Book Review: We All Looked Up

I read We All Looked Up by Tommy Walach. I thought this book was, overall, a decent well-rounded novel. It had many advanced syntax techniques that drew the reader in, and made you want to keep reading. However, although there were exciting and thrilling parts throughout the novel, there were also sections of the book where it seemed to drag on. They were mostly dialogue, but there was no real characterization during these times in the plot. Also, when dialogue was presented, there seemed to be a lack of suspense and action that were able to move the story along.

Some good aspects of the plot, were that during the high action times there was elements that drew the reader in. Most of the high action scenes were important and that also kept the audience entertained. The final-and in my view the most essential-element of the novel was the fact that they were told from varying perspectives of the different characters that appeared in the novel.


WARNINS SPOILERS!!! (If you do not want the book to be ruined STOP READING!)



LAST WARNING!



The thing I disliked the most in the book was that in the end, one of the main characters dies. Now, I am not normally for the whole sappy-romance lovey-dovey type of novels, however with this novel I thought that the book ended terribly. Eliza and Peter (both main characters) are unlikely lovers and this was one thing that I didn't think was as clichè as most novels. Because of this, I began to read more and more, that is until the ending. Peter dies near the end of the book. Not at the end, near it. After the truth was revealed I immediately wanted to stop reading the novel because of this.

Overall, I really enjoyed the novel despite the (again, in my opinion) the dragged on parts and horrible ending.

Books This Summer

These are the 5 books I want to read this summer:

I want to read these books mostly because I was either recommended to read them by my friends, or my friends had already started reading the book. I also want to discover a wide variety of genres, as you can see Hollow City is thriller novel, while Milk and Honey is more of a poetry book. For these reasons, I want to read these 5 books for my summer reading.

Book Review #2

I am reading The A-Z of You and Me by James Hannah. So far, I love the book. The style of writing is unique and interesting and I mainly picked up the book because I thought the cover was interesting. (Who says don't judge a book on it's cover?) After I picked up the book, I read the back excerpt and I found it really compelling to read. So, I started reading it. I must admit that the beginning is pretty confusing with the main character starting out in a hospital. The story is a tale of backstories and reality. It gives the audience questions that makes them want to keep reading in order to find out the answers to their questions. I also found that the style of the writing in the novel lead me to love the book. I enjoy the balance of character development and dialogue that the book has.

I thought it would also be important to mention  how the style of the alphabet in the writing brings the story to life in a way. Each letter is like one chapter of the novel, with the letters repeating. The character narrates the story in his perspective, and he tells each memory as a letter of the alphabet. The nurse that has been helping him throughout the novel told him to start an alphabet game, where he names something with each letter of the alphabet. This leaves the audience on their toes wondering what the next letter and story of the novel will be.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a mysterious story. Although I am not very far into the story and the novel is not in the mystery genre, I think the mysterious element of the novel allows it to be a "mysterious" story. I would rate this novel 5 stars because of the elements and the quality of the writing.

Blog #12

Book covers can change the image of the book and the way the audience perceives it. Basically, book covers can make or break the book.

In my opinion, book covers should be clean and exact. They shouldn't contain unnecessary pictures or images just to "add depth". (P.S. this is not adding depth, it's just cluttering a page) Some examples of keeping it clean and exact that I love include:
Don't Get Caught by Kurt Dinan
Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon
Blink by Malcolm Gladwell

Simplistic is Everything

Covers that I absolutely hate. Anything with a face or any real people on the front page makes me immediately want to turn down the book. It doesn't capture the audience and draw them in, it just leaves them more than a little freaked out. I don't know about you, but up-close and personal is not my forte. Some examples of book covers that I hate include:

Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

If I Stay by Gayle Forman

Clutter, Clutter and more Clutter

Not only do I hate book covers that give a close-up of somebody's face, I also hate book covers that make the awful decision of putting the cover for their upcoming movie as the front cover of their recent book. I'm not saying I hate the book, I'm saying I hate the cover of the book. Examples that I hate:

Martian by Andy Weir (Although I love the book)

Twilight by Stephanie Meyer

Divergent by Veronica Roth

Our movie cover stinks so we'll put it on the book too

Most of society will argue the point that they're all good people and they never base a book off of it's cover. However, all of society is lying. They base books off their covers all the time. Have you ever picked up a book, read the back and then looked at the cover only to put it down? What about the opposite-have you ever looked at the cover and read the back thinking the book was going to be bad but read it anyway because the cover was so good? People today are judging book based on their covers, they just aren't realizing it. 

