Title: Missing
Author: Catherine Macphail
Genre: Mystery
Pages: 191
After Maxine Moody’s older brother Derek run’s away the Moody family falls apart. Maxine feels that her parents don’t have enough time for her when they spend every waking moment looking for him or talking about him or trying to put together answers to unanswered questions as to why he left. Feeling neglected by her parents Maxine stops showing up for school in order to get attention from her parents. When that doesn’t work Maxine begins to hate Derek for taking away her family and wishes he was dead.
Soon after, her family gets the news that Derek’s body has been found and Maxine is secretly relieved because now her family can go back to normal. However, she was wrong it only went down hill from there for her parents and for her. Maxine began getting phone call’s from someone claiming he was Derek. Meanwhile, Maxine’s mother is convinced that Derek’s spirit is hanging around the house and she refuses to accept his death, pretending he’s with her. So, even after Derek’s death he was still the center of attention and the only one Maxine’s parents cared about.
The phone call’s continued to come and Maxine found her self going to meet the boy who claimed to be her dead brother. She couldn’t make out his face in the shadows so she was unconvinced. Later on, when the family goes to a counseling session, Maxine‘s family finally are back again somewhat like before. After the counseling, Maxine leaves to meet the person behind the mysterious phone calls this time with her friend, Cam, probably already waiting for her at the cemetery to back her up if he’s dangerous. When she arrives she finds Cam being beaten by the bully who made her brother run away. A fight breaks out and is ended when Derek scares them off. Derek was alive after all and the dead body was just some other kid that resembled him.
I was not very impressed with this book. Missing is a mystery book and the mystery of who was behind the phone call’s did keep me interested enough to keep reading, however, I found this book pretty slow. I would give Missing a 2.5 out of 5 stars and recommend it to anyone in middle school and above.
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Book Review #1 - The Kite Runner
Title: The Kite Runner
Author: Khaled Hosseini
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Pages:371
Amir has always felt a secret guilt ever since he could remember. He felt guilty that he had killed his mother by being born and felt guilty that he was never quite what his father had wished he would be. One day he took on a new guilty memory one that would follow him everywhere and would change his life. He peered from the behind a wall into an alley where his friend Hassan, who had always been so loyal to him, was raped by Assef. Amir could have at least made the attempt to stop them before it happened but instead he ran. Soon after, when seeing Hassan’s face only reminded him of what wrong he had done, Amir framed him for theft and made Hassan and Hassan‘s father, the servant, leave forever. Getting rid of his best friend didn’t stop the memory from haunting him and he knew Hassan had seen him that night in the alley.
Years later, Amir and his father had moved to America due to the raging war in their country of Afghanistan. By this time Amir had achieved his dream of being a writer and had gotten married. Years after that he had received a phone call from his father’s business partner, Rahim, in Pakistan asking him to visit. When Amir arrived, Rahim confessed that Hassan had told him everything, then told him of Hassan’s death and how Rahim himself was dying. Rahim’s story did end with a bang! He told the truth about Amir’s father and his two son’s one was Amir and the other Hassan. Hassan was Amir’s half brother. Rahim gave him a last request before running away to die and that was that Amir rescue his young half nephew, Sohrab in the dangerous Kabul.
Amir had no idea what he was getting himself into going to Afghanistan but knew that every cut, bruise or broken limb that he got while trying to rescue Sohrab was fully deserved from the pain he caused Hassan. Eventually Amir found Sohrab in Kabul, the problem was that he was now owned by an important member of the Taliban, one that knew Amir as a child and had hated him. The proud owner of Hassan’s son was Assef. Amir left Kabul with broken bones, missing teeth and his nephew who he later adopted and made his son and the guilt was finally gone.
This book came with a lot of surprises and a twist towards the end making it easily read with very few rough patches. I would give it a 5 out of 5 stars. I would recommend The Kite Runner to kids in high school and anyone older because some of its content isn’t appropriate for anyone in middle school.
Author: Khaled Hosseini
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Pages:371
Amir has always felt a secret guilt ever since he could remember. He felt guilty that he had killed his mother by being born and felt guilty that he was never quite what his father had wished he would be. One day he took on a new guilty memory one that would follow him everywhere and would change his life. He peered from the behind a wall into an alley where his friend Hassan, who had always been so loyal to him, was raped by Assef. Amir could have at least made the attempt to stop them before it happened but instead he ran. Soon after, when seeing Hassan’s face only reminded him of what wrong he had done, Amir framed him for theft and made Hassan and Hassan‘s father, the servant, leave forever. Getting rid of his best friend didn’t stop the memory from haunting him and he knew Hassan had seen him that night in the alley.
