Dreams from My Father by Barack Obama

This is a memoir that I just finished for another one of my classes; it was fascinating and was given to read at a very appropriate time with the upcoming elections. Barack Obama gives a detailed portrayal of his entire life up to before he became a politician. His life begins in Hawaii, where he was born into a white family living with his white mother, grandmother, and grandfather. His father was forced to move back to Africa to follow through on a deal he had made with his country to go to school in Hawaii and bring back the knowledge of the Western world to advance their own Kenyan culture. His mother later meets an Indonesian man and the two plan to move to Bali Indonesia. In Bali Barack fits in very well with the Indonesian culture and while he is kept sheltered from issues of race he is forced into a new world filled with an open problem of power struggle. Barack moves back to the states, lives in Hawaii throughout his high school years, then attends several different colleges. His college career takes him all across the country he begins in Los Angeles, then transfers to Colombia University in New York city where he graduates, after school he moves to Chicago where he becomes active in the community. In Chicago he makes the decision to attend Harvard Law School, launching him into the political role he plays now, but that is where the story ends.
This memoir not only did a lot to open up my opinions to Obama but because the class I read it for was an Africana Philosophy class the issues of race where the main topic. The way Obama talks about race and coming to terms with his identity as neither white nor black is fascinating. The honesty that exudes from this book is enlightening, and sometimes because of the presidential campaign one would think that it could harm him, but I think differently. He spells out completely the frustrations he deals with not just for the first couple years of his life but throughout his entire life having to cope with being mixed race. His roots in Hawaii and Indonesia build his character and shape how he becomes such an interesting man. The lessons in Bali he learned from the very apparent reality of the power struggle of a third world country. He sees how the poor are taken advantage of and how people can be forced to do things or behave in a certain way, which might be seen as dishonest but for them is survival. Obama takes these lessons and applies them to his life in high school, Colombia, and then in Chicago where he really finds his niche in the black poor communities. The memoir is great and if your interested in knowing more about the man you are voting for or against I highly suggest reading it to gain some insight on the background of the huge political even that is taking place at this very moment.

Bright Lights, Big City

I read Bright Lights, Big City by Jay McInerney. The book is a narrative, but an unconventional one at that. He writes in second person format, which adds an interesting depth to the story. The story would naturally be a story about a young man who made it big in the city with a beautiful wife, and his world suddenly comes crashing down before him when he realizes that his wife has left him and he is now all alone. He assuages his pain with the love of parties and drugs and soon loses his job. Through the story he tries to figure out his life. At first glance all of these components may seem a little predicable for a city man crashing, but when you have to read it in second person it adds a depth that would not have been there had it been written in the third or first person. At some points I would start to revert into the third person while reading and then the author would place a subtle reminder telling you this story is in your eyes. Those subtle but necessary reminders constantly pull you into the story a little further. He is not at the bar. You are at the bar. That depth makes it so much more interesting when reading the story.
The writing was pretty moderate not too simplistic but not difficult. It was written in a way that you had to be quick and follow with intelligence. Another important component incorporated into the story was the energy. McInerary did a fantastic job describing a situation but still providing energy. At one point you would be at the bar, then in the bathroom doing a line, then waking up late for work. But you felt the lateness, but there was still high energy. Also within that energy was tension. There were times when you were reflecting on your walk to work, and then you were stressed about getting fired. All of those different rises in tension kept me going. All of these different incorporations by McInerney added great depth to his story and kept me very interested. He didn’t just follow the text book which is another appreciation I had. He incorporated many different aspects of good writing but he had a wonderful balance of all parts and utilized them in a way that kept the reader in tune. I realize right now I am talking about this book as if it were the best book ever written, and by no means is that what I am saying. It is a great book, but what I am saying is that this is an author who took a risk and succeeded by adding all elements but still grabbing the reader.
I am very happy that Professor Hummer suggested this book for I had written a story similar in the sense of a big city man. If I could ask one question to the author, it would be how much experience he had in the city life. It was so vivid. I just wonder how authors can write so well, and if it is necessary to life the life before writing a fantastic story. For with so much depth and so many elements I feel like to incorporate everything, you need to live through everything.

Seabiscuit!

