The Grapes of Wrath - Rating and Review

I will have to say that overall, I really did not like this story. Please don't hate me if you absolutely loved this book. The story really just wasn't for me. It was harder to relate to the characters. Yeah, everyone in life has struggles, but this story was sort of dry. It also had so many details, which got a little annoying at times. I believe that the book would have appealed to me more if it was a little shorter and wasn't filled with so many details. The historical points of the story were very accurate, which was a huge plus because I am slightly interested in history, at least more interested than I was in this book. The novel was by no means bad, it just wasn't for me. This novel was like fruit filled candy bars from Germany. Some people absolutely love biting into a chocolate bar and tasting a dried up cherry. But as for me, I would much rather bite into a milk chocolate bar filled with simply chocolate. This story just had too much fruit in it, and by fruit I obviously mean details. I really just wanted a good snack but instead I got some half way healthy thing. I would give this novel a 2.5 out of 5. It really wasn't bad, it had a plot, characterization and setting, but it lacked that wow factor that every great book has. Yeah sure, it's an American classic, but not every American classic has to be loved by every American. I won't go too far and argue that it should be taken off the list of summer reading books. No no no, this story still is a very important story to read. It teaches of perseverance and generosity, which are both great traits to have. The Joads are people that should be looked up to. Yeah, they are just fictional literary characters, but they possess values and attitudes that should be admired by everyone. The Joads were always doing their best to make something good out of something absolutely terrible, and the characters got a 5 out of 5 in my book.

Steinbeck, John, and Robert J. DeMott. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Penguin, 2006. Print.

The Grapes of Wrath - Tone

Some would argue that the best way to judge an authors writing ability is to assess his tone when writing a novel. Dictionary.com says that tone is "an accent peculiar to a person, people, locality ect." It sounds like tone, when referring to writing style, is different for each author. So what makes the tone of this novel so great? Steinbeck's novel The Grapes of Wrath was pretty long, there is no arguing there. But why was it so long? It seemed like the story was essentially about nothing! It just told about the story of a family heading west to escape the drowning economy in central America. But how did Steinbeck tell that story? That all depended on his tone. Steinbeck used soooo manyyyy detailsssss. If he would have used less detail, or maybe only described something once instead of repeating it 56847694749575 times, the book would have been much shorter and more concise. It would have been easier to read, but it would have lacked the tonal quality that Steinbeck is known for. The details were used to really drive the main point of the novel home for the reader. The tone of the story was there to make sure that the story's point was not missed. Steinbeck wrote about all of the troubles that the Joads faced, and yet, they never gave up. I started to get stubborn vibes from the Joads. The tone of the story could almost be considered stubborn. Steinbeck made sure that the reader knew how much trouble the Joads were going through and that they weren't going to give up, and he depicted that through the tone of the story. Since the Joads aren't the center of attention in every chapter, the chapters that focus more on the history are written with a passionate tone. Steinbeck really truly believed in every thing that he wrote, and it was obvious when reading it. The tone of the story was very important in truly understanding the message of the story.

Steinbeck, John, and Robert J. DeMott. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Penguin, 2006. Print.

Fahrenheit 451 - Rating and Review

Of all of the books that I read this summer, school related or not, this was my favorite book by far. Bradbury did an excellent job of characterization, description, and dramatization. The story was very interesting, and I found that I just couldn't put the book down sometimes. I just had to find out what Montag was going to do next, and I love feeling that when I read a book. Most of the time, that is so hard to come by in a summer reading novel, but this book was definitely the exception. I'm reasonably sure that Paramore's The Only Exception song was written about this book because it was actually an interesting summer reading novel. Science fiction stories are probably my favorite books to read, and this book sort of had a science fiction era to it. It told of a futuristic society, which right there tells you that it could be considered science fiction. My dad actually suggested this book for me. He had read it in the past and thought highly of it, and I'm glad that he suggested it to me. Montag could be described as the typical factory worker. A person who went to work every day and did their job without really giving it much thought. I really enjoyed reading about Montag's transformation from the typical man into someone who was aware of the things going on around them. Bradbury did an excellent job transforming Montag's character. But why did he name him Montag? Was Bradbury German? Montag is the German word for Monday. That is the only aspect of the story that I don't understand, but it is really irrelevant to the plot, it is just a name. I would rate this book with a 5 out of 5 because it really kept me interested in the story and I really enjoyed reading it. I hope that in the future, more books will be put on the summer reading list that are similar to this story to help engage the students in their summer homework, and not just make it a chore that they hate doing.

Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. New York: Ballantine, 1953. Print.

The Catcher in the Rye - Rating and Review

The story The Catcher in the Rye was overall a good book. I mainly enjoyed it because it was very easy to relate to. Holden was the type of character that every reader falls in love with. I was rooting for him until the last page of the novel. The story had its ups and downs as far as content. I found the plot to be sort of uneventful. The story did only take place over 3 days, and really, it didn't have much of a point. So this kid gets kicked out of school, runs around New York for a while, and then goes home to decide to run away. His 10 year old sister was finally able to talk him out of it, and boom, end of story. I did like, however, the way the story was presented. The book was narrated by Holden, and that made the story very interesting. In stories that have a limited 3rd person narrator, the characters can't be fully understood because the narrator can't know what the characters are feeling or thinking. In this story, Holden was not afraid to tell you what he thought of the characters and the reader knew exactly what Holden was feeling through out the story. It was very entertaining. Some of the language was also entertaining, I think I will start using the word "phony" now just because of this story. The fact that there was adult content would help this book relate to the older audience reading the story. The theme of sexuality was prominent throughout the entire story. Two of the characters were even possibly molested as children, which added a dark twist to the story. Overall, I would give this story a 4.5 out of 5 because I really enjoyed the book. I had heard good things about it and decided to find out for myself, and I am glad that I did. I would definitely recommend this story to anyone.

