**Spoilers!!**
I'm basically done with The Faults in Our Stars, or FiOS, but I thought I may as well extend these responses until I've used all the content I can and responded to it until basically the end of the year, because for some reason I just don't want to charge my Nook and start the Curse Workers series again.
Sigh.
Okay, so first of all, I would like to say that even when I first read this book, from the moment they left for Amsterdam and Gus and Hazel's mom were acting fishy, I knew that he was going to get cancer.
And die.
Oh, this still gives me a lot of emotions, but anyhow, I've not technically read this part of the book yet. So back to where I am, which is-- actually wait, yes, I'm right past the eulogy Hazel tells Gus at his pre-funeral. So, Gus, is, unfortunately, dead.
The pre-funeral is one of my favorite moments in the book, pretty much because of the eulogy. The eulogy shows how someone who always know that death is always impending on their lives, and that they are forever bonded with the dark thing that is death, because they almost experienced it, views the world. Hazel is shown to see the world, or at least after she met Gus, as many infinities. I believe this is because a moment is not valued by the amount of time it takes up, or by the money it took. It's by all the beautiful and wonderful things that happened in these moments that are infinite, because they change us as people and shape us forever.
These moments that Hazel spent with Gus, they obviously weren't chronologically infinite (that is almost definitely not the correct use of that word). But Hazel knows that their little infinity, their little moments that made Hazel more happy, that made Hazel want to live more, that made Hazel love more, was one of her favorite infinities, favorite memories, favorite feelings, and was one of the 'biggest' infinities in her life, one that changed it for the better.
This scene made me want to live my life to the fullest. I would love to find some dashing Augustus Waters to bring me to Amsterdam and change my life and outlook on this said topic, but I most likely will not. I have to make my own little infinities to make my life as good as possible, and have to try to like the infinities I already have.
Also, John Green is an amazing human being.
Showing posts with label update. Show all posts
Showing posts with label update. Show all posts
Saturday, June 15, 2013
Friday, June 7, 2013
Update: The Faults in Our Stars
I recently began reading, The Faults in Our Stars by John Green (cough cough I am a huge nerdfighter.) ANYWAYS
This is by far one of my favorite books, ever. I have previously read this book, this amazing, deep, philosophical, emotional, touching book, and now I am reading it again for book clubs.
One thing I initially notice about reading TFiOS, as I'm rereading it, is that Hazel doesn't attempt to do very much with her life until Gus shows up. I mean, Hazel has the urge to do things, and wants and desires like everyone else, but I feel like Gus is really the one that enables her, makes her want to do these things that seem ridiculous and impossible beforehand, like meeting the author of An Imperial Affliction and going to Amsterdam.
One reason I think this is is because Hazel is more physically weighed down than Gus is, due to her oxygen tank, so it's a more constant reminder of how she will always be held back by cancer, and how cancer will be forever affecting her life. Gus, though cancer still obviously affected him in huge ways, Gus probably will sometimes forget that he has an amputated leg more than Hazel will forget that she has to drag around a metal tank with her all day.
NOT THAT I'M TRYING TO DISCREDIT amputees. That is, if possible, the exact opposite of what I'm trying to convey. I'm just pointing out, with Gus' dreamer and optimist personality, it's most likely more easy for him to forget his troubles than Hazel is, who has a more serious and down to earth personality, especially since he doesn't have as much trouble as Hazel, let's say, walking up stairs because of a tank he has to carry around.
Gah, this is just a mess. I feel like I'm offending everyone.
This is by far one of my favorite books, ever. I have previously read this book, this amazing, deep, philosophical, emotional, touching book, and now I am reading it again for book clubs.
One thing I initially notice about reading TFiOS, as I'm rereading it, is that Hazel doesn't attempt to do very much with her life until Gus shows up. I mean, Hazel has the urge to do things, and wants and desires like everyone else, but I feel like Gus is really the one that enables her, makes her want to do these things that seem ridiculous and impossible beforehand, like meeting the author of An Imperial Affliction and going to Amsterdam.
One reason I think this is is because Hazel is more physically weighed down than Gus is, due to her oxygen tank, so it's a more constant reminder of how she will always be held back by cancer, and how cancer will be forever affecting her life. Gus, though cancer still obviously affected him in huge ways, Gus probably will sometimes forget that he has an amputated leg more than Hazel will forget that she has to drag around a metal tank with her all day.
