Category: Senior Literary

This category features the works of senior literary students at Mississippi School of the Arts.

Phantom (The Novel of His Life) – Susan Kay

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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

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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.

“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.

“Dirty Pretty Things” by Michael Faudet

 

Dirty Pretty Things by Michael Faudet is a collection of poems, short stories, and quotes of love, lust, and heart-wrenching loss. Faudet, the long-time partner of poet Lang Leav, released the collection as his first book in 2014. The two worked together in many aspects of the book from editing to publication as well as the signing tour, the introduction of the book even features a short piece from Leav that shows her admiration of him as a fellow writer as well as her lover.

Faudet captures a wide array of human emotions through his work with a powerful lack of censorship and refusal to follow a typical or traditional pattern. He showcases his versatility through this piece by offering a variety of works in many different styles of writing, all centered around the most intimate aspects of his personal life and painting an image of who he is as well as how he came to be the writer he is today.

Perhaps the most vulgar collection centered around love and human desires that I’ve read thus far, reading Dirty Pretty Things was an entirely new experience. At times I caught myself wondering things such as “Can he say that in here?” or even physically cringing at certain phrases or mental images that would be typically censored or simply not told in poetry and short stories in today’s society. These reactions caused me to dwell not only on the human condition and what I’ve been lead to believe was acceptable, but also opened my eyes to the reality of writing not introduced to us in a structured learning environment.

Writing is not always pretty. What we learn in schools is not necessarily reality, but a watered-down version of it. Contrary to classroom censorship; life can be hideous, life can be vulgar, it can be one of the most grotesque things humans ever experience, but in that there is beauty. There often isn’t a happy ending waiting on the other side of a mountain of struggle; depression can kill even the biggest smiles, anxiety can bring a bitter end to the most wonderful relationships, only a fraction of endings result in smiles and fond memories, but all can provide entertainment.

Heartache, love, and lust are feelings most (if not all) people can relate and connect to. Faudet realizes this and embraces it with gritty phrasing and primal imagery, often throwing in an element of sarcasm. Through his work, he is able to reach the minds of many, whether they be teenagers driven by heartache and infatuation or adults who’ve matured well past their teenage years and wish to have a moment of recollection and think back to names and nights forgotten. Through his raw emotion and lack of censorship, he’s created a style of writing far different than any I’ve seen thus far.

Pieces in Dirty Pretty Things can range from only a few words or lines to several pages long, each conveying its own message, a timestamp in the author’s life. I enjoyed reading it and experiencing different moments from the poet’s life.

 

Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus

Overview:

In 1818, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley wrote Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus (now simplified to Frankenstein). It is a Gothic horror fiction book that stars the titular character, Victor Frankenstein, (not to be confused with the creature, commonly known as Frankenstein) genius but lonely scientist who becomes fascinated with the secret behind life. He decides to create life himself, unnaturally in the form of the 8-foot tall hulking monster (but he’s not really a monster!). He regrets it the moment The Creature opens his eyes and abandons him. From there, because of Frankenstein’s neglect The Creature, disastrous events occur.

Rating and Its Effect on Me:

I’m going to do something different. I’ll give a rating first. I HATE this book. 2 out of 10, and it only gets that is the…

Diction:

Frankenstein is a very well written book. I enjoyed its manner of speaking. Most famous novels are black or white, Shakespearean language that’s difficult to comprehend, or JK Rowling, easy to pick up because of the currency of the speech. Mary Shelley sits right in the gray area of that scale. The pretty wording truly is pretty wording, but it is not too elaborate for a modern reader to understand.

A Really Big Negative (A Small Rant):

VICTOR FRANKENSTEIN IS THE WORST FICTIONAL PERSON IN EXISTENCE.

Now, that I have that of my system, I’ll try to approach this rationally.

Over the years, scholars have argued who the true villain of Frankenstein is, The Creature or Victor. I have to say Victor Frankenstein is. He is the one terrible thing about this book.  He blames The Creature for things out of his control. His hurtful words make The Creature become the Monster. He neglects his family, friends, and fiancee in favor of his precious work, who ironically enough is the very Creature he places the blame his misery and un-health upon. He isn’t a strong character; his constant inability to deal with life (fainting, making himself sick, going senile) annoyed me to no end. This is especially terrible because towards the end of the book, he decides to track The Creature to kill him. I couldn’t take him seriously. Victor’s only saving grace is that if weren’t in the story, the story wouldn’t exist, and that’s not a very nice compliment. If I don’t like the main character, how can I like any of the book?

Here’s How– A Really Small (but 8-foot tall) Positive:

The Creature is very best character in the story– with  the exception of perhaps Henry Clerval, who unfortunately isn’t in the story for long. He is nothing like I expected him to be, like his 1931 Hollywood counterpart. He is extremely intelligent, and quick learner, and an optimist. That is, until he is pushed to the brink of the madness. Eventually, he does kill, quite a lot, but at no point does he have no cause to do so. Even if it is for a petty reason, I understand his every action. In fact, every time he murders, I found myself pitying The Creature, instead of the character who was supposed to pitied, Victor. He was a magnificent character.

The Strange Framework:

I suppose I ought to mention the strange framework. It might be off putting. It is a story written by Mary Shelley, narrated by Robert Walton who is telling his sister, Margaret, the story Victor told him, who in his own story includes the story The Creature told him somewhere in the his own story.

… It’s difficult to explain, but not so much while reading it. Even the reader can wrap his/her head around this idea, they are in for a very good reading.

True Rating:

I rate this story 9 out of 10 stars, for it’s amazing storytelling, and very good characters. (Note: Victor is great character, but a terrible person.) I probably won’t ever read it again though, thanks to Frankenstein.

The Outsiders

The book The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, is a wonderful story about greasers. I think that this book might be one of the best books I have ever read. It’s a great book that has described greasers perfectly as characters. The way that this book is written is wonderful. It manages to constantly pull you back in every single sentence. The story gives you these incredible characters that you become easily attached to. It manages to give out the background story of many important characters so well without interrupting the flow.

There are so many great characters in this story. There are basically two groups that don’t necessarily get along. There are the Greasers and the Socs. You automatically get sucked into the world of the Greasers as a group and so you start to not really like the Socs. I think the Socs might be one of the greatest antagonists I have ever read in a book. They genuinely strike you as people that you want to get away from the main characters.

In the story, we follow Ponyboy, a 14 year old boy who runs track. As soon as you understand that these people are all about 14-20 you begin to get sucked into this world that has horrible kind of situations. It manages to pull us in because it doesn’t spare us the straightforward areas in this story.  Sodapop Curtis is 16 and Ponyboy’s brother. he dropped out of school and works at a gas station. again, just small aspects of a character brings the reader right into where they are and what is happening. The author writes these characters so well and it manages to keep our attention. Johnny Cade is Ponyboy’s best friend who is 16 and lives with his abusive parents. I think that even though abuse is considered very cliche now in writing, I believe that this book writes about how abuse can cause kids to act certain ways because of what happened to them and how they were raised. Johnny is a great character and he is written very well, he just came from a bad area in his life. Darrel, known as “Darry” is the oldest brother in the Curtis family. He is 20 and basically leads the gang. Darry is one of those characters that are tough but is a very loving character. He cared for his two younger brothers when their parents died from a car crash.

There are so many great characters in this story. I appreciate how well written every single character is and how the author doesn’t seem to care about what people think because he does not shy away from serious issues. The writer understands what makes a great character and he does. I think that there is just a perfect balance of protagonist and antagonist in this story. Enemies are very well written here and the plot of the story is so well thought out and well executed. I think that many people should read The Outsiders. I highly recommend it.