Response to Luna

This book presented some problems for me. I’m not even really sure how to go about responding to it, but I’ll give it the ol’ college try.
Okay, let’s start with the fact that I really like how the book is organized and written. The characters were believable, though not likable (we’ll get to that), the situations felt real to high school, and the insertion of the flashback scenes I thought added a lot to the narrative and were way better than if the narrator had just described those scenes to us.
Speaking of the narrator, I thought it was a great decision to have the narrator be Liam’s sister. It makes it so much more interesting to read because we don’t just see Liam and what he is going through, but we see how others are affected and how Liam’s life does not just center on himself, but has a huge impact on the lives of others, particularly Regan. She was a fascinating character, and the way her relationship developed with Chris probably would strike a chord with a lot of high schoolers. The awkwardness, the wonder, the “I don’t have time for this right now,” the jealousy, all of it is very “high schooly” and students would identify with that.
Okay, I guess I have to get to the elephant in the room. Or…on the page. Whatever. I am not okay with the topic of this book. I don’t want to make anyone angry, but my belief system does not allow for the GLBT philosophy to be okay. I believe saying it is okay for someone to be transgender implies that God made a mistake when he created them, and I don’t believe in a God who can make mistakes. I really don’t believe it’s appropriate to get into all that in depth in my book response, so I’ll try to stick with this book. When I saw what the book was about, I immediately thought, “I don’t want to read this book” and I actually considered asking if I could read a different one. But I thought it was important to have the same book experience that my classmates are having, so I read it. I wonder what I would do if a student asked me, “Do you know any good books about transgender teens?” Would I recommend this book knowing that it is a good book, but goes against what I believe in? Would I lie and just say no? Would I hand it over without a word? I really don’t know.
Interestingly, the character I had the biggest problem with in this book was not Liam. He seemed like an honest, caring, hard-working person. Granted, he maybe took advantage of Regan a little bit, and he made some really poor decisions (like dressing up during the babysitting gig), but on the whole he seemed like a likeable guy. No, the characters I had the biggest problem with were Liam’s parents. His mom didn’t take care of her family, and the outburst of “I’ve had it with you. I’ve had it with you and these kids and my life. It isn’t enough” (137) is extremely selfish. But it all starts with Liam’s dad. He obviously did not know how to make his wife feel loved, leading to the aforementioned scene. And his insistence on pushing Liam into sports when Liam clearly did not want to sends a terrible message. But of course it culminated with the lines “You’re sick” and “If you walk out that door, don’t bother coming back” (222-223) I don’t care if what someone does is against your beliefs, you just don’t treat people that way. I believe the culture of the home and family start with the husband/father, and this guy failed miserably.

Response to The Life and Death of Adolf Hitler

I found this book enthralling. I didn’t know much about Hitler before his rise to power, and to see his whole background is very interesting. Of course, the first thing almost anyone thinks about Hitler is, “How can someone follow a person like that?” This book answers the question beautifully. With the political climate at the time, the results of the First World War, the state of Germany, and so many other factors, it really was the perfect storm for Hitler to rise to power.
One of the most interesting aspects of the story I thought was his young adult years spent in Vienna and trying to make it as an artist. Imagine, if he had just gotten into art school, none of this would have ever happened. To hear how he struggled, how he hid his trials from friends and family, and how he was really was just a lost young man adds depth to a person normally viewed as simply a monster who hated for no reason.
Speaking of why he hated, I really liked that the book does not try to offer a definitive explanation for Hitler’s hatred of the Jews. It is simply unfathomable to think that someone could hate another person that much simply because of their religion, race, gender, size, or any other aspect of character that should have no bearing on how people are treated. And while the book does offer some possibilities, it does not try to give an outright explanation, knowing that it is impossible to do so.
After the question of hate comes the question of love. Is it possible to love someone so much that you will poison yourself, have your body burned, and even kill your own children because that someone will no longer be the leader of your country? The persons of Eva Braun and the Goebbels are arguably just as fascinating as Hitler himself. Who voluntarily goes to their grave over this? At no point did Eva Braun think to herself, “You know, we’re not even married, and this war really isn’t going that well. Maybe Hitler isn’t the best guy to be connected to right now”? And when the story is told of Magda Goebbels killing her own children with poison and saying, “A world without Hitler and National Socialism is not worth living in” (214) I could barely contain my rage. Really? A world without Hitler is not worth living in? He was one guy! He orchestrated the death of millions of people! And he’s the one guy that makes the world worth living in?! I feel bad enough when I accidentally bonk my son’s head with the car door, and she poisoned her kids on purpose! It just really shows the length to which these people were brainwashed.
Interestingly, I believe Hitler could be cast as a sort of tragic hero to the people who followed him and knew exactly how to get people to do what he wanted and how to get them to think a certain way. He was loved by so many for so long, but his pride became his tragic flaw. He refused to believe there was anything he couldn’t do, and started making decisions that were irrational out of pride. Everyone knew the move into Russia was a poor decision, but he went ahead with it and it basically cost him the war. He ordered troops not to surrender when that was really the only course of action. He thought he knew the military strategies of other countries, but didn’t. His downfall came because of his own pride, and had he not believed in himself so much, he probably would have won.