I know I have based a book on it's cover before too. As shown earlier in the "Simplistic is Everything" section, Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon has a wonderful cover that immediately drew me in and made me want to read it. I read the back and it wouldn't have been my first choice in book but the cover was so good and I bought it anyway. Fast-forward a week later and I had the book finished. I loved the novel, even though I was certain it wasn't by genre. I based a book on it's cover and it turns out, I loved it. 

I'm not saying go out there and buy any book based on the cover, but I am saying that sometimes the cover can make or break the book and society has the right to know this. 

Blog #11

The book I chose to read for our "any-choice" book was Don't Get Caught by Kurt Dinan. I downloaded this book on my phone because it was all sold out in stores and I am now on page 99. I LOVE  this book! It is hilarious and very unexpected. I like all the twists and turns in the novel that keep the audience on their toes. I also enjoy the fast paced action in the novel. Dinan is able to balance the development of the characters along with the quick moving action that gives the story a variety and makes it readable by most audiences. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes humorous stories that can make them laugh and most of all people who enjoy a well-rounded story.


The novel is mainly about a group of unlikely friends and their lives. Essentially, a group of prankers known as The Chaos Club pranks the group, and they soon look for revenge. I am really excited to keep reading and this is one of the books I've really enjoyed in a long time. It is nice not to have any pressure to read a certain amount of chapters, and the fact that there is no assignments with the novel allows me to both read and enjoy more of the novel. My favorite character is Max, the main character because his voice is so funny, yet a lot of thought was put into the character. Now Max is not very popular as you will realize as soon as you pick up the novel. But Not Max (you will find out who he is)  on the other hand, will begin to take more risks, not be as scared of what others think of him all while keeping the same humorous voice.

Overall, I really enjoy the novel because of the balance of action and development along with suspense that keeps the audience on their toes throughout the entire novel. This novel is so unexpected and I would recommend it to anybody who enjoys a humorous and witty novel. (Not to mention I love the cover)

Blog #10

BOOK REVIEW: EDGE BY JEFFERY DEAVER

I read the novel Edge Jeffery Deaver as my choice for the genre fiction book. This book is a classic detective novel where the agent tries to solve the crime and find the criminal. I understand how crime and detective novels are going to have a lot of dialogue but I think many others will agree with me that this book has too much of it. I was surprised when I started reading because it was actually an interesting plot line and I thought it had unique characters. Once I started reading however, I realized that this book does not have much other than the overwhelming dialogue. I found it boring once the characters only spoke to each other, where the goal was to describe the plot to the reader. I understood the plot of the novel, and hearing in my head the characters restate the plot over and over again left me to feel the book drag on and on and on. I think that this book could have a greater amount of action, without over explaining what is happening in the story.

Overall though, I found my book to be awfully boring. I did finish this 500+ page book, but it was a slow read. By looking at Goodreads, I have noticed that Deaver has written many other novels which honestly seem to have more interesting plot lines then this one. I think this novel could have been one of his lower-selling novels but I still think the writer's language and use of craft in the novel could be beyond better.

Overall, I thought that the novel was boring and awful; and I am not normally one to critique novels and their craft (knowing I can not do anything better) but I am also not a published writer and published writers should entertain their audience not bore them and try to drag them along through the story. I would give this book a 1/5 stars and wouldn't necessarily recommend this book to anyone unless you love dialogue, and lots of it. :)

Top 5 Books

I have read many books, and this was a hard list to come up with. But here is what I came up with as my top 5 books--ever.