Book Review:
Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand

Seabiscuit is an outstanding work of literature. It tells the story of a legendary horse who rose from obscurity to a national obsession. It also details the history of horseracing of the 1930’s era. The bulk of the book is the beautifully developed story of the three men, Red Pollard, Charles Howard, and Tom Smith, intimately connected with Seabiscuit. Most important, however, is that Laura Hillenbrand, through telling the story of the legendary horse is capturing and teaching us about the mood and spirit of the Great Depression. To know the Seabiscuit story is to know the soul of America during a critical time in its history.
Laura Hillenbrand describes Red Pollard as “sinking downward through his life with the pendulous motion of a leaf falling through still air”. In the summer of 1936 “he was, statistically speaking, one of the worst riders anywhere”. He had no money and no home. He usually slept in empty stalls.
Pollard started life in Edmonton, Alberta. Hillenbrand describes his Irish immigrant father making a fortune in manufacturing bricks. A flash flood wiped out his factory and left the family bankrupt. At 15 Pollard left his parents and siblings to seek his fortune in riding horses. Utter poverty contributed to his leaving his family, and not knowing where his next meal would be coming from. Hillenbrand goes into well- researched detail of the daily life of a jockey being a struggle for survival. The author relates how Pollard had to hide being blind in one eye from the racing establishment or he would have been banned from riding.
Charles Howard, Seabiscuit’s owner, was certainly not financially ruined by the Depression. Hillenbrand’s following the thread of his life that leads to Seabiscuit is an “American story”. The author describes Howard as “eastern born and bred”. He enlisted in the cavalry during the Spanish American War. He worked as a bike mechanic, got married, and had two sons. With literally 21 cents in his pocket he took the transcontinental train to San Francisco. Howard saw the market for automobiles early and raced them as a way to help marketing. In 1906, the Howard family survived the devastating California earthquake. After the Quake the automobile industry boomed and Howard made a fortune.
Tragedy struck when Charles Howard’s 15 year-old son was in a fatal car accident. Not long afterwards his marriage fell apart. Money didn’t matter. Howard’s life was falling apart, and he was ripe for the Seabiscuit experience.
Laura Hillenbrand’s third thread was Seabiscuit’s trainer Tom Smith. The author refers to him as the “Lone Plainsman”. Smith “had grown up in a world in which horsemanship was as essential as breathing”. Hillenbrand brilliantly relates how he was part of a frontier world that was being “swept away by modernity”. Smith found it harder and harder to find work as the country was in the depths of depression. By chance, his work in healing a sick horse was witnessed by Charles Howard near a racetrack in Tijuana, Mexico.
Having traced for us the lives of Red Pollard, Charles Howard, and Tom Smith the author effectively parallels their story to the world around them. They needed to feel good about something. Hillenbrand poignantly describes, “In the winter of 1937, America was in the seventh year of the most catastrophic decade in history. The economy had come crashing down and millions upon millions of people had been torn loose from their jobs, their savings, and their homes. A notion that drew its audacity from the quintessentially American belief that success is open to anyone willing to work… was disillusioned…The most brash of peoples was seized by despair, fatalism, and fear”.
Hillenbrand describes the new social force of escapism. Local movie theaters across the US hosted 85 million people a week. Radios and popular radio shows were booming. Part of this escapism was an explosive growth in spectator sports and the fastest growing sport was thoroughbred racing. The author points out that sports were growing simultaneously with the technology to bring it to everyone’s living room by radio.
Seabiscuit was found in the barn of one of the country’s top trainers. Following the typical depression theme, the trainer was about to give up on him. He raced poorly. The grooms were afraid of him. Seabiscuit was short, had funny knees, was underweight, and all bruised up. The truth was, as the author sensitively notes, he was not understood as an “individual”. Charles Howard and Tom Smith saw something in the look of his eyes and bought him. The brilliant trainer, as Hillenbrand relates, studied him and helped him learn his inborn love of racing. The author teaches us that Seabiscuit thrived on competition. He typically did not lead races, but would make spectacular finishes. As he began to win races, the press and the public could not get enough of him. Despite his “runtiness” he ws breaking speed records all over the West Coast.
The drama of the Seabiscuit saga was added to by the ups and downs of injuries to himself and Red Pollard. Red Pollard had two near death accidents. In the second accident the jockey nearly lost his leg and spent months recovering. The physicians taking care of him told the owner, Charles Howard, that he should never race again. Howard disagreed. He told the doctor in a statement that allows Hillenbrand to capture the mood of the era, that he would rather see Red Pollard lose his leg than his hope.
A climax of the Hillenbrand book is the ultimate match race between Sea Biscuit and War Admiral. War Admiral and his owner, Samuel Riddle, epitomized the smugness of “old money” and the eastern racing establishment. Seabiscuit epitomized “the little guy”. War Admiral was tall and elegant. He had won all the major races in the East. His owner discounted Seabiscuit as an unimportant horse. Riddle avoided taking on the Seabiscuit challenge. Finally the public and the press pressured War Admiral’s owner enough to force what is viewed as one of the great sports events of all time. As Hillenbrand emphasizes, riding with Seabiscuit, and the ups and downs of his career was the spirit and hopes of all the downtrodden. Seabiscuit, as usual, had the character to rise to the occasion.
Laura Hillenbrand’s book is an important work of literature. Her research on horse racing and the lives surrounding Seabiscuit is well detailed. Her writing style makes it an easy read. Most important in the Seabiscuit story, is her ability to capture the emotional intensity of the time. A time, as she points out, that the country’s mood was at an all time low and the spirit of Seabiscuit was desperately needed. The fact that each critical component of the Seabiscuit story seemed to come from nowhere only adds to the drama and effect. Seabiscuit was a small, runty horse that was losing races and being mishandled. Red Pollard had been abandoned as a boy, failing as a jockey, and sleeping in stall floors. Tom Smith was part of a vanishing frontier. Charles Howard had moved west to go into the bike business with 21 cents in his pocket. They joined forces, supported each other, and thrived. As Laura Hillenbrand insightfully teaches us, their success would help invigorate the soul of a country that was at a desperate time in its history.

The Left Hand of Darkness

Assignment 6
Book review: Ursula le Guin’s "The Left Hand of Darkness"
By Leah Summerville Farrar


Ursula le Guin’s “The Left Hand of Darkness” is a powerful and moving novel, and an example of science fiction writing at it’s finest. It is the story of a young man, sent as a first-contact envoy to the planet Winter, and his efforts to both recruit that world into the interplanetary collective of the Ekumen, and to understand and eventually become part of this alien culture he finds himself within. Told primarily in the first person, this novel is reminiscent of the works of such authors as Elizabeth Moon (author of a series of science-fiction novels about heroine Ky Vatta), and Timothy Zhan (in particular, his brilliant “Icarus Hunt”). However, this novel is also, I would argue, reminiscent of the works of J. R. R. Tolken in style and in the scope of telling, and brings a level of immersion and complexity to science fiction writing that many writers shy away from.

To start with, I must say that one of the most interesting things about the novel, and the one that I would most like to learn to emulate, is the way that le Guin has tied together several different narrative styles in order to make her story more informative and cohesive. The majority of the book is told in the form of a first-person narrative, with the character of Gently Ai, the Envoy, doing most of the narration. However, within this le Guin had included chapters that are from the ‘personal journal’ of the other main character, Estraven, as well as recorded myths of the alien world, and analysis’s done by the team of ‘inspectors’ that came to Winter before Gently. What this combination allows, in my opinion, is for the primary text to be told in the form of a continuing narration, with little time taken out to explain the elements of the alien society or physiology beyond what would be expected of someone, say telling of their vacation here on earth. The extra parts allow for any truly necessary external explanation to be given outside (and yet at the same time, still within) the story’s narrative, without them breaking the flow of the tale.

To this point, “The Left Hand of Darkness” is definitely told in a very serious, very ‘realistic’ manner. What I mean by this is that it told in a matter-of-fact, take-it-or-leave-it sort of style. There is little explanation of the world; you learn as you go, thrown into the world as totally as Gently Ai, the main character, has been. It is like stepping into another culture, another world, your only guide book a member of that culture (in this case the enigmatic Estraven). This frankness of style was enthralling, and was primarily accomplished through the language that le Guin chose to use in her telling.

Personally, I found the diction of “Left Hand of Darkness” fascinating and totally engrossing. As someone who read voraciously for most of her life, and so has at least basic grasp on many of the common plots and styles of writing, I can honestly say that I need a strong plot and unique writing style to truly grab my interest. This book delivers that with aplomb. The writing takes no prisoners; it doesn’t make excuses for the ‘alien’ who is trying to understand this culture so different from our own, doesn’t stop to explain the terms used, to let the poor reader emerge to take a gasp of breath before being sucked back under its unrelenting force on style. Instead, it simply plows ahead, throwing the reader into the world of Winter in much the same way as Gently has been thrown in. This is a world that is totally alien to our own, this narration style says, and so is a world that we have to take as is. The difference is pronounced, and yet though the use of the characters we are granted entrance in to this alien world.

