Book Review "The Monkey Wrench Gang"

Often called as the “Thoreau of the West” Edward Abbey's novel “The Monkey Wrench Gang” published in 1975 criticizes harshly the Industrial Development in the southwestern desert of the United States. The novel concerns the use of sabotage against machines in order to protect wilderness. Buried in the middle of his beloved desert after his death 1989 “The Monkey Wrench Gang is one of Abbey's most famous fiction works and most influential work towards environmentalism. It has not lost its timelessness - today it is more current than ever. It had been a great influence for radical  environmentalist groups and the term 'monkey wrench” has come to mean.
The story focuses on four main characters: the Mormon river guide Seldom Seen Smith, an odd but wealthy and wise surgeon Doc Sarvis, his young  female assistant Bonnie Abbzug and the Green Beret Vietnam Veteran George Hayduke. When Hayduke returns from war he finds his beloved southwestern desert threatened by industrial development. So he decides to do something against it. All four characters meet for the first time at a river trip. They all share their love for the desert and the concern about its future threatened by new roads, bridges and more industrial development. This is why they decide to work together to interrupt further industrialization in a desperate try to protect the beauty of the once intact desert and canyons. 
Financed by Doc the 'Monkey Wrench Gang' destroys bulldozers by filling sand in the tank, trains and bridges for example. Their biggest project is Glen Canyon Bridge which they seek to destroy to give the river its natural flow back. During these illegal activities they encounter inevitably with the law. One antagonist, Bishop Love, a person who is only interested in money and business and does not care about wilderness, made it his business to get the “Monkey Wrench Gang” into jail.
During the few weeks that are described in Abbey's book his characters experience more than some people do in a lifetime. Their wish to protect the wilderness by the more and more developing industrialization is more than comprehensible. Abbey's wonderful descriptions of the desert, canyons and river almost lead the reader to protect  the wilderness himself when he discovers how terribly everything already is destroyed by industrialization. Not for nothing the book has inspired many people to go out and to do something. Abbey's political message is as non conventional as the whole book: it is allowed to protest environmentally damaging activities by sabotage. If nobody does anything, how can we stop governments from building new roads and to industrialize wilderness more? If more and more machines get destroyed then companies would get in a financial disadvantage and decide not to go on with their projects. 
All his characters represent Abbey's concerns about wilderness protection; for example: "Hell of a place to lose a cow," Smith thinks to himself while roaming through the canyon lands of southern Utah. "Hell of a place to lose your heart. Hell of a place... to lose. Period".  Through the novel Abbey shows the reader how alive this place is. He shows that it is worth to protect this unique landscape, it is really not a place to lose. In the further course of action the reader really begins to hate antagonists like Bishop Love, people who waste no thoughts about what they are doing against this ancient landscape.
The interaction between the four different characters is very humorous described. Some readers even see this book more as a comic book than a novel. But Abbey's sense for humor does not downgrade the seriousness of the problem. It just values the reader with a good laughter from page to page.

All in  all  this book is a really  commendable book for everyone who is interest in environment, the wonderful landscape of Utah and Arizona or for people who just want to try something new. They want regret it. Abbey's real concern mixed with his sense of humor and his beautiful writing make the book unique and inspire the reader to do something to protect wilderness him- or herself.

A Nine Hundred Page March

or, Sophia’s review of The Mist of Avalon

 

 

Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Mist of Avalon is a retelling of the Arthurian legends, from the perspective of Morgan and Guvenir. Marion Zimmer Bradley was born on a farm in Albany, New York, in 1949. She went to Berkeley, wrote mostly sify, and encouraged fanfiction for her series, “Darkover”. I’m sure there was a lot in between those vents, but these were the facts that interested me.

Only a handful of pages into it and I was smitten. Oh, I wasn’t so much enarourmed with Igraine, Morgan’s and Arthur's mother, whose perspective the book begins from.  I found her thoughts redundant and she seemed to often contradict herself, though she had enough redeeming qualities that I could never quite decide if I liked her character. It was the social commentary that hooked me. The opening of the book had me doing first pumps because I realized this was going to be 900 pages of not so subtle hints that women are superior to men and Christianity has corrupted our society. The raging feminist part of my was very excited by this.