NOT THAT I'M TRYING TO DISCREDIT amputees. That is, if possible, the exact opposite of what I'm trying to convey. I'm just pointing out, with Gus' dreamer and optimist personality, it's most likely more easy for him to forget his troubles than Hazel is, who has a more serious and down to earth personality, especially since he doesn't have as much trouble as Hazel, let's say, walking up stairs because of a tank he has to carry around.
Gah, this is just a mess. I feel like I'm offending everyone.
Thursday, March 21, 2013
Update: "After Ever After" by Jordan Sonnenblick
**Spoilers!**
The book, After Ever After, by Jordan Sonnenblick is the sequel to Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie, following Jeffrey Alper, after his cancer went into remission, now in his eighth grade year, dealing with many of the same problems Steven Alper, his older brother, did in his eighth grade year in, Drums, Girls...
I really like this book so far. It reminds me a lot of the original story, and has extremely similar tones, probably due to that they're written by the same person, Jordan Sonnenblick. That's a pretty obvious explanation. But I like that Sonnenblick brings out new characters, and though in this story, as the last one, there's still the main boy character, his love interest, and the best friend.
One thing I would like to explore is the best friend in this story, Jeffrey's best friend, Thaddeus, or Tad. Tad is a really antisocial person, often really downright mean to people. He was even snide to Jeffrey when they first met, and to the girl he likes.
I believe that this is Tad's attitude at the beginning of the story, pretty much almost up to the point I'm at now in the book, because he was afraid to get close to people, and he wasn't sure even how long he would live to see them become friends.
Tad's cancer made him feel weak, and it made him afraid he wasn't going to live. This obviously made him look down on the world, probably seeing their problems as more insignificant than his, which explains his cynicism and sarcasm towards many in the book currently.
But I believe also that besides Tad's weakness bringing out this trait, it also made him question how much he wanted to do in his life, or if there was any point to it. He gave up trying to walk, and he was just complacent with the life he had. He knew that he had his best friend to get by with, so he didn't think he needed to go out of his way to be friendly to anyone else. I think that Tad is fully aware that is cancer could return in the story, which it does, so he tries not to get closer to anyone and uses his cynicism as a shield.
This also explains why Tad wants Jeffrey to pass Jeffrey's state tests so much. He wants to make sure that Jeffrey gets to do at least everything Tad does, and make sure that Jeffrey doesn't give up like Tad does. This also shows that Tad is not truly mean, and is actually quite compassionate, spending a lot of his own time working with Jeffrey on math.
The book, After Ever After, by Jordan Sonnenblick is the sequel to Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie, following Jeffrey Alper, after his cancer went into remission, now in his eighth grade year, dealing with many of the same problems Steven Alper, his older brother, did in his eighth grade year in, Drums, Girls...
I really like this book so far. It reminds me a lot of the original story, and has extremely similar tones, probably due to that they're written by the same person, Jordan Sonnenblick. That's a pretty obvious explanation. But I like that Sonnenblick brings out new characters, and though in this story, as the last one, there's still the main boy character, his love interest, and the best friend.
One thing I would like to explore is the best friend in this story, Jeffrey's best friend, Thaddeus, or Tad. Tad is a really antisocial person, often really downright mean to people. He was even snide to Jeffrey when they first met, and to the girl he likes.
I believe that this is Tad's attitude at the beginning of the story, pretty much almost up to the point I'm at now in the book, because he was afraid to get close to people, and he wasn't sure even how long he would live to see them become friends.
Tad's cancer made him feel weak, and it made him afraid he wasn't going to live. This obviously made him look down on the world, probably seeing their problems as more insignificant than his, which explains his cynicism and sarcasm towards many in the book currently.
But I believe also that besides Tad's weakness bringing out this trait, it also made him question how much he wanted to do in his life, or if there was any point to it. He gave up trying to walk, and he was just complacent with the life he had. He knew that he had his best friend to get by with, so he didn't think he needed to go out of his way to be friendly to anyone else. I think that Tad is fully aware that is cancer could return in the story, which it does, so he tries not to get closer to anyone and uses his cynicism as a shield.
This also explains why Tad wants Jeffrey to pass Jeffrey's state tests so much. He wants to make sure that Jeffrey gets to do at least everything Tad does, and make sure that Jeffrey doesn't give up like Tad does. This also shows that Tad is not truly mean, and is actually quite compassionate, spending a lot of his own time working with Jeffrey on math.