Years later, Amir and his father had moved to America due to the raging war in their country of Afghanistan. By this time Amir had achieved his dream of being a writer and had gotten married. Years after that he had received a phone call from his father’s business partner, Rahim, in Pakistan asking him to visit. When Amir arrived, Rahim confessed that Hassan had told him everything, then told him of Hassan’s death and how Rahim himself was dying. Rahim’s story did end with a bang! He told the truth about Amir’s father and his two son’s one was Amir and the other Hassan. Hassan was Amir’s half brother. Rahim gave him a last request before running away to die and that was that Amir rescue his young half nephew, Sohrab in the dangerous Kabul.
Amir had no idea what he was getting himself into going to Afghanistan but knew that every cut, bruise or broken limb that he got while trying to rescue Sohrab was fully deserved from the pain he caused Hassan. Eventually Amir found Sohrab in Kabul, the problem was that he was now owned by an important member of the Taliban, one that knew Amir as a child and had hated him. The proud owner of Hassan’s son was Assef. Amir left Kabul with broken bones, missing teeth and his nephew who he later adopted and made his son and the guilt was finally gone.
This book came with a lot of surprises and a twist towards the end making it easily read with very few rough patches. I would give it a 5 out of 5 stars. I would recommend The Kite Runner to kids in high school and anyone older because some of its content isn’t appropriate for anyone in middle school.
Thursday, August 11, 2011
"Lord of the Flies" Part 1.
Part 1.
Answer 1. (Why the society fell apart. Because of the leaders or because of the situation.)
I think the society fell apart because of the leaders that they chose, Ralph and Jack. The situation they were in would be hard for anyone, however, if there wasn’t the conflict of who should rightfully be leader then it would have been a different story. One of the few reasons that the society fell apart was that Ralph gave Jack authority and two different people with different ideas that don’t like or respect each other can’t lead together. In addition to that at their immature age Jack, being a brat, instead of discussing his own ideas with Ralph just went behind his back and made his thoughts become orders. The importance of keeping the fire going or hunting could have been settled between the two of them instead of creating an argument later and a quickly growing hatred between them.
I don’t think Ralph or Jack should have been leader. Ralph was smart and did have a good idea of what was most important and that would be getting off the island, but his constant arguments with Jack influenced him to take over. Jack shouldn’t have been in charge for the obvious reason that he tortured people for disagreeing with him which wasn’t a good way to rule. I can imagine many think Piggy should lead, but Piggy wasn’t respected by anyone and no one would have taken his ideas seriously, except maybe Ralph and Simon, and the society would have fallen apart just the same. In my opinion, Simon would have been the right choice. There is of course the issue that he went insane, but for the time that he wasn’t he would have been almost perfect. He was smart, kind to everyone, and he didn’t have any enemies on the island.
Answer 2. (What i think would happen if the we were locked in the school with no supervision.)
If there was no adult supervision and all of us kids were locked in the school it would be chaotic at first and in the end it would get much worse. It would start with a total riot until one of the older, scarier, and more intimidating seniors decided to take charge. I don’t imagine that he would be smart, just some popular tough guy with a huge ego. He would lose control of whats important and get overtaken by greed and power. Then one person out of all of us would be brave and point out that he didn’t know what he was doing and the leader would get angry and begin to hurt anyone who dared point out his flaw’s. I would think the leader would be similar to Jack. Jack got mad when ever Piggy said anything that offended him even at the slightest and would taunt Piggy afterwards because he was embarrassed that someone so unimportant would say such a thing. Soon even his closest friends would see what he turned into and they would gang up on him and kill him in fear that if they didn’t he would eventually kill one of them when he got bored of merely torturing them. Then there would be no leader and they would be back where they started crazy with freedom and now murderers afraid of each other.
Answer 1. (Why the society fell apart. Because of the leaders or because of the situation.)
I think the society fell apart because of the leaders that they chose, Ralph and Jack. The situation they were in would be hard for anyone, however, if there wasn’t the conflict of who should rightfully be leader then it would have been a different story. One of the few reasons that the society fell apart was that Ralph gave Jack authority and two different people with different ideas that don’t like or respect each other can’t lead together. In addition to that at their immature age Jack, being a brat, instead of discussing his own ideas with Ralph just went behind his back and made his thoughts become orders. The importance of keeping the fire going or hunting could have been settled between the two of them instead of creating an argument later and a quickly growing hatred between them.
I don’t think Ralph or Jack should have been leader. Ralph was smart and did have a good idea of what was most important and that would be getting off the island, but his constant arguments with Jack influenced him to take over. Jack shouldn’t have been in charge for the obvious reason that he tortured people for disagreeing with him which wasn’t a good way to rule. I can imagine many think Piggy should lead, but Piggy wasn’t respected by anyone and no one would have taken his ideas seriously, except maybe Ralph and Simon, and the society would have fallen apart just the same. In my opinion, Simon would have been the right choice. There is of course the issue that he went insane, but for the time that he wasn’t he would have been almost perfect. He was smart, kind to everyone, and he didn’t have any enemies on the island.
Answer 2. (What i think would happen if the we were locked in the school with no supervision.)
