Well let me just say, this book was AMAZING. It wasn't something I would read on my own, but I'm glad I read it. The ability to take away not only physical, but emotional pain was just a really cool idea! And this book was really well executed; The divorce and family troubles in both houses, the poetic style of Brewster's chapters, the chapters that were seemingly put there only to build suspense, and the humor was on point. I loved the characters too, and how every scene had it's purpose. Like, the scene when Cody was flying his kite, a seemingly mundane task, eventually brought up the fact that the pain Brew stole could be taken back. There are a lot more instances like this, but I'm starting to ramble.
Literary signposts! I could have probably found more, but in this section I only got 3. Oddly, I didn't get a single Words of the Wiser signpost in the whole book! #1- The first literacy signpost I noticed was a Tough Questions signpost on page 247. I knew this signpost was somewhere, but it took a while to find. I'd say it would start here though: Then he thinks about it some more. "Are you gonna get like Uncle Hoyt?" When Cody is talking to Tennyson. And this really shocked me. i thought, 'Why would Cody say that? Tennyson helped save Cody and Brew, and he certainly cares about them. He would never hit them! And Tennyson thinks so too. "I'll never hit you or your brother, Cody." "That's not what I mean..." And this is important too, because Hoyt wasn't just bad for hitting the two, he was abusive in other ways. Keeping the healing power to himself, and not letting Brew leave. Keeping him from making friends, and not caring about Brewster, only caring about his healing ability. So I think this is foreshadowing, because in a few pages, Tennyson starts to do these things! Tennyson makes Brewster go to his game so he would win it, but he never asks for Brew's opinion. Tennyson becomes indifferent to almost everything, just like Uncle Hoyt did. #2- I also noticed an Aha Moment on page 300, in Brontë's pov. This is when Brewster takes his shirt off, showing all of the injuries he had taken from all his new friends. When Brontë felt like she was crying, she wasn't, but Brewster was. ...and that's when I knew how much further this went than flesh and bone. Brontë discovered that Brew could take away more than just physical injuries, but also emotional. This was another selling point for me. I mean, knowing you should feel some way but not being able to feel any emotion must be really hard! And, Brontë reacts seemingly normally. She runs away. This also has another realization tucked in- that this is why Hoyt told Brew to hate everyone; keeping everyone shut out was the only way to keep Brew from being hurt so much, all the time! Of course this realization is important, it causes Brontë to run away, moving the plot along. It significantly changes Brontë's view on both Brew's power and Uncle Hoyt's actions. This signpost shows internal conflict, as Brontë is trying to understand all the information Brewster is telling her, and having to cope with not being able to feel sad, and knowing that the only reason her parents' haven't divorced is Brew's ability taking away their anger. #3- And lastly, an Again and Again signpost on page 118/305/probably more but I don't want to go check. This wasn't an exact repeat, but several times Brew mentions that he didn't choose this gift he has, he didn't choose to steal others' pain, etc. I think the author mentioned this multiple times to show that Brewster really didn't want his ability (wow, really), but he has to deal with it. This could also have been included to show that Brew outright hates his ability, as he also states that he wishes he could be normal for once, wishing he could be rid of his power so he could actually make friends without fearing for his life. This foreshadows, at least in this part, that bad things are going to happen to Brew because of his power, as they have before as well. In this case, drowning in place of Brontë. If I had to choose one, I'd say this was internal conflict, as Brew doesn't want to get hurt, but he also doesn't want to let others be hurt. After thinking about it for a while, and while typing the above paragraph, I realized Brew has another power that is completely forgotten after the first half or so. His memory! After Brontë being shocked about Brew memorizing The Odessey (I think that was it), Brew's amazing memory is almost never brought up again. The author could have at least alluded to it in the second half of the book! And if it wasn't important enough to include there (which it certainly isn't), why give Brew that power anyway? Just leave it out! I honestly can't even remember a time when he used it, aside from maybe remembering all the injuries he got and who they came from, mentioned in signpost #2. Also I had to try pretty hard to find a dotted e to go in Brontë's name. But aside from that, this was a really great book! 7/10, might read again.
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So for this book project we're doing, I chose Bruiser, by Neal Shusterman. I didn't expect that much from this book, a usual romance with some additional superpowers and stuff. And it isn't that bad! In my book spectrum it's one of those that I would read, and enjoy, though I wouldn't probably read it multiple times. No 'obsessively reads it until 2 AM' stuff here, (actually I would finish reading it at like 9:00 depending on when I started) though that could change. After all, we're only a quarter of the way through the book.
