Senior Exam : Book Review

Angela’s Ashes is not a melt-your-heart, sappy, feel-good tale. It is crass, brutally soul wrenching, I-cannot-believe-this-actually-happened memoir depicting the life of Frank McCourt growing up in the slums of Limerick, Ireland. What makes a good memoir is one that is quite shocking, almost unbelievable, yet underneath the initial shock the story must settle inside your mind and rock your core until you know that amidst all the sufferings and misdeeds that occur around the world, this personal chronicle must be nothing but the truth. And my friends, Angela’s Ashes does just this. Frank McCourt has a story to tell, a story that seems to get progressively worse and worse, yet amongst the troubles and trials that were ever-present in his young life, a sarcastic sense of humor remains. Angela’s Ashes is a book that you cannot forget. It’s a dark read, a good read, and above all, it’s funny. In that way that shouldn’t be like laughing in church.

One thing that makes this book a stand-out among the other memoirs is the writing style itself. Frank McCourt is one of the only authors I have ever read that successfully is able to capture the mindset of a child. His thoughts are ones that could one come from a young kid, and as he grows, he is unapologetically blunt and inappropriate, just like those immature preteens boys that would laugh at fart jokes on the school bus. Usually reading a book in such a style as this would be revolting. Yet Frank is able to sound so refreshing, so real, like he is telling you the tale of his childhood right next to you in a pub with a pint in hand. What also makes his writing unique is his dark humor. Like I mentioned above, his humor not only remains constant throughout the book, but in your life as well, and for a while after reading his story you like to think of just yourself as witty and hilariously sarcastic as he is.

There are many purposes for writing a story like this one. Frank McCourt had personal reasons, I would assume, for getting all of his memories down on paper. But there are so many connections with his story that can relate to the reader’s life that make his memoir, at times, seem like a fictional tale aimed at a young audience to teach them lessons. For example one lesson that is continuous through the book is that even though you are poor and have no shoes to wear and your dad is drinking the dole money and your brothers are all hungry, you can be rich in your mind. Like his school master said, “You have to study and learn so that you can make up your own mind about history and everything else but you can’t make up an empty mind. Stock your mind, stock your mind. You might be poor, your shoes might be broken, but your mind is a palace.” This quote exemplifies the fact that learning was a vital key to Frank’s survival. He even equates Shakespeare with the upmost riches, “I don't know what it means and I don't care because it's Shakespeare and it's like having jewels in my mouth when I say the words.”

To conclude, Angela’s Ashes is a book unlike anything else I have ever written. A bit too ramble-y and majorly detailed at times, the book still manages to shine beneath the heaps and heaps of particulars that bog down each page. I give it a strong B+ because of the unique writing style but knocked points because of the heavy details. All in all, I do not regret reading this book and do recommend it. After all, when it comes down to the last page, you feel as if you are losing a friend and wish you could just sit with him and listen to his stories drinking lemonade and eating fish and chips just one more time.

 

Blog Post #5

       How true does a book have to be to be considered non-fiction to me? I believe that it depends entirely on how the exaggerations affected the overall story. If the exaggerations or embellishments make the story better, I say, so be it. No one wants to read a bland book. Take A Million Little Pieces by James Frey for example. His story about his addiction and his stay in rehab was an astonishing story and really made the life and desperation of an addict come alive for the reader in a truly terrifying form: a memoir. Memoirs are especially haunting or hilarious because they are true, they actually happened, and this critical point of truth alone makes the story an epic one at that. After James Frey’s book was published it was revealed that he did in fact embellish bits from his book. I found this out after I read the ENTIRE book; all the while truly believe his tale. As a reader, the news at first came as a letdown to me, I trusted his words. I trusted that everything he said really occurred, which added to the shocking nature of it all. But then after the initial disappointment subsided I realized that the embellishments just added a little spice to his saga. They made his story even more scandalous then it already was. This said, A Million Little Pieces is James Frey’s memoir. Although not everything was 100% accurate, they are his little white lies to tell. The story was his life, his memories, and therefore he has the right to exaggerate for the greater good of the appeal to the reader. Also, all of his overstatements were based in truth. Exaggerating is not a crime; it is merely a tool to induce a wow factor. I do not agree with David Shields. The labels matter between non-fiction and fiction because the fact that non-fiction is true, whether it has a few exaggerations or not, makes the book stand out in a sea of stories that exist purely out of imagination.