It was refreshing to see Christianity picked apart, rather than slipped into a novel’s backbone, made to suggest it’s a universal truth, as it is many classic novels. I liked what Bradley had to say. She continually referenced that all gods are the same god, even going so far to say the old religion’s goddess would not object to being called Mary. She criticizes the beliefs of Christians, but it’s primarily their narrow mindedness he disapproves of,  not the religion itself. For example, when the High King dies, she talks about how wrong it seems they pray for him to repent his sins in Hell, rather than celebrating the life of a great man.

  Much of the story centered on female power. For example, she continually mentioned the logic in power being passed through the female line, as apposed to the male. In Avalon, the fathers had no say in their children's lives. The Merlin, a great and powerful male sorcerer, even acknowledges that because he is her father, not her mother, he has no right to influence Igraine's decisions. She once points the injustice in woman being judged for sleeping with multiple men, when men have the right to take as many mistresses as they please.

Her writing style was also really interesting. There were a lot of beautiful descriptions, my favorite being a depiction of a prophetic ceremony in Avalon that actually gave me chills. She chose her verbs well, stitched sentences together so they flowed and trapped the reader in the story. My only complaint is that the plot dragged on a bit, there was a lot of filler to the story.

         Over all though it was a great read and I would definitely recommend it.

Celestine's review (The English Patient)

Michael Ondaatje’s The English Patient is a beautifully written story of four lost souls who have been deeply affected by the horrors of World War II. It recounts the lives of Hana the nurse, Caravaggio the thief, Kip the sapper, and the mysterious English patient, who remains unnamed and unidentifiable throughout most of the novel. These four characters come together in a remote Italian villa, wherein they try to recover from psychological and emotional (and in the English patient’s case, physical) effects of the war.

The novel is layered, surreal, and intricately woven to the point of perfection. In fact, it’s one of the most well written books I’ve ever read.  My favorite part of the book was not the plot, but the poetic, dream-like prose that Ondaatje employs. Whether he’s describing Kip’s relationship with his family or Hana’s love for books, he does it in a beautifully poetic way. The novel also has a nonlinear plot, which contributes to the novel’s layered, woven effect. It shifts perspective and tense constantly, but somehow Ondaatje does this seamlessly.

I also really enjoyed the commentary involving war, which served as a central theme in the novel. There are plenty of war novels that praise war and focus on the positive aspects of it (although I personally don’t think there are any), but The English Patient does just the opposite. We see how World War II has negatively impacted all four characters, and society as a whole. It has turned Kip into a constantly cautious soldier. The English patient has become passionless and broken. Caravaggio is self-conscious, a changed man. Hana is now traumatized and guarded. They are all victims of war, without a home or sanctuary or loved ones to provide refuge. They can, however, unite in their quest for self-identity, happiness, and love, all of which have been stripped away from them by the war.

My only problem with the book is that I couldn’t really connect with the characters (especially the English patient), which led to less curiosity about their history, which happened to be the bulk of the novel. The English patient’s story takes up a large portion of the book, and unfortunately I was never captivated by his love affair with Katharine or his adventures in the desert. As a result, I couldn’t appreciate the book as much as some might. At times, I found myself trudging through the novel, wearily counting the pages as I went along, uninterested in what happened next. For me, The English Patient was like a three-hundred-and-two page poem: beautiful, yes, but not captivating throughout.

Overall, I enjoyed The English Patient much more than I expected. Prior to reading the novel, I was somehow led to believe that it was just a sappy romance that would bore me to death (this is probably thanks to the awful things I’ve heard about the movie version). But it had a lot more substance and credibility than that. I might have enjoyed the book more if I had been able to connect with the characters, but overall this didn’t taint my opinion of the book too much. The English Patient stands out because of Ondaatje’s beautiful writing style, which left me awestruck on more than one occasion.