Something that I find highly interesting about the characters in this novel are that the two main characters—Genly Ai, a human attempting to make first contact with another world, and Therem Harth rem ir Estraven, the only citizen of that world who truly believes him—are at once very similar, and extremely different. This, I feel, was intentionally on the part of the author. Both are, in their own way, exiles, attempting to prove themselves in one of the harshest natural climates one will ever hear about. However, they are also of two species so totally different from each other—both socially and physically—that it provides a continued source of tension throughout the novel. By highlighting their similarities, their alien-ness to each other, le Guin has given both them and us a means of associating with the characters, of opening ourselves to them. Without highlighting the sameness of the characters (their styles of writing, their thoughtful natures, and their alien reality) than the differences between them would be too vast for their connection to be believable. And it is this connection that truly forms the heart of the novel.

At one point in the story, the main character goes to see a sort of oracle or precognitive to whom he asks the question of whether, in five years, he will accomplish his mission and Winter will join his interplanetary collective. He is told that yes, it will, but that his question was answered not because it was important, but because, perhaps, it was unimportant. In that, we see how the tensions, and plot, of this novel are both resolved, and left open. Yes, he accomplishes his mission as Envoy, but as the story progresses we learn that the real tension of the book, and what Gently comes to realize may be his true mission, is not truly resolved. This ‘true’ mission is his relationship with the local peoples and with Estraven in particular. In this, there is little closing, and the tension remains at the end of the book; an ending that seems extremely fitting, while at the same time totally heartbreaking. I wanted Genly to succeed in not just securing Winter’s admittance to the Ekumen, but also in his attempt to form a relationship with the locals. In the end, however, his alien-ness is affirmed; both by his hesitant acceptance by the people of Winter, and by the fact that he is in part unrecognizable to his own people. He has become, in his own way, like the people of Winter; totally singular, androgynous not of sexuality, but of race.

Having finished “The Left Hand of Darkness,” the first thought that came to mind was that I wanted to ask the author how this world came to her; it is so detailed, so complex, and so totally foreign that it’s very creation that its visualization by le Guin fascinates me. I have not been able to stop thinking about since finishing it, and while reading it had to work hard in order to tear myself away for such mundane tasks as eating and sleeping. In the introduction of the book, le Guin states that she believes that many people do not like science fiction because they describe it as “escapist” (vii). Though she elaborates by saying that, when pressed, these individuals admit that this is truly because they “find it depressing” (le Guin vii). This is because most science fiction takes on aspect of society and expands it into a horrifying prediction of the future. In “The Left Hand of Darkness”, however, le Guin admits to making no prediction about the future, not total and overarching statements about the nature of humanity. Instead, she is simply granting us an immersion into a culture that is different, and yet at the same time startlingly similar to our own. And yet, and yet, I would say that in this she is examining humanity, examining society, as deeply and as totally as any science fiction novel or movie I have ever read.

Book Review

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Curiously, I had put off reading Hunter S. Thompson’s most famous work until, I felt, I was at a point where I could really appreciate it. I had seen the movie anyways and was in no rush. Now it is finished, lying on the top of a stack of library books. What do I have to say? Well. For one, it is a brilliant piece of writing. It is not fiction necessarily, or at least not in the sense we tend to deal with. This, like his other books, is a collection of his thoughts and observations put through a strange, psychedelic wash cycle left on spin for too long. During his time, Thompson’s writing style broke all the rules. He was a journalist first and foremost (if you can really call what he did journalism) so his style is firmly rooted in an observational tone. Unlike most journalists, who remove themselves from the story they are covering, Thompson then threw himself into the mix. He became the lens through which his stories were viewed. So much is he tied to his work that instead of being a true “narrator,” he transforms more into a character, or rather a caricature, based in his mannerisms and vices. The voice he finds here is harrowing. Supremely ironic, unflinchingly honest, and always interesting, Thompson doesn’t blink away the details. He finds the stuff of his art in the smallest moments, blown up a thousand times over by his mind-altering experiences. You might say he is an untrustworthy narrator. You might say that his perceptions are so altered that even this, a work of fiction, cannot be trusted. I disagree. His drug use gives his prose a visceral, blunt quality. It hits you over the head like a ton of bricks, lacking all the subtlety a more sober writer might add. This is not, as you might have imagined, a drawback. On the contrary, it is a refreshing blast of pure, chaotic emotion. I dig the vibe he gives off, man. I certainly do. He has a unique voice. You could recognize Hunter S. Thompson’s writing anywhere. It is my goal to, one day, be as recognizable as he is. Overall, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, or any of his books, are all works worthy of tremendous attention even decades after their first publishing. Don’t do drugs, kids.

Treason

Treason by Orson Scott Card is an amazing science fiction novel without an emphasis on the science fiction like his better known novel Ender's Game. The story feels more fantastical than science fiction, but still retains a plausibility in its nature that one could suspend belief just enough to think it a possible future. It follows the life of Lanik Mueller (from his point of view, partially), the exiled heir to one of the strongest/most powerful Family on the planet Treason. The reason for Lanik's exile is that he's a "rad," a radical regenerative. In the Muller family, members are able to regenerate lost limbs or heal at incredible rates, but "rads" have no control over this skill and create extraneous limbs and organs. The planet itself is actually a prison of sorts that certain treasonous families were exiled on and left without any kinds of technology or resources to allow them to advance. Due to this lack of resources, iron is a coveted commodity and the two strongest Families go to war over iron. Despite being exiled, Lanik is still sent on a mission by his father to spy on the warring Family, the Nkumai, and learn what they are selling the Ambassadors in order to obtain iron from Offworld.

Card creates an incredible world with extremely diverse environments; there are cities high above the ground in the tallest trees to vast deserts with living stone. Not only is the planet Treason an incredible place, but the characters themselves are all unique and incredibly complicated. Lanik goes through several transformations, from starting off being a prince of sorts to an exiled abomination, a monster, an angel, and then an almost god/savior being. What struck me the most of all of Lanik's stages was the very first when he was essentially a hermaphrodite, possessing sets of male and female reproductive organs. For a large portion of the story, he pretends to be a woman in order to survive. It brought up an interesting internal conflict. Then there were the characters of the people he met and affected him in one way or another. Each person had their own back story that may or not be completely explored.

The narration of the story cannot be completely trusted since it is told from Lanik's point of view, but Card makes a good use of Lanik's senses to portray what his life was life in the few years that the story takes place. What he does interestingly is the passage of time during times of extreme confusion, pain, exhaustion, etc. He has memory clearly flawed and explores the tricks the mind will play when a person is confined physically and mentally. Due to the fact that the story is told form Lanik's point of view, there is a colloquial diction with certain words that apply only in the world of Treason. These words are well explained either directly or in context that the reader is not lost.