Response to The Circuit

I really enjoyed this book, even with how sad much of it is. I feel like even through the sadness, there is a ray of hope that constantly shines through. Maybe it’s because the father really does believe there is a better life that they are working toward, or maybe it’s because there are characters throughout the book with whom we sympathize, but mainly I think it’s because the main character does not seem to hold any animosity toward the life he lives. There are moments of sadness and misery, of course, but it seems that few of them actually have to do with their lot in life. The sadness comes when the bird dies or when he tries to help pick cotton but ends up destroying it or the fact that he is nervous about reciting the Declaration of Independence (more on that later). But never, to my recollection, does he say things like, “I wish we weren’t so poor” or “Why did God give us this crappy life?” There is no “woe is me” in regard to the life they lead, and that makes the reader sympathize with their plight much more easily.
The beginning of the book was a little hard to read for me because the family has grand ideas of moving to California for a better life, but right away we know what likely awaits them, and we know that it is no better. I think the father knows it immediately, and maybe even knew it before, when they arrive and are told they cannot start work for two weeks and they will all stay in a little tent. We wonder right away if they would have been better off just staying in Mexico. But also in the first chapter we see the unbridled optimism that the boys have. When the train conductor drops a bag of food for them, Roberto exclaims, “See, it does come from California!” (7). Even with the life they now lead, the boys are holding onto the idea that there is a California out there somewhere that is a land flowing with milk and honey. They refuse to believe that this is the end of their journey.
Two specific spots in the story really stuck with me. The first is the game of kick the can in the chapter “Learning the Game” when Panchito refuses to play unless Manuelito is also allowed to play. I love that this story is woven into the story of Gabriel, who refuses to do the work of an animal and is fired and deported. The injustice of Gabriel’s story sits in stark contrast to what Panchito decides he must accomplish. It is one small moment, in one small field, with a few young children, but in that moment, justice was served and discrimination was destroyed because one small boy took a stand against something that he knew was not right. World changes begin with moments like that.
The second part that struck me was the ending. I loved the buildup of trying to learn the Declaration of Independence to recite it in front of the teacher, especially the repetition of the famous words of equal creation. Before the recitation comes, however, Panchito is taken away by what I assume is the INS. The fact that the teacher is making the students memorize these words and then turns in Panchito is, for me, at the same time very aggravating but kind of understandable. We want Panchito to succeed, and we want to believe that everyone has the right to freedom and happiness, but at the same time he is here illegally and the laws of the country must be upheld or there would be total chaos. So it creates a moral dilemma of helping the child but submitting to authority. Tough.