Sunday, November 18, 2012
Update: "The Faults in Our Stars" by John Green
**Kind of Spoilers...**
I love The Faults in Our Stars so far. The characters are unique and strong, realistic and lovable. I've liked all of John Green that I have read so far, and I realized something while reading Faults in Our Stars (hereby referred to as Faults). Green uses the same basic theme and building blocks for all his stories. It sure works too, as Paper Towns and Looking for Alaska are big hits.
The "John Green format" is as follows:
1) The Quirky Characters-- the main characters of his books are usually ironic and cynical, kind at heart and down to earth, who have a lower social status. Their counterparts and free-spirited, quirky dreamers who don't care about what others think, who are popular or attractive. The chemistry between these two is so hot you could be physically be burned by them. And guess what- they fall in love!
2) The Adventure- there is always a manic adventure in Green's stories, usually, a search for someone. In Looking for Alaska, it was not necessarily a person, but the journey part still applies. This is maybe the bulk of the story, and often the most fast-paced part of the story.
3) The Loss- there is always a loss or disappointment at the end of Green's stories. It makes the story possibly even more quirky, veering away from the "happily ever after" story. It happened (kind of) in Looking for Alaska, and definitely in Paper Towns.
Don't get me wrong, I write this all out of pure admiration and love, because John Green is really talented young adult writer, and I love his stories. It works, and big enough change in characters and situations can still make the story fresh. It makes for a great read.
The format above is what leads me to believe that there will be a tragedy at the end of Faults. The whole story rotates around patients of cancer, and loss is a normal thing in their lives. They always know they're living on the edge of death and life. Because of Hazel, the main character's, situation, I believe that she will die at the end. Or, possibly, Augustus' cancer will return. This is a morbid theory, but I think it to be true.
One thing in Faults that bothers me so far is the way the characters deal with the tragedy in their lives. This is a really sensitive subject, and I have no experience in terminal illness, so I don't have any evidence. But I think that even though Hazel has been struggling with cancer for a couple years, I don't think she would be so oblivious of it. It changes you life forever, I know that much, and the way Green handles it, with wit and humor, though it makes for a good story, I don't think it accurately shows the pain and horrible things these people have to go through every day so they can survive. But I don't really know. I suppose it's different for everyone, but someone with as bad of a case as Hazel, I think that even in the beginning of the book, where she is for the most part stable, she would have a harder time handling it.
I really can't wait to finish this book, and I love the smart wit that Green sticks every where... Can't wait until they go to Amsterdam!
I love The Faults in Our Stars so far. The characters are unique and strong, realistic and lovable. I've liked all of John Green that I have read so far, and I realized something while reading Faults in Our Stars (hereby referred to as Faults). Green uses the same basic theme and building blocks for all his stories. It sure works too, as Paper Towns and Looking for Alaska are big hits.
The "John Green format" is as follows:
1) The Quirky Characters-- the main characters of his books are usually ironic and cynical, kind at heart and down to earth, who have a lower social status. Their counterparts and free-spirited, quirky dreamers who don't care about what others think, who are popular or attractive. The chemistry between these two is so hot you could be physically be burned by them. And guess what- they fall in love!
2) The Adventure- there is always a manic adventure in Green's stories, usually, a search for someone. In Looking for Alaska, it was not necessarily a person, but the journey part still applies. This is maybe the bulk of the story, and often the most fast-paced part of the story.
3) The Loss- there is always a loss or disappointment at the end of Green's stories. It makes the story possibly even more quirky, veering away from the "happily ever after" story. It happened (kind of) in Looking for Alaska, and definitely in Paper Towns.
Don't get me wrong, I write this all out of pure admiration and love, because John Green is really talented young adult writer, and I love his stories. It works, and big enough change in characters and situations can still make the story fresh. It makes for a great read.
The format above is what leads me to believe that there will be a tragedy at the end of Faults. The whole story rotates around patients of cancer, and loss is a normal thing in their lives. They always know they're living on the edge of death and life. Because of Hazel, the main character's, situation, I believe that she will die at the end. Or, possibly, Augustus' cancer will return. This is a morbid theory, but I think it to be true.