If there was no adult supervision and all of us kids were locked in the school it would be chaotic at first and in the end it would get much worse. It would start with a total riot until one of the older, scarier, and more intimidating seniors decided to take charge. I don’t imagine that he would be smart, just some popular tough guy with a huge ego. He would lose control of whats important and get overtaken by greed and power. Then one person out of all of us would be brave and point out that he didn’t know what he was doing and the leader would get angry and begin to hurt anyone who dared point out his flaw’s. I would think the leader would be similar to Jack. Jack got mad when ever Piggy said anything that offended him even at the slightest and would taunt Piggy afterwards because he was embarrassed that someone so unimportant would say such a thing. Soon even his closest friends would see what he turned into and they would gang up on him and kill him in fear that if they didn’t he would eventually kill one of them when he got bored of merely torturing them. Then there would be no leader and they would be back where they started crazy with freedom and now murderers afraid of each other.
"Lord of the Flies" Part 2.
Part 2.
Prompt 1. (About evil and whether it is inherent in everyone.)
I do agree with the idea that everyone, no matter what age, has evil in them, however, I think that for the most part it takes a whole lot to uncover it in a lot of people. I am not talking about evil as in flipping out on someone because your having a bad day, that’s just displaced anger. Sure, evil is also influenced by anger, but it takes a lot more than that. For someone to be evil they have to either have gone completely insane or have just lost every reason in the world to not go out of their way to ruin peoples lives. Anyways I think that without anything to be happy about, to look forward to, or to hope for being evil would just come natural to just about anyone.
In “Lord of the Flies” Jack Merridew, in my opinion had gone a little bit crazy but was also just outraged that, for the first time, someone else was in charge of his choir and of him. He didn’t want to be bossed around by Ralph because what right did Ralph have to tell him what to do? After all Jack had been the big hunter of the group, where would they be with out him? Jack was convinced he should be in charge, so he took control by force and he ruled by fear. He tortured to get his way because if they never got off of that island they would be living the way he wanted, with him as the king. That was evil.
Prompt 2. (What Golding was trying to say about society and politics through the theme.)
I think that Golding was trying to show the fine line between a society ruled by fear and a society ruled by the people and how how fast a society can crumble without proper punishment. The kids on the island voted Ralph as the leader, he was respected by most and not selfish. Jack had something that Ralph didn’t though, he had a power over the boys that was inescapable. Jack used torture to get them to do what he wanted and once he gained power over a majority of the older kids there was really no way of fighting it. Jack wouldn’t have ever gotten as far as getting one person to join if he had been punished for doing wrong in the first place. Jack went behind Ralph’s back and gave opposite orders from the start, ending with a missed chance to be rescued from the island. Once Jack realized that he could get away with things with not so much as a slap on the wrist he decided he could gain control and there would be nothing Ralph could do to stop him. There are countries that have to face the problem of a government ruled by strictly fear and torture everyday. Countries that’s government’s aren't like that of the United States and are punished more harshly for harmless crimes than most would think necessary.
Prompt 1. (About evil and whether it is inherent in everyone.)
I do agree with the idea that everyone, no matter what age, has evil in them, however, I think that for the most part it takes a whole lot to uncover it in a lot of people. I am not talking about evil as in flipping out on someone because your having a bad day, that’s just displaced anger. Sure, evil is also influenced by anger, but it takes a lot more than that. For someone to be evil they have to either have gone completely insane or have just lost every reason in the world to not go out of their way to ruin peoples lives. Anyways I think that without anything to be happy about, to look forward to, or to hope for being evil would just come natural to just about anyone.
In “Lord of the Flies” Jack Merridew, in my opinion had gone a little bit crazy but was also just outraged that, for the first time, someone else was in charge of his choir and of him. He didn’t want to be bossed around by Ralph because what right did Ralph have to tell him what to do? After all Jack had been the big hunter of the group, where would they be with out him? Jack was convinced he should be in charge, so he took control by force and he ruled by fear. He tortured to get his way because if they never got off of that island they would be living the way he wanted, with him as the king. That was evil.
Prompt 2. (What Golding was trying to say about society and politics through the theme.)
I think that Golding was trying to show the fine line between a society ruled by fear and a society ruled by the people and how how fast a society can crumble without proper punishment. The kids on the island voted Ralph as the leader, he was respected by most and not selfish. Jack had something that Ralph didn’t though, he had a power over the boys that was inescapable. Jack used torture to get them to do what he wanted and once he gained power over a majority of the older kids there was really no way of fighting it. Jack wouldn’t have ever gotten as far as getting one person to join if he had been punished for doing wrong in the first place. Jack went behind Ralph’s back and gave opposite orders from the start, ending with a missed chance to be rescued from the island. Once Jack realized that he could get away with things with not so much as a slap on the wrist he decided he could gain control and there would be nothing Ralph could do to stop him. There are countries that have to face the problem of a government ruled by strictly fear and torture everyday. Countries that’s government’s aren't like that of the United States and are punished more harshly for harmless crimes than most would think necessary.
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