Month: December 2017

The Girls by Emma Cline book review

This book was about a girl who noticed another girl named Suzanne in her town and she watched the little moves that the girl would make. She found herself drawn to this girl that she barely knew and wanted to know what it was that was so interesting about her. Her mother was mean to her in a way that she forced her boyfriends into her life without any consideration of her daughter. This lead to a big fight and eventually her leaving the house for a night. She ends up tied into a cult, while her mother believes that she is at a friends house while she in fact, is not.

The first part of this book really didn’t capture my attention and I believe that somehow, the book should have started out with the girl noticing the other girl. This would have made the beginning of this book much more attention-grabbing.

The rest of this book was very easy to follow. It is both in present and past tense and she spends most of the book reflecting back on the time where she was in a cult and wondering what that all meant to her now. The end of this book was very reflective and shows the reason she decided to join the cult that she was in. She realizes that if Suzanne wouldn’t have left her she probably would have killed the people as well because of the anger that was built up inside her. She didn’t leave with Suzanne, and instead stayed at the school that she was at, and i really like the authors idea in doing so. I believe that her not going with them made her personality stronger because we see that she has overcame this strong urge to leave, just like she would have overcame her urge to commit violent acts.

I believe that the anger that this girl has came from her parents. She was angry at her mother for having the men around the house, and then later in the story she was angry when she was forced into sexual acts for the cult. Her anger resonates with the writing, and I felt strongly connected to that hatred.

She was so drawn to this girl because she wanted that free feeling. She saw that Suzanne was free, and careless about anything that was happening around her. I think that deep down she wanted to be apart of that. Suzanne saw something different in her. She saw that she did have a little more good in her that would have gotten drawn out if she would have stayed with the group. So, Suzanne leaving her really wasn’t a bad thing. Instead, this was Suzanne’s way of telling her that she is free from the group. She wanted her to live a life outside of jail cells.

The end of the book resonates the whole story itself. She sees a stranger walking across a gravel path and she believes that the person is walking to her to hurt her. Instead, it is just any normal person walking down the path. I love this part of the book because it is easy to see how her mind is different from other peoples, and she will never really be free from her mind because of that difference.

“The Thief of Always” by Clive Barker

The Thief of Always by Clive Barker is one of my favorite books for both sentimental and literary reasons. My mother introduced me to this work of Clive Barker’s when I was twelve, shortly after she bought a copy from a library sale. She gave it to me and told me how much she enjoyed it at my age and how it felt like another world entirely. In an attempt to bond with her over the summer of my eighth-grade year, I dove into it. The Thief of Always gave us a common ground and subject to talk about, she seemed to share my excitement as I told her about the book while she reminisced. I’ve read it at least three times throughout the years, picking up on new details each time.

The story revolves around the life of a ten-year old boy named Harvey Swick. In the beginning of the tale, Harvey experiences extreme boredom and grows tired of the routine he falls into daily at school and in his home. During a particularly bad storm, a man (more similar visually to a goblin) named Rictus hears Harvey’s pleas for a more fun life and invites him to join him with his siblings in “The Holiday House”. The Holiday House is a place in which friendship is abundant and adventure seems as constant as the oxygen they breathe. Harvey stays there for 31 days, meeting new friends such as Wendell and Lulu as well as experiencing every holiday and season of the year daily. Mornings are spring, noontime is summer, afternoons are autumn, and nighttime is winter. He is able to get any gift he could ever desire on Christmas, and as anyone would, he takes advantage of it. The children are permitted to explore almost anywhere they’d like, but going to a dark, gloomy lake on the property is not looked upon highly by house- staff members (Rictus, his siblings, and a human woman named Mrs. Griffin along with the illusive homeowner, Mr. Hood) and going home is not an option. Though his friend Wendell seems content, Harvey believes him to be a bit naïve as the house begins showing its darker side. It drives Lulu to physically morph into a demonic-seeming fish who lives in the dark lake. The book follows Harvey’s discoveries and attempts to get back to his parents without drawing attention to himself.

Clive Barker wrote The Thief of Always in a way that can successfully capture the attention of children as well as provide deeper meanings for adults and older readers to seek out. This kind of writing is rare, oftentimes when a story is labeled as a “child’s book” it implies a simple story with a very obvious lesson to learn. That is not the case with The Thief of Always. Each time I’ve read it, I’ve been able to pick up on new elements of it from metaphors to subtle foreshadowing and a nearly-hidden B story that can easily go unnoticed unless one is actively searching for them. It is a very cleverly-written story meant to captivate readers of all ages.

The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby is one of those incredible books that you read and you begin to question really what the rich life is like. The book is about a cool dude named Nick who lives in kind of a crappy apartment next to Gatsby who is a very rich man. Gatsby is very popular and has a lot of parties in his own house and is really loud. One day Nick gets an invitation to one of Gatsby’s parties, which is kind of rare, and goes to it, meeting Gatsby, which is also kind of rare. They become really close and have a really good time with each other.

This story is kind of like a really good book about economy and how even though you are rich, you can still feel empty inside. I really love the metaphor to the human condition that is in the story and I love how Nick doesn’t start out rich and inside of the rich life, but when he gets into the rich life, he begins to notice how different it is and doesn’t enjoy it.