One thing in Faults that bothers me so far is the way the characters deal with the tragedy in their lives. This is a really sensitive subject, and I have no experience in terminal illness, so I don't have any evidence. But I think that even though Hazel has been struggling with cancer for a couple years, I don't think she would be so oblivious of it. It changes you life forever, I know that much, and the way Green handles it, with wit and humor, though it makes for a good story, I don't think it accurately shows the pain and horrible things these people have to go through every day so they can survive. But I don't really know. I suppose it's different for everyone, but someone with as bad of a case as Hazel, I think that even in the beginning of the book, where she is for the most part stable, she would have a harder time handling it.
I really can't wait to finish this book, and I love the smart wit that Green sticks every where... Can't wait until they go to Amsterdam!
Friday, November 9, 2012
Update: "The Adoration of Jenna Fox", by Mary E. Pearson
**Slight Spoilers!**
I'm currently reading The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson. So far, I love this book. It's very detail oriented and poetic. It's sci-fi, but has the emotional levels of the realistic fiction book. I love the almost child-like view of the world by Jenna too. It makes the book more and more interesting to read with a character who has a blank slate, and is literally developing before your eyes.
One thing I find really intriguing is the mystery surrounding Jenna Fox's past. Her family refuses to tell her anything, she abruptly relocated right after the accident, was seemingly in a medically induced coma most of her coma, and was awakened at a specific time. This makes the book another level to me, because besides having an interesting premise and being futuristic, it has mystery.
One theory I have about the secrecy about Jenna's past is that the Jenna Fox who is narrating the story is a clone saved at last minute after the accident. The original Jenna is dead, and her brain has been put into the new cloned Jenna (to keep personality), being sustained by using BioGel.
The first thing that led me to this is that on page 31 of the book, Jenna's mother starts to talk about miracles. She says as speaking to her mother, Lily, "Stop! You of all people should understand. If it wasn't for invitro, I wouldn't be here. You always called me your miracle. Why can't I have one too? When do you get to decide when the miracles end?" Though I'm not sure what "invitro" is, I think we can assume it's some technological or medical breakthrough for saving lives in the future, as it saved Jenna's mother's, Claire's, life. Lily continues to say that Jenna is "Not natural." Now why would a grandmother say this about her granddaughter unless she thought she was altered in some way that made her radically different from everyone else? Like cloning.
Also, Lily often talks about how she accepts when she will die around Jenna, something she never says around her daughter, Claire, meaning that she thought Claire should accept losses, possibly of Jenna. At first, I just interpreted this as Jenna losing so much as her life, and not remembering anything, and the random ominous conversation because Lily was kind of random, but as I read on, I saw more and more odd evidence, leaving me to the cloning conclusion.
For instance, the present-day Jenna doesn't have a scar, as she saw in the video of her as a ten year old. A large and obvious scar would at least be slightly visible only ten years later. If a cloned body was made of Jenna, without all her injuries, the scar wouldn't be present. Another reason why I think this is that none of Jenna's friends have tried to contact her. This shows that in the very least, her Claire and Lily, almost abducted Jenna away from her old life in Boston, cutting all connections. Even if this explanation was true, this would raise more questions. If her friends believed her to be dead, then they wouldn't try to find her, or talk to her, right?
Also, when Allys is talking about the control of the school, she leads to the "Federal Science Ethics Board." Through the conversation, she clearly states human cloning was attempted and succeeded. She also expresses her disstress over how far human preservation will go, and how it at one point just becomes too unnatural, which shows some people share a view with Lily. The thing that interested me most was that human brains are the most taboo and expensive organ to be transplanted.
Allys says that "Only biodigital enhancement up to forty-nine percent is allowed to restore some lost function and that's it." This would explain why Jenna lost much of her personality, and all of her memories. On how her family got the permission to take the brain from old-Jenna's body, her father invented BioGel. Lily stated that Jenna's family was "filthy rich", which would probably cover the brain, and be enough to pay to get Jenna cloned and her brain to be put "on ice", so to speak, with BioGel. Who knows, Jenna could even be experimental, which would explain the man at the church spying and photographing her when she was with Ethan.
All this compiled just make me more and more confident that Jenna is some sort of clone. This book makes me excited to read it, and I can't wait to finish it and see what really happened, and see if I got it right.
I'm currently reading The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson. So far, I love this book. It's very detail oriented and poetic. It's sci-fi, but has the emotional levels of the realistic fiction book. I love the almost child-like view of the world by Jenna too. It makes the book more and more interesting to read with a character who has a blank slate, and is literally developing before your eyes.