1.Room, by Emma Donoghue
2.The Fault in Our Stars, by John Green
3.The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins
4.The Fifth Wave, by Rick Yancey
5. The Testing, by Joelle Charbonneau


These are some of my favorite books ever. There are many more books that I would like to put on this list, but I could only have five, so here are my "top 5".

The first book on my list, is Room by Emma Donoghue. I loved this book because of the unique perspective, told through the view of a 5-year old. I liked the language used in this book and how nothing was named properly. This added some depth to the book. The story in a short summary is this mom and this little boy who basically live in a room. The book tells about their life in the room,. The boy has never been outside of this room, and he doesn't know the world outside of the room. I think this book is a book for everyone. I would recommend this book to teens mainly because of the setting and style of the book. Overall, though I think anyone and everyone would enjoy this book because of the perspective.

The second book on my list is The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. This book is (yes a tragic) love story between two people. A girl named Hazel Grace and Augustus Waters otherwise known as Gus. It tells of their life, and the struggles of their lives. They travel to Amsterdam together, this being Hazel's "last wish".  Hazel Grace has cancer, and has to battle cancer in the novel. However, at the end of the novel something unexpected happens. This event will change Hazel's life forever. I love this book, and although I am not normally into sappy love stories that are  basic, I really enjoyed this novel. Why? This novel was different somehow. It had an unexpected twist at the end and I really liked it. (Although I do not support it.) I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys a good love story with an unexpected twist. Unpredictable is how I would describe the book. So, if you like anything unpredictable this would be a great book for you.

The third book on my list is The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins. This book is basically about a bunch of kids that go to an arena and fight to the death, with one victor standing. There is more to the book than this, a love story, challenging of the government and so on. But in the simplistic form, the book is mainly about this death match. I enjoyed the novel because I liked the fast-paced action and suspense of the novel. I think that the action in the book wasn't too repetitive because although Katniss Everdeen, the main character, suffered many challenging problems the problem was not repeated every time she ran into an obstacle which I liked. I enjoyed how it was mixed up a little bit. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes books with fast-paced action and strong suspense. People of all ages would definitely like this book. I read this book in 5th grade, when it was super popular and the fandoms of this book were actually unbearable. But, anyone would like this book in general.

The fourth book on my list is The Fifth Wave, by Rick Yancey. This book is about the world becoming invaded by aliens. Cassie Sullivan has to survive this invasion and find her brother who has gone astray. Along the way she meets Evan Walker, someone who has brought her in when she was hurt. Of course, like every other YA novel a love story occurs. Shocker, I know. However, I believe that this book has unbelievable suspense that adds incredible depth to the book. I really enjoyed this book, and although it was over 500 pages I read it in the span of a weekend. It was a quick-read because you would just flip the pages and keep on going, you never really wanted to stop reading.I would recommend this book to people who enjoy science fiction and YA novels because this is basically what the book is. Also, if your into aliens I would definitely read this book. Overall, this book was number four on my list because it had so much action ad suspense.

The fifth and final book on my list is The Testing by Joelle Charbonneau. This book is about a girl named Malencia Vale, otherwise known as Cia, and how she must survive the testing a process where she will be placed in a new world and have to travel tons of miles to Tosu City, this will mark the final stage of the Testing. If she completes this she will be assigned to a University and she will learn and grow farther. Before this third stage of the testing she also must pass several written tests where she will test her wits and strength of her mind. I enjoyed this book because of the action in the book. I also liked Cia's internal thoughts and her mind and voice. She had good humor and educated thoughts. I enjoyed the characters in this book because I thought they added a lot to the book. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants an unexpected book because this book is filled with unexpected twists and turns.
Overall, this is my top 5, hope you enjoyed!

