Book 4 wish list

Books that I want to read in the future:

1. Perk Of Being A Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky


2. The Fault in our Stars by John Green


3. Nineteeen Minutes by Jodi Picoult


4. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn


5. Divergent



6. Room

7. Queen of Kentucky

Book Talk

Water For Elephants Book 3 Review

Running away with the circus, twice.

 

 

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

The circus, the most spectacular show of freaks and talents alike to be praised and amazed by adoring audiences of children and adults. Acrobats, tight rope walkers, bearded ladies and exotic animals took rage in the entertainment business during the 1920s; however the circus performances had been going on in Europe for more than over a century.

Water for Elephants, a historical fiction novel by Sara Gruen explores that spectacular time period of the 1930s and the circus. Publish in May of 2006 as part of the National Novel Writing Month, the book was on the New York Times best seller list for 12 weeks in 2006 at number seven. The paperback hit number one on the New York Times Best Seller list in July 2007.

The film release in April 22, 2011 (2011-04-22) and runs one hundred-twenty minutes of beautiful screen time. Critics alike reviewed positively on rotten tomatoes giving it an average score of 6.1 out of 10. Critic Roger Ebert said on his website, “In an age of prefabricated special effects and obviously phony spectacle, it's sort of old-fashioned (and a pleasure) to see a movie made of real people and plausible sets.” The movie stars Robert Patterson as the main character Jacob Jankowski and Reese Witherspoon as Marlena Rosenbluth.

The book however goes deeper into who Jacob Jankowski really is. The story is told from memories as the older version of himself in a series of well written flashbacks of the past. Jacob, who is about to take his last exam at Cornell University to complete his degree in veterinary medicine receives life changing news. Jacob feels alone and has nothing left and decides to run away irrationally, leaving his final exam incomplete. Jacob travels on foot scavenging through the woods until a late night train passes. He jumps the train only to find a train car full of angry carnies, however though they find Jacob interesting. They keep him around and the boss takes serious interest in him when he discovers Jacob’s veterinary education at Cornell and hires him to tend to the circus animals. Jacob is at first reluctant because he isn’t a licensed vet but they are happy to have him anyways. 

As Jacob tends to the horses, he meets the girl who performs them, Marlena. Marlena is beautiful, stunning and the bosses wife. Instantly there is an awkward chemistry between them and their compassion for animals, especially Rosie the new elephant. While romantic passion isn’t the main focus, Jacob and Marlena’s desire for each other grows stronger. However August, the boss and Marlena’s husband seems to be the only cliff separating them, and a rather large one. He is hateful and violent towards Marlena and Rosie. Eventually the tension leads to one of the most famous circus disasters of all time known as the “disaster march”. (Disaster march is music performed by the band to indicate that a tragic accident has occurred and that all employees are to try and help and assist audiences out and stop the situation.) While the plot can be a little slow, waiting for something to happen, it doesn’t disappoint. The constant conflict between the characters keeps the plot driven and eventually builds up to the end.

The book mainly focuses on Jacob, his journey though grief and how unlikely circumstances allow him to grow and become the person he wants to be, courageous, strong, kind and loved. He learns to fight for those who cannot fight for themselves and for what matters most to him. I recommend this book to anyone who likes coming of age story, a unique historical setting, a light romance, physical altercations and touching characters. I would give both the book and the movie 4 out of 5 stars (the book and the movie follow closely).

 

blog post 9 Water For Elephants

Characters in Water for Elephants

 

Jacob: Jacob (the older version of himself) narrates the story of his life throughout the Benzi Brothers Circus and how he falls in love with Marlene, a circus performer and his boss’s wife. Jacob is a very likeable character throughout the book considering his hardships that he has endured. Jacob has a kind heart, caring for the animals and people at his time in the circus. Throughout the book the reader are left rooting for Jacob to overcome his fears, face tragedies and get the girl.

Marlene: Is an equine circle performer and the wife of August, one of the top bosses. She is kind and loving to her animals and an astonishing circus performer. She is very short tolerant of her husband August who is a ruthless and cruel man. He pushes her away by this drunken rages, violent outburst and fake charming undertones to Jacob, the hired veterinarian.  She is a very likeable character for her oppression from August and her very kind heart.   

 

August: is the equestrian and animal directed of the circus. He is married to Marlene and is very unkind to her throughout the book. August suffers from serious rage issues, violent and hateful towards animals, workers and performers when things don’t go over so smoothly or his way.  He is also a profound con-artist., charming and manipulative to get what he wants. He is the villain of the story and is hated by all other major characters and readers.

 

Rosie: is the elephant they picked up from bankrupt circus insisted by the ring leader Uncle Al. She is proceeded to be dumb—according to her old trainer, however Jacob and Marlene find a connection in the passion for this animal that is actually really intelligent. Rosie is abused by her behavior by August a lot and causes her to run during a performance. August becomes more violent towards Rosie. She is a very likeable aspect of the book because of the uniqueness of her personality and oppression by August.

Post 7 book trailer

Book theif fan made trailer.

blog #8

Non-Fiction vs Fiction

1.       A book has to be 100% percent true in the author’s and factual perspective. If the book has any made up elements or added parts then it should be automatically classified as a fiction based on a true story. Seth Greenland made a good point saying, “Were living in this era where people think truth is malleable… we can’t agree what reality is.” People think they can fix the truth about themselves molding themselves into hero’s or victims of a hard or exciting life that people want to hear when it’s a bunch of made up stuff to create this fictions persona of themself.

2.       Half true stories are okay, but the reader has the right to know that the entire story isn’t true. So to call a half true story a memoir is lying to the audience. The term for these kind of books are based on a true story so the reader knows things are dramatized and personified.

3.       We need lines in genre because when a memoir is true we want to be able to share a person’s success and accomplishments or point of view and give them proper credit and achievement recognition for it. While a good story is a good story a readers should judge them for being classified as either one. Labeling shouldn’t restrict the success of the book.

Blog #6

I think that Gallagher argument is a good reason why schools are committing readicide in their curriculum. Books are over or under taught to the point that majority of students are frustrated or fed up with it. Books are meant to be enjoyed or un-enjoyed and disused their purposes and ideas. While everyone can express their opinion if they liked the book or not I think there are literary books that everyone should be exposed to. If you are forced to read for example, To Kill A Mockingbird you don’t have to necessarily enjoy it but at least understand it. The story is relevant to understand American culture and struggles during the time period where we weren’t all equal. Stories of these hardships are meant to be passed down for everyone to hear so we don’t forget it.

Different teaching ways can help maximize the students experience with a literary text. The more flexible the curriculum is the better students with different learning styles and abilities can  obtain the best way for them to understand and gain something that they are reading. Engaging students into the text to a personal or logical level may help them also connect where they may have lacked before. Pre-learning of a historical text may help a student understand the time period, political background or important people in a book.

Choices are also important when it comes to a students learning ability. More independent novel readings should be allowed or added to school curriculums to allow student with choices to read more modern genre fiction. Students get an opportunity to choose what they want to read and are able to independently asses and understand what they are reading. Students who are able to have choice in their learning will be more involved with it.