Salinger, J. D. The Catcher in the Rye. Boston: Little, Brown, 2001. Print.

The Catcher in the Rye - Character Analysis: Minor Characters

Phoebe:
I decided to put Phoebe into the category of "Minor Characters" simply because I had a lot to say about Holden and ran out of room for her in that blog. According to Holden, Phoebe is the best thing since sliced bread. She is really smart, funny and a great dancer. But most importantly she listens. One thing that shocked me was to realize that she was a young child. The peculiar thing was that she made some very adult accusations, like when she knew that Holden had been kicked out of school before he told her and when she convinced him not to run away. I believe the Phoebe was the best of both worlds for Holden, and that was why he loved her so much.

Allie:
Allie was not really in the story, but he was definitely relevant to the plot. The narration style really came in handy when learning about Allie. Holden agreed to write a paper for his friend, and that was how we learned about Allie. We learned that he died when he was 11 and that Holden was very upset over it. Holden thought of Allie just like he thought of Phoebe. He treated him sort of like a saint. You know why? Because Allie was still a child when he died. He hadn't been corrupted by the adult world. He was still innocent. That was why Holden loved him so much.

Jane:
Jane was a very special character to Holden, and surprisingly, she wasn't a child. Holden was very confused when it came to sexual relations, and Jane was no exception. Holden said he couldn't ever get too intimate with a girl that he really cared about, such as Jane. Yeah, they did cute things like hold hands, but they never really did anything "sexual." It was obvious that Holden really cared about Jane as a person, and not just an object. When he described her, he didn't focus on the physical side of things. Jane was probably someone who Holden truly loved. She definitely was not phony.

Salinger, J. D. The Catcher in the Rye. Boston: Little, Brown, 2001. Print.

The Grapes of Wrath - Writing Style

One of the aspects of The Grapes of Wrath that I actually did enjoy (and believe me, it was not the storyline) was how well Steinbeck described things. He was able to use such great detail that I really felt like I was in the story. This first passage does a great job proving my point.

"To the red country and part of the gray country of Oklahoma, the last rains came gently, and they did not cut the scarred earth. The plows crossed and recrossed the rivulet marks. The last rains lifted the corn quickly and scattered weed colonies and grass along the sides of the roads so that the gray country and the dark red country began to disappear under a green cover. In the last part of May the sky grew pale and the clouds that had hung in high puffs for so long in the spring were dissipated. The sun flared down on the growing corn day after day until a line of brown spread along the edge of each green bayonet. The clouds appeared, and went away, and in a while they did not try anymore. The weeds grew darker green to protect themselves, and they did not spread any more. The surface of the earth crusted, a thin hard crust, and as the sky became pale, so the earth became pale, pink in the red country and white in the gray country." (Steinbeck 1)

Steinbeck used great detail in describing all of the colors that were present in describing the dead earth. He described how the earth just gave up on that part of it, and how the clouds did not try to come back and shield the earth. Steinbeck did an excellent job with this passage. It was a great way to open up the story and it really hooked me into reading more about the baron landscape that the story took place on. Steinbeck was an excellent author.

Steinbeck, John, and Robert J. DeMott. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Penguin, 2006. Print.

Fahrenheit 451 - It's All About the Cycle...

So, the title of this blog may be a little silly, but I'm at that point in my blogging career that if I don't keep things a little humorous, my blogs will just drone on and on and on, probably forever and cause a rip in the space-time continuum that would end the world as we know it. See what I'm talking about? So back to this cycle thing. The entire book is based on a cycle. When the story starts, we are introduced to this new character, Montag. He seems like an interesting guy. As the story progresses, we watch him grow and mature, much like a caterpillar matures into a butterfly, but without that stupid cocoon thing in between. By the end of the story, Montag is really worn out and he's about had it with the government and burning books. So what does he do? Obviously, he gets naked and jumps into the river. But that is the completion of the cycle. Montag was in a sense, reborn at that exact moment. The entire story was based on Montag's cycle of life.

Now, if I only gave one reason to support my title, I wouldn't be able to stand a chance, would I? Probably not. Another example of a cycle through out the story is fire. A cycle consists of two main parts, construction and destruction. For the most part, Montag really only knew about the destruction part, seeing as how he was a fireman. Fire was the fireman's best friend (which is funny because the only job of fireman today is to extinguish fires). At the beginning of the story, fire was only used in the destructive part of the cycle, the burning of the books. But at the end of the story, however, Montag realized that fire can be used for good things, such as warming and other constructive things. See? The story not only told about Montag's cycle through out the story, but also the cycle of fire itself. Fire transformed from something that was only used for bad, into something that was used for good as well.

Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. New York: Ballantine, 1953. Print.