The Best Book I Have Read Over the First Quarter

My favorite book from the 3rd quarter was The Testing, by Joelle Charbonneau. 5 out of 5 stars and a 10/10 recommend. This book takes place in a dystopian society and is a science-fiction novel. The major theme of the book is although you may succeed and stray away from your values you will ultimately succeed further if you follow your morals and values. I loved this book because although it was similar to other books that I have read, it had very different characters. It's similar to many popular science-fiction novels such as Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, Divergent by Veronica Roth or The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey. In most YA science fiction novels that I read the main character is a smart, beautiful, girl that thinks that she is worthless. This makes me want to shoot my brains out. Honestly, this character has appeared in so many YA novels.  This is driving me crazy because they are all perfect human beings who are "worthless" and "weak".

 Please, I'm glad that this book has many better characters.

The Testing, takes place in a dystopian society where students after high school have two choices: live with their family at home or move on and go through the testing where--if they pass-- they will move on to a university. The main character is a teenage girl named Malencia. Throughout the testing the main protagonist, Malencia (otherwise known as Cia), will battle both against her opponents and the forces of nature. The testing lasts for about a month, and this is no easy task to complete. She will come to the world, she will come to society, she will come to the testing. There is no guarantee she or anyone will come out alive, after all, the government is trying to select the future generation that will lead the society. The testing rules are simple, that is if your smart. You come, you survive, you leave. You will go in and take many paper written or applied tests. For example, you may have to sort plants from poisonous and safe. Then you may have to eat whatever plants you classified as "safe". (This happens in the book, sorry spoiler!)

Cia will begin to not only question her society, but also question the authorities and the morals of her government. She will not only ask what her society can do for her, but what she can do for her society.

Overall, I would recommend The Testing to anyone and everyone. I believe that this book reaches out to a variety of audiences because of the characteristics of the main characters. These many characteristics make the characters very easy to relate with. This not only keeps the audience drawn in, but also gives the audience some emotional connection with the characters.

Click here for more information.

3rd Quarter Independent Reading Reflection

Over the course of the third quarter I have read many books varying in levels of difficulty. Here's a list of all of the books I have read this quarter:

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr 

Life of Pi by Yann Martel

Edge by Jeffery Deaver
The Heart of the Sea by Nathaniel Philbrick
Blink by Malcolm Gladwell

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon

Independent Study by Joelle Charbonneau

The Testing by Joelle Charbonneau


I had made two goals for this quarter. My first goal was that I would read an entire series in order to see how character change over the course of a few novels. I have not yet read an entire series, but I am in the process of reading The Testing trilogy and I have just finished the second book and am hope to obtain the third novel by next week. My other goal was to read 8 books next quarter. (Which happens to be this quarter) I have read 9 books this quarter, including Fahreneheit
451 and I am glad that I have reached my goal. I think that I set a realistic goal for
 myself because I am currently on the softball team (YAY!!!) but I have practices 6 days a week. I normally don't get home until 6-7 and on top of my other homework I lose some of my reading time. However, I am excited that I have reached my goal for this quarter.
My new goals that I want to meet would be 1) I want to read a book from the perspective of a different place around the world  (probably, I Am Malala  by Malala Yousafzai) and 2) I would like to read 1 more book from the mystery/crime genre. I have read a crime novel, (Edge by Jeffery Deaver) and I enjoyed it because I liked the fast pace and quick action, and I think if I read at least 1 more book from this genre I will really enjoy the genre more.

Blog #8

When I first read these articles on why/ why not you should read YA novels, I thought Jonathon Franzen was trashing all of the YA novels, After I had reread the article I realized that he wasn't trashing YA novels but he was actually criticizing adults who read the YA novels. I think that Franzen is oblivious to other people's views because in the article on women writer's he suggests that "She has no case. So she tweets." Here he is referring to Weiner, a women writer. I believe that women writers are unacknowledged when it comes to writing because they aren't seen as writing "good literary material" and many people see them as unqualified to write literary materials just because they are women. Especially, since he has not even read any of Weiner's work, how would he know what her writing talent is then? He has not even tried to read any of her novels just because other people say that she is not a good writer. I think he should at least read one novel written by Weiner because he needs to understand how her writing is probably good and he needs to give the writing a chance.

