Book 3 Review

Book Review

Maya hall

House Rules

By: Jodi Picoult

            House Rules is a novel that tells a story by using different characters in the book for each chapter. This allows the reader to understand the plot as well as the main character of the book, Jacob, in different points of view. The main character is a child with Asperger’s syndrome, which is a form of autism and the novel describes how Jacob interacts with his family and the environment. He is unable to detect social clues and his sense of security revolves around schedule and routine.  Even though Jacob cannot see the purpose of cliques, friendships, or jokes, he can see that he doesn’t fit in and he longs to have friend.  The premise of the book is a murder/mystery that revolves around Jacob and his family. It is very suspenseful but unique because the main character has autism and each chapter tells the story from a different perspective. This is a common writing style for the author, Jodi Picoult, and several of her other novels which provides a unique twist to the writing style.

I thought the basic premise of the book was really disturbing yet hard to put down. Jacob was convicted of murdering his tutor and because of the autistic traits he displays you can see the frustration in his mother because people lack the knowledge about a unique boy characterized on the autism spectrum like her son.  She does not want the court to see her son as a mentally disabled child but to understand that Jacob is truly a sweet kid that just doesn’t interact well socially and has odd routines.  Jacob’s mother Emma explains her frustration by saying on page 5, “They think there is no greater hell than having a son who is locked in his own world, unaware that there’s a wider one to explore.  But try having a son who is locked in his own world and still wants to make a connection.  A son who tries to be like everyone else but truly doesn’t know how.” The way Picoult writes this novel allows the reader to love and appreciate everything that this mother is willing to do for her son.  She helps you appreciate the difficulties Jacob and his mother face.  Maureen Corrigan from the Washington Post agreed by saying, “Picoult's depiction of Jacob and his family is complex, compassionate and smart. The Hunts are likable, but none of them is likely to be nominated for sainthood soon.”

You can hear Jacob’s frustration when he is telling the story because he explains that his interests are different from most kids his age so he finds him left out more times than not.  Even though he has quirks he does understand that he doesn’t fit in as he mentions on page 19, “Now, I have gotten used to kids telling me to leave, to sit somewhere else.  I never get called on weekends.  I just don’t get social hints that other people do.” Jacob kept the story very fast pace and interesting because of the unique traits he exhibits.

I would rate this book a 5 out of 5 stars because I am friends with someone who has Asperger’s Syndrome and as I was reading the book I felt that all of the point of views including Jacob’s were very accurate.  As I can see the frustrations someone with Asperger’s goes through was very well portrayed in the story through Jacob’s point of view.  It was very interesting to hear a similar voice but in a completely different situation.  

House Rules Book Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5J55rxi_to

Top Five

Blog #7

I personally think the book must be 100% true because if an author thinks their life or part of their life is interesting enough to share with the world or move a specific audience then they shouldn’t need to exaggerate facts or even put in things that aren’t necessarily true.  Especially if the author is telling a story about challenges they faced then in that case the story could relate to many people going through similar things and it isn’t fair to them if the author later on admits that the story was a lie. If the author wants to base their story off of their life then in that case it’s still not a completely true story it is partially made up so they should label their book as “based off a true story”.  If the author has a story in their life that is interesting or they feel the need to be told then they shouldn’t need to change things to allow more people to like it.  Changing the facts could not only affect the readers but also the people in that story if they were changed in the book into something they’re not. I think if a story is said to be non-fiction then it should tell the whole truth because just like how we read books in the past maybe people in the future will want to read books about how our life was and if these “true” books were a lie then what’s the point?

            I think we do need lines between genres because some things are very important and can’t be forgotten.  For example stories about the Holocaust or World War 2, if they were blended in with fiction maybe a couple hundred years from now people wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between what actually happened during that time and what was made up.  It’s important that things are remembered as they are and not as what people they should be. 

Blog #6

I don’t think anyone gets to decide what good writing is because everyone is going to have a favorite genre or style of writing which will immediately cause a bias opinion towards a genre they don’t enjoy.   I believe that many people decide on what books to read by what everyone says about that book.  For example many teenagers feel the need to read Hunger Games or Harry Potter because of how popular it is for our age group and only good things are said about those books.  Many teenagers will think that literary work is much less exciting than genre fiction for many reasons being many people our age, if they enjoy reading they will chose to read genre fiction which is such a different type of writing than literary work.  Coming into school and being forced to read literary fiction will immediately cause a bias opinion towards that work.  I think students see Literary Fiction less exiting to read during school than genre fiction because many times I find the style of writing confusing to understand and when teachers are cramming in tests and quizzes on a specific scene or chapter I end up studying the facts from the story rather than the overall theme or story the author is trying to get across.  When studying facts rather than the theme or importance of the story the facts make it almost like memorizing the “important” parts of the book leading me to easily forget what happened in the story.  When literary fiction is assigned you are told to read a specific amount of chapters and not to go ahead of the class but when I read genre fiction sometimes I can’t stop at a specific spot because of how exciting the book is.   I believe both genres are important but I think different audiences will enjoy different genres.

