The Fault in Our Stars Blog #2

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green was so easy to read and I could not put it down. I finished so quickly and was sad when it was over because I wanted it to keep going. However, the ending was very appropriate. The physical relationship between Augustus and Hazel had ended before the ending, but I believe that Hazel's attitude towards his death, showed that the spiritual relationship between them will never end. They were in love and not for long before Augustus passed away. Also, throughout the book, Hazel wanted to know how the book An Imperial Affliction ended because the main character had also suffered from cancer and died before the book was "finished." That came to an end because Augustus had wrote an ending for her just so that she could have answers. Once the plot twist happened,  the ending was kind of predictable because Augustus said that his cancer was terminal so I knew that he was going to die by the end of the book. However, I was wondering if Hazel was going to survive or if the end of the book was going to be here dying as well. But I liked how Hazel did not die during the book because it would have been very emotional and I think the ending would be a little awkward if it just ended mid sentence. But I think even before I knew Augustus' cancer was terminal, I knew that the ending of the book was going to be sad whether it was Augustus or Hazel passing away so that part of it was predictable. But I don't think that anything in the book related to the ending was not out of left field. It all made sense and related to other parts of the book well. I really respect John Green as a writer because he does an awesome job ending the book appropriately and doesn't do anything too crazy that would make the book or even the ending seem unrealistic. I really enjoyed this book, definitely in the top of the best books I have read.

The Fault in Our Stars Blog #1

Since I last blogged, I have read another John Green book and I have to admit that I liked The Fault in Our Stars much better than Looking For Alaska. John Green's style as an author just intrigues me and I can not even pinpoint exactly what it is about his writing that I like so much. Going into TFIOS, I knew that it was going to be a sad book but at the same time it was so happy. Through these fictional characters, Augustus and Hazel, I could feel as if I was reading about a real relationship that was happening in real life and I loved it. However, there is a plot twist that I was not expecting right in the middle of the book. Hazel has cancer and Augustus started the book as being in remission from cancer. But when the couple travels to Amsterdam as a wish for Augustus, he shares that he went to the doctor for a check-up and the cancer had spread to many parts of his body and it is terminal. At the beginning of the book, I thought that Augustus would have been the one dealing with Hazel's death because her cancer is also going to be terminal. But the plot twist happened and Hazel had to go through the heartbreaking event that was Augustus' death, her first love. I never expected this plot twist because Augustus was acting as such a strong man, recovering and getting better every day, but it was the opposite. It did make the story more interesting and when Augustus told Hazel that the cancer had come back, I felt for them in the moment and actually cried while reading the plot twist. I usually don't cry at books and I know I liked this book when I cried at what was happening. I think without this plot twist, the book's ending was very predictable and I think that was the reason John Green included such a heart-wrenching plot twist. I think John Green does a great job giving details about the characters which makes the plot twist a lot more difficult to read and not get emotional. However, I did not like how the plot twist happened and then Augustus died not long after. And I know that is the point but I wish there were a couple more events in between to really feel the sadness between Hazel and Augustus. Overall, I really enjoyed this book and the plot twist made the book ten times better, but also ten times more sad.

Looking For Alaska Blog #1

"Looking For Alaska" by John Green is one of the best books I have ever read. It was written so well and kept me interested the entire time even though there was no really set plot. However, there was one plot change that I expected was coming but I never thought what happened was going to happen. Instead of chapters, different sections are "this many days before.." And there is a section of what happened that day and so on. So when I got to sections that were two and three days before, I knew something was coming that was going to change the entire plot. This plot twist actually caught me off guard because I never expected something so extreme to happen to such a big character in the book. I was actually in class reading when I came apart this part and I actually said "you've got to be kidding me, no, no way this can happen." I almost felt a connection to the people in the novel and my heart hurt for them when they heard about the passing of Alaska. I think that if I were in a different setting reading this part, and not at school, I would have cried. And I don't cry at many books or movies but I felt the tears in my eyes ready to burst. John Green did such a good job of setting this plot twist up so you knew it was coming but didn't expect the extremity of what will happen. I couldn't put the book down once I got started. And without this plot twist, the story would just continue of their stupid pranks and drinking milk and vodka in their bedroom. But the plot twist changed everything, you could just tell by  the style Green was writing in.  Before the death of Alaska, the writing was very detailed and descriptive. And after the death, it was still detailed and descriptive but in a very sad way. I felt as if the characters were writing this book together and saying what they actually thought and didn't hide any emotions. This plot twist is what changed this ordinary book to an extraordinary book. "Looking For Alaska" actually made me realize I miss reading good books and with an author like John Green, it's worth getting back into it.

"Where Are You Going..." Response

At the beginning of "Where are you Going, Where have you Been?" by Joyce Carol Oates, the plot that happened was the last thing I would have guessed that was going to happen. Connie seems like a regular fifteen year old, struggling with her mother and living under the shadow of her older sister. When Connie first saw the boy who later showed up at her house, the way he was described did not see relevant to the plot line. However the details given were memorable. For example, shaggy black hair with a gold convertible is brought up again later in the story and we already knew he was mentioned. I think if he was only briefly described, like just black hair, there wouldn't have been a connection with the two parts of the story. I liked the story overall but I was also very confused with what was happening. It was fuzzy whether or not the boy with the gold convertible was real or just a part of Connie's imagination. It was very strange that the boy knew where she lived, where her family was and knew exactly what they were doing. The part where  it was really unclear if he was really there or not is when he would only go into the house if she touched the phone. That makes me believe that he really was there because he was threatening her. I felt almost scared for Connie because as the reader, we had no idea what he wanted or what he was going to do if he did go into the house. However, Oates did a great job writing the story because at the end, we still didn't know what happened or if he was real. She also provided enough details for both perspectives whether if he was real or not which is important for a good story. Overall I did like the story. It kept me reading and interested and it made for a good conversation during class which is better than no conversation. Even though I've read the story, I still want to know the outcome of Connie. I want to know if she was just imagining this whole scene or if he really was there.

