our world, upset you so much and causes so much pain you just have to sit down and groan. I also liked the book because the boy, (Christopher) overcomes some of his fears. He figures out ways on his own to help him overcome the fear that ruled his life. I liked that. But I didn't like the way the story ended. Christopher didn't really seem like he was happier in the position he was in at the end of the story than the one he was in in the beginning of the story. Which was okay, because he was pretty happy in the beginning of the story. But the story just kind of cut off. I was really surprised to find that it was over. I even flipped through the last blank pages to make sure I wasn't missing anything. It was strange. I mean, the book's last paragraph did have an ending sense, but it could have just been the end of the chapter the way it was written.  Something that I really liked about a character was the way the Mother acted throughout this book. It might seem strange that I say this because the mother basically abandoned her son to go live with the man she had an affair with. But she was confused during that time. She had a bad moment. Then when Christopher didn't answer any of her letters, she began to worry and just assume that Christopher was angry with her. Then, when Christopher showed up at her house, and told her that his father had told him that she was dead, she moved out of the man she was living with's house and moved back to Swindon to be with Christopher which was probably very hard for her to do since she did love the man she was living with. I thought that it must have been a very hard decision to make. But I also felt very bad for the Father because Christopher was scared of him and thought that he was going to try and kill him, so he wouldn't go near him or talk to him. If Christopher saw him at all he would scream his head of. That would be so hard. Having your own son be so scared of you that he wouldn't talk to you or refuse to be in the same house as you. Anyway, overall I though that this was a really good book and would recommend it to other people.

Weekly Reading Response # 2

NAME: Fiona Jackson DATE: October 19th, 2010

TITLE: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night -Time TIME: 2 HOURS

AUTHOR: Mark Haddon  PAGES: 1-106

TOTAL PAGES THIS WEEK: 106 Pages 

Something I have found really interesting about this book is that the main character, Christopher, is autistic. I am not positive about this but I am pretty sure. It is interesting because it is like he is writing the book, so it shows exactly how he thinks about everything. The way things make him feel. It is interesting because he is a really mathematical person so he thinks about everything really detailed. He has a photographic memory and he kind of explained what it is like to have a memory like that which is cool because it is so different than the way my memory is. This boy is so smart, but he is difficulty to talk to because his brain works a different way then everyone else's. I can't tell whether his parents understand what exactly is different about him. They clearly know something is different about him though because there are some things that he can't tolerate. for example, he won't eat anything that is yellow or brown, his food can't be touching, he has a game about the colors of cars which determine what kind of day he is going to have, he doesn't like to be touched, and would much rather be alone then with people. 

This book reminds me of a movie I watched once called Temple Grandin. That movie was about a girl who had autism and was also super smart and didn't like to be touched. This is the main reason that I think that Christopher is also autistic. The two characters had lot's of similarities, and it is interesting to compare the way the different writers/directors showed the way the autistic people think. In the movie they kind of showed a picture for everything she was thinking. In the book the author does a similar thing but uses words to describe it instead of a picture. I really think that it is interesting how people like this's brain works. They are just on a whole different level than everyone else. For example, in the movie, there was a scene where Temple was in class, and they were supposed to be reading out of a French textbook. It appeared that Temple wasn't reading the page, so the teacher got up and went over to her and asked why she wasn't reading. She replied that she already read it, even though the teacher had just told them to read it. The teacher took away the book and asked what it said. She recited the whole page like she was reading it from her memory. In the book, there is a point where Christopher describes his memory as a being a film. When people ask him to remember things he can simply press rewind, fast forward, or pause. It's the same concept. 


At one point in the book, Christopher's father told him to never do a list of things. 
1. Not to mention Mr. Shears name in their house. 
2. Not to go asking Mrs. Shears about who killed the bloody dog.
3. Not to go asking anyone about who killed that bloody dog.
4. Not to go trespassing in other peoples gardens. 
5. To stop this ridiculous bloody detective game. 
Christopher clearly understands this, but will not give up on his detective game. He just decides to do it in ways that his father did not clearly say. Which shows that he is very clever, but that his mind kind of works like a young child's. Kind of manipulative. But that he just doesn't understand when he upsets people. It must be really hard not to get frustrated with him really easily. I don't think that I would be able to keep as calm with someone like that as his father does. And I think that that is a big part of why his mother ran off. Because she really did feel like she couldn't take it anymore and that it would be better for everyone else if she just left. I can understand how she might of felt. But I am not saying that what she did was right. 

Independent Reading Book

My new Independent Reading Book is called The Curios Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon. 