One thing I find really intriguing is the mystery surrounding Jenna Fox's past. Her family refuses to tell her anything, she abruptly relocated right after the accident, was seemingly in a medically induced coma most of her coma, and was awakened at a specific time. This makes the book another level to me, because besides having an interesting premise and being futuristic, it has mystery.
One theory I have about the secrecy about Jenna's past is that the Jenna Fox who is narrating the story is a clone saved at last minute after the accident. The original Jenna is dead, and her brain has been put into the new cloned Jenna (to keep personality), being sustained by using BioGel.
The first thing that led me to this is that on page 31 of the book, Jenna's mother starts to talk about miracles. She says as speaking to her mother, Lily, "Stop! You of all people should understand. If it wasn't for invitro, I wouldn't be here. You always called me your miracle. Why can't I have one too? When do you get to decide when the miracles end?" Though I'm not sure what "invitro" is, I think we can assume it's some technological or medical breakthrough for saving lives in the future, as it saved Jenna's mother's, Claire's, life. Lily continues to say that Jenna is "Not natural." Now why would a grandmother say this about her granddaughter unless she thought she was altered in some way that made her radically different from everyone else? Like cloning.
Also, Lily often talks about how she accepts when she will die around Jenna, something she never says around her daughter, Claire, meaning that she thought Claire should accept losses, possibly of Jenna. At first, I just interpreted this as Jenna losing so much as her life, and not remembering anything, and the random ominous conversation because Lily was kind of random, but as I read on, I saw more and more odd evidence, leaving me to the cloning conclusion.
For instance, the present-day Jenna doesn't have a scar, as she saw in the video of her as a ten year old. A large and obvious scar would at least be slightly visible only ten years later. If a cloned body was made of Jenna, without all her injuries, the scar wouldn't be present. Another reason why I think this is that none of Jenna's friends have tried to contact her. This shows that in the very least, her Claire and Lily, almost abducted Jenna away from her old life in Boston, cutting all connections. Even if this explanation was true, this would raise more questions. If her friends believed her to be dead, then they wouldn't try to find her, or talk to her, right?
Also, when Allys is talking about the control of the school, she leads to the "Federal Science Ethics Board." Through the conversation, she clearly states human cloning was attempted and succeeded. She also expresses her disstress over how far human preservation will go, and how it at one point just becomes too unnatural, which shows some people share a view with Lily. The thing that interested me most was that human brains are the most taboo and expensive organ to be transplanted.
Allys says that "Only biodigital enhancement up to forty-nine percent is allowed to restore some lost function and that's it." This would explain why Jenna lost much of her personality, and all of her memories. On how her family got the permission to take the brain from old-Jenna's body, her father invented BioGel. Lily stated that Jenna's family was "filthy rich", which would probably cover the brain, and be enough to pay to get Jenna cloned and her brain to be put "on ice", so to speak, with BioGel. Who knows, Jenna could even be experimental, which would explain the man at the church spying and photographing her when she was with Ethan.
All this compiled just make me more and more confident that Jenna is some sort of clone. This book makes me excited to read it, and I can't wait to finish it and see what really happened, and see if I got it right.
Sunday, November 4, 2012
Update: "Wintergirls" by Laurie Halse Anderson
I think so far Wintergirls is a really great book. Like Speak, it deals with really current and modern issues tactfully, but is still truthful, and doesn't sugar-coat them.
One thing I find interesting is the contrast in the eating disorders of Lia and Cassie. Lia doesn't eat at all, and Cassie goes through the cycle of binging and purging. I would think that these two types of eating disorders would depend on the type of person, and that Lia would be grossed out by Cassie. She seems like a neater, secretive person, and her self-infliction shows she's very internal and secretive.
Cassie, on the other hand, seemed more like a wild girl in her character in general, and ate a lot, especially around Lia.
Just their personalities alone shouldn't be really that compatible, but they were still sisters in eating disorder. I don't think they met because of their disorders, but it made them closer. Another thing I'm asking every word I read of this book is how could best friends let each other go through that?
I mean, the drama girl that screamed at Lia before the wake was right in a way. Lia didn't try to help. Of course, the drama girl didn't know that Lia was Cassie's weight loss partner, but didn't they both know it was wrong and unhealthy what they were doing? I mean, Lia is trying to hard in the book to lie about getting better, but she's already incredibly thin for her age. I don't think she's short either, so for her height, she's skinnier than a lot of models.