The Power of One

Sample book review of The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay:

The Power of One is a story of a boy growing up in the Northern Transvaal of South Africa. It takes place just before the fall into Apartheid, when the British Government  still controlled the country and resentment festered in the simmering heat. The Afrikaners, men and women who came from the Netherlands but who, after a half dozen generations, thought of themselves as african, hated the English passionately for the conquering of their country. Mentioned over and over again are the 26 thousand Afrikaners who died of disease and starvation in the british concentration camps, a fact that many could not forget. The english on the other hand, where all high and mighty, with their Oaks imported from their homeland, and their wealth wielded like a weapon. They were in charge of the best schools, biggest companies, and altogether, smug in their superiority. At the bottom were the Native black africans, who where  scorned by all as at best stinking monkeys. These people were forced to leave their deep rooted traditions and way of life to come into the white man’s world. Even proud Zulu chieftain airs had to survive off of the crumbs left behind by the English and Afrikaans. All together, the country was ripe with conflict.

This is the home in which the boy, Peekay, grows up. He experiences the injustices of the waring groups in his homeland, but has a unique take on tensions. Instead of holding grudges or building hate, he finds understanding and compassion in the semi arid land. This is because of several different lifestyles he had as a child. His mother was very sick when he was a small boy, so he had a black nannie who breastfed him and took over as a mother figure in his life. He learns the tongues of her people, and of other Black africans, and loves them, without knowing anything about white superiority. His life is good, until he is forced to go to an Afrikaner boarding school at five. There he receives injustice because everyone tries to take out on their hate against the english on him. But later, when he becomes a boxer, his view of the Afrikaner way of life allows him to mingle with the Afrikaner boxers, and gain respect from them. And lastly, his is english, and ends up going to a prestigious private school in Johannesburg. All of these experiences allow him to be part of the three groups, and bridge the gap to connect everyone in fraternity. He even goes so far as to become a leader for all the different groups- a champion boxer for the Afrikaans, top of his class for the english, and a hero and warrior chief of the Black Africans. 

Peekay is really an amazing guy. Not only does he lead others, he challenges himself intellectually and physically. He meets several mentors that push him along the way, and friends that makes him question religion, race, and the political bonds that so clearly segregate everyone else. Additionally, he questions himself, and what he wants to be. Who is Peekay? To help answer his question he takes a motto that he repeats daily, and ends up relying it upon like the rising sun. “First with the Head and then with the Heart,” he says, and whether it is school or boxing, this motto drives Peekay to adventure and love. But it is just one of the many bits of wisdom hidden throughout Courtenay’s book. There are lots of stories, philosophies, and resolutions that will leave a reader end up feeling good and wanting more. They will be rooting for Peekay so much that it will be like saying good by to a hero, or a good friend, when the last page turns and the book is done. For this is the brilliance of South Africa, the land of the beloved country. 

Sara Moles, Stranger in a Strange Land

The Most Appropriate Title for a Book… Ever

            Robert Heinlein was said to be “ahead of his time” and the “dean of science fiction writers, which is clearly evident after having read Stranger in a Strange Land. Heinlein was one of the first science fiction writers, beginning his career in 1939 and dying in 1988. After his death, his wife published a few lost works of the accomplished writer, including the version of Stranger in a Strange Land that I read. Originally, the novel was a piece for the New Yorker, and Heinlein had to cut out about 400 pages of it. The uncut edition is 525 pages, and has a completely different ending. This is the version that I had the fortune to read. The novel begins by telling the story of the first humans to land on Mars. Unfortunately, most of them were never seen again. However, the people on the second expedition discover that there was in fact one survivor: a human child, born of the first people on Mars survived and sub sequentially was raised by Martians. This child of two planets becomes out main character: Valentine Michael Smith. And if that isn’t a big enough twist for you, Heinlein throws in another wrench. Not only is Smith the heir to every crew member of the first voyage to Mars, but according to a law passed many years prior, it can be interpreted that he is also the sole owner of the planet Mars. The novel follows Michael along his journey to understanding human culture (as well as the friends or “water brothers” he makes along the way), and his fight against being a political pawn due to his vast amount of wealth he possesses.

            The novel is brilliantly written, with a sarcastic underlying tone throughout. Heinlein does an excellent job of poking fun at 20^th century society, as characters in the novel struggle to explain to Michael what we see as simple ideas, such as religion, money and the government. I very much enjoyed reading this novel, however some parts of it struck me as odd and I would even go so far as to say that parts of it were unrelateable and of the cult mindset. I would not recommend this book to people who tend to have a closed mind, as I do not believe they would enjoy it as much as I did. However, if you’re into telekinesis and polyamorist ideals, then you will love this book.

