Novels #9
Title: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Author: Lewis Carroll
Grade: A+
Brief Summary: The classic tale of precocious Alice and her journey into her imaginary Wonderland. Alice meets iconic characters such as the Caterpillar, The Mad Hatter and March Hare, and the tyrant Queen of Hearts.
Review: I have always loved the film versions of Alice in Wonderland, particularly the Walt Disney version, and so I decided to give the books a whirl. I absolutely loved Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. I love the idea behind the tale, that sometimes a little silliness is needed and you can't be serious all the time. Alice struggles with this idea in Wonderland. First of all, her size is constantly changing, and she faces an identity crisis. My favorite chapter was her conversation with the Caterpillar. She explains the Caterpillar her feelings by comparing it to his imminent change into a butterfly. I loved the imagery there, and the Caterpillar's blunt expressions to Alice about how she should know how she is were oddly comforting. Second, Alice quickly realizes that she is the most sensible person in Wonderland, and it makes her stand out. Whenever she tries to interact with the inhabitants and join in their fun, she gets frustrated and can't accept their funny ways. When she does start to get silly, as with her odd recitations of poetry, she goes completely off into the nonsensical, and the Wonderlandians find her to be very odd. I think Lewis Carroll was trying, in a roundabout way, to say that there needs to be a balance between serious and silly.
Novel #10
Title: Through the Looking-Glass
Author: Lewis Carroll
Grade: C
Brief Summary: Alice returns in the sequel to Adventure's in Wonderland. She goes through the mirror in her house to a new land, and she joins in a chess game in order to become a queen. She meets characters such as the Red and White Queen, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, and the White Knight.
Review: You know that myth that Lewis Carroll was high when he wrote these stories? Well, I didn't believe it when I was reading the first story, because it just seemed to be a fantasical story from a child's imagination. This story, however, makes the myth seem totally plausible. The story reminded me of those dreams you have where you'll be doing one thing, and then suddenly you're doing something totally different, and you really need to get somewhere, but you can't because all these obstacles get in your way (for instance, in my dreams, I usually need to go to the bathroom, and I can't ever get there, and then I wake up and realize that I actually really do need to go to the bathroom.) Anyway, this story is very jumpy, and if you aren't paying close attention, you get lost and have to go reread what you just read. Where I got lost in Carroll's language from the first story, I was very very bored with his language in this tale, and I just wanted the story to end. Bottom line: it was really weird, and I don't think I'll be rereading it in the future.
Title: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Author: Lewis Carroll
Grade: A+
Brief Summary: The classic tale of precocious Alice and her journey into her imaginary Wonderland. Alice meets iconic characters such as the Caterpillar, The Mad Hatter and March Hare, and the tyrant Queen of Hearts.
Review: I have always loved the film versions of Alice in Wonderland, particularly the Walt Disney version, and so I decided to give the books a whirl. I absolutely loved Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. I love the idea behind the tale, that sometimes a little silliness is needed and you can't be serious all the time. Alice struggles with this idea in Wonderland. First of all, her size is constantly changing, and she faces an identity crisis. My favorite chapter was her conversation with the Caterpillar. She explains the Caterpillar her feelings by comparing it to his imminent change into a butterfly. I loved the imagery there, and the Caterpillar's blunt expressions to Alice about how she should know how she is were oddly comforting. Second, Alice quickly realizes that she is the most sensible person in Wonderland, and it makes her stand out. Whenever she tries to interact with the inhabitants and join in their fun, she gets frustrated and can't accept their funny ways. When she does start to get silly, as with her odd recitations of poetry, she goes completely off into the nonsensical, and the Wonderlandians find her to be very odd. I think Lewis Carroll was trying, in a roundabout way, to say that there needs to be a balance between serious and silly.
Novel #10
Title: Through the Looking-Glass
Author: Lewis Carroll
Grade: C
Brief Summary: Alice returns in the sequel to Adventure's in Wonderland. She goes through the mirror in her house to a new land, and she joins in a chess game in order to become a queen. She meets characters such as the Red and White Queen, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, and the White Knight.