I think the use of the crossing out words is really effective as well, because it shows that Lia does want to be normal, her subconscious just can't convince her 'skinny side' of it. It delivers emotional lines without the compromising, "I think...", which in my opinion, always brought me out of the scene in the book.
I can't wait to finish Wintergirls really, even though I've barely given time to read it. I really want to see if Halse Anderson is coming out with any other realistic fiction books, or has previously.
One thing I find interesting is the contrast in the eating disorders of Lia and Cassie. Lia doesn't eat at all, and Cassie goes through the cycle of binging and purging. I would think that these two types of eating disorders would depend on the type of person, and that Lia would be grossed out by Cassie. She seems like a neater, secretive person, and her self-infliction shows she's very internal and secretive.
Cassie, on the other hand, seemed more like a wild girl in her character in general, and ate a lot, especially around Lia.
Just their personalities alone shouldn't be really that compatible, but they were still sisters in eating disorder. I don't think they met because of their disorders, but it made them closer. Another thing I'm asking every word I read of this book is how could best friends let each other go through that?
I mean, the drama girl that screamed at Lia before the wake was right in a way. Lia didn't try to help. Of course, the drama girl didn't know that Lia was Cassie's weight loss partner, but didn't they both know it was wrong and unhealthy what they were doing? I mean, Lia is trying to hard in the book to lie about getting better, but she's already incredibly thin for her age. I don't think she's short either, so for her height, she's skinnier than a lot of models.
I think the use of the crossing out words is really effective as well, because it shows that Lia does want to be normal, her subconscious just can't convince her 'skinny side' of it. It delivers emotional lines without the compromising, "I think...", which in my opinion, always brought me out of the scene in the book.
I can't wait to finish Wintergirls really, even though I've barely given time to read it. I really want to see if Halse Anderson is coming out with any other realistic fiction books, or has previously.
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Update: "The Reckoning" by Kelley Armstrong
I think one of the reasons Derek is so difficult in letting anyone close to him and showing it is that he's afraid he'll hurt them.
His experiences with hurting the boys at his old high school still haunts Derek, shown through his constant guilt. He's afraid he'll physically jeopardize his friends and "team", because he feels like he's a freak or some kind of mutant. When he paralyzed the bullies at his bully it made him appear tough and made others fear him. This was almost the opposite of what he wanted, as Derek just wants to be accepted, like many teens do.
When his dad ran away, Derek lost one of the only people who accepted him fully, and he was able to be himself around. He already believed Simon thought he was a monster of some kind because of his attack on the boys who bullied Simon, even though Derek still loved his brother, and Simon loved him. Derek seemed to have lost a lot of his confidence and became an even more guarded and quiet person. This also caused him to be a more protective of his loved ones, which made him even more aggressive appearing towards others.
This is what made him so unapproachable to Chloe, and any other people his age (besides Simon). Though he doesn't want to be, he's seen as a big, unsocial creep. It's what made Simon seem so annoying to Chloe.
Chloe is also what changes this in Derek. She's able to stand up to him, which makes him feel less of a "bully", a monster, and an intimidating force. She helps him reestablish his self-esteem and makes him want to come out of his shell.
The character change is also caused from the change in Derek's situation. Him moving around and constantly running, needing to depend on others for help and teamwork, makes him change in his solidarity as well.
I can't wait to finish The Reckoning... so excited. It's really great, and love to
His experiences with hurting the boys at his old high school still haunts Derek, shown through his constant guilt. He's afraid he'll physically jeopardize his friends and "team", because he feels like he's a freak or some kind of mutant. When he paralyzed the bullies at his bully it made him appear tough and made others fear him. This was almost the opposite of what he wanted, as Derek just wants to be accepted, like many teens do.
When his dad ran away, Derek lost one of the only people who accepted him fully, and he was able to be himself around. He already believed Simon thought he was a monster of some kind because of his attack on the boys who bullied Simon, even though Derek still loved his brother, and Simon loved him. Derek seemed to have lost a lot of his confidence and became an even more guarded and quiet person. This also caused him to be a more protective of his loved ones, which made him even more aggressive appearing towards others.
This is what made him so unapproachable to Chloe, and any other people his age (besides Simon). Though he doesn't want to be, he's seen as a big, unsocial creep. It's what made Simon seem so annoying to Chloe.