post #4

The Help

Author: Kathryn Stockett

Some adaptations that would make filming The Help difficult is the setting of the book because the book takes place in the 1960’s so the appropriate houses and stores would need to be used in order for it to seem realistic because the book is all about the perspectives of maids that work for white people.  I think another think that would make the movie difficult to film is the book has three separate perspectives so making sure to focus on all of those separate perspectives would be difficult. 

I think one scene that is essential in this book is when Ms. Skeeter talks about how much she loved her maid (Constantine) and how Constantine raised Skeeter and she was there for her when her mother wasn’t. When Skeeter comes home from college Constantine isn’t there anymore and later on she figures out that her mother fired Constantine. I think another scene that is important to keep in the movie is Minny who is a maid that works for a young lady is not telling her husband that she has a maid working for her because she wants her husband to believe that she can cook and clean.  Minny is afraid for the day that her husband walks in and sees a maid in his house.  I think an important scene to keep in is when the husband comes home and finds Minny cleaning in his house.  Another scene that is very important is when Aibileen decides to help Skeeter by allowing her to interview her on what it’s like to be maid.

I think things that would need to be cut out of the movie would be the scenes when the maids are just explaining their day cleaning at the house they clean at every day or when Minny is teaching Miss Celia how to cook.

Book Project #1

Maya Hall

Bell 3

Thirteen Reasons Why

By: Jay Asher

Book 1 Project

1.     My idea is to have the restaurant called Monet’s Garden Café & Coffee House on Hannah Baker’s map actually built and the restaurant could be named after it.  On the inside of the restaurant inspiring or famous quotes from Hannah Baker could be written on the walls so when people walk in, memories from and about the book will come back to the people that are fans of the book.  I think the restaurant is a main part of the book because Hannah Baker has a lot of connections to it such as making new friends there that turn against her which is one of thirteen reasons why she commits suicide.  So I think having one of the reasons come to life will help fans experience the book from a whole different perspective. Also I think at the restaurant there could be an author signing every month to invite the fans in or people that have read his other books and the restaurant could invite them to read Thirteen Reasons Why.  Some examples of quotes I would like to put on the walls are, “No one knows for certain how much impact they have on the lives of other people. Oftentimes, we have no clue. Yet we push it just the same.” Another example of a quote I would use is, “I hope you’re ready, because I’m about to tell you the story of my life.  More specifically, why my life ended.  And if you’re listening to these tapes you’re one of the reasons why.”

2.     This restaurant is important in the book because Hannah Baker was new to town and she met two new friends named Jessica and Alex there that made her more comfortable in the new school she was in.  Monet’s Garden Café & Coffee House was a safe haven for Hannah and her friends. Hannah was now so excited to have friends to help her get through school as she said on cassette 2, “How many nights had I fallen asleep terrified, thinking of that first day of school? Too many. And after Monet’s? None. Now, I was excited.” They would meet there and talk about their past friends or what friendships they were hoping to develop but this safe haven soon changed to a place where their friendship was broken.  Hannah was hoping that moving to this new town was going to allow her to escape the rumors as she said on cassette 2, “but I had hoped—silly me—that there would be no more rumors when my family moved here.  That I had left the rumors and gossip behind me . . . for good.”  Their friendship that saved Hannah from being lonely was now crumbling which turned out to be one of the reasons why she decided to end her own life.  As she mentioned at the end of cassette 2, “Jessica, my dear, I’d really love to know if you dragged yourself to my funeral. And if you did, did you notice your scar? And what about you—the rest of you—did you notice the scars you left behind? No. Probably not. Because most of them can’t be seen with the naked eye.”

3.     I think this idea will bring in fans because the idea of one of the scenes coming to life is like almost being a part of the movie version of the book because the restaurant brings the book to life.  Since the restaurant will have important quotes that ended Hannah’s life it will send memories through the people’s minds that have read the book.  I think this idea can encourage people to read the book that haven’t because it is just an ordinary looking restaurant but on the inside have very interesting and inspiring quotes from the book that will motivate people to read the book.  I think it will help different audiences get into the book because some of the quotes from the book are very general but very enticing. 

4.    http://www.keancoffee.com/Images/EmptyCoffeehouse.jpg