The characters are pretty interesting, like Tennyson. In just a few pages, Tennyson's character is spelled out and seems really solid, and then he has a sudden change of heart. In only the first 40 pages! I think Tenny has a lot of explaining to do though, mainly to Bronté. I really like her attitude (and the fact that she and Tenny are twins, I can relate), though I don't exactly agree with her motives for dating Brewster, thinking of him as 'lost' and trying to 'find' him. Though, I guess that turns out okay, when she realizes he isn't lost like she thinks. Brewster, by the way. I think I understand what his 'power' is and how it works, and a couple extras. Basically, when he cares about someone or something like that, he can take away their injury or pain, and it reappears on him. This would explain several things, like how Cody says Brewster has never been hit by his father, but still has scars. Brewster took the injuries from Cody! This also explains why he didn't try to stop the beating from happening, because it wouldn't hurt Cody at all, it would just be Brewster. However, there are some things that haven't been answered, so I'll just put them here: Why doesn't uncle Hoyt hit Brewster? Is there another power that makes Brewster immune to attacks on his own body, or is it something else? Is he just scared? Is the transfer of pain immediate? When Bronté's ankle was 'twisted,' she still felt the pain for a while, and same with Tennyson's knuckles. Was that just because they hadn't been 'chosen' or whatever yet? Does the power also work with tiredness or stress, or is it just physical pain? If it works for execise, like when your muscles hurt and it's hard to breathe after running too hard for too long, this could explain why Brewster is so ripped. Could Brewster die if he removes too much pain? Brewster said he couldn't heal Tri-tip, but this could have been because there was nothing to heal, but what if it's pain from multiple people? Like, say both Tennyson and Bronté get hit with something that halfway kills each of them, would it completely kill Brewster? Is there a limit for how much Brewster can heal? Like, what if someone's limb gets completely chopped off, would Bruiser even be able to heal that? And if he did, would his corresponding limb fall off? If so, would he be able to heal again if the same limb got chopped off on a different person? Sorry, I just really like thinking about these sorts of things. I sure hope most of them get answered, and I'll find out in... a couple of weeks :/ II... did not do a lot over Spring Break. for the fist couple of days, all I did was sit in bed and eat snacks. Like, that was it. About halfway through I played Cards Against Humanity with the whole family. Yes, both of my parents. With that fact in mind, I was surprised at how not-awkward it was. I won, btw ;) I made my mom watch Danny Phantom with me, which was nostalgic... for me. Even though Danny Phantom stopped airing when I was 3. We watched the new Ghostbusters, which was hilarious. If you haven't seen it yet, you should do that. Then, on the second-to-last day of break, I saw something that changed my life. For the better. And that thing was...
Oh wait I forgot! I also went on a trip with my mom and brother, which turned out terribly. It was an hour drive that I thought would take maybe fifteen minutes. When we got there, the drive into the small park was closed, so we had to walk through the snow before we even got to the trail head. The short hike to the river wasn't bad, and Keith left there to go fishing. We soon found out that the trail was only about a quarter mile long, if that. The park turned out to be incredibly small, so we had to leave, but only after my entire body was considerably soaked. Keith hadn't caught anything, so we went to another park, at which he caught nothing. I walked around the neighborhood and got stared at by residents, but I did see two cats so that was cool. But the thing I am most excited about!!! I watched all twelve episodes of the best anime that has ever been created, Mob Psycho 100. The story, although slow at first, is definitely present and very interesting. The characters are hilarious, and are all incredibly unique. The story focuses on Shigeo, or 'Mob,' a middle-school kid with crazy powers, and his 'spirit enthusiast (?)' But the animation, oh the animation! It is the best I have seen everywhere, and there is over an hour total! The saddest part though, is the fact that there is only one season. I cannot wait until they make more episodes. I mostly want to know more about Shou. I mean jeez, you can't just show up, totally roast the main villain, and (literally) disappear like that! Thankfully, the anime is based off a manga (One), so the writing part is already done. I just need to wait for it to be animated! 1. In a paragraph or two, compare (similarities) and contrast (differences) Night and The Boy in the Striped Pajamas.