• ·         “He has this crazy Martian idea that he can trust utterly anyone with whom he has shared a drink of water. With a 'water brother' he is completely docile and with anybody else he is stubborn as a mule.”
• ·         "Customs, morals — is there a difference? Woman, do you realize what you are doing? Here, by the grace of God and an inside straight, we have a personality untouched by the psychotic taboos of our tribe — and you want to turn him into a carbon copy of every fourth-rate conformist in this frightened land! Why don't you go whole hog? Get him a brief case and make him carry it wherever he goes — make him feel shame if he doesn't have it."
• ·         "You told me, 'God made the World.'" "No, no!" Harshaw said hastily. "I told you that, while all these many religions said many things, most of them said, 'God made the World.' I told you that I did not grok the fullness, but that 'God' was the word that was used." "Yes, Jubal," Mike agreed. "Word is 'God'" He added. "You grok." "No, I must admit I don't grok." "You grok," Smith repeated firmly. "I am explain. I did not have the word. You grok. Anne groks. I grok. The grass under my feet groks in happy beauty. But I needed the word. The word is God." Jubal shook his head to clear it. "Go ahead." Mike pointed triumphantly at Jubal. "Thou art God!" Jubal slapped a hand to his face. "Oh, Jesus H. — What have I done? Look, Mike, take it easy! Simmer down! You didn't understand me. I'm sorry. I'm very sorry! Just forget what I've been saying and we'll start over again on another day. But — " "Thou art God," Mike repeated serenely. "That which groks. Anne is God. I am God. The happy grass are God, Jill groks in beauty always. Jill is God. All shaping and making and creating together — ." He croaked something in Martian and smiled.

The Picture of Dorian Gray Review

Devin Richter

The Picture of Dorian Gray

Oscar Wilde

Dorian gray is a young man of about eighteen who is incredibly handsome. He has a friend who is a painter named Basil who is in awe of Dorian’s youth and innocence, and loves to have Dorian pose for him in his paintings. Upon sitting for Basil one occasion, Dorian meets Basil’s friend Lord Henry, who draws Dorian’s attention by lecturing him on the importance of youth and what it does for you in life, and how those doors are closed when it is gone. Dorian becomes obsessed with Lord Henry’s ideals, and begins to envy the very painting of himself. Dorian declares he wishes that the painting would grow old and display his soul’s sins, while he remain eternally youthful. Though Dorian does not know at the time, his wish is granted. Dorian continues to spend more and more time with Lord Henry, and becomes enthralled by his ideas of the thrills and excitement of a sinful life. Meanwhile, Dorian’s portrait continues to grow older, and to display the damage of Dorian’s sin on his soul with every act Dorian commits.

I really enjoyed Oscar WIlde’s writing style in this book. He uses very vivid imagery and puts a great deal of ornamentation into his words. Reading this book was just as fun as watching a movie of the same story.

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone!
Excerpt:

“From the corner of the divan of Persian saddle-bags on which he was lying, smoking, as was his custom, innumerable cigarettes, Lord Henry Wotton could just catch the gleam of the honey-sweet and honey-coloured blossoms of a laburnum, whose tremulous branches seemed hardly able to bear the burden of a beauty so flamelike as theirs; and now and then the fantastic shadows of birds in flight flitted across the long tussore-silk curtains that were stretched in front of the huge window, producing a kind of momentary Japanese effect, and making him think of those pallid, jade-faced painters of Tokyo who, through the medium of an art that is necessarily immobile, seek to convey the sense of swiftness and motion” (Wilde 1).

Bel Canto Book Report

Bel Canto is a novel published in 2001, and written by American author Ann Patchett.  With Bel Canto being the fourth out of eleven novels written by Ann, it by far exceeded any expectations I once had before diving into the 318 pages of emotional ties, and reckless love.  What one doesn’t know before exploring the mystery within , is that this book will shock you with every turn of the page. It tests the limits of love, family, national security, and just about everything you thought you knew about hope. It captivates the meaning of one love, and makes you think about what you would do if the possibility of death were mocking you with every breath you took. But more then anything this book proves that love is stronger then anyone thought.