The overall plot was extremely interesting in the way Lanik's goals shift organically from one to the other. Lanik's character definitely grew as the story progressed, marked by the different sets of skills he obtained during his travels. I would say the bulk of the story's tension doesn't come from the conflicts occurring around Lanik, but the conflicts occurring internally. The ending wasn't what I had expected, nor was it what I had wanted, but it still fit in context to Lanik's character. I was still left with the joy of reading a fun and interesting story that was insightful and thought provoking as well. I enjoyed reading Treason and Orson Scott Card still proves to be one of my favorite writers.

Assignment 6

Tim Russert’s memoir titled, “Big Russ & Me,” is a #1 New York Times Best Seller for good reason. The book is essentially a collection of short stories, all a tribute to the author’s father. Russert’s undercurrent is the optimism and faith that rules his father’s life. The fresh appeal of the story is the touching, realistic description the author uses to describe extremely personal, sensitive memories. Russert is able to articulately describe characters with brutal honesty, from their strengths to their flaws. However, he does this in a sophisticated, respectful, humorous manner that draws the reader in to feel an attachment to each person. The overall mood is upbeat, engaging, entertaining, yet profoundly touching. Russert’s voice gleams through as incredibly sincere, striking virtually every heart string of the reader. The mood varies between Russert’s intense, heartfelt attitude toward the people in his life; academic references because the author is a well-educated, successful man; and questioning human behavior in a way that engages the reader. Russert’s stories are entertaining because he is a cultured man with vast experiences. The detail with which he describes every event and character, depicting not only the facts but also capturing the basic behavior and attitude of humanity makes his narration feel quite trustworthy to the reader. Because he is an average person describing various human actions, the characters, while typically predictable, are incredibly humbled in the way in which Russert describes them. This makes the characters extremely compelling because the reader feels an attachment toward each one, and a unique sense of relation despite the fact that each character is extraordinarily different from one another, which is ultimately most of the appeal. In two sentences, the reader can re-read a profound sentence to consider it more deeply, feel touched to the point of choking back tears, and chuckle aloud unintentionally. The interaction between characters is the most compelling, overall theme of the author’s stories. A beginning writer may try to emulate the author’s ability to succintly depict events in a way that keeps the reader’s focus on the characters and underlying theme of the story, despite the fact that not every reader can necessarily relate to the situation. In the epilogue, Russert addresses his son and explains that the book is dedicated as much to the author’s father as to Luke, his son. While displaying his father’s incredibly admirable traits, Russert includes Luke in most of his stories, not only because Luke was present in much of Russert’s adult life, but also because of the inspiration Luke unknowingly passed on to Russert that frequently reminded the author of his own father. My question for the author would be, at which point did you realize that your stories were intended for your son to read, as well as for your father? And, at that point, did your outlook change while writing or did you simply continue to maintain focus on your father? If so, how did you manage that?

Me Talk Pretty One Day

David Sedaris’ Me Talk Pretty One Day is a great book. It is a compilation of essays about his life and the everyday things that happen to and around him. His essay topics range from learning French with an evil anti-America teacher to his foul-mouthed brother’s escapades that include fistfights and a “Fuck It Bucket” filled with candy. Sedaris’ style and choice of topics made this book impossible to put down. His witty and sarcastic writing make the book flow even though the essays are unrelated.
After having read this book several times over I have become very fond of several of the essays. My favorite essay is “You Can’t Kill the Rooster.” This essay is about his younger brother who somehow fell very, very far away from the tree. He curses, has a southern accent, and gets in fights regularly. Sedaris writes with quick witted sarcasm that makes his writing real. His brother has given himself the nickname ‘The Rooster.’ No one knows why but it is hi nickname. The Rooster “politely ma’ams and sirs all strangers but refers to friends and family, including his father, as ‘bitch’ or ‘motherfucker.’” Sedaris was not allowed to smoke weed but The Rooster could not smoke it in the living room. Sedaris creates a visual picture of his brother so clearly that I can envision a five-foot-six jeans clad man with a six pack always on hand. Sedaris creates a character that I can see but also one that you can feel and even relate to.
My second favorite essay is “The Youth in Asia.” Sedaris talks about euthanizing his cat but the fact that he could not stop thinking of a cartoon called ‘The Youth in Asia’ where the fat friend could not climb the rope in gym class and it was very sad indeed. Sedaris uses real life situations and pokes fun at them. Euthanasia is not a funny topic but Sedaris actually had me laughing out loud. He makes things real and tangible.
I find myself trying to sound like Sedaris quite often. I want to be witty and biting; I want to write about my feelings and the absurdities that happen in my head but I cannot. I like reading his essays because he takes the everyday and makes it absurd. He does it with his words and sentence structure.

The Woods

The Woods by Harlan Coben was one of the best books I’ve read in a long time. I could not put it down. Don’t let the 508 pages scare you; this was one of the fastest reads I have read. This is a story about a county prosecutor named Paul Copeland, or “Cope” as his friends call him, and his search for answers. Twenty years prior to the plot taking place, Cope was working as a counselor at summer camp when four campers disappeared after going into the woods one night. Four campers disappeared; two bodies were found dead, and the other two (one of which belonged to Paul’s younger sister Camille) were never found. While Cope is prosecuting a big rape case and is up for reelection, he is blackmailed by the defense client’s father who digs up a lot of his past. Paul is forced to face realities he had kept buried for twenty years. This plot was heavily layered and more and more was revealed as I kept reading.
The Woods is a suspenseful thriller full of plot twists that leave your jaw hanging open. Due to the suspicions cast on the main character, Cope, by authorities in relation to his sister’s disappearance, I found myself doubting his first person narrative. However, he proved to be a trustworthy narrator in the end when I learned that he never lied about anything. The characters were all likeable and realistic. Some of the descriptions were clichéd, especially coming out of the mouth of Cope, but he as a narrator would find ways to laugh at himself for corny descriptions. The characters were also very difficult to predict. Each one would do something to surprise the reader drastically. Nothing is what you would expect. If you thought you had the story figured out from the beginning, you could not be more wrong. The characters had to deal with loss, empty hope, addiction, blackmail, love, mental illness, violence, grief, and facing the skeletons in their pasts. The story hit on every emotion accurately, making this book a perfect read for all kinds of people.
By the end of the book, most of the mystery is solved. However, the readers are left with one giant question. There were plot twists up to the very last page and the reader is left wondering how the characters will react to the last piece of the puzzle falling into place. The most compelling part of this story was definitely the plot. After closing the book I sat there staring at the cover and tried to take it all in. I was left to think about how one person’s actions can affect such a large amount of people in so many different ways.
If a prospective writer could take a lesson from this author, it would be in plot layering. The author meticulously placed tiny hints throughout the story that all came together in the end to explain everything. The reader discovers the secrets of Cope’s life along with him. Although the main character was a thirty-eight year old widowed father, I found myself relating to him and feeling just how he felt. That is a tribute to the author and his character building techniques. If I could speak to the author after reading this story, I would have two questions. I would want to know what happened between Cope and Lucy after he discovered her secret. I would also want to know some hints about his skillful layering techniques. Watching this story unfold before my eyes was fascinating because it all worked so well. Every forgotten detail was explained. This novel satisfied my need for a good mystery and will stay in the back of my mind for a while.