In the second article, "Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Weiner Speak Out On Franzen Feud: 08/026/2010" I think that Weiner and Picoult were well-represented and shown as strong female writers with good work even if it was not considered literary and material for adults. All adults must get sick of literary book after literary book and they need a good thriller or mystery to read every once in a while. I don't think that adults are "too old" to read YA novles because YA novels can be read by a variety of audiences and shouldn't be considered only for teens. I also believe (I may be biased) that YA novels are better because they are more enjoyable to read, and overall have a better plot then many literary novels. Overall, from the second article, I believe that women should be represented more as strong female writers and authors who write good, quality material.

Lastly, in the third article, I think that Ruth Graham negatively critiques YA novels because they are not mature enough and too fake for adults. I believe that  YA novels are often times very mature because they bring up real life situations and they show possible solutions for the problem. They also teach-in my opinion- good life lessons. They show how someone, not just young adults, could solve a problem. I also think that what you read can change, but you shouldn't become a different reader. Most likely, you still enjoy the same genres or novels and they still seem new and fun to you. However, Graham thinks otherwise.

In conclusion, don't make inferences on a novel written by women or YA novels that are considered too young for many adults, before you read them.

Blog #7- Genre Fiction

Blogpost- Writing

The book I chose to read for the genre fiction unit is Edge. Edge is an image of a classic detective novel, where there is a case trying to be solved and naturally a detective on the case. If I were to try to describe my book, I would say that it is like a modern Sherlock Holmes. This book is written by Jeffery Deaver, who has also written many other books.

Although there are many characteristics of a "classic crime novel", one of the top 2 most common trends and necessities in crime fiction novels are the use of suspense, by having the main character be solving the crime and he story is told through their eyes. In the first article, it discusses this and says how you can not write a novel, specifically a crime fiction novel and not have suspense and a powerful protagonist solving the crime. Edge, my book, has this and all of the suspense you could hope for it to.

The next thing that you could hope for in a crime novel would be a seemingly flawless crime but on closer inspection by the all-too-good detective there is one flaw that leads to the weakness of the crime. So far, I am about a fourth of the way through the book, and the crime is just being introduced but I do think that this will be the case in my novel. (no pun intended) I have read some other crime novels and this definitely is expressed, and a key point in most novels.

Some other novels that are considered stories of the classic crime and detective novel plot include:

~A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle

~The Red House Mystery by A.A. Milne

~Watson’s Choice by Gladys Mitchell

Articles:

http://www.britannica.com/art/detective-story-narrative-genre

https://www.ilab.org/eng/documentation/1050-hard-boiled_detective_fiction_and_the_private_library.html

http://m.wisegeek.com/what-is-crime-fiction.htm

"Point of View- Rick Rielly

The writer I chose was Rick Reilly, who worked for ESPN Sports after writing some columns. Reilly writes about one thing: sports. I was drawn to this columnist because I like sports, I personally have played softball for around 7 years and living around sports from a young age I have developed a liking for them. Although he has written many columns on various sports, I chose two specific columns by Reilly the first one being “The Weak Shall Inherit the Gym” and the second one being “Sis! Boom! Bah! Humbug!”.

Reilly uses many writer’s craft in the columns however the most prominent technique is syntax. He communicates his point of view, sports, through short-sentences in order to create play-by-play action similar to that in a sports game. Through this short-sentence syntax structure he is able to mock the overprotective people in the world and create humor in the piece. He begins by saying “Marbles. WInning others’ marbles is overly capitalistic.” He later continues this same trend later in the piece by saying “Kick the can. Unfair to the can.” (Weak Shall) This allows him to add humor to the piece by mocking the overprotective people and their ideas on “bad games”. Reilly also mentions at the beginning of his second piece, how cheerleading is causing injuries around the world, and yet is not a “true sport”. He states, “Every Friday night on America’s high school football fields, it’s the same old story. Broken Bones. Senseless Violence. Clashing egos. Not the players. The cheerleaders.” He continues the short sentences to emphasize his previous point of cheerleading not being a sport. In this article, rather than mocking the overprotective people in the world, he mocks the cheerleaders in the world. By saying “Broken bones” and “Clashing egos” to repeat how cheerleaders are not competing and how cheerleading is not a sport. In both columns, Reilly uses short-sentenced syntax to mock society’s views on sports.