Chloe is also what changes this in Derek. She's able to stand up to him, which makes him feel less of a "bully", a monster, and an intimidating force. She helps him reestablish his self-esteem and makes him want to come out of his shell.
The character change is also caused from the change in Derek's situation. Him moving around and constantly running, needing to depend on others for help and teamwork, makes him change in his solidarity as well.
I can't wait to finish The Reckoning... so excited. It's really great, and love to
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Update: "The Rivals", by Daisy Whitney
Right now I'm reading The Rivals, by Daisy Whitney, sequel to, The Mockingbirds. It's a great book, and I really love how Daisy Whitney stays strong with the events from the first book to the second.
**Slight spoilers
For one thing, the conflict in Alex's heart is so realistic, and painful to watch her go through. Just seeing her have the images and memories of Carter flash through the head of Alex whenever she's with Martin is really hard, even for a reader with no experience in this issue. Alex's inner conflict of proving herself carries on to the second book with the same fears and basis, but a totally different goal, which is amazing. I really dislike it in books when former conflicts or problems that the character had are kind of throw out. For instance, the thing that drove Alex to prove herself in the first book was that she didn't want to be called a 'whore', or a 'slut' when she was date-raped. It still affected her when people didn't believe her, but she wanted to clear her name and serve justice to Carter for what he did. In the second book, so far, Alex wants to prove to her fellow Mockingbirds that though she was appointed because she was a former victim who worked with the Mockingbirds, she could hold her own as a leader because she had that experience, and can deal with others who feel victimized. Not just to people who doubt her (Parker), but to the people she knows she can trust as well (Martin, Amy).
The 'case' itself in the second book is very interesting because though Alex still wants to help, the case has no clear victim(s). Frankly, I think there was no better way of doing a sequel, because it would have been, though probably interesting, no where near as interesting as Alex's conflict now. She tries to investigate, but so far, she's continually frustrated because she's only relying on her previous feelings about her case with Carter. She's not taking in the whole picture, and being a little stupid sometimes because she trusts too much in the people who she thinks are victimized.
That's another thing I like about this book so far. Alex is wrong. I really don't like it when characters just guess everything right, or are wrong for stupid reasons, and refuse to believe anything else. Alex knows she's wrong, but she can't help it, like with her frustration with Parker accusing Maia. She let her personal attachment clear her judgement, making it easier to relate to her. It was kinda of frustrating for me seeing Alex make silly mistakes for no good reason, but it just shows that the book is good enough it can make you clearly react to the character's actions.
Overall, so far this book is really, really good, and I can't wait to finish it!
**Slight spoilers
For one thing, the conflict in Alex's heart is so realistic, and painful to watch her go through. Just seeing her have the images and memories of Carter flash through the head of Alex whenever she's with Martin is really hard, even for a reader with no experience in this issue. Alex's inner conflict of proving herself carries on to the second book with the same fears and basis, but a totally different goal, which is amazing. I really dislike it in books when former conflicts or problems that the character had are kind of throw out. For instance, the thing that drove Alex to prove herself in the first book was that she didn't want to be called a 'whore', or a 'slut' when she was date-raped. It still affected her when people didn't believe her, but she wanted to clear her name and serve justice to Carter for what he did. In the second book, so far, Alex wants to prove to her fellow Mockingbirds that though she was appointed because she was a former victim who worked with the Mockingbirds, she could hold her own as a leader because she had that experience, and can deal with others who feel victimized. Not just to people who doubt her (Parker), but to the people she knows she can trust as well (Martin, Amy).
The 'case' itself in the second book is very interesting because though Alex still wants to help, the case has no clear victim(s). Frankly, I think there was no better way of doing a sequel, because it would have been, though probably interesting, no where near as interesting as Alex's conflict now. She tries to investigate, but so far, she's continually frustrated because she's only relying on her previous feelings about her case with Carter. She's not taking in the whole picture, and being a little stupid sometimes because she trusts too much in the people who she thinks are victimized.
That's another thing I like about this book so far. Alex is wrong. I really don't like it when characters just guess everything right, or are wrong for stupid reasons, and refuse to believe anything else. Alex knows she's wrong, but she can't help it, like with her frustration with Parker accusing Maia. She let her personal attachment clear her judgement, making it easier to relate to her. It was kinda of frustrating for me seeing Alex make silly mistakes for no good reason, but it just shows that the book is good enough it can make you clearly react to the character's actions.
Overall, so far this book is really, really good, and I can't wait to finish it!
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