Blog Post #4: Adapting The Virgin Suicides

Adapting The Virgin Suicides would not be too hard to adapt into a movie, in fact it already has been, but making the movie directly from the book would definitely run into some problems. For example, one major problem that the filmmakers would have an issue with is how to actually format/present the story. I say this because the book is uniquely formatted in which the narrator is essentially made up of a group of boys that are never specified and act as though they are one. The story is essentially all told in a flashback, making the boys sound as though they were still teenagers; however, they are telling the story in present day making them all middle aged men. The boys lived across the street from the main characters, the Lisbon sisters, and were entranced to the point of repulsion (to the reader) with the girls. This said the filmmaker would have trouble discretely keeping the narrator and the boys as the same entity that they act like in the book. When adapting this book they would probably have to cut out many minor characters that pop up throughout the story like the paramedics, Paul Baldino, Mrs. Patz, Joe Larson, Joe’s mother, Mrs. Sheer, Mr. Baubee, Joe the Retard, Mr. Eugene, Mrs. Higbie, Little Johnny Buell, Vince Fusilli, Laura White, and many MANY more. All of these people add a little spice to the story and further paint the picture of a tight-knit community, but these characters would waste precious time in the movie and, believe me, these characters never come up again and act as visual, pointless mental clutter for the reader.  Another thing the filmmakers would have to cut is the scene in which Paul Baldino travels through the sewer systems and comes into the Lisbon house and finds Cecilia with her wrists slit. I think that they would have to cut this scene because it is extremely weird that Paul was in the sewers in the first place and he is never mentioned in the book again therefore making him irrelevant. One thing that would be essential to keep in the movie and not change in order for the adaptation to work would definitely be the visual destruction of the Lisbon home in relation to the inner turmoil the family was facing. I say this because it adds so much depth to the story. Another scene the filmmakers could not cut would be the scene in which Lux and Tripp Fontaine have their first steamy interaction in Tripp’s car because the way Tripp describes the event is almost as if she were not human which is a key point in the story. Another thing the filmmakers would absolutely have to keep would be the tree scene where the sisters all unite to protect their deceased sister’s favorite tree from being cut down. This is integral to the story because it gives us a caring element to the otherwise unfeelingly elusive sisters. It also paves the way for the author to make his interesting point that the loss of old, large trees in suburbs led to the decline in the neighborliness we fail to see in today’s society. All in all, the movie adaptation of The Virgin Suicides would unquestionably be one to watch.

Post #3: Book #1 Project

If you consider yourself a fan of Room by Emma Donoghue then this Ultimate Fan Package is for you! In fact, you cannot consider yourself a fan without visiting the Room Replica Adventure Suites! What we are including in this earth-shattering, spine-tingling adventure pack is the opportunity to stay inside a life-size exact replica of the room Ma and Jack spent many long, grueling years in captivity in. For just $250 a night, you will purchase the thrilling once-in-a-lifetime opportunity any true fan of the novel would take in a heartbeat; the opportunity to stay in the place the very best-selling novel got its namesake from.   