Articles!

The Weak Shall Inherit the Gym

Sis! Boom! Bah! Humbug!

Movie vs. Book

I read and watched Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. The book actually wasn't as bad as I originally thought it would be. I somewhat enjoyed the book. The plot was okay, but I did wish that there was more action in the plot and more suspense. Overall, the book was okay. I watched the movie also. It stinks. I know it's an older movie and all of that but I would expect something! It was awful!!! They actors they casted were bad, they have Clarisse and Mildred casted by the same  woman. This, in my opinion was wrong. Clarisse and Mildred are too separate people and should therefore be casted by separate people also. Clarisse is someone who notices the world around her and appreciates what she has. Mildred, on the other hand, doesn't appreciate anything that she has. She also always wants "another TV" or wall screen or whatever she calls of in the book. She doesn't really care for anyone's opinion either. Although, she is reluctant to agree wit Montag and hide the books, Mildred still never listens to Montag's thoughts or opinions. She regards him when he asks her how many pills she has had, to make sure she is okay, and she just says "a few." In the book she drives me crazy, and in the movie she also drives me crazy just because the casting was off.

The plots of both the movie and the book are similar, the details are off but the majority of the main events are the same in both. This was nice, but they kind of downplayed the key events in the book. These elements were very essential to the book, like Beatty's death for example. This was one of turning moments in the book, and in the movie it did not play out as I imagined it. It seemed in my head that it was a lot more thrilling, and then in the movie it just seemed like it was there, and it was honestly boring. I think part of the reason that I didn't like the movie as much would be because I had already known what was going to happen, but even the small parts that I didn't remember still seemed to predictable to me. 

Overall, the book and the movie are very similar, yet different also. I do think that the novel was better because I liked how I imagined things in my head better than the film portrayed the characters and key events. If you want to watch the movie click here. If you want to watch the trailer click here. 

Trailer and Movie Expectations

The book I decided to read is called Fahrenheit 451. I wanted to read this book for two main reasons, 1) I had to read it anyway for school and I thought that I might as well knock out two books I have to read by combining the books into one book and 2) Even though this was a school book,  I read the back of the book and it actually seemed remotely interesting, unlike most you-have-to-read-this sort if books. Now this book is a much older book, and that means that the movie, made in 1996 is... How do I put this nicely... very cheesy. The trailer, from my glimpse seemed to keep the general storyline of the novel, however it seems it must have sidetracked a little bit from the main plot. Over of the things I noticed that was different format the trailer and the book is that the romance, that rally occurred in the novel! seemed to be played out more. They also exaggerated some of the characters in my opinion. Like Clarisse, for example, she had absolutely no romantic connection with Montag in the novel, however in the trailer for Fahrenheit 451, it is shown to be two girls fighting over Montag, and he must choose between the two.

Now, if I was trying to sound like a good student I would say that the book is great, and the elevated vocabulary used throughout the novel grabs the attention of the audience, and so on and so on. But, in reality, the book is just plain awful.  In my opinion, I know it's a piece of satire and I know what they have to teach it, but they couldn't pick any book with... better and more exciting characters?!?! In conclusion, this book is literally so boring.

The characters on the other a hand, relate pretty closely to what I imagined in my head. Mildred looks the same as she did in my head, a selfish blonde, and Clarisse was relatively close to what I imagined in my head, although while reading, I pictured Clarisse with brown hair. May I mention though! That the same actor that plays Clarisse, is also the same actor that plays Mildred? If you have onto read this dreadful novel before I would like you to know that these characters are the most contrasting characters with contrasting personalities in the novel. Overall, I am not looking forward to watching the movie because of everything I stated above.

