Senior Literary – Page 28 – Literary Arts Blogspace

Matilda – Roald Dahl

Overview:

Matilda is a fantasy novel by renowned British children’s author Roald Dahl (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach) published in 1988. The story follows Matilda, a child prodigy who has received nothing but contempt, neglect, and abusive her all five years of her miserable life. Matilda, unlike the rest of her family, likes to read and educate herself, so as a result, when she goes to school for the first time, her sweet-natured teacher, Miss Honey, is stunned by her ability. And apparently, being competent at reading college level book and rattling off four-hundred times tables is not all Matilda can do; she learns that she has telekinesis. So the entire book seems like a slice of life genre story, with Matilda dealing with her horrid family, her insane headmistress, Miss Trunchbull (oh, yeah, we’ll get to that psychopath in all due time), and Miss Honey, the only adult who seems to care what happens to Matilda.

The Diction:

I should be lenient; this book was probably intended for third-graders and below. Thus, the book is written in a jargon that is easy for that demographic to understand. But as senior on the brink of graduation, who has been exposed to complex works, the diction is not enough to satisfy. Especially considering the fact that I analyze prose for fun. To support my point, I will quote movie critic, Chris Stuckmann.

Even though it’s a kid’s movie, it could still be of a high quality. I know when I was a kid, I watched good movies and I knew when it was a good movie. Kids deserve movies of just as high a quality as adult; they aren’t stupid, they know when they just watched trash.

Now, I am not calling the wording trash, not at all, in fact sometimes the wording is quite pleasant, and even humorous at times. “The boy by now was so full of cake he was like a sackful of wet cement and you couldn’t have hurt him with a sledgehammer.” But I will say that my point is one can write a children’s novel that has both nice wording and is easy for younger readers to comprehend.

An Appealing Factor:

The most appealing factor is Matilda herself. As a five year old child genius, one would expect her to be an arrogant, little, stuck-up thing. But she is quite the opposite. She is humble, so much so that at one point in novel, she says something that suggests might not even be aware of how smart she is. Matilda is also an adventurous girl who plays pranks on the wicked, mainly Trunchbull and her parents.

Speaking of the Bull.

Miss Trunchbull is a villain through and through. She physically, mental, and even psychologically abuses everyone she comes in contact with. She assaults children who make the smallest mistakes, and even forces a boy to almost die from eating a 18-inch diameter chocolate cake. She’s a villain I like to dislike.

A Potential Turn-off:

The plot was very predictable to me, but I have to remember that maybe children would not have been able to predict the plot twist.

My Rating:

I rate Matilda 3 out of 5 stars. Nothing spectacular, but nothing terribly wrong with it either.

The Innocence Treatment by Ari Goelman

This was a sci-fi book about a girl who was used as a test experiment. The girl started off as a really innocent girl who could not tell if someone was lying to her or not. Someone could make a joke about something odd like someone having an arm for a head, and she would believe them fully. She then undergoes some more experiments and ends up being quite the opposite of what she was. While she was still slightly innocent, she was violent. She was able to fight against nearly anyone and win.

This book was quite the page-turner. I enjoyed the way that the book was set up with journal entries. To me, journal entries are the best way to write a book because you get the emotional scoop of a character without having to see it through another character. I feel this was the correct way to set up this book in particular due to the fact that we are able to recall how she is feeling with all the treatments. Her development through the book was great, I saw a completely different side of her within her first few journal entries.

I feel that the development of the psychiatrist character went off as really dull. He didn’t really show much development throughout any of the book. He was more of an observer of the experiment instead of a friend or enemy. This character struck me more as a fill-in character than anything. The development of the plot was used through this character. While I understand why he was used, his personality added nothing. The plot would have thickened if it would have been the doctor herself reading these journal entries and talking to her through a microphone. Like it is, this isn’t well written to me.

I would also like this book to better explain the sister and what happened to her. I love that the sister was able to become a doctor and get away from the district, however, I want to know what happened to her before the fact or what made her decide to become a doctor.

The ending of this book was great and really summed up the entire book for me. The innocence girl is meant to be mysterious and misunderstood. When she is only seen by her sister for split seconds in the story, I find this just as mysterious as her. She is constantly making the district follow her around. when she runs off she makes the joke of “You know me, pissing some pretty important people off”. This little joke made her sister laugh, and when her sister walks off men in uniforms trail off behind her. The sister makes the connection that they are probably after her, but she doesn’t worry much because she figures that her sister has it handled.

