Book 4 Reflection

Romantic Hero:

They’re big these days, the romantic heroes, prevalent in dystopian novels we get pretty comfortable with them. Juliette is just another Romantic hero living in a dystopian world, going against the Reestablishment. In Shatter Me you watch Juliette grow into the role of this hero, she’s just getting started. However, all the characteristics are there.

Juliette rejects established norms and conventions in Shatter Me, she fights the reestablishment’s policies every step of the way. Even from the start she’s horrified of what the world has become while she’s been trapped away. Adam tells her and Juliette’s reaction is real and intense, emphasized by the first person narration. Juliette narrates, “They’re incinerating culture, the beauty of diversity. The new citizens of our world will be reduced to nothing but numbers, easily interchangeable, easily removable, easily destroyed for disobedience. We have lost our humanity,” (Mafi 38). She despises the man responsible for it all, Warner. Later in the book she disobeys him, refusing food, clothes, luxury. She refuses to work with him, to allow him to use her lethal touch as his own weapon. She doesn’t want to go along with the way society is ruled because she still remembers how the world was before.

Due to her deadly touch, Juliette has been rejected by the society. At the start of the book she has been living in a facility for 3 years, her parents too scared of her to deny the benefits putting her away will bring.  Even growing up she was called dangerous, isolated from the other kids. In a heartbreaking scene the reader flashes back to those days as written, “I never wanted to see the face everyone hated so much. Girls used to kick me and run away. Boys used to throw rocks at me. I still have scars somewhere,” (Mafi 143). She was only 8 and already an outsider, to her parents, to her peers, to her teachers. They were disgusted by her because all she was to them was a hazard, a killer. Even later at 17, when the reestablishment recruits-kidnaps- her the soldiers are scared of her, they are all anxious, a moment away from pointing a gun in her direction at any moment. She’s not human in society, she’s a monster.

Radical Individualism is the final characteristic of a romantic hero. While Juliette possess this, it fades away as the book progresses. At the beginning she has been isolated she tell us on the first page, “I haven’t spoken in 264 days of isolation,” (Mafi 1). She relies on herself, the only person that she knows she can trust. Even when Adam is introduced as her cell mate she allows him to take her bed and won’t speak to him. She doesn’t know where to start, barely knows how to socialize.  This pattern follows through the first third of the book and is one of the main reasons why she’s so distrusting of Warner. However, Adam worms his way into her mind, he’s all she’s ever wanted. He knows her, doesn’t think she’s a monster and reassures her against her own insecurities. She will always trust herself the most but Adam is a big figure that she leans on.

Juliette is almost the definition of a Romantic hero, fitting two of the characteristics to a tee and qualifying partially for the last one. She doesn’t accept established norms, fighting against the reestablishment. She has been exiled by society. Locked away at school, and at 14 sent away to an asylum to live the rest of her days. Lastly, she is a shows radical individualism by only knowing how to trust herself. 

Book 2 Trailer

Book Talk

5 Reasons Why Martin Doesn’t Deserve A Second Chance (Book 3)

A Long Way Down is a great read that will have readers praying all turns out okay. Martin Sharp, one of four main characters, is one that isn’t given as much love from a reader as the others. He’s screwed up his life and while the others deserve another chance, he doesn’t. Here are 5 reasons why.

1. He’s self-centered

Like a five-year old child all Martin thinks about is himself. The reader feels sympathy for Martin’s ex-wife and children who he cheated on with a 15 year old girl. However, Martin is upset that Cindy never lets him see the girls, hates that Penny actually loves him enough to be in a relationship with him and whines about having new companions that annoy him. Many of us given these blessing would take them and run but Martin still stays in what he wants and what he lost, only thinking of himself.

2. He has no self-respect.

Now the reader realizes a character that was about to commit suicide shouldn’t be too high on self-confidence but the rest of the characters always had something that they valued. But Martin screwed up his life and hated himself, even though he was self-centered he recognized that he wasn’t all that great. He describes how he doesn’t think he deserves Penny by stating, “I couldn’t believe that she wanted to be with me for any other reason than nostalgia and pity,” (93). Martin didn’t value himself and if he was given a second chance he would just throw it away in order to wallow in self-pity.

3. He doesn’t want to change anything.

After meeting JJ, Maureen and Jesse Martin is basically given a second chance. The reader watches him as he thinks about what he would do differently. Martin realizes that he wouldn’t do anything differently because he’s sorry that he got caught but not all that sorry for what he did. Martin is a static character, from start to end he doesn't change.

4. He’s antisocial.

During the book the group decides to treat Maureen to a vacation because it's all that she wishes for. While on the island, Martin splits off from the group, run away from Jess and doesn't socialize, instead staying in his own world. He is so determined not to spend his vacation with the group that he hides in a pub bathroom for a couple hours just to avoid conversing with Jess. Not only is this unbelievably rude, isn't the majority of life spent in other's company? He's just begging to not be given another chance.