Response to Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World

Admittedly, I didn’t know hardly anything about Shackleton or his trip to Antarctica before reading this book. At first, I thought it was going to be some boring story about a crew who had to be rescued, but as I got into the book I found it enthralling. What a remarkable story of survival, and not just against the elements, but against emotion, despair, and the greatest of odds.
On page one, the author tells the reader about Antarctica and how dangerous it is, but at the end of the page she tells us that all of the men survived. I thought this was strange (why would she give away the ending?), but as I read I realized it was actually quite useful. Almost Shakespearian in a way. For as Shakespeare often tells his audience what will happen at the end of the play because he is not interested in the ending, but the story, so does Armstrong tell us the ending of the story because it is not the simple fact that they survived that is the interesting part of the story, but how it happened. I even doubted as I read that everyone was going to survive, even though I knew it to be true. There would be instances in the story when I would think, “Surely, somebody has to die here” or “I don’t think that guy is going to make it.” But I knew they would, and they did. Also, telling the reader that everyone will survive actually makes the book easier to read in a way. I have had a very hard time reading other stories like this, Into Thin Air for example, because of the maps and stories that say things like “Here is where this person was seen for the last time.” I don’t like thinking about stuff like that. I like when everyone comes out okay. So this book allows for the readers who want to see everyone succeed, and they know the whole time that they will.
Shackleton is a fascinating person. The leadership qualities he possessed are hard to find in many people. As I was reading about him, I couldn’t help but draw a comparison between him and Herb Brooks, coach of the 1980 Olympic hockey team. Both of them knew exactly how to get the best out of the men they commanded, and both possessed a fervent desire to do something that had been deemed nearly impossible. Granted, the two goals were very different, but they both prepared extremely well, a key component to their success. One of the keys to why Shackleton was such a great leader is summed up by Cheetham when he told a group women, “He don’t run you into any danger if he can help it; but, by gum! if there’s danger, he goes first” (9). It’s much easier to follow someone if they are brave and trustworthy, and the trust that the men had in Shackleton is evidenced by the fact that so many returned with him to Antarctica for another try. I’m not sure you could have paid me enough to go back there after that.
Finally, I thought one of the most underrated parts of the story was what happened to the Aurora, the boat supposed to pick up Shackleton and the team trekking across the continent. I figured they would have just sat there for a while and finally left, assuming everyone was dead. Not until the end of the book does the author tell us that the Aurora also got caught in ice, sunk, and everyone died. Had Shackleton and his men made the trek, they would have arrived to no ship, and probably would have died. The fact that they got caught in the ice and had to turn back saved everyone’s life. I can’t imagine what the crew was thinking when they found out, but I’m sure they felt very lucky.

Response to Things Not Seen

I think this is a book that can bring about any number of responses on the part of the reader. I can see people loving this book and I can see people hating it, and everything in between. For me, it was very up and down. I started off liking it okay, then I didn’t like it, then I really did, then something would happen I thought was stupid, then I would love how it got resolved, and over and over until I was done. It was a very up-and-down experience.
My first thought when I saw what the book was about was, “What is this, a new version of ‘The Metamorphosis’?” and I was not really looking forward to that. Luckily, it didn’t turn out that way. After I started reading about Bobby’s first morning as being invisible, there were multiple things that I was questioning. First was Bobby’s reaction. He’s fifteen, he’s a boy, and I’m supposed to believe that the first thing to pop into his head wasn’t, “How can I use this to my advantage?” Just about every fifteen-year-old boy I know would absolutely have gone to the dressing rooms in a women’s store or started playing tricks on all the people he doesn’t like, and all kinds of stuff like that. So I was skeptical about that, but then Bobby addresses it when he says that’s exactly what his friends would tell him to do. He goes on to say, “…if that’s what some kid is thinking, that’s because it’s not happening to him…This isn’t like that. This is my life” (67). I had two reactions to this. First, I was really glad the author addressed it, and it totally made sense the way Bobby said it. I had never thought of it like that. Like it’s not some game, it’s a completely life-changing experience. Still, my second reaction was that I could see a kid coming to that realization…after a few days. I still think the immediate reaction would be to wreak some havoc and steal some money or something, and after the luster has worn off then maybe we’d see the reaction that Bobby has.
The topic of invisibility is really difficult to explain, because I think there are too many problems that make it unbelievable. I tried to suspend disbelief, and I was actually really glad that there was a real explanation as to why it happened, not just, “He woke up and he was invisible, deal with it.” This is where I was able to suspend disbelief because I thought the whole electric blanket/solar wind thing was pretty far-fetched, but I was okay with it. I was even able to buy into it when he first saw his shadow and they realize that there is just something up with his molecular structure that doesn’t allow light to refract off of him properly, so the eye doesn’t pick him up. I actually thought that was really interesting and clever. But I could not buy into the fact that Bobby could “hide” things in his hands or armpits. That doesn’t make any sense. If you can’t see the item, then there has to be something blocking it. And hiding something in your armpit is not at all different than holding your hand in front of it. If nobody can see the thing in his hand, then his hand is covering it. Logically, then, you can’t see something his body is blocking, in which case he is not invisible! I couldn’t get over that.
Finally, the ending of the book was really anticlimactic and disappointing. If I had realized that sleeping under an electric blanket made me invisible, you know the first thing I do? Go sleep under the blanket again! I understand that you don’t know what’s going to happen, but I would be willing to try anything. I can’t believe it took that long to come up. I was a bit disappointed in that part of the ending, but was intrigued by Sheila, who didn’t want to go back to normal. When she says, “I don’t want to start worrying about my weight and my hair and all that junk again” (238) I think that’s an outstanding little commentary by the author on the vanity of people. Perhaps it would be better if everyone was invisible, because then we wouldn’t even have to worry about how people look.