Weekly Reading Response

NAME: Fiona Jackson DATE: 10-6-10

TITLE: Animal Farm  TIME: 2 HOURS

AUTHOR: George Orwell  PAGES: 1-128

TOTAL PAGES THIS WEEK: 128

Question: What does this book make you think about? Why?

This is a really interesting book to me. The fact that in the book, the Animals rebel and run a whole farm by themselves and feel such strong hate towards the humans is crazy. Not crazy like it couldn't happen, but just crazy like hard to believe. I think that it would be really hard on humans if this were to actually happen because of the fact that humans are obsessed with being in charge of everything. Even among ourselves. That is the main reason we are always at war with each other anyway. Everyone wants control and power over everyone else. I think that is an instinct, because in Animal Farm, even the pigs want control of everything. It isn't a problem with the other animals because the pigs are the smartest, and the other animals are to dumb to understand that they are getting rid of their old controller, (the human, Jones) and just replacing him with a new one, (the pig, Napoleon). I thought that was interesting because it seems like it may be a theme of the book. 


What surprised you about this book? Why?


What surprised me about this book is the fact that the whole point of getting rid of the humans on the farm was so that they could have their freedom, and never be hungry, or be forced to work for the benefit of someone else. And then how they did have that, but pretty soon, the pigs started to become more and more dominate. Actually, I take that back. I wasn't surprised that much when you find out that Napoleon was the leader and he was planning on becoming more and more important until he got to the point that he got the best of everything. I could tell from the very beginning that that was going to happen. At first, I thought that Snowball was going to become the president or new leader. But then Napoleon ran him out. I still haven't decided whether or not Snowball really was to blame, or if Napoleon made it all up in order for him to have more power. I was surprised though, when you find out at the end of the book that the pigs are back in league with the humans. I really thought that they understood more that the humans were bad and way smarter than the pigs. I really think that it is just animal nature to want to always be in charge. Or to want to always have the best of everything. The farm was a lot more successful when all the animals were equal and they actually followed the original seven commandments. That is what was fair. All the animals were equally happy, and they made a lot more food that way. But then when the pigs started to slowly gain more control and become more and more selfish, everything started to get worse. The pigs were supposedly better than all the other animals so they got more food, and they got to drink alcohol, and they got to sleep in beds, while all the other animals suffered. 


What did this book remind you of? Why?
This book reminded me of another book series titled the Hunger Games. In that series, the people were forced to compete in a horrible thing called the Hunger Games, run by their leader, President Snow. The people rebel and end up overthrowing the president and elect a new president, who then just wants to have another Hunger Games. That reminded me of Animal Farm, because in Animal Farm, the animals overthrow the human that owns their farm,(Jones) and then the Pigs just take over and treat the animals the same way that Jones's treated them. The plot is kind of the same in both of the stories. 

Independant Reading

The book I am reading for the Independent reading project is Animal Farm, by George Orwell. 

Rabbits

What do the rabbits symbolize in the story?


Rabbits are symbolizing dreams in the book Of Mice and Men. It has always been Lennie's dream to own those rabbits and tend to them. That is the symbol. The theme is dreaming. Always knowing what your dreams are and doing what it takes to accomplish. Things do happen sometimes to prevent you from getting your dreams for example Lennie killing Curley's wife.


Choose a character in the novel (other than Curley's wife) and discuss what they represent. Use details about the character to support your answer.


I am choosing to discuss George. I think that George's purpose in this book is to represent friends. George (although sometimes he has interesting ways of showing this) really and truly cares about Lennie and doesn't want to see him get hurt. He always has his back no matter how much trouble Lennie gets in. For example, when Lennie accidentally kills Curley's wife, George says, "Ain't nobody gonna hurt Lennie. I won't let em." 


 Describe your reactions to Lennie killing Curley's wife. What do you think will happen to Lennie now?


I was really shocked when I found out that Lennie actually killed her. I didn't know he was that strong. I feel bad for him because he really can't help it. Just like George says- "He ain't never done it to be mean." I think that the boys are going to kill him. Curley really wants to and he already had all that anger bottled up from when Lennie broke his hand. I think the others will go along with it because they really don't understand that Lennie doesn't do it intentionally.


Discuss Curley's wife and what she represents in the novel.


I think that Curley's wife represents accidents. She represents Lennie always managing to kill that really soft thing- whether it's a mouse, or a dog, or even a human. I'm sure if he ever did get to the rabbits, then he would have killed them to. He's just way to strong to be handling the fragile objects that are so soft. Sure, he never means to, but it happens ever time. He never learns. He thinks like a child. Just like a child.