Water For Elephants

So this book is the same old story about an elderly gentleman sitting in a nursing reminiscing about when he was young and desperately in love with an unavailable woman. Except, this tale takes place in a traveling circus during the Great Depression. The setting of the story and the resulting characters make this book fresh and exciting. When your reading it you have no idea what's about to happen next.
The author, Sara Gruen, starts the book by showing us the end of the story. The circus falls apart and the jealous, abusive husband gets knocked upside the head and killed. We think the murderer is the wife, our main character's love interest. Then the author takes us even further to the end of the story, where the main character is alone in a nursing home. We know the end of the story, or at least we think we do.
Then we are sent right back to the 30s. The main character, Jacob, is a vet student whose parents are killed in a car accident. He breaks down, runs away, and ends up on a circus train. He is thrown into a world where everyone's jobs and lives depend on the circus and the dictator that runs it, Uncle Al. His first day there he meets August, the head animal trainer, and his wife Marlena and the love story begins.
The rest of the story alternates between the present Jacob, who is fighting for his dignity in the nursing home, and the past Jacob, who is fighting for survival and his love. When we are with the present Jacob we start to assume that we know how the story ends. We find out that he and Marlena end up married. Then we go to the past and the story shifts so quickly that we start to second guess what we have assumed. After all the old man might be senile.
We find ourselves completely immersed in circus life. Gruen has definitely done her research. The language that the characters use is very specialized, even between the groups within the story. The workmen talk one way and the performers talk a different way.
Each character is different. There's the angry but caring dwarf, that the main character has to share a room with. There's August, a paranoid schizophrenic who can switch for charming to murderous in seconds. There's Uncle Al, who cares more about money and having an impressive circus than he does about the people who work for them. There's Marlena, who cares for her animals deeply and is committed to staying with the husband that she hates.
Gruen keeps us guessing and second guessing. She constantly leaves us alone in the room with the triangle of Jacob, Marlena, and August. We watch the awkwardness and wonder whether or not our predictions are correct. At one point she uses the word pregrant to describe a long pause, while reminding us that Marlena is pregnant.
In the end we are relieved. The past Jacob gets to marry Marlena and the present Jacob gains freedom. However, Gruen gives us a little twist. Not everything works out the way we expect it to.

A Thousand Splendid Suns

They say that ignorance is bliss, and at times, I truly agree with that. But where does ignorance get us? Not too far in life if we hope to be good global, and local citizens. I took the opportunity to read "A Thousand Splendid Suns", a book that I have wanted to read for quite a while, and I was really impacted by this story. "Suns", by Khaled Hosseini(the same author who wrote the well known "Kite Runner", is the story of Afghani women and the daily trials and tribulations they have to endure simply because of tradition. Reading it, I had to step back and think about how I complain that women in most Western countries are not on an equal level with men in the job world, but at least we have the opportunity to work and live independently. I cannot imagine having my life run by my husband, or any man really, or actually, anyone.
The narrator of this story does a fantastic job of weaving the story with factual information about Afghanistan and local dialect and vocabulary. The tone of this story is rather somber and it is evident that the narrator is trying to shed light on this injustice that is going on even in the modern Afghani world. Hosseini, an Afghan himself, obviously has an attachment to this material and is probably writing about it because it is near and dear to him.
While it took me a bit to get into this story(the interspersed vocabulary through me off initially), once I was in, I felt connected and attached to this characters, crying at emotional moments, and sighing and yelling at frustrating parts. I was reading this while with a few friends, and I constantly kept yelling out, so much so that they all wanted to know what was wrong, leading me to go into a synopsis of the story and my internal frustration with the situations these women face.
This story follows two women who, living separate lives, are eventually brought together and through their mutually horrendous experiences, find light and happiness together and are hopeful for what will come with each new day. Male or female, this story teaches you a lot about what we need to appreciate that we take for granted, and gives a prospective of what others endure on a daily basis. This story was absolutely heartbreaking, but also life changing. The characters in this story(for the most part), are positive, hopeful and continue to believe that good things are to come, even in their darkest moments. That certainly helped me to put my petty problems into perspective!
I like that this story is a few stories intertwined: it is great to see how these women who lived separate lives are suddenly connected. Hosseini has a gift for weaving stories together, and also staying true to his native roots, and respect for tradition. It is difficult to show light on all of these social and political injustices, but he does so in an appropriate, and well recieved manner. This story, like the problems Afghani women are continuing to face, is not completely resolved, but it does leave the reader hopeful. Depressed, but hopeful.
While I was not particularly happy reading this story, I did enjoy it, I loved the writing style and the flow of the story. The message of the story was so somber and depressing, that it did not leave me very happy, but I am so happy that I did read this novel. It gave me a greater perspective on the country of Afghanistan, and I always enjoy learning through a novel that I am reading for pleasure, as opposed to reading a textbook and having to actively read, highlight, etc. Plus, reading a story about something that interests and challenges me, and gets me frustrated and saddened is always a good experience, and time well spent.
While this story is not a warm, fuzzy, feel good novel, it is one that certainly broadens your prospective and challenges you to think differently, and appreciate those smaller things in life. An amazing story, one that is fiction but is not far from the truth that real women face every day, I strongly encourage every woman to take the time to read this story, to help realize what women all over the world face. Open your horizons, remove yourself from an ignorant bliss and take the time to read, "A Thousand Splendid Suns". You will not regret it.