5. He's ungrateful.

Towards the end of the book he gets the opportunity to tutor an 8 year old kid name Pacino. But he doesn't take it in with all the gratefulness you would expect from a man who is able to prove himself moral again. He relates the process to a plane flight saying, "I was realistic enough to see that he wasn't going to get me all the way there, but volunteering to sit down with a stupid and unattractive child for an hour represented several thousand air miles, surely?" (320). He just can't take what he's given and deal with it, he's got to complain the whole time he's making lemonade out of his lemons.

Nick Hornby’s A Long Way Down is interesting, funny and thought –provoking. Most of his characters the reader will root for but they will have to keep in mind that Martin Sharp is not one of them. If one thing is for sure, he doesn’t deserve another chance. 

Post #5

     In my mind in order for a book to be non-fiction it has to be 95% true. Writing a memoir I don't expect authors to remember every aspect of their life. I don't expect the dialogue to be exact quotes or for them to remember exactly what day it was. But I do expect them to be as truthful as possible, I don't' want them adding in a family member into a conversation just for emphasis. I don't' want them to fabricate back stories, add in characters, or change where they were in their lives. Creative license is allowed in memoirs but not to the point where the majority of the story and impact of it is affected by the lies in the book.  Half-truths don't cut it in my book because the give an author a way out. A way out of being personal of giving up what truly happened, instead hiding under embellishments that make them seem more interesting. It matters for the truth not to be bent because its a slippery slop, if we accept small details to be changed authors will argue that anything they changed is small in the big picture of the novel. David Shields is wrong about erasing the boundary between fiction and non-fiction. Without a distinction written becomes chaos there will be no fact, no fiction, nothing can be trusted. As Seth Greenland pointed out , "our culture's inability to agree on the solidity of fact to be a sign of the apocalypse." Without the distinction there will be no records, nothing that can mark a document as full fact and without the facts there will be no law. Because every law there is can be disproved by the fact that anything a person writes could be true, and could let the person free of charges and implications of breaking that law.  There has to be a line between the genres or there will be no way to tell what or who to believe. 

Post #4

• I would adapt the Bourne Identity into a TV series. This book is around 600 pages long and separated into 3 or 4 parts within the book itself, I think it would be easier to adapt the book into a TV series. You could make each chapter into an hour long episode, drawing out the series, each season could be a part in the book. I think this would be the best way to stick to the plot and build the action of the novel without cutting many of the crucial scenes.
• At the start of the novel, the main character has amnesia and to earn some money has taken on a job as a member of the crew on a fisherman's boat. During this scene one of the crew members becomes violent with him and it stirs up deep instinct within the main character. This leads to an epic fight scene and some questions that the character must answer. I think this scene is important to the book because it allows the viewer to infer what his old life was but also opens up more questions that the series could later answer.
• Around 50 pages of the book are dedicated to the main character kidnapping Dr.St. Jacques to allow him to safely escape. While parts in this section is important, like a stop at a man's place which gives some more insight into who the character is, most of it is them driving and Bourne trying to decide where to go. I would shorten this scene, condensing it into the most important parts because the rest isn't really relevant to the plot.
• Some changes that would be needed would be the cut of minor scenes. It would be the only way to keep the episodes an hour long and not bore the viewers with the too-extended plots. I would shorten the bank scene, maybe leaving his bank account shrouded in mystery, a quick in and out mantra of events. I would also need to cut out a graphic scene with Dr. St. Jacques when she is left with an assassin to be killed.
• I would produce this TV series if I could get Matt Bomer to play Bourne. I think that he would bring the right mix of instinct and righteousness to the character. I would also cast Kate Walsh as Dr. St. Jacques. She could pull of the right  mix of toughness and intelligence that it required to portray the character. 
• The soundtrack would have to be an interesting mix of genres. While some scenes could pass of as meaningful and deep, others are fast-paced and action packed. The songs would have to  alternate between slow and soul music and upbeat, punk and metal music. There's a lot of emotion to capture and the soundtrack could make or break the show.  
• One thing the show would have to stress would be the relationship that is developed between Bourne and the Doctor. At first she despises him, he's taken her and she doesn't know if she can trust him. But after he saves her (getting injured in the process) she starts to have doubts about her initial judgment. She stays with him, cares for them, there's a spark. Whether it becomes a strong friendship or an amazing romance the viewers would have to wait and see. Through that the series could show a lot of character development. It would be an interesting dynamic and I would love to see that in the show.