            I think what really makes this book truly phenomenal is the way it intertwined so many different people, languages, countries and customs to illustrate a story in your mind that one could only hope to never experience. It shows how greed can make you full of regret, and how in the strangest of times you realize what’s truly important to you. Katsumi Hosokawa only agrees to attend a party being thrown in his honor, a party he had declined over and over, because of the presence of one woman, and his greed for hearing her voice lift out of her mouth and fill a room with pure bliss. That woman is Roxanne Coss. He never intended to endanger the lives of hundreds of innocent people, all he wanted was to see Roxanne Coss, and to hear her sing in person like he had when he was once a child. Still, even when things go worse then anyone expected, and a terrorist group from a small South American jungle village takes the party hostage in hopes of kidnapping the president and over throwing the government of the host country, the only person Katsumi cares about is Roxanne.

As time goes on we have to watch as people make decisions that could either make or break their life. You experience  the over powering pain of pressure, and through the deep descriptions Ann Patchett gives through each of the characters perspectives, you come to fall in love with the most unlikely of people. Your heart will bend this way and that as the story comes to a close, and with each word bringing you closer to the end, you will be shock at how people act to protect the ones they love.

            This novel will make you feel things you did not think possible, and all though slow at times, you come to realize how everything happens for a reason. Bel Canto is a book that almost everyone will come to love, and if you give it the chance, you will make connections and realizations about your own life that you didn’t know existed. Ann Patchett is a beautiful author, and after experiencing what Bel Canto had in store, I am very excited to see what other journeys she has created with in the pages of her other stories. 

taylor Snow Angels

O'Nan sets up the story in a small town in Pennsylvania called Butler. From the start of the book you feel as if you’re in the novel. A master piece of writing is how I would describe the writing style in Snow Angels by Stewart O'Nan, I appreciated how well O'Nan creates the moment, how every single part seems so real. Arthur the main character, challenges his ability to accept what he is given and moves on. He shows the confusion a teenager feels when their parents go thru a divorce, fall in love for the first time, and the aftermath of being in the right place at the right time which leads you to something so wrong.

The title interested me, and after I read the first couple of pages I was hooked. At first, I was amused by the  high school life of Arthur Parkinson. Unlike the other characters I was able to make a connection with him because I am a high school student. I also liked the turn the story had, I feel like in any small town tragedy you find more twists and turns than you would have ever expect.

Snow Angels opens with the sound of distant gunshots interrupting band practice at a high school where Arthur Parkinson discovers his childhood babysitter, Annie Marchand, who was shot. Her murder, which happens to be the last of a series of tragedies is reflected upon threw out the novel, Arthur then flashbacks back to the series of mistakes that led Annie to her death.

I liked how Snow Angels focused on the aftermath of two failed marriages. O'Nan has a very simple style, but his characters are not very reflective. Stewart chooses just the right details and dialogues throughout the story so nothing is a waste of text, which lead to me wanting to keep reading. I did not really get a complete picture of any of the characters, but I felt as if the characters came alive thru the action and dialogue not as a sketch. Because the novel lacked this, it made it hard to connect with the characters.

The way O'Nan tells the story is through the eyes of Arthur, whose life intersects occasionally with Annie and her family. The story being told in two perspectives was confusing at parts and somewhat hard to comprehend. Even though you know the final outcome from the novel's opening pages, Arthur Parkinson's version, teaches us how living in a small town isn’t the easiest because everyone finds out everything. Overall I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone who’s looking for a quick read that is filled with so much.

the three musketeers review

The Three Musketeers

            The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas is a classic adventurous book. It is one of the most famous historical romances ever written. The Three Musketeers is actually the first and most well-known book in the d’Artagnan Romances. Alexandre Dumas was one of the most prolific writers in the 19^th century. He was half-white and half black. His area of expertise was in historical adventure. He wrote a lot of books most notably The Count of Monte Cristo and The Man in the Iron Mask. The Three Musketeers is arguably one of the most famous as well as best books of all-time.

