book, 5 stars

wow. i am a fan of this book.  i always recommend this book to all of my friends…at one point, i bought this book for all my suitemates, and there were lots of us living there…

the book succeeds because it conveys the universal importance of friendship.  it’s highly imaginative, yet pertains to certain truths about the silliness of humanity sometimes, that we need it to be pointed out through the eyes of innocence.

it was a very emotional book for me, and i’m proud to say that i am not alone.  one of the roomates i gave this to even cried as i did at one part of the book.

usually, this is recommended to children, but i believe they won’t fully comprehend its deepness, but it does serve to teach children the importance of imagination, and the priorities in life that are usually overlooked.  so if you’re 10, 16, 25, or 50+ do read the book…it even has pictures!

book, 4 stars

this is told by first person, a Zimbabwean mother writing a letter to her daughter who is to study abroad in Harvard.

she tells her stories of people around her, each having specific lessons that will enrich and encourage her daughter while she is away from home.  she realizes that her daughter is of a different thread than she is, because she is very isolated within her comfort, but through her stories, we see that her mother is of a stronger thread, because she has gained insight from the people around her…esp. the way she learns about life, freedom, love, family, and education…hopefully all passed down to her daughter.  she retells stories from Zenzele’s grandmother, her rebellious sister who fights against colonization, people who left Zimbabwe, and her own struggles she’s endured.

it’s a story mainly about survival and hope…through love, through education, and through keeping one’s cultural integrity, because you were not born out of an isolated story, but born to continue history.  good emotional book.

i recommend this book to a lot of older siblings or parents who want to impart wisdom to someone who is younger and is at the commencement of leaving for something new.

 book, 3.5 stars

published in 1954, this book noted the changing times in India after their independence from Britain’s colonization.  mainly, this was a story of a woman who married into a low strata, a man of agriculture, who rented a piece of land to till.  They eventually suffered great loss, in wealth, in family, and in health due to natural infertility of their land.  they lived through the changing society of agriculture to industry, from agricultural town to insensitive city industry. 

this book did only one thing for me, it taught me the importance of “hope”, because despite all misfortune, pain, and hardship, they wouldn’t have been able to endure anything and persevere if they didn’t have hope.  hope strung their days together, and glued their strength in each other. 

Ethan Frome was published 1911, the story set in a small town of New England.  the plot is fairly simple.  there is Ethan, who supposedly stayed for “too many Starkfield winters.”  he married his cousin who had taken care of his sick mother, and who eventually and ironically ended up being “sickly” herself (from hypochondria).  he ends up falling in love with mattie, the cousin and help of Zenna (his wife). 

There are turns of events, and psychological decisions, manipulations, and conniving motivation hidden within each character, even the narrator.  This is what adds further dimension to the intriguing love and power triangle.

i gave the book a 3.5 because i didn’t think it was exceptional in comparison to other books i’ve read, but it has been my favorite so far in my American Literature 1865-1914 class.  it also has a lot of perspectives you can take, whether in gender or social classification. plus, talk about unrequited love.

 really liked this book. granted, i’m not the biggest fan of post civil war literature, but for some reason, this female author rocks the scene.

summer is about a woman, Charity (a name which bears so much symbolism in the story), who was born of a prostitute who ended up giving her child to Mr. Royall (symbolically named as well), to raise her in North Dormer, an affluent society brimming with expectations, and restrictions.  Charity has discovered her budding sexuality and desire to exhibit her freedom through her love for Harney, but is restricted by the prying eyes of the town, and her protector Mr. Royall- who is caught in the love triangle as he claims his love for her.

I like this book better than Ethan Frome.  Although both included a steamy love triangle, this one has more sybolism in its names, its characters, its setting, and of items in the novel.  It’s rich with the sentiment of its time, mainly focusing on the condition of women who are not of affluent families, and their struggle to survive in a patriarchal society.  She symbolizes the hopelessness of escaping into her own freedom and finding fulfilment or success, and therefore is coerced to live a life static, void of passion and freedom, instead, adhering to the limitations pressed upon her.

this was an easy read…highly emotional and entertaining. i enjoyed it, and i would love to share my ideas on it.

bye chekhov.  i gave this play a 3.

there wasn’t much to this play.  Chekhov usually writes play of indirect action- meaning that the society has action, society is dynamic, but the characters involved are static, and do not take action.

This play is a great example of indirect action mainly because the setting takes place in Russia, when the society is changing and economy is beginning to struggle.  The play is about an affluent family who refuses to adapt to these changes and ultimately have to abandon their beloved cherry orchard (an orchard that dates back to even the times when generations prior to them were still servants to the owners.  Lopahin, a shrewd business man suggests to madame ravenskaya to sell the property to erect summer homes for rent, but she and her family complain over its sentimentally and therefore loses the property.

This is a critique made by Chekhov, that people must change for the better, for themselves and society, and for one to foster change, he/she must change themselves.  He wanted his plays to affect his audiences to administer change and not follow the examples of his characters in his plays.

If you want a lot of action, i wouldn’t suggest this play because you’ll die in all the dialogue, but if you want to read an old Russian classic, this one is a good start.