Post 3: Book 1 Project

     What we are offering here is a book of puzzles based off the book. Christopher really likes challenges and puzzles so we have created one book that is Boone worthy. Christopher's Book of Challenging Things includes puzzles such as Conway's soldiers, Physic Problems, Quadratics, Memory Games and other activities to keep your mind active for hours.
     In The Curious Incident of The Dog In The Night-time, Christopher Boone, the narrator of the book and main character, uses puzzles and maths problems (He's British so they are maths problems not math problems) to soothe himself when in stressful situations and to pass the time. He shows how to solve multiple maths problems, including his favorite problem that was on his level A maths test. With this book the consumers will be able to solve some of the problems along with Christopher, and figure out the solution to other challenging ones. One of the challenges addressed in the book is Christopher's ignorance to emotions, because he has Asbergers he cannot relate to the other kids and can't figure out what other people are feeling. The puzzle book starts out with a series of emoticons that you must determine the mood of.  In another section of the book Christopher explains that he notices every detail that would escape normal peoples notices. He gives an example of a field saying that he would notice "There are 19 cows in the field, 15 of which are black and white and 4 of which are brown and white." One of the memory games that are included with the puzzle book is memorizing details of a picture of a cow field. The readers must look at the picture for 30 seconds, then look away and try to answer questions such as "How many cows were there? and How many fence posts were in the picture?" Christopher later calms himself while traveling with a complex math problem called Conway's Soldiers, he explains it "a chessboard that continues infinitely in all directions and every square below a horizontal line has a colored tile on it." With the book you can try it out yourself, and see how much you can succeed, there is also an online version linked up above. "And I did some more quadratic equations like 0= 437x^2 + 103x +11 and 0= 79x^2 + 43x +2089" Ever wondered what the solutions to these equations were? There are a few pages in the book where you can work it out, do the math with Christopher and put an end to your curiosity.
     This book interests fans of  The Curious incident of the Dog In The Night-time because it allows them to stay connected. It takes some effort to slip into Christopher's mindset, figuring out how he works and why he finds maths so interesting. With this book you get the same feeling, readers connect to the lovable character again and it makes readers feel like they are still a part in his life, even  after his journey ends. When the mystery is solved and all fans have is the memories readers can use the puzzle book to play new challenges.This puzzle book will attract new fans to the book because the main readers of The Curious Incident of The Dog In The Night-time are people looking for a mystery. But upon seeing this product on the shelves consumers will realize that the book has more challenges and is lighter than just a mystery novel. Its not just a book, its an adventure, and featuring puzzles to go with it will allow people to realize that and get entranced in the fascinating novel.
   
Try some: High level Physics Problems.  If you want some extra challenges, here's a link to Harvard's math problems of the day. 




A few sample pages of the book:

Post 2: What is a Book?

A Book Is A Soul:

A tangible thing, a book is not just an idea or a thought written on paper. Its a soul, a living thing changing throughout the waves of time. You relate to the characters, fall in love with the plots, and root for their ultimate goal. When you complete a paper book, the last page filtering through your hands, you've won something, completed their story, and collected a trophy. Going back and searching through your bookshelves, your eyes linger on a certain book, reliving their story. But it's not the same with an e-book, looking back through files, the sickeningly bright screen washing away the nostalgia that you feel returning to your favorite stories.
It's like talking to Siri instead of your friends. It might pass the loneliness, may work for the time being. But the conversation, the inside jokes and the witty retorts your friends supply are missing. You are simply interacting with a cold, emotionless voice, detached from anything living. It's the same with books. A paper one- the richness of the paper, the connection that you get just by reading it- is the past souls that have read the book, the thoughts of the author being awakened as you read, soaking it in.
An e-book brings a clinical understanding of the plot, a monotone and lifeless text in your hands. A connection you cannot feel. As Piazza described: "Everything [In an e-book] is leveled out. When everything has equal weight, everything is weightless." When you make an e-book and a real book equal you lose a sense of perception, you miss the reality of the story, the ambition of the author and the true enjoyment the author wants you to get out of the book.
A book is a soul, and an electronic device doesn't do it justice.

Why I Read

I read for the experiences. All my life I have been put in a box, labeled smart and I've never really been able to escape that. It's been my destiny to become something great, to use my intelligence to boost myself in education. But, I've been fighting that for the longest time. I want to travel, I want to try new experiences, and I want to get out there, choose my own destiny. I want to become a person, not just a word. And for now, as I am still trapped, books are my outlet. I can open them up, settle down and drift away. And every book has a new story, a new reality for me to dream of, for me to enjoy. 

From mysteries in Sherlock Holmes to the high risk life of Cammie Morgan in The Gallagher series, I have lived and experienced more than I could ever hope for.  The more I enrich my mind with books, the further I separate myself from the thing defining me. Even now, looking back a few years I can see subtle changes in the way I present myself. I think of myself as a more diverse person now than back then, and I think that’s amazing. That something so small as a story can change my state of mind.  Being smart will always be part of who I am but it’s not my whole identity. I can rely on books to make me whoever I want to be.