Book to Film Adaptation

I think book to film adaptations are okay. I have never experienced an adaptation where the film was better than the book. Hunger Games for example, by Suzanne Collins was a far better book than a movie. Honestly, I think the problem with the Hunger Games was it's casting. Jennifer Lawrence conveyed the oddest emotion throughout the movie. She (no offense) made pretty stupid faces when trying to act out the emotion. This was the main problem for me with the movie. Also, it missed some key elements from the book that should've been included in the film adaptation.
The Divergent film adaptation was bad in my opinion. Tris, the main character, was supposed to be mediocre. Not to pretty, not to ugly. She was also SUPPOSED to be tough. Clearly in the movie, if you even watch her run it's kind of funny and sad. This was casted so poorly, however, the movie had decent suspense and action. Overall, though I don't think that it did the book justice. Another example of book to film that I found pretty bad was Life of Pi. I loved the book, it was kind of different to read and even though it's not a recent book it applied to my life. However, when I watched the movie, there was something there that was just different. There is no other way to describe it, and if you asked me to tell you what it is that's different I wouldn't be able to. Maybe it was just the idea that it "looked" different in my head then it did when it was played out on the screen. Overall, though the film adaptation was just not that effective for me. It was one of those books where in my opinion it should not have become a movie. It was just such a good book to me, and I kind of knew that the movie wasn't going to be that good but my family was watching it and I figured, eh why not right? Well no, definitely no.

Overall, if you ask me, there are such books out there that should not be made into movies and there are movies out there that do not do the book justice. But like all movies, they are just basically the book without any emotion or thought. Sorry if that sounded harsh, but it is true.

Book Review

Information:
Title:The 5th Wave
Author: Rick Yancey
Publisher: Speak; Reissue edition
Year: February 10, 2015
# of Pages: 512

This book is a science-fiction novel based on a dystopian, post-alien world, and how Cassie Sullivan, the main character, can rescue her brother from yes, the aliens. The novel is told through the perspective of Cassie, a protagonist. Other main characters are shown throughout her journey like Ben Parish, and Evan Walker. Although the main conflict is Cassie's search for her brother, there are minor conflicts along the way. She meets Evan Walker, as I mentioned earlier, however she begins to have doubts about him after a certain scenario. (Can't say) 

This book in my opinion is a well-written novel that shows a new world, obviously entirely different from my own. It gives me a chance to look into a new perspective of an average high-school girl, and the struggle that she faces. Although, she may have a different background, and a different world for that matter, she is very easy to relate with and I can connect with the character which is an important piece to have in a story if you ask me. This book contains a good amount of foreshadowing, however not too much or else that would make the book super predictable. I think the author does achieve his purpose of making the reader thankful for their own life, and everything that they have now. I believe that he achieves this through his both effective and persuasive writing. 

If I were to list the strengths and weaknesses of the book I would say the greatest strength would be the literary devices used and the persuasive writing. Weaknesses..... Probably that the writing in my opinion is not beautiful. But in his defense, its not like the story is a picture-perfect world either.

I was impacted by this book. So, my overall response? Great. This book was interesting and moving for all the reasons that I mentioned earlier. Since my impression on the novel was great, I would definitely recommend this book to other people. I would recommend it to anyone who likes science-fiction, dystopian, or aliens-taking-over-the-world-books. To conclude, I have no complaints on the book.

Researching Your Author

Rick Yancey-
Rick Yancey has wrote a total of 15 novels, 1 which is a memoir. He has received awards for some of his more popular novels like The Extraordinary Adventures of Alfred Kropp, which is a series of books about obviously, The extraordinary adventures of Alfred Kropp. He is also well-known for his 5th Wave series, which includes The 5th Wave, The Infinite Sea, and soon to be, The Last Star. His novel, The 5th Wave was a New York Times bestseller, which is part of the reason why I was able to read this book. Rick Yancey was born in Miami, Florida yet his new parents drove to meet him, there, he was given his new name of John Richard. Rick's dad often confused the names of Rick and his older brother Jay, which annoyed Rick so Rick's dad gave him many nicknames to distinguish the 2. His dad was a lawyer and politician. Rick grew up on a ranch in Florida. Rick had always enjoyed reading, and his dad would buy him his oh-so-loved books by Dr. Suess. Rick's parents were strict and precise. His dad was certain that he wanted Rick to become a lawyer, obviously this didn't happen because now Rick is a best-selling author. When Rick became a teen, his dad had bought 200 acres of land near a swampy area in central Florida. This land needed to be cleared, so Rick's teen job was to work on that land and clear away trees, bushes and rocks. Not the best job if you ask me.