Second Time Around

Reading the Room was very interesting, it twisted the tensions of having an affair and murder in the most unusual way. When one thinks of affair and murder they typically think of the murder following the affair caused by a jealous lover, but in this story the murder happened before the affair. The main character Katherine has been dealing with her husband being accused of murder because of an affair he had, and then she too engages in an affair to feel the same sensation of trickery, and going behind her husband’s back. The twist in tensions works very well together; however, I felt that the lack of compassion that is normally seen in an affair story made the whole situation seem less important or nonchalant as it really would be. Katherine seems to not care that her husband cheated on her and she feels that he would be the same way if he were to find out about her affair.
The story seemed to confuse me a little with the jumps in between talking about her husband’s suspected murder and the affair she was having. Sometimes the differences in subject were hard to identify. At the end of the story it became confusing to about what she was saying. I believe she was talking about leaving her husband but I was not sure if she had planned to go back to the man she was having an affair with or to go and talk to her husband, it all seemed a bit vague. Maybe that was the point.

Time for a post ladies and gentlemen. A blog about blogging. Or rather, a blog about how much I hate blogging. As writers, we are often encouraged to put our thoughts down on to a page, sure. I would like to offer, if I may be contrary for a moment, that doing it too often is more so a waste of our time and talent than a productive expression of our creativity. I may be being crass (as is often the case), but I like to think that all the blog I will ever need occupies a space reserved for thoughts between my ears. That's my brain. My brain holds all the important details concerning my opinions and ideas. Rather than let them leak all over a page or, in this case, a computer screen, I prefer to hold them inside and maintain their freshness. Ideas given too much air tend to grow stale and moldy. If someone is so obsessed with my ideas on a particular topic then, by all means, they should approach me and ask for them. Call me a naturalist, or just lazy, but I imagine that a real conversation between people is often preferred to what will only amount to a spelled out game of phone tag. Perhaps I am just being too self-involved, too obsessed with my own condition to recognize the merit of public idea forums. Perhaps not. All I know is that I tickle myself silly when I impale blogging on its own sword. Godspeed.

blogggggggity blog

I did not like the exercise we did in class today. I found it to be boring and although I know it was supposed to help me with fiction writing I don't believe it did at all. I think it may have ruined the story for me.... On a more positive note, I liked how we went over "Tate" on MOnday. Looking at each character helped identify their major differents, wants, needs, and conflicts. I could hear each separate voice clearly. The contrast of the characters personalities wis what made the story so great. For thsi weekends assignment it was also helpful reaidng the critics piece in "O Henry" I have a better idea of how I might see praises and other positive or negative thoughts. I enjoyed the point that craig made when he said that the first two critics were praising the art work of the writing where as the last one was just analyzing. I think analyzing can be neccessary in a critique, but to a certain point. When I write my own book review I think I will focus more on the artwork of the writing. The beautiful descriptions... the differences in characters... and not totally pull the piece apart-- The chat we had on grammar was interesting because we just had a similar chat in another one of my classes. I feel like although we were supposed to many students did not learn about the use of commas... and other things in high school.

Meaning in Stories

You know, there was one thing that really stood out to me in class today, and was that interpretation of stories is really a very personal thing. I am not saying that interpretations cannot be shared, and are not often created with the intention of being shared, but rather that interpretation, and appreciation, of a written work is in reality a very individual experience. Take the story we read for class today, “The Room”, as an example.

From an aesthetic standpoint, I personally had no enjoyment of the story. I felt that it was poorly constructed and for the most part badly worded. For me, the story did nothing. However, for the reviewers of the O’Henry Prize Stories and some members of the class is probably really struck a cord. That is not to say that neither I, nor they, have bad literary tastes, simply different ones. I know that I, for one, find great interest and inspiration in the fields of fantasy and science fiction, fields that many people do not enjoy. Again, this does not make their feelings, or mine, any less valid, simply different.

After class today, Sarah and I were talking about the class discussion on the possibility of a story. What we ended up focusing on, however, was the question of just how much of writing is instinctual, and how much is planned. When the truly great writers, like those featured in the stories we have read in class, pick up their laptop or their pen to write, how much of what they produce is planned, and how much is simply instinctual? Is it mostly planned? I think not. Personally, I think that writing a story is like learning how to use proper grammar; the learning of the ground-rules is very important, but ultimately the writer must form their own personal understanding of how language works. A writer cannot be analyzing every sentence for the proper formulaic construction, but instead must have such a grasp of language that the proper form comes naturally. Likewise, a writer must have such a grasp of the process and concepts of story making that it comes instinctually to them. Though how this instinctual grasp is formed (whether it is natural or trained into a person, or both), I really don’t know. What I do know is that I, personally, find it very hard to believe someone who expresses to have completely planned every word of their story, every twist of their plot, every symbol present. Likewise, I find it hard to believe the critic who can find profound and total meaning in every word of a story. Does every word have meaning? Sure, but as I said above, critical reading of a text invites the reader/critic to bring their own personal interpretation to what they are reading. I highly doubt that there are literally thousands of book and articles on the works of Shakespeare because Shakespeare imbued his works with that much meaning. Instead, what Shakespeare did was create stories with just enough meaning that the reader, whoever and whenever they may be, can draw whatever they wish from the tale.

That is why I have a problem sometimes with over-analyzing of literature, and also why the quote of Le Guin about how writing needs to be equal parts aesthetic literary performance and story rang with me; stories in which the author is trying to hard in input meaning, is trying to hard to create a story, are equally as bad as stories in which the author simply lets loose with artistry and inputs nothing of substance. The best tales are the ones in which one can get lost in the beauty of the language without getting bogged-down by the heavy-handed attempt at meaning, while at the same time imparting just enough meaning for the reader to make-what they will of the tale. In such tales, every word is imbued with meaning only if the reader so wishes it. I guess that is why sometimes, when it comes to literary analysis, meaning, in the best stories, is what we make it to be, and, to be blunt (and quote Freud), “Sometimes, a cigar is just a cigar”.

God that was long.
(PS, sorry that this is late)

Gah, I keep forgetting to do this blog. Well anyways, what to talk about? I guess I can start by talking about how I liked changing things up by going over grammar last week. It's not something I would like to do every class, but it was nice. Moving on to today, I guess I can talk about "The Room." I thought the story was interesting, but I found I had a hard time following the story since it didn't follow a fluid chronological order. I couldn't keep up when the events would switch between one another since there was no clear distinction between the two. It wasn't a difficult read otherwise and I liked the idea of the story. I kind of wish that the story expanded more on the characters themselves; I got the feeling that a lot of happening without anything actually happening.

I started reading "Treason" by Orson Scott Card today for our book review today. I haven't gotten very far yet, but already it's interested me. The main character is definitely unique and in a unique situation. I won't go into detail about the book, but I will say I can't wait to read what's going to happen.