            The setting of The Three Musketeers is seventh century Paris, France and trips to England. At this time France and England are in conflict. Dumas uses this to his advantage and blends it in his work beautifully. Dumas uses actual historical figures in his book and that takes the book to a whole other level. The use of the historical accuracy and the occasional twist of historical accuracy make this book extremely readable.

             The main character is d’Artagnan, a poor boy from Gascony who travels to Paris in hopes of becoming a musketeer. The three musketeers are Athos, Porthos, and Aramis. Athos is the most important musketeer. He is wise, smart, wise, and a good swordsman. Porthos is somewhat of a controlled loose cannon. He can be an exuberant guy, but always puts his friends before himself. Aramis is a quiet man. He was supposed to become a priest before becoming a musketeer.

            The plot for The Three Musketeers is extremely well thought out and captivating. Cardinal Richelieu wants to start a war between France and England. He knows the Queen is having an affair with the Duke of Buckingham, who has received from her the diamonds that the King gave her as a gift. The Cardinal tells the Kings to have a party and to ask the Queen to wear the diamonds. The Cardinal hopes the absence of the diamonds will uncover her affair with Buckingham thus causing a war with England and France. Constance, the lady who d’Artagnan has fallen in love with AKA the Queen’s lady in waiting, has learned of this problem and asks d’Artagnan and the musketeers to retrieve the diamonds from the Cardinal’s possession before the party. The fate of peace between France and England lays in the hands of an aspiring musketeer and his musketeer friends.

            I really like the author’s style. At first all the French names had me confused but I eventually got who was who. Dumas is able to cram a lot of information into small space. He creates a confusing web of things going on but that makes the reader that much more in to it. He allows you to try to guess what’ll happen next. I really like the use of description is the key in this book. I also like the well thought out plot. Dumas puts the reader deep into the book very easily.

“Porthos: He thinks he can challenge the mighty Porthos with a sword... 
D'Artagnan: The mighty who? 
Porthos: Don't tell me you've never heard of me. 
D'Artagnan: The world's biggest windbag? 
Porthos: Little pimple... meet me behind the Luxembourg at 1 o'clock and bring a long wooden box. 
D'Artagnan: Bring your own... 
Porthos: [laughs]”

            I would recommend this book to anyone who likes a book about saving the good guy, beating the bad guy and things of that nature. This is one of the most captivating well thought out books I have read. If you like classic adventure books, I would recommend reading The Three Musketeers.

To Have and Have Not Review

TJ Fulton

To Have and Have Not Review              

              To Have and Have Not by Ernest Hemingway was published in 1937, and tells the story of a man named Harry Morgan who ends up losing everything in a bad fishing deal and how he ends up smuggling contraband, including people and alcohol from Cuba to Florida. It is told in three parts, which are each short stories about his life and the people around him.

              The story first starts out in Havana, Cuba in a bar with three Cubans talking to Harry Morgan, a local deep sea fishing guide, offering him a thousand dollars a piece to take them to the U.S. But Harry refuses to take them because he is an honest man, making an honest living and his boat is his living. "I make a living with the boat. If I lose her I lose my living." After, refusing their offer he goes to meet a customer, Mr. Johnson, who he had been taking out fishing for three weeks. Then on one day of fishing a huge black marlin is hooked on Mr. Johnson’s line and he wasn’t holding on to the rod and it was pulled off the boat, lost in the sea. After that final expedition, Harry and Mr. Johnson come to an agreement on a price of eight hundred and twenty five dollars and were supposed to meet the next day to pay. That day came Harry learned that Mr. Johnson had skipped town with his money, leaving him completely broke and desperate. Just after that a man named Mr. Sing offers twelve hundred dollars to take twelve china men to Florida, leaving him with a decision whether or not to give in to his desperation and take them. Finally, he decides to take them but when all is said and done he double-crosses them, killing Mr. Sing and dropping off the others just down the beach. This part of the novel basically how the rest of the story continues, with more double crossing with higher-class people.