So, how did Rick get into writing? Well it all started in seventh grade, where Rick was assigned to write a short-story. He wrote this, and not being a particularly good student, was shocked when he received an A on his paper. That day he declared that he wanted to become a writer.

Before becoming a writer, Rick taught some english classes and did some acting and drama at the local theater in Florida. Rick also began to write screenplay in his spare time. He would enjoy to make stories about new characters that he thought of earlier that day. Now Rick Yancey has started a family, and has three children. He also now writes full-time, and particularly writes in his new series The 5th Wave. These novels are science fiction, and appeal to mainly young adults, and base around the idea that aliens have attacked to earth in waves, and now it is up to the main character Cassie, to get her brother back from the aliens that she thinks have captured him. She doesn't know where she is going, or where to look, but she won't stop until she finds him.

Rick Yancey has is own website and the information that I got for this blog came from his website which I linked below.


Link to Rick Yancey's website

Why Do You Read?

Reasons Why I Read:

I read because I want to learn more about the world through other perspectives, other than my own.

I read because I want to enjoy my "life" in another world.

I read because I need an escape from the stress of my life and reading is a way to escape reality.

I read because I want something enjoyable to do, and reading is one of the things that are enjoyable.

Learning more about perspectives is important to me because I like to see the world in a different way then maybe I would normally see it. Looking at different perspectives, could help me understand the person more, and allow me to relate with them more. (even if I think their perspective is wrong to my standards) But mostly I want to be able to learn from their perspective, or the story's perspective to help me better develop my view.

Reading is something that can take me to another world and help me to escape the stress of life. It gives me an alternative and another path to explore. Sometimes between school and extracurricular activities, things seem to add up quick and reading is something that I can enjoy and appreciate because it’s something other than my chaotic and stressful life. The cat ran up the hill swiftly however it fell. Jack and Jill ran up the hill blah blah blah blah blah blah blah.

Things I Learned Last Year

In my poem, I wanted to add things that I have learned in the past year, but I also wanted to relate the structure of the poem to be similar to Stafford's.


Things I Learned Last Year

When sloths poop they smile
and hug a tree

I advise you to not jump
down a flight of stairs

And naturally trying to do a magic trick
with your friend's dog
may end badly

Leave it too the professionals
to build a porch

Try to avoid the cafeteria food
not always, only sometimes

Only try to pet a squirrel
when it seems friendly
maybe not even then

Ketchup was actually
once used as medicine

The popsicle was invented by
an 11-year old

And this surprised me
the color of the twist-tie on
bread actually
means something


Reflection:
My last year has been very, well colorful. I actually learned a lot of things, all with weird stories of course, but interesting things nonetheless. These are more of random facts rather than personal life lessons. I wanted this poem to be lighter, and less dark and depressing. So, if I were to state the tone of the poem in one word it would probably be light. (Since the poem is a very light and carefree piece, filled with cool facts rather than facts or lessons you actually have to process) This poem, is similar to Stafford's, obviously the title's are different, but the general concept of the poems are linked. For example, they both discuss weird facts, where the audience's reaction would be, "cool".
Also, the structures of the two poems are the same. I may mention that I did switch the 3 and 4 lined parts of the poem because I wanted to end with that fact so I switched things up. But they both have 2 lines, 2 lines, 3 lines (which is like Stafford's 4) 2, 2, 4. The sequence is the same as in Stafford's poem, "Things I Learned Last Week".