Even though there aren’t many characters in this story, the main characters have a lot of development and aspects to them. The reader always manages to take away a new trait of each character each chapter. I really love in this book the chemistry that Nick and Gatsby has and just the incredible relationship that they develop just because of the invite to a party. I also enjoy that even though Gatsby is rich we see more to him than just an older rich person that has worked hard for his earnings.

This story is very good at bringing up questions of morals to the readers. There’s morals that comes into play with each character that can impact the reader. From the actual intentions of Daisy to the real feelings of Tom to the deep truth of who Gatsby is, F. Scott Fitzgerald never fails at growing these characters in a positive or negative way. I think the character arcs and development of each character is executed extremely well and that his storytelling ability and sensory details were very defined and pinpoint in this story. Faulkner manages to show a lot of his talent through this wonderful story and it definitely shines throughout.

I do enjoy his way of tackling topics in the real world in this story. Cheating, being rich, and maybe even exploration of yourself when you are older instead of a coming of age from a teenager. I believe that he did a great job at doing a coming of age portion of the story while avoiding the cliche of it being about a teenager and a group of kids who are experimental, emo, and trying to understand who they are. Faulkner dodged a lot of cliches in this story, and maybe even invented some from this story. He added his own flare and originality to affairs and the rich life and it definitely shines through.

I highly recommend reading this book. It’s great.

We’ll Always Know What Thanksgiving Tastes Like

Mama Odelle’s house smelled of roasted turkey, cranberry sauce, cigarettes, and sweat. The fat under her arm was swiftly moving every time she stirred the contents in her favorite mixing bowl.

“You have to stir it in one direction the entire time. That’s what get it all right, “she’d say every year.

We were all huddled in the living room watching the Hallmark channel. Mama O’s tv was small and so was her living room, but we all made it work. It reminded me of the nights when all the cousins slept over. We’d make pallets and sleep head to feet, feet to head. Jr. would always complain about my feet being all in his face.

“Man, I swear to God if your stinky feet touch me, I’m going to fight you,” he’d say with a playful undertone.

This year, almost everyone in the family came, just enough to fit at the table. Well, except for Aunt Sheryl’s husband Jake. The family eyed him each step he took. They’d only been married for a couple of months, and none of us were invited to the wedding. Aunt Sheryl said it all happened last minute, but her Facebook says differently. She and Jake were smiling big alongside his family at their ceremony. I didn’t say anything about it though.

Finally, the food was done and Mama Odelle shooed us all into the dining room. Everyone sat, and Auntie Jean led grace. The whole time she was being shady saying, and God please bless our unexpected guest, Mama O took over from there. Uncle Dennis was laughing silently the entire time.

We began to eat and eat. Mouths were full of dressing, ham, turkey, pecan and sweet potato pie. Everyone grabbed a slice of pecan pie except Jake.

“Why you ain’t eating none of that pecan?” Auntie Jean asked.

“Oh, I’m—”

“He’s allergic to pecans,” Aunt Sheryl cut him off.

Auntie Jean sucked her teeth.

“Mmm. Well, if you brought ‘em around more often, we’d know that.”

Uncle Dennis quickly grabbed his drink and swallowed hard, peeking from the rim of the glass.

“Well, if you stop running the streets all night, maybe you’d get to see him.”

Mama Odelle slammed her hand on the table.

“Look, we’re not doing this year. I’ve slaved over that kitchen stove to make this meal for y’all ungrateful devils and all you want to do is fight,” she said as she continued to eat her roll.

“Tell your daughter to grow up then Mama.” Aunt Sheryl said.

“You’re the one who needs to grow up. Didn’t invite your own family to your wedding. What? You’re ashamed of us or something. Got you a good job and a maybe decent man and you think you all that now huh?’

“Like, I said. The wedding was last minute. There were barely and guests.”

Auntie Jean shifted in her chair and laughed.

“Girl, stop that lying. You’re lying for no reason. I saw your Facebook. Mmhmm. Maybe you should make your page private,” auntie jean said.

I thought I was the only one who saw all the pictures. I guess I wasn’t the only one snooping around. Auntie Jean an Sheryl kept arguing back and forth like they were teenagers. The rest of us continued to eat like nothing was happening. Maybe Mama O decided they’d get tired eventually and shut up. Jake kept tugging at Aunt Sheryl’s arm, trying to get her to calm down.

It wasn’t until the food was thrown across the table that everyone tuned back in.

“Now, that was a perfectly good piece of pie, and you just wasted it,” uncle Dennis said playfully.

He was enjoying the drama, probably was even hoping he’d get to see a fist fight that day, but he didn’t. After there was no more to food to chunk, they screamed I hate you at each other and stormed out. Neither one of them told Mama O thank you or the food was good. Uncle Dennis joked for the next ten minutes until they became lame. He eventually left. The house was quiet again except the rattling of dishes. I was drying the plates for Mama Odelle. She looked sad but not sad enough to ask are you okay. I imagined she was thinking to herself. Asking how did her kids become so angry at the world and each other. But she found solace in the fact I’d always be there for her. To clean her carpet, fix her air conditioner, or whatever else she needed.

That was the last Thanksgiving we all had together. Aunt Sheryl and her husband moved away and never looked back. Auntie Jean was a little of everywhere, and Uncle Dennis was ‘rebooting’ his rap career up in Chicago. He’d save up to get a train ticket. I was the only one who came back every Thanksgiving until Mama Odelle passed away.