In all this book was really emotional for me. I found myself wanting the Innocence girl to be free more than anything. This book worked well as a Sci-fi and I was genuinely impressed.

“Talking to the Sun” PT. I ‘Hymn to the Sun’ By Kenneth Koch and Kate Farrell

“Many of the first poems known to us are magical chants that praise nature and explain things that people didn’t understand about nature—why the sun rises and sets, for example, or why there is thunder. Often these chants were intended to bring good fortune— to make crops grow or to bring sunshine or rain.”

The book begins inside of a history vault dating back thousands of years of tribal chants and praises. This quote kicking off the book explains why and how we have the topic of nature mostly in old poetry and songs.

‘Hymn to the Sun’ is devoted to showing the basis of poetry, and by that i mean poetry by the first people to verbalize their praise and wonderment unto why things happen the way they do. Honestly, when i picked this book up i noticed it for vibrancy of the yellow on the spine. Then i saw the title and immediately thought of Frank O’Hara and Vladimir Mayakovsky— who very famously wrote two conversations with the sun. O’Hara’s conversation even brings up Mayavosky’s conversation with the Sun. So, that was my prethought of the book. Just looking at the cover you can tell the illustration will be beautiful. What i did not expect was the historical value accompanying these beautiful pieces. The poetry is a valuable history lesson because it is not by the famous modernist authors everyone knows the name of. They are by tribes and Egyptians and any old group of people that sang and praised together as a communal event.

The very first poem is called ‘Hymn to the Sun’ by the Fang People, who reside in Africa, and it explains that the sun is a warrior who defeats his enemy every morning, the night. Describing the fight as “The fearful night sinks…Before your lightning eye and the rapid arrows from your fiery quiver…”

The other poems all have a similar touch point of something to do with explaining the sun, praising the sun, or even explaining thunder. They take on many different tones ranging from appreciation to fear.

My personal favorite of the 8 poems in this category is one call ‘Song for the Sun that disappeared behind the Rain clouds.’ by the Hottentot people of Africa.

“The fire darkens, the wood turns black,

The flame extinguishes, misfortune upon us.

God sets out in search of the sun.

The rainbow sparkles in his hand,

the bow of the divine hunter.

He has heard the lamentations of his children.

He walks along the milky way, he collects the stars.

With quick arms he piles them into a basket

Piles them up with quick arms

Like a woman who collects lizards

And piles them into her pot, piles them

Until the pot overflows with lizards

Until the basket overflows with light.”

This is roughly translated, and at first in was thinking ‘wait, the milky way? How did they know about that?!’ and so i did some research and as it turns out, the Greeks named it. They originally named it Via Lactea, which means Road of Milk, and the Romans were the ones who basically started calling it the Milky Way. So, along with beautiful images and wonder it provided me with a lesson on the Milky Way.

I would most definitely recommend this read. Thus far in “Talking to the Sun” i have gotten a lot out of the poems. The book does provide small sidebar explanations, and that is helpful. The read is insightful and does kick up curiosity in a pretty enormous way. So, if you are looking for an educationally exciting read, this book is for you.

A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin

SUMMARY

A Clash of Kings, second in the A Song of Ice and Fire series, begins very shortly after the end of Game of Thrones. Westeros is in pieces—the Starks have been split apart, winter is coming, and five kings—Robb Stark, Renly Baratheon, Stannis Baratheon, Joffrey Baratheon, and Balon Greyjoy—are battling for the Iron Throne. Catelyn Stark tries to put her shattered family back together, all while her son grows too fast for her to keep up with. Her daughter, Arya, is still in hiding, and is targeting her enemies. In his brother’s absence, Bran Stark holds Winterfell. Catelyn’s oldest daughter, Sansa, is a hostage in King’s Landing for King Joffrey and Queen Cersei to play with as they please. Also in King’s Landing, Tyrion Lannister puts his foot down and establishes his role in the game. In the North, Jon Snow and the Night’s Watch march beyond the Wall. Trouble brews across the sea, too, as Stannis Baratheon prepares to attack King’s Landing with Melisandre the Red Witch and Davos Seaworth at his side. Theon Grejoy, son of Balon, returns home after many years away. Daenerys Targaryen, last of the Targaryen, now mother of the world’s only dragons, struggles to find war ships for her Dothraki. While a red comet flares in the sky, Westeros is falling apart at the seams.

