Jane Austen Book Club Review

Personally, I did not enjoy The Jane Austen Book Club movie. I felt that it was a really cheesy movie and all around extremely predictable. I think that the weaknesses of the movie outweigh the strengths, seeing as though the plot was very shallow and straightforward with nothing very original in itself. I feel that anyone who has read or skimmed through the Jane Austen books already knows exactly what will happen in the movie, because everything fits together perfectly and everyone is happy in the end.  The movies strengths are that there were dogs in the movie, and I like dogs. I found it to be a boring movie with nothing very special about it. If I had to make a recommendation, it would probably be to a mom who really likes Jane Austen.

I feel as though life imitates art in such a way that we don't often hear of. For example, there is a real man named Walter White who got arrested for cooking meth in Alabama, similar to the plot of the show Breaking Bad. In the case of literature, I feel like there are many instances where a situation seems to be from a book. As a typical high school student, I see a lot of situations around me that result in a lot of drama, though I do not involve myself in them. I've heard people talk to me about situations that sound a lot like classic novels, like Wuthering Heights or various Shakespeare plays. I think situations like these really highlight the impact literature has on us as a society; the literature in which these similar situations are occurring often act as a guide for the people involved. They may see the actions of the characters in the book and, depending on whether or not it worked out for them, find a solution for themselves. 

Out of Comfort Zone Book

The book I read that was out of my comfort zone was Girl, Interrupted. In this memoir, Susanna Kaysen writes about her experiences in McLean mental hospital renowned for its past patients, such as Sylvia Plath and Ray Charles. Though the story seems to lack a plot, it was still entertaining to read Susanna's experience and learn about how mental illness affects the people who suffer from it. The book was overall fun to read, seeing as though it had funny parts, which I wasn't really expecting.  

As a person who suffers mild mental illnesses, I felt that Susanna did an excellent job of describing what it was like for her going through her episodes and struggling with depersonalization. Kaysen took the elements of mental illness that were difficult to explain and managed to make them understandable, even going through her thought processes to break down how she felt. 

Girl, Interrupted was a book that was out of my comfort zone initially, but I found that I really loved the story and the way in which it was written. I thought that I wouldn't like it because of its title, which at the time didn't make sense to me, and that it had very complex themes that I thought I wouldn't understand. All in all I'm very glad I read the book and it just taught me flat out not to judge a book by its cover.

Author Visit

                                                                                       

When Christina Baker Kline, author of Orphan Train, visited James Caldwell High School, she talked to us about her family and the Children's Aid Society reunions, where she got to meet the last survivors of the orphan trains. From her talk, I learned that having red hair and an Irish heritage was the most difficult part of being a passenger on the orphan trains because of the stereotype that they were "short-tempered" and generally undesirable. She also told us that some readers made connections I'd never thought of before, like the connections to Jane Eyre and The Wizard of Oz. 

I think it's great to have the opportunity to communicate with authors and being able to ask them questions that cannot be answered through reading the book. I was genuinely impressed with the lengths she went through when it came to fact checking, and most of the story includes things that were common occurrences on the orphan trains.

It made sense to know that most people who were on the orphan trains didn't talk about their experiences because of the shame and embarrassment it brought them, which is why most people have no idea that these trains existed. Passengers also thought the train they were on was the only train, believing that they're the only ones going through this tough time, and it was best not to talk about it and be viewed differently. 

Overall I enjoyed being able to communicate with Christina about the novel, and it helped me gain more of an understanding about orphan trains and how hidden they are in history. The experience was a positive one and it was great to hear everyone's questions and Christina's answers. Though I may not have enjoyed the book itself very much, I respect the author greatly and wish the best for her in her writing career. 

Reaction to Orphan Train

For the past couple weeks, my class has been reading the novel Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline. The book is about a goth high school orphan girl named Molly who steals a copy of Jane Eyre from the library and is sentenced to do 50 hours of community service. Her boyfriend Jack offers her a job with his mom cleaning out an old woman named Vivian's attic. Molly is very reluctant to do this but goes for it anyway. She gets an unexpected surprise when she finds out that Vivian was an orphan train rider back in 1929. The two find surprising similarities in each other in ways they didn't expect to. 