Response to The House of the Scorpion

This book is a very interesting look at a possible future of North America and also deals with intriguing issues of cloning, power, and prejudice. On the whole, I enjoyed this book, and I definitely think that certain students who are into this genre would really like the book.
In the first chapter, we are shown that cloning is going on and that the “Matteo Alacran” is always left intact, not given the shot that would blunt its intelligence. I found this fascinating. Whenever I have heard about cloning or read about it in the newspaper or something, I just thought that there was a clone and they grew up as a clone and that was that. I never considered the possibility that a clone would deliberately be given blunted intelligence. It seems so cruel and inhumane. Though, I suppose it has to be considered what the point of the clone is. For many, I imagine, it has to do with medical treatment and getting new organs and things like that, as it does in this book. So it does make a certain amount of sense to make the clone unaware of their existence if their sole purpose is to be cut up someday. Still, it’s not any easier to think about.
The power that is shown in the book is amazing to me. El Patron holds absolute power over just about everything, but the most shocking is the power to take a person’s life away, but not kill them, make them an eejit. This is incomprehensible to me. That a person actually has the ability to take another person and implant something in their brain that really makes them no better than a robot is horrific. Although, the more I thought about it, the less surprised I was at the act itself as the fact that it was allowed to go on. Surely other countries knew this was going on, so did they simply turn a blind eye because it was in their best interest? Did nobody care about these people? Were they being bribed? If this is the type of society we’re moving towards, I hope I’m dead before it happens.
The way that the clones were treated was very surprising to me. Immediately upon being discovered, Matt is characterized by other people as dirty and inhuman. I guess I thought there would be a little more understanding, since it’s not his fault he’s a clone. Though I do think it’s a very interesting portrayal of prejudice in general. Americans had the same reactions to slaves long ago, and even the holocaust or apartheid is still carrying out the idea that one person is better than another person for no real reason. Of course it all stems from insecurity, and I thought the scene when Tam Lin explains to Matt that clones are really no different than anyone else, that they are fully human, was very powerful. It was like Tam Lin was speaking to everyone who has ever held such ideas about another person.
Though I enjoyed this book and think it does a lot of great things, I do have to make one critical comment, and that is that I thought the movement of the book was a little slow, especially in the explanation of how the world got to where it is. I actually got to a point where I was bored with the situation of the world and not knowing how it came about. When it finally did come up in the book Matt finds, it made everything that happened that much more interesting. Similarly, when Matt escapes and becomes a Lost Boy, I thought that whole process was a little slow with some unnecessary filler. It lost some excitement and tension, and had it been cut down a little, that tension would have remained.