I know this may sound dorky but I love learning grammar. Sure, most of it is a review but it never hurts to brush up on some skills! Learning about lie, lie, and lay was actually completey new to me! I found out that I have been misspeaking for probably my entire life. Every time I'm tired, I hear myself saying that I can't wait to go lay down in my bed. Little did I know, the correct word is "lie." I was embarrassed about my past speech, but so glad to finally learn the right way. It's kind of funny, but since we've learned that lesson, I keep hearing those words being used, both correctly and incorrectly. That always seems to happen to me! Everytime I become aware of something, it appears everywhere.
I would also like to talk about the second reading I did last night in the O'Henry book. This was the reading about the other readings by other short story authors. I found this reading to be very helpful in understanding the original readings. I enjoyed reading "The Room," but I was able to gather much more insight into the story after reading the other essays about "The Room." Overall I really enjoy every story in the O'Henry book.

So it was a little nice to learn some grammar. I won't go to the point of saying that we should learn some all the time because that would make me cry. Anyway, I also didn't learn any grammar in high school and probably also know more grammar rules in French than I do in English. So it was probably a good thing that we had the grammar discussion the other day. Hopefully I absorbed something and my writing won't be so grammatically incorrect in the future.
I really liked "Taste". The author did an amazing job of taking something that could be really boring, half an hour of a dinner party, and made it very interesting with a lot of high energy and tension. I also I really liked how we learn nothing about the narrator except what we can filter out from the way he is telling the story. I think this is a really great thing because the narrator wasn't the focus of the story, so it was fitting for him to kind of be the uninvolved observer. It manages to give you the feeling of reading from an omnipotent point of view, while keeping us a little more personally involved in the story.

oh writing... week of the 19th.

So don't mind the title. I tend to forget when I write blogs and then lose all sense of sanity and have to retrace all my steps to the last blog and the number of blogs... but that is besides the point. I think that every class gets more and more interesting. When I first stepped into this class I thought to myself, heck, this is going to be a piece of cake! Then I soon realized I was a dumb little child with a lot to learn. My mother used to write a lot of short stories and she would always read them to me in order to see my opinion. For if an eleven year old is bored to tears than an adult will most likely be as well. The way that my mother wrote made writing look so simple. She would come up with intriguing stories and they went places, there was tension and energy. I thought to myself coming into this class, if my mother can do all of this so simply then I will quickly pick it up as well. How hard is it to write a story? Hard. I think that through this class I have learned the intensity that it is not just writing a story it is creating a story through the medium of writing. One must be able to visualize and live the stories and the words are simply a medium to convey the message. I hope that as the class progresses I can take each piece that we have learned and apply it to all of my stories from the past and in the future. I think that as I do less thinking and more focusing and doing, then I will be able to move forward and create the stories that I hope for. For if I give up now, I will not get anywhere. So here is to the good fight for the good story.

Ok, so blog #2: Today's class was actually very informative for me. I think Prof Hummer hit it on the head when she said we all know these things but just don't know how to explain them: that is how I feel. I was glad to hear that I am not alone in never really learning grammar in depth in high school or middle school. That is something I genuinely am disappointed by, and I have been searching for a general grammar class to help me at least get up to speed. I think I understand why we do certain things in grammar, but it would be nice to know why and to be able to explain it using the actual title of the rule. So, today was a pleasant surprise, and something that hopefully we can see more of! I find it pretty pathetic that I know more grammar in French than English: that is not something to brag about. I love to edit and correct papers, but I don't really know specifics as to why some things are written certain ways, so that is definitely something that everyone should know how to do, regardless of if you are interesting in writing or what have you: grammar is pretty essential to every career. So basically, thanks Prof Hummer for a brief grammar lesson: it may be a bit dry, but it was very helpful! Always good to review those things you know, but may not remember why you do them.

Right, so apparentely, time got away from me last week and in the excitement of the break I (gasp!) forgot to blog. My fault completely. So, in making up for lost blog time, I am going to do a double whammy blog sesh right now. Nice. Last week, workshopping was the best segue into break. And sitting outside on a quintessential SLU fall day felt very "college". And, it was just nice to be outside and entrusted to do our workshop on our own. I really like the workshop style my group has evolved ourselves into. We get it done and we have a good time in the process, allowing it to be a discussion as well as a critique/workshop. I was pleasantly surprised by the reaction of my peers towards my piece. Along the lines of Lauren, who also wrote about an affair, I think that I got people talking because, as she said, affairs stir people up. I was pleased that people liked my storyline, and that is was not as obvious or cliche as I had expected it to be. I think my characters certainly do need more development and substance, and I need to make this idea of a Mrs. Robinson not seem so far fetched, because in my mind it is only the story of soap opera televison/movies. I think I want to continue on with this story though, because I enjoyed writing this one so much more than the first. We will see what happens!

Book Review: Interview with the Vampire

As it is October, and Halloween is just around the corner, I decided it would be fitting to read a vampire novel. So I asked my mother (who is perfectly terrified of vampires) if she had any suggestions. She told me that Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice was worth reading, even if it was all about vampires. It may be important to note what my mother considers qualities of value in anything she reads (which determine if she will suggest a book to others). She looks for an articulate novel with a strong plot, characters that are unique from the other characters in the book, and something thought provoking. If a novel fails in these areas she deems it not worth reading.

I took her advice and found the book, surprisingly, on a shelf of books surrounded by some of her favorites. I started reading Interview with the Vampire and was instantly sucked into the world Anne Rice had so eloquently created. ““I see…” said the vampire thoughtfully, and slowly he walked across the room towards the window. For a long time he stood there against the dim light from Divisadero Street and the passing beams of traffic.” I was drawn by that simple beginning into a world that could be right outside my window. The only difference between the world of Louis (the main character; a vampire) and my own is that in my world I do not know that he exists outside of the pages of the novel. After reading the novel I believed that he could. I even wondered how could he not?

Though I cannot do Anne Rice justice in a simple plot synopsis, it will be easier for someone to decide to read the novel if they have a basic understanding of the plot. The novel begins with an anonymous boy and Louis in a dark room in San Francisco. The interviewer plays a minor role in the novel, which focuses on Louis sharing of his life story up to the interview. Louis began life as a plantation owner in Louisiana. He was turned into a vampire by Lestat, who simply wanted Louis’s plantation. For the majority of the first half of his story, Louis and Lestat remain companions, though Louis grows to hate Lestat and his own life form. (This is the message he is trying to convey to the interviewer who seems to be blinded by a lust for the power of vampires.) Finally, Louis decides he will leave Lestat, who believes he needs Louis. To prevent Louis from leaving, Lestat turns a five year old plague ridden girl into a vampire. Louis falls in love with the girl (Claudia) and stays with Lestat to care for her. Claudia grows mentally and emotionally but never reaches a physical adulthood. For this she comes to hate Lestat. She convinces Louis to aid her in murdering Lestat and then traveling to Europe in search of other vampires.