            Room begins on Jack's, the young child whose perspective tells the story, fifth birthday. Jack lives with his Ma in Room, the tiny closed-off space Ma has been held captive in since she was nineteen. Her capturer impregnated her twice; the first baby died shortly after her birth therefore Jack is the only living child. Because this said almost closet-sized area is all young Jack has ever known, he actually likes his world in Room and believes that Room is all there is to humanity and that everything else he sees on T.V. is only make-believe.  Jack and Ma are "taken care of" by Old Nick, the capturer mentioned above. He visits Room on a nightly basis, although his visits are never very consistent. He enters Room through a door with an electric combination lock. Old Nick brings with him the basic necessities to keep Jack and Ma alive like food, but the main reasons for his visits is to have physical interaction with Ma while Jack sleeps in Wardrobe. Throughout Jack’s life in Room Ma tries her best to keep him healthy by creatively having him do physical exercises like running, eating healthy, monitoring his T.V. intake, and having a strict regimen for keeping him clean (a regimen that you yourself will be doing if you so choose to partake in this bold occasion).

As all fans of the novel know, the book, for the majority, takes place and is centered around Room. Room is a small enclosed space containing a tiny kitchen with a table, a bathtub, a wardrobe, a rocker, a bed, a lamp, a skylight and a TV set. Your room will have all of these things including the locked security door. Our staff will lock you in your own Room with an electric combination lock shortly after your arrival and after you check in. The T.V. set has basic cable, be sure to tune into Dora the Explorer in the morning for the true Jack experience! You do have heat and A/C, however, there will be periods of time without the use of these services to demonstrate the cruelty Old Nick showed to Ma and Jack. Speaking of Old Nick, for your safety and for taking precautions against lawsuits, your ‘capturer’ is non-existent and will not pay you visits in the nighttime hours. You do however receive ‘surprises’ from Old Nick! Simply write down the trivial things you desire (your max is three) on a scrap piece of paper with the small amount of writing utensils available and slide it underneath your door. Our staff will come by and collect your wish list and deliver your surprise promptly at midnight. Your room does include Rug, sadly we could not get the right consistency due to health hazards, but it is still old and fraying so we ask you to be careful when walking in Room. Your bookshelf includes all the books Ma read to Jack, look under the bed and you will find Labyrinth, and atop the dresser you will find the remote control car of Jack’s dreams! Also for your ultimate experience we include the detailed itinerary of how Ma and Jack would spend their day. So get ready to watch Dora, do screaming exercises, run the ‘track’, get some much needed sun under Skylight, and much more, Room Replica Adventure Suites awaits!

 

 

Blog Post #2: What is a book?

If the notion of a book, an actual book with pages and ink, disappears, then we have lost the art form that is writing indefinitely. I say this because what makes a book a book is the feel of the pages, the weight of the ink pressed onto the paper, the smell of the text, the sound the bindings make when being opened for the first time. What makes a manuscript a genuine book is in fact when the author’s words, every single carefully selected word crafted with brutal elegance, printed onto the pages that are bound into the artistically made coverings of the very document that author spent many long nights trying to complete.  I say this because writing is a prideful occupation. How much satisfaction can a real author get from electronic sales? Not very much if you ask me. To know you have made it in the literally world you have to appeal to the true fans of reading; the readers that want to hold the actual book in their hands, the readers that prefer to read the sophisticated way, the way that has been around since man could translate their thoughts onto something for others to see. You see, society today has gotten very lazy and impatient. Today’s society prefers electronic books because it is fast and easy, lighter for their slothful arms to hold, equipped with a built in light so their oh-so-sensitive eyes can read at night with greater ease, and the list goes on and on. A book is the portal to the story. You open the book; you open the world that it holds inside. You open your Kindle or Nook and you are not so effortlessly transported to the fictitious place that is the story. We are comparing apples and oranges here. A book vs. an electronic reading device is a vicious battle. Unfortunately, the only reason why there is a decline in book sales and an influx in electronic book sales is this; today’s society is too lazy to appreciate the value of the book, and what it adds to the actual story, and is too distracted by the latest electronic craze. After all, without the ink, paper, and bindings what will we call a book? A story? A tale? A fictitious account? And how will we portray the magic of a new book to future generations if all they have left is the rotting books society deemed unworthy to love?