Personally, I'm iffy with this book. I really enjoyed the parts of the novel where Vivian told her story, as they were adventurous and exciting. Molly's parts of the book made me angry because, in comparison to Vivian, she has things so easy yet complains about everything. Things for Molly could be normal if she'd just go with the flow as opposed to fighting everything her foster parent's say and getting in trouble all the time. I feel that Molly tries too hard to be different and interesting to the point where it's annoying.Overall I felt as though Vivian had more to offer in the story as opposed to Molly, but I guess Molly's character was necessary for fitting Vivian into the story. 

Overall, if it hadn't been required for me to read Orphan Train, I probably wouldn't have read it to begin with. I feel as though if I hadn't read it, I wouldn't be missing out on anything. The history of the orphan trains were very interesting to read and I enjoyed it, however I did not enjoy the story itself. 

My Favorite Genre

My favorite genre is graphic novels because I love looking at the art while I read. I feel that, by looking at visuals while reading, it makes the reader feel more into the action of the story, rather than just reading the words of a normal novel. I feel that graphic novels supply character and fun to the story, taking the reader on a trip along with the characters. 

 My favorite author is Bryan Lee O'Malley, who wrote two of my favorite books: Scott Pilgrim vs The World and Seconds. I love these two books because the style of the art is very cartoon-y and cute, along with humor, romance, and everything in between. Scott Pilgrim vs The World is about a guy named Scott who meets a new girl--Ramona Flowers. They like each other a lot but there is a catch; Scott has to defeat Ramona's "Seven Evil Exes" to be able to date her. The book is written with a lot of video game  and pop culture references, which makes the story unique.

 Seconds is a story about a young chef named Katie, who wakes up in the middle of the night to find a strange girl sitting on her old dresser warning her about something. Katie knocks it off as a dream and continues about her life, until she finds a red-capped mushroom in her dresser with a notebook, in which she is told to write her mistakes, eat a mushroom, and go to bed and wake anew. As any of us would, Katie takes advantage of it (and goes overboard). What she didn't realize is that there are consequences.

I Am Malala: A Reflection

I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai is a book that was recommended to me by many people online. I've seen many people write reviews of it and it immediately caught my interest. I had been interested in the book to begin with and wanted to educate myself further on the topic of the Taliban and what exactly is going on in the countries they are terrorizing.

I feel that the book's strengths lie in its perspective--reading such wise words coming from a girl my age was inspiring and truly moves the reader towards wanting to help. In America, kids normally see education and school as a burden, a place we don't want to go every day. To Malala, school is a dream come true. It sheds light on how lucky we are to have education readily available to us every day and makes you realize how grateful you truly are for being able to go to school.

However, I feel that there could have been more detail in the writing style. The way the book is written makes the reader feel as though they are listening to the story, and aren't much a part of it. The beginning of the story was slow, as it went over much of Pakistan's history (however, it's necessary to know later in the story). Overall I felt a better job could have been done to entice the reader and get them to want to read further.

The strengths of the book definitely outshine the weaknesses. I loved reading Malala's inspiring story and it makes me happy that she continues to speak out against talibanization, yet she still remains humble. The book made me realize how little, in America, we learn about the Middle East and maybe that's why there are so many misconceptions about Islam and their way of life. All in all, I would rate it 4.5 out of 5 stars because of the courage it took to write and the inspiration it brings to its readers.

I would recommend I Am Malala to everyone I meet if I could. Awareness of the issues highlighted in this book are vital to the effort in stopping the Taliban. I would especially recommend the book to any close-minded person that believes the stereotypes set against Muslims and their culture. I feel that any person that loves inspiring stories about young people overcoming extreme struggles would love I Am Malala; it is definitely worth the read.

My Reaction to Family Life

Personally, I felt that Family Life by Akhil Sharma was a really good read. I loved that the author took a tragic situation and transformed it into something that wound up benefitting himself and his family in the longrun. Sharma did an excellent job of writing from the point of view of a child, which is something that most authors tend to stray from. I felt that it was interesting to learn about one family's struggle, not only with a tragedy, but also trying to get along in America with said tragedy as Indian immigrants. The road certainly wasn't paved for them and they had difficult times but managed to get through them together for which they should be commended. I found that the pace of the novel wasn't too fast or too slow, and that the reader could easily pay attention to and become interested in the content they are reading. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in reading about a family's struggle to stay together.