To reveal any more of the action would be unjust both to the reader and to the novel.

To truly appreciate the novel, however, one must be acquainted with the language and description Anne Rice employs. It is both vivid and articulate. She creates a world that, as I have said, is so flawlessly believable as to make me wonder if it is fiction or reality. The characters are unique and believable in a way that suggests Anne Rice’s great understanding of human (or vampiric) nature. Personally, I believe it is a must read for Vampire fans, and fans of well written novels in general.

CR Book Review Assignment 6: "The Dark Horse Book of Monsters"

Assignment 6: Book Review

The Dark Horse Book of Monsters

Allie, Scott. The Dark Horse Book of Monsters. Milwaukie, OR: Dark Horse Books, 2006.

Recently, for my Methods of Critical Analysis class, I have read a most fantastic book of stories— Leah Summerville, if you’re reading this you better not steal my idea— and I personally recommended for two main reasons: 1) It is a graphic novel. I am willing to bet most people in our class have never thought to read one, and I think we should all be exposed to this exciting, new (Japan has had “graphic novels since the 12th century) media, and 2) it has pictures.
Containing seven stories from comic book writers both new and experienced, these are tales that are not about the blood and gore we’ve grown to expect from monsters and horror. Although I admit I cannot wait for the arrival of Saw V to a theatre nearest me, I appreciate that each story sends a message to its readers. For example, “I Witnessed the End of the World” uses its monsters as a tool to satirize several issues in today’s human society.
As creative writers, I think we can learn from the diction in these short stories and borrow some of these published authors’ techniques for our own short stories. “A Tropical Horror,” a prose story with added black-and-white pictures, paints a vivid image in the mind of our favorite sea horrors. For those whom have a difficult time with endings, you may want to pick up some pointers from “A Horror Beneath,” just a seven-page story with an exciting finish.
However, not all the stories were written so well, but we can still learn what not to do for our short stories. “To Weave a Lover” was wrapped up nicely in a little box, leaving no room for a reader to wiggle inside the story and enjoy it from within the panels (panels are the “squares” that contain the actual images and script). In my opinion, it was much too neat, but chauvinistic males beware! Feminists would have a field day with this story. “The Hydra and the Lion” felt rushed, but I loved all the history crammed into just sixty-three panels.
Vastly unique, “A Dog and his Boy” is a horror story with a vicious monster and a storyline that pulled at my heartstrings. Ironically, this story was the bloodiest of all, and yet the story did not depend on its blood content to evoke these feelings in me. Each story has its own strong point, and I honestly believe we can take just a half hour out of our day and read this book cover to cover for quality short stories that can benefit our own writing.

CR Blog 8: Oct. 20-24 Class Poll: Who Doesn’t Hate Mosquitoes?

Blog 8: Oct. 20-24 Class Poll: Who Doesn’t Hate Mosquitoes?

Seriously, what in G___’s name inspired me to write this huge mosquito metaphor? First I write about the Devil in hell, and now I write about his minions that have escaped to Earth from Hell’s Gate. Well, now that it’s done, I’m still worried about it (as I finally finished expanding of Assignment 5 for Story #3 at the sac religious hour that is 2:21 A.M. on a Sunday morning). I am still wondering about the questions previously asked in my blog # 7, and now I’m worried about whether or not I am “offending” or making the reader feel unintelligent when I explain everything. I don’t doubt that the audience, after reading three pages of crazy talk (I will point out that my killer, naturally, is crazy) appreciate an explanation, but I will make it a point during the workshop to ask if anyone felt as if I was talking down to them. I’ll also ask if the case was “closed” too neatly, and if the ending was therefore boring and cliché. It’s strange: a part of me is pleased that I would consider this a finished story, unlike Raising Arms with its missing battle scene, and well, everything, but in lieu of this story’s completion… I don’t like it any better than Raising Arms. I would even say this story was better constructed and everything, less confusing, and more action packed, so what gives?

CR Blog 7: Oct 13-17 Damn Blogs

Blog 7: Oct 13-17 Damn Blogs

Is it just me, or is anyone else having trouble remembering these blogs are due? No, no one? I am the only one? Damn I am a bad student…. And I’m cursing on a blog that a professor is reading… hmmm. Good job, Chanelle. Well, if anyone hasn’t guessed yet, I do not really have anything to say for this blog, hence the lack of contractions. I guess I can talk about Assignment 5, where I am having a façade conversation going on. Obviously it is not related to any conversation I have actually had; I do not personally know a murderer. But I feel as if I am façadeing too long, and that a reader would give up trying to find out what is going on. I guess what I’m asking, is if I am too heavy on the metaphors, or was that the assignment? Am I unrealistically picking on mosquitoes, being too harsh on them? As always, I am also concerned with just plain ol’ confusing my readers, because everything makes sense in my mind, and not necessarily on paper. Can I use the blog to ask you questions? Just curious. I am writing about this now in hopes that you have a chance to read this first before you get to Assignment 5 and maybe help me out with answering these questions.

bloggin

I am very pumped about break at the moment. I got some great feedback on my piece of writing on Monday. I found that there were less complaints about style and more about just adding content. I also found that people had more fun commenting on this story because the topic was more interesting. An affair never keeps anyone quiet. My favorite suggestion was to call my main woman character a "milf." I also liked the suggestion of making my writing more uncomfortable before the sex scenes. Because that is after all how the main character is feeling. Certain areas needed to be more dramatic- Overall I think the group could relate to the story because that is such a popular topic on tv and in movies. When I think about what is always written about it usually has something to do with relationships/ and or sex scandals. I think it's important as young writers, when writing about these kind of cliches, to learn how to expand on them in our own way. I also realized how much I am inspired in my writing by everyday things that I can expand and put into my writing. My stories may consist of five or so expanded recollections of somethign that occured in my own life. I think this is very effective when trying to write fiction and still make it sound realistic.

A Fedora, Bullwhip, and The Book!

Yes! It’s Break!!!!
Ok, now that is out of my system…

Having finished the second of the workshop-sessions, I am not really sure what to write about. Overall, I think that this review session went much better than the last one. I got really good feedback from both, but I think that one of the things that happened this time was that my group didn’t remain restricted to the exact definition of the workshop session. It was kind of interesting really; before we got started on Monday, we looked at each other and were like, “how do we want to do this?” I feel that the result –open communication between everyone – worked really, really well. Though I can defiantly see merits to the whole ‘be-quiet-and-listen’ thing, I felt that, having done that the first time around, we had a good