Review: You know that myth that Lewis Carroll was high when he wrote these stories? Well, I didn't believe it when I was reading the first story, because it just seemed to be a fantasical story from a child's imagination. This story, however, makes the myth seem totally plausible. The story reminded me of those dreams you have where you'll be doing one thing, and then suddenly you're doing something totally different, and you really need to get somewhere, but you can't because all these obstacles get in your way (for instance, in my dreams, I usually need to go to the bathroom, and I can't ever get there, and then I wake up and realize that I actually really do need to go to the bathroom.) Anyway, this story is very jumpy, and if you aren't paying close attention, you get lost and have to go reread what you just read. Where I got lost in Carroll's language from the first story, I was very very bored with his language in this tale, and I just wanted the story to end. Bottom line: it was really weird, and I don't think I'll be rereading it in the future.
Novel #11
Title: If I Should Die Before I Wake
Author: Han Nolan
Grade: B
Brief Summary: Two girls are fighting for survival. Hillary is a girl from the present day. She is part of a Neo-Nazi group and she absolutely hates Jews. She gets in a motorcycle accident and is taken to a Jewish Hospital, where in a coma, she starts to have dreams of a different life. Chana is a Jewish girl living in Poland at the onset of WWII. She and her family live in the Lodz Ghetto, and soon she is taken imprisoned and taken to Auschwitz. She has to deal with the separation from her family and the many deaths surrounding her, and tries to keep her own at bay.
Review: This was a very interesting read. I have always been fascinated by the Holocaust and the events of WWII. Even though the stories are deeply depressing, I still love reading them. I picked up this book at the bookstore because it had an interesting premise. When I first stared reading, it took me a minute to realize that Hillary was from the present day. When I read the back of the book, for some reason I though she was supposed to also be from WWII. So, it took me a while to get into the story. Once I did, I read the book in about a day. I'll be honest, Chana's story interested me more than Hillary's did. But the intertwining of their stories was very well done, especially in the ending. When I first was reading Hillary's point of view, I didn't know if I could keep reading. This girl's point of view was written with a lot of hatred, specifically to the Jewish people, and it just made me sick. But once you start to learn more about her past and her relationship with her parents, it starts to make sense where her hatred comes from, and what it is really covering up. Chana's story goes into just enough details for the Young Adult reader wanting to learn about the Holocaust. The were the familiar, gruesome, painful details that help us remember what happened, and how it can't ever happen again. Parts of this story did made me think of The Devil's Arithmetic, just because that book has a similar story, but I still enjoyed it.
Title: If I Should Die Before I Wake
Author: Han Nolan
Grade: B
Brief Summary: Two girls are fighting for survival. Hillary is a girl from the present day. She is part of a Neo-Nazi group and she absolutely hates Jews. She gets in a motorcycle accident and is taken to a Jewish Hospital, where in a coma, she starts to have dreams of a different life. Chana is a Jewish girl living in Poland at the onset of WWII. She and her family live in the Lodz Ghetto, and soon she is taken imprisoned and taken to Auschwitz. She has to deal with the separation from her family and the many deaths surrounding her, and tries to keep her own at bay.
Review: This was a very interesting read. I have always been fascinated by the Holocaust and the events of WWII. Even though the stories are deeply depressing, I still love reading them. I picked up this book at the bookstore because it had an interesting premise. When I first stared reading, it took me a minute to realize that Hillary was from the present day. When I read the back of the book, for some reason I though she was supposed to also be from WWII. So, it took me a while to get into the story. Once I did, I read the book in about a day. I'll be honest, Chana's story interested me more than Hillary's did. But the intertwining of their stories was very well done, especially in the ending. When I first was reading Hillary's point of view, I didn't know if I could keep reading. This girl's point of view was written with a lot of hatred, specifically to the Jewish people, and it just made me sick. But once you start to learn more about her past and her relationship with her parents, it starts to make sense where her hatred comes from, and what it is really covering up. Chana's story goes into just enough details for the Young Adult reader wanting to learn about the Holocaust. The were the familiar, gruesome, painful details that help us remember what happened, and how it can't ever happen again. Parts of this story did made me think of The Devil's Arithmetic, just because that book has a similar story, but I still enjoyed it.
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