I didn't really think these two Holocaust stories were really all that similar, aside from taking place during WWII, and featuring a boy who goes to a concentration camp. They both do see the full extent of the Nazi's brutality, with one being tortured and severely mistreated, seeing hundreds of thousands die, and the other who died alongside them. In Night, Elie was a Jew who was severely mistreated, and several years older than Bruno. Elie really saw all of the terrible things done to the prisoners of the Nazis, as he was one. Bruno had a nicer experience than Elie, because he was not a Jew and had a high-ranking officer as a father. Instead of experiencing the hardships of camp life, he heard of it from Schmuel, and saw inaccurate propaganda. Also, Bruno died during the Holocaust while Elie survived. 2. Choose 1 character from Night or one character from Boy in the Striped Pajamas to analyze. Make note (explain) of their physical appearance, character traits, feelings, demeanor, thoughts, etc. I chose Schmuel, because he seems like a pretty interesting character to psychoanalyze. Oh that's a fun word. Schmuel was a young Jewish boy, 8 years old, who was caught and put in a concentration camp. He was bald at the time, his hair having been cut for camp life. He wore a baggy prison uniform, the 'striped pajamas' mentioned in the title, and thin, ragged shoes. His face was smeared with dirt, and later graced with a bruise around his eye. I really liked the interactions between Schmuel and Bruno. Schmuel answered Bruno's more oblivious questions almost incredulously, particularly when Bruno asks about the game the inmates are playing with the numbers on their uniforms, and when he asks about the cafeteria. Schmuel was also very careful, more than Bruno, because he knew what could happen if he got caught. This is demonstrated when Bruno throws the ball over the fence and Schmuel tells him not to do that again, and also how Schmuel always looks back at the camp during their conversations. 1st Signpost: Contrasts and Contradictions on page 84. On this page the Blockaltetse forced the inmates to clean their living space, because 'here lived men, not pigs.' I thought this was odd, because the men keeping the Jews captive had always referred to them as less than men, and now they said that they were. I think they acted that way because they wanted to seem more civilized than they were. If the Allies knew how the Nazis were treating their prisoners, they would definitely think they were insane/evil. Which they were, but the Nazis didn't want others to think so.
2nd Signpost: Words of the Wiser on page 105. On this page, Elie is trying to keep his father up and moving, because if he stopped, he would die like the corpses around him. Elie's father had become delirious and sick, becoming more childish than Elie, so Elie was now the wiser one. This is not much of a life lesson, but Elie was giving advice that would keep his father alive for at least a little bit long. 3rd Signpost: Again and Again on page 109-110. Here, Elie's father is continuously beaten for his portion of bread, as his fellow inmates know that he is about to die. Elie continues to protect him and give a portion of his meals to him, even though he is told not to. The author brings this up multiple times because it happened, and to show Elie slowly realizing that his father was going to die. Right now, if I were the president of the United States, there would be only a few things that I would change, but I think they are all very important.
Firstly, I would end all gay transition camps. If you don't know what these are, they are basically brainwashing camps to make gay people disgusted by who and what they love, using several methods of torture. As a resident tumblr troll, I have seen many posts from people who had friends who were forced through these camps by their parents, and how much they had changed, for the worse. I think that all people should be able to love who they want, and be who they want to be. Secondly, I would make the use of Marijuana legal. Drugs like Marijuana have a similar effect as alchohol, so why aren't drugs allowed? This would be highly controversial, I presume, but I have reasons. There are currently millions of people in the US using drugs, but most of them are legal, being used as painkillers in hospitals. But if all these people are using drugs, why doesn't everyone that gets these prescription drugs become addicted? Because they aren't shamed for doing so. It is difficult to explain by memory, but this video is really good at explaining this line of reasoning: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ao8L-0nSYzg (copy + paste) Also check out the other videos on this channel, there's some really interesting stuff. Finally, I would allow immigrants and refugees an easier way into the country. People running from wars and poverty shouldn't be rejected from countries that could help them with no problem! Another point: if it becomes easier to get into the US, then all the immigrants would be coming through the legal way, and there would be no more undocumented immigrants! It's pretty simple actually, and there's another video on said channel that helps prove my point: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQPlREDW-Ro I think that this one is restricted by the school though? That's kinda weird and also not nice. As president, I would also listen to others and let others speak, not ban them from social media, because that's a part of free speech. I would abide by the rules but still make sure people are satisfied. Over winter break I did a lot of things. I also got a lot of things. It started out pretty boring, at my dad's house. We had some people over for poker while I hid in my bedroom on my phone. I can't really remember much from the first half, but after Christmas I did a lot of stuff! I got a lot of presents, including: a drawing tablet, six hoodies, Pokemon Moon, six new books, and a lot of new markers!
After Christmas, I did a lot of drawing, on the computer and on paper. However, the activity I did most often over break was watch cartoons because why not. I finally caught up on Steven Universe, just in time for the 5 new episodes that I recently forced my brother to watch with me. I did play a few video games over break as well, but not as much as usual. Now that I'm thinking back, I didn't do much of anything over break. Oh well, I still enjoyed it! |
AuthorLaura Friesad Archives
May 2017
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