Change of Heart #4 Q1

The values and experiences of Change of Heart are very unique. Shay Bourne is in jail and is sentenced to the death penalty and June Nealon's daughter, Elizabeth, will die if she does not get a new heart. I could not directly relate to these because they are very extreme. However, I think that I can connect to some of the underlying feelings and messages that are shown through these hardships. For example, Father Michael is the spiritual adviser to Shay and reminds him every day to never give up on God and that he has a plan. Shay does not see the meaning of this and refuses to even talk to Father Michael some days. And some days I think that I forget that God is with me and that I need someone telling me every once in a while that God is still there, even through little things. And I think some of the characters in the novel portray a person that is worth striving for. June Nealon never gives up on trying to help her daughter. She lost her husband and other daughter and is battling with the lawsuit of Shay Bourne but is always a great mother and is so strong throughout the entire novel. I think the true purpose of the novel is to show that people can go through and experience a change of heart. It happened to June Nealon when she accepted Shay Bourne's heart for her child Elizabeth knowing that he is somewhat responsible for the deaths in her family. I do not think that I have gone through a change of heart quite yet but I do believe that it can happen. This book is very powerful in the sense that God is present in so many of the character's lives. And I think anyone reading the novel can connect to a time when God was needed in their life or God was so prominently present that he seemed to be holding your hand through something. I really liked how Jodi Picoult incorporated the power of God into Change of Heart because most novels do not have a lot of content about God. I think the way that Jodi Picoult explains everything in detail, including the feelings of the characters, connects the reader to the story. For me it did because when reading it, I felt as if I knew the characters and felt bad for them. The underlying messages and how characters were portrayed were a lot easier to relate to than the actual content of Change of Heart.

Change of Heart #3 Q1

Jodi Picoult, as an author, has very unique stylistic devices within her novels. She tells the story from multiple characters and each chapter is usually a different character. However, this does keep the story moving and gets a lot of different opinions from the different characters. In Change of Heart, the chapters alternate characters including Shay Bourne, Father Michael, June Nealon, Lucius, who is an inmate on Shay's floor, and Maggie, who is Shay's lawyer. The chapters are usually relatively short and the characters usually have similar amounts of chapters. I like this style of writing because it keeps things moving instead of having one chapter drag out to the point where you lose track of what is going on. I also like this technique because it interests me that Jodi Picoult makes so many different personalities in her books, but you get to meet most of them and really read what they feel about what is going on. I do not remember reading any other books that use the same technique of the chapters being told by different points of view. This device makes Jodi Picoult stand out and makes me want to read more of her books.
 Another device that Jodi Picoult uses in her book is the type of diction she writes in. The story is easy to understand but it is not "dumbed down" to any extent. Change of Heart talks about true details, for example, of living in a prison or dealing with a child who has to have heart surgery. I am not very good at vocabulary but I understood the text very well. And usually if a word that I didn't know was in a sentence, it was easy enough to figure out what it meant because of the context. I think the type of diction used says a lot about a style of writing and also the author. I have read a couple of Jodi Picoult's books and have not had trouble getting through any of them. The way she writes actually makes me want to read more because it is an easy read. The style of Change of Heart really made it easy for me to keep up with the plot of the book and kept me interested because it did not bore me. I think that without the different characters telling the story, the plot line would not be the same and it would be very hard to keep up with. Jodi Picoult really does a good job with the chapter types and the type of diction she uses.

Change of Heart #2 Q1

Sometimes endings to novels are very predictable and some endings seem to come out of nowhere. In Change of Heart by Jodi Picoult, the ending was some what predictable but there were a couple details that surprised me very much. Through out the entire novel, Shay Bourne is to blame for the murders of Kurt and Elizabeth Nealon. However, at the end, we find out that Shay was trying to save Elizabeth from being sexually abused by her stepfather Kurt. Shay kills Kurt but Kurt accidentally shot Elizabeth while trying to save himself. Jodi Picoult made Shay Bourne look like the bad guy in the novel, but in reality he was just trying to help and he was the only one left to blame. This came as a very big surprise to me because there were no hints that led to Kurt sexually abusing Elizabeth, and being the one who actually killed his own daughter. Also, at the end of the novel, Shay Bourne had to die because of his sentence of the death penalty. That was predictable because sentences like that usually do not second guess themselves. However, characters in the novel like Father Michael and Maggie were trying their best to postpone his death until they figured out what to do with his heart and Claire Nealon. When Shay did die, he donated his heart to Elizabeth. The novel was very "wishy-washy" about the outcome of Claire and Shay's heart, one chapter they were going to accept the heart, the next they were hesitant because of who was the donor. This made the ending of the novel hard to predict because I was not sure what was actually going to happen and kept me want to keep reading to find out the outcome.
 I really liked the ending of the novel because it was very different from any other novel. The entire plot was kind of flipped when it was revealed that Kurt was sexually abusing his daughter and Shay was trying to stop it. It made me really think about into the story and how Shay felt so bad for the family. It did not make sense before because he should not have cared, but since he was trying to help, I understand why he felt so bad and wanted to donate his heart. I also liked how Claire and her mother decided to accept the heart transplant and save Claire's life. June Nealon found out the truth about her husband and came to the conclusion that accepting the heart from Shay Bourne would help her daughter and have a piece of the man who tried to help save her other daughter Elizabeth. Jodi Picoult did a great job with the ending of the novel, and made it an even better story with the twists at the end.