              The style of writing in this novel was basic Hemingway of writing and it is his own different style. Even though Ernest Hemingway’s style is different, he is considered one of the most accomplished writers of all time. He has published a total of 20 books in his lifetime, including receiving the Nobel Prize for Literature and the Pulitzer Prize for fiction (on different books not To have and Have Not). His writing style is not the most confusing style of writing and it is a flat style of writing that doesn’t have a ton emotion to it. Although it doesn’t have a lot of emotion, there is some descriptive writing through out the novel, it is a very masculine way of writing. Most of the descriptive parts come in the action of the story, which comes from his experience during World War I, where he earned the Bronze Star. Overall, the writing style was pretty good in my opinion because it was easy to understand and read.

              Additional to the descriptive writing there is also a couple of instances of symbolism in the novel. One of the symbols was the boats and had a couple of different meanings, including economic status and stability. Status was shown by the kind of the boat a person had, Harry had a not so nice boat and didn’t have very much money. Then later one there are people with huge yachts and obviously have tons of money. The boats also show how economically stable a person is in life. For instance, Harry gets his boat taken away a lot or getting shot at and he has trouble making money. But on the other hand the bar tender Freddy keeps his boat safe and out of trouble, the same as his living. Another symbol would be guns that appear through out the story, that represents the level of seriousness or violence someone will commit. For example, when Harry takes the first twelve Chinese men, he has a pistol and shotgun on board and only killed Mr. Sing. But, in the beginning those three Cuban’s end up being shot with machine-guns with out any mercy and on the side of the street. Although there isn’t a ton of symbolism in the book but there is still a little that comes into play.

              In the end, I would recommend this book not as something to use on the AP test but, just as a fun read. If you were looking for something new and different to read this would be the novel to choose. But, if you want something with more literary merit, for something like the AP test, this wouldn’t be novel to read. To Have and Have Not is a different kind of read but it wasn’t terrible, just more of a nice, easy story to read.

Kealey: The English Patient

Kealey Zaumseil

English Patient Book Report

January 12^th, 2014

            Written in 1992 by Michael Ondaatje, the novel The English Patient incorporates several themes intertwined in eloquent writing. The novel takes place during the downfall of World War II in an abandoned villa located in Tuscany, Italy. The villa was once used as a hospital for wounded soldiers, but as the war fizzles out and the town becomes unsafe from hidden German bombs, most patients and nurses flee. Hana, the exception, stays to tend a patient who has been burned beyond recognitions and cannot be moved. This patient becomes known as The English Patient. Earlier, he had been brought to the villa by a Bedouin tribe who had pulled him out of fallen plan, which was engulfed in flames. When the English Patient awakes, he cannot remember his name or his past. His only belonging is a copy of Herodotus's, which he had turned into his own personal scarp book. Throughout the novel Hana tends to him and patiently waits as his memory comes back and he is able share stories from his former life.  During this time, Caravaggio, a Canadian who has become a British Spy, appears at the villa claiming he knows Hana. While this is true; he has alterative motives evolving the English Patient. Kip, a man from India who defuses bombs for the British, also makes his way to the villa. He soon sets up camp in the front yard for the duration of his stay. As the novel progresses, The English patient reveals more about his past and the reader learns he was a mapmaker for the Northern deserts of Africa. Stories of his former relationships are also revealed and his mysterious past starts to unravel.

            The English Patient is truly one of the most beautiful written novels I have ever read. Even through the faster pace sections of the novel, the writing is continuously graceful. At times, the story seems almost poetic. Following which tense the book was in presented itself as a challenge at first. Not only does the novel switch between points of views of each individual character, it also goes between present and past tense without any indications. Once I had realized these changes, and were able to pick up on them more quickly, I started to appreciate the story and meaning. Through this writing style, Ondaatje was able to clearly highlight themes such as tragedy and passion. It also enabled the reader to have more insight on each character. By doing this, the reader gains a larger picture, rather than just one side of the story.

            As far as recommendations go, I would strongly suggest it to any reader who is interested in extremely well written novels and can handle a slower pace read. The mystery of the English Patients past unfolds at a slower pace than expected. As for myself, I highly enjoyed the writing, but at times found myself unmotivated to continue reading. This could be due to the fact that being so young, I could not relate to many of the major themes such as love and tragedy. When I’m older I’ll read it again, in hopes of connecting with the characters more and being able to appreciating the love stories and the pain of losing someone.