REVIEW

If you’ve ever seen Game of Thrones, you’re familiar with the grit of A Song of Ice and Fire. George R.R. Martin isn’t afraid to go into fine, gross detail on the screwed-up world of Westeros. It can go overboard at times, but it gets its job done. It’s also a case of “Reality Ensues”—as, to be honest, if we lived in a world where there were no ready police force and the law was only enforced in the enforcers wanted it to be (ie the law enforcers can have bias), there would be chaos everywhere. It’s a nice take on how fantasy worlds are usually depicted as cool and peaceful. Even if the detail isn’t gritty, it’s beautiful. Westeros is a place where everything is larger than life, and Martin depicts it well, from the clothing to the food to the many places travelled.

The plot is not action-packed (except for an important and grandiose battle near the end), for good reason. ASOIAF depicts a world where violence can reign, but it doesn’t drive the story. The story is, as the first book tells, a game. Each chapter is a character’s next move, whether it be manipulation, revenge, war strategy, or simple survival. Even characters not in a permanently-violent position, like Sansa, have gripping storylines. Just because a character is “good”, it does not ensure that they will win—or, if they do, that they will come out in one piece. Some characters do not have their own chapters, like Cersei and Littlefinger, but we still get a look in their heads through their actions and words. But though the story is not one with pedal-to-the-medal pacing, it establishes that it is heading in a certain direction. Stannis is planning to march on King’s Landing, Jon and the Night’s Watch are looking out for Mance Rayder, and Daenerys is looking for war ships and who to trust them with.

When reading and watching Game of Thrones, I always thought that Martin’s strongest skill was writing characters. Each character, good and bad, have their redeeming qualities and their flaws. Stannis has his low moments, but he has reason, too. Sansa is somewhat naïve, but she isn’t stupid. Tyrion is clever and cunning, but he doesn’t know how to hold his tongue. And so on, so forth. Even Joffrey, who has zero redeeming qualities, is so immature and hateful that you kind of love-hate every scene he’s in. The characters we root for screw up sometimes, and villains have motives, reasonable or not.

ACOK has an attention-grabbing story, characters, and details. Yet, for the same things I praise, I dislike in some sense. Details, for example, can drag on. There are scenes when a room full of people describes everyone’s clothing, one-by-one. Something that could be summed up in one paragraph stretches on for three or more to fill up the chapter length. Towards the end of the book, there’s a battle scene that goes into such detail, much of the tension and suspense is lost. I found myself skimming through many dragging parts of the book.

Because of this, Jon Snow’s chapters really slow down the pacing, as most is just travelling in the land beyond the wall. As said before, things could be summed it, but instead stretches on beyond necessity. Catelyn’s chapters are not so tedious, but they do have slow moments, as only one thing of great importance happens in them. Sansa’s, Tyrion’s, and Davos’s piqued the most interest, with Arya’s, Bran’s, and Theon’s following.

One thing that I distract from both this book and its predecessor is that sadder scenes are ruined with lengthy dialogue. There’s a very poignant scene from Catelyn where she mourns how broken her family has become, but she goes into such detail about things that the emotion is ruined. The sad scenes that work well are ones that have little to no dialogue in them, like, ironically, another scene with Catelyn.

ACOK is a long read, tedious at times, but ultimately worth it. If you’re a fan of the show, you’ll be a fan of this, too.

Everything Works out in the End

Anytime I find myself in a state of frustration or continued sadness, I turn to uplifting written pieces or music to cure my rambled thoughts. Lately, life has been a rollercoaster that I’ve fallen off plenty of times. We all tend to find ourselves in a constant cycle of misfortunes or misplacement. We finish one thing and turn around to fifty more. It’s just life and the many mishaps that come along with it. But why are obstacles repetitive in our lives? Can we prevent them? Is it our actions that create a ripple? Apparently, it all comes down to one word, entropy. According to the dictionary definition, entropy is a lack of order or predictability; gradual decline into disorder. When I think of probability, the first thing that comes to mind is word problems and proportions. The saying we use math every day in our lives is absolutely true, even if it’s subconsciously.

I came across an article titled “Entropy: Why Life Always Seems to Get More Complicated”. It immediately caught my attention because of the straightforward and relatable question in the title. So, I decided to give it a read. This article explores the different levels of entropy and questions associated with the terms. It includes several scientific and mathematical references. However, it isn’t a boring read about equations. Instead, it uses the references as brief support to the theory of why things go wrong in our lives. The article’s main scientific reasoning is Murphy’s law “Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong”. This quote opens the article then transitions into the question ‘why’. The article almost becomes depressing because I begin to think there’s nothing I can do about this inevitable force, and obstacles will always find their way in my path. However, the writer goes on to say entropy is the reason we exert energy into situations. It’s the reason we keep fighting and trying new things, hoping to prevent new curves. It is in our nature to want some sort of order and stability.

One of my favorite ideas discussed in this article is the requirement of energy and the increasing odds against us. The article says there are countless numbers of ways something can go wrong, but one way it can go right. “There is only one possible state where every piece is in order, but there are a nearly infinite number of states where the pieces are in disorder”. The writer is referring to the completion of a puzzle and its probabilities.

We can’t necessarily stop bad things from happening to us. We can attempt ways to alleviate the impact, but it’s bound to happen. It’s our choice to learn from it and put in the effort to make it better. “You can fight back against the pull of entropy”. The only thing it requires is energy and effort. My favorite quote from the many the author uses is “The hardest thing in the world is to simplify your life because everything is pulling you to be more and more complex.”

The road gets bumpy and we graze the sides sometimes, but it’s not the end yet. We still have time to come back and try again. Although it’s a relentless and tiring cycle, at least it’s something. Life is what you make it. Nothing’s perfect. So, close your eyes, breathe in and out. Prepare yourself for tomorrow.

If you would like to give the article a read, click here.

Phantom (The Novel of His Life) – Susan Kay

Image result for phantom susan kay

The Overview:

Susan Kay’s 1990 dramatic novel, Phantom, is served as a prequel to Gaston Leroux’s gothic fiction The Phantom of the Opera published eighty years earlier. It is not entirely faithful, however, as it also heavily draws influence from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Broadway hit, The Phantom of the Opera. Phantom stars The Phantom, here going by his birth name, Eric, before he became the Opera Ghost. The book covers the entirety of his life and takes the readers through the horrendous events that made him the deranged man seen in Leroux’s original work.

Phantom’s Style:

Phantom is authored by one person, but like Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, it has multiple narrators. It is first narrated by Eric’s mother, Madeline, which makes sense, since Eric himself isn’t old enough to think complexly enough to do the story justice. Eric takes over after her though, followed by Giovanni, an old man who takes him in. After Giovanni comes Nadir, otherwise known as The Persian from Leroux’s work. Eric narrates again, then he and Christian Daae shared a section. The last “chapter” is given to Raoul, Vicomte de Chagny. After being in Eric’s head for so long, the reader might find it off-putting to transfer to a completely new character (I did at first), but the story picks up as soon as Eric is mentioned, which usually doesn’t take that long.

A Potential Turn-off:

I do try my best to be unbiased when reviewing books, and for Phantom, this was especially hard. There are so many wonderful components about the book that I hate to admit that were any flaws in it. I stand by that, however I will say that Phantom is disturbing. There are seriously explicit and/ or possibly triggering elements. Excessive child abuse, addictive drug use, racism, slavery, pedophilia, attempted rape, toxic relationships, and murder are all in this book. If any of the above deeply bother you, this book is probably not for you.

A Dementedly Appealing Factor:

This book is unique in its likability. I have a masochistic sort of fondness for it; it’s so brutally realistic, this is what makes it enjoyable. All of the The reason why it is so good is because the main character, Eric, is treated so terribly that the reader can help but feel sympathy for him. When an especially horrid thing was about to happen to him, I remember screaming at the offending character… four o’clock in the morning. I wept for Eric when he did not cry for himself, things of that nature. Also, I presume everyone reading Phantom has already read Leroux’s Phantom, seen Webber’s, or has had some prior knowledge of the basic plot. So, the reader would get a special sort of satisfaction in seeing all of the mysteriously unexplained factors come together.

My Rating:

This is by far the best book I have ever read, and just to show how much I enjoyed it, let it be known that I now own it. Without a doubt, Phantom receives a eleven star rating out of ten. I can’t wait to read it again!

“What I Pledge Allegiance To” by Kiese Laymon

“I am a black Mississippian. I am a black American. I pledge to never be passive, patriotic, or grateful in the face of American abuse. I pledge to always thoughtfully bite the self-righteous American hand that thinks it’s feeding us. I pledge to perpetually reckon with the possibility that there will never be any liberty, peace, and justice for all unless we accept that America, like Mississippi, is not clean. Nor is it great. Nor is it innocent.” (Laymon)

Within the essay “What I Pledge Allegiance To” by Kiese Laymon, I found many aspects of myself within the work itself. Mr. Laymon tells of his thoughts on the ragged American flag he has hung outside his home in Oxford, Mississippi. The essay follows the timeline of Mr. Laymon being a resident in upstate New York, and a resident in Jackson, Mississippi. The ways in which he describes living in New York as a black American and how he differentiates, and in a way, minimizes, the classification of living in Mississippi as simply a black Mississippian is not only interesting but also in many aspects relatable to many other black Mississippians. Mr. Laymon also speaks on the completely different worries of black Mississippians as appose to other black Americans. These few highlights, however, do not nearly scratch the surface of the amount of material that Mr. Laymon discusses with his essay, but these are points that stuck out to me greatly as a reader from Jackson, Mississippi.

As I read this work, I felt the wording from Mr. Laymon on his thoughts and emotions was done with great eloquence. Although his speech within the article itself is informal, the message was a very sensitive topic to write on, and could have very well come off to readers as more of an attack at Americans as appose to Mr. Laymon’s personal beliefs, but Mr. Laymon did a very impressive job at avoiding wording that would seem offensive or brash. I believe that I and Mr. Laymon have very common viewpoints on the Pledge of Allegiance when it comes to the topic of if we support it or not. I commend the altercations and inclusion of Mr. Laymon’s own personal “allegiance” to himself that he ended his essay with, which I included at the beginning of this review. I personally believe this essay had a lot of great detailing and imagery; however, I do believe there were a few missed opportunities in the writing.

In a section of the writing, Mr. Laymon speaks on why he will not remove the flag from his yard out of fear, but I believe that moment would have been a great opportunity to include a hypothetical scenario regarding him and his neighbors, or the actions that may follow if he took the flag down; however, the ambiguous text of not telling what may happen leaves it up to the imagination of the readers. Overall, I highly recommend this essay as a good read for many Americans, especially African American Mississippians. If you would like to read this essay, please click here.

Too Far by Rich Shapero

Image result for too far by rich shapero

Too Far follows six-year-old Robbie, a child with a lot of imagination and nowhere to put it, living in the Alaskan countryside. Robbie’s parents are in a failing marriage—his father encouraging his curiosity, his mother determined to keep him confined to the house. One day, on a whim, Robbie travels out into the forest and meets a girl named Fristeen. Fristeen is colorful, chipper, and utterly wild. Fristeen is under the care of her easygoing but spacey mother, Grace. Fristeen and Robbie form a tight bond, and the two travel into Too Far, their make-believe wonderland. In Too Far, there is a red lake, a tree named He Knows, a forest of Bendies, and the benevolent but mysterious Dream Man and Dawn. Although Too Far becomes the children’s escape to joy, they soon realize that they can never escape reality, as it soon creeps into Too Far.

Too Far is a book that is told in two parts: Too Far and the real world. The real world is easy enough to understand, albeit told through children’s eyes. Robbie and Fristeen’s parents are presented the way a child would, through very opinionated eyes. To Robbie, his mother is controlling and boring, not wanting him to travel out into the woods, but to readers, we understand where her maternal fear comes from. Robbie sees his father as fun-loving and supportive, though we may think him to be too loose with his child. Robbie looks up to Fristeen’s mother Grace as a wise, mystic woman who is as easy-going as it gets. We, however, see that Grace is often drugged out of her mind, and though she loves her daughter, she also pays no mind to her safety. Framing these characters through Robbie’s and Fristeen’s eyes works both ways: we see them as the flawed humans they are, while we also see how tragically idealistic the children are.

The second part of the book, Too Far, is told in a very mystical, fairy-tale way. There’s a tree named He Knows that talks, a ‘bouncy lake’, etc. Although we as readers know that these are simply fragments of the children’s imaginations, they are treated as fact. The characters of Dawn and Dream Man may seem confusing at first, but as the book continues, it becomes clearer that they represent the children’s parents: they love them, but they don’t always make sense, they do bad things and don’t apologize, and they bounce between caring for and pulling away from the kids. It also becomes increasingly clearer throughout the story that Too Far is more dangerous than the children realize. Playing out in the woods is all fun and games before the reader realizes, “Oh, yeah, these are two children completely unsupervised in a place where they could die.”

Without giving away spoilers, the book does end on a very somber note, albeit not one that doesn’t make sense. In fact, as readers, we may consider the ending to be bittersweet, though it’s a tragic one for Robbie and Fristeen. I think the book overall captures the imagination and innocence of children, while also capturing the adult fear of “These children have no idea about what a bad situation they’re in.” Also of interesting note—the book has a soundtrack! Dawn Remembers is an album by Rich Shapero and Maria Taylor made with the book in mind. Cool.

On a more negative note, there are some slow parts in the book, wherein Robbie and Fristeen are just moseying around Too Far. Now, arguably, this is because they’re two bored kids with nothing to do, but it still makes it a tedious read. Especially noticeable in that the kids follow a sort of pattern every time they go into Too Far. Some scenes with Dawn and Dream Man can be a bit hard to decipher, as they are two unreal things being treated as real—in other words, though they are in the children’s imaginations, they seem to have real-world effect.

And of course, the most controversial part of the book—two kids in a sexual relationship! Robbie and Fristeen never actually have sex…or, if they did, it was too ambiguous to tell…but there are parts where the six-year-olds become…acquainted with each other. Kids learning about sexuality is a really tricky thing to write on. It happens, we’ve all been through it, but it’s very uncomfortable when done wrong, and it can very easily be done wrong. And Too Far’s depiction of the situation is…fine. No, I did not enjoy reading about two children getting naked together, but it could have been way worse.

All in all, though it can be difficult to understand and slow to process, Too Far does give a very interesting take through a child’s view. It is imaginative, worrying, and hopeful at the same time. I understand that it is a very divisive book, though, so I’d day look at a sample and see if it interests you.

The Human Fly by T.C. Boyle

My personal copy of this story was apart of a book of T.C. Boyle’s short stories called The Human Fly and Other Stories.

The story began with a quote by Franz Kafka in A Hunger Artist, “Just try to explain to anyone the art of fasting.”

The Human Fly by T.C. Boyle is a quick read that spires readers into the world of a talent agent set as a less successful counterpart in a large entertainment business. One day he is approached by a man who refers to himself as la Mosca Humana, or the human fly. This man is portrayed to carry a certain estranged sadness within his cape and bathing cap. The character becomes known as Zoltan, but his full name is Zoltan Mindszenty. Zoltan has one object in mind throughout the story, and that is that he wants to be famous. This is made apparent from the very beginning of the story, a goal is set and the two have a reason to need one another. I won’t spoil anything and tell everything that happens, but i will say there are some absolutely sky high stunts portrayed scarily detailed by T.C. Boyle.

The tone of the book is the tone of the narrator for the most part, and that is Zoltan’s manager. The name of this character is never revealed, but I believe this adds to the story. The agent himself is much more caring and human than others in the business and this is portrayed by the worry the reader truly feels in all of the situations, for Zoltan. Money could be made off of Zoltan whether not he lives or dies at one point in the story, and that shows the human and relatable part to the narrator. Now, the narrator was not always this way. In the beginning he was in it for the money and spotlight, but you see the shift of character throughout the story. It is a un-pointed out, very important, change in voice and context he categorizes his emotions in.

I would recommend this story as a quick read with a lot of flesh and layers. The imagery is beautiful, a real sense in all of the story. There is an array of emotions to be taken away and given to this story, from sadness to hope and disbelief to anger. If you are looking to be given another universe in your mind for a minute, this is the story for you.

My favorite part of the story is the narrator describing Zoltan in this quote,

“A fine band of skin as blanched and waxen as the cap of a mushroom outlined his ears, his hairline, and the back of his neck, dead white against the sun-burnished oval of his face. His eyes were pale watery blue and the hair beneath the cap was as wispy and colorless as the strands of his mustache. His name was Zoltan Mindszenty, and he’d come to Los Angeles to live with his uncle when the Russian tanks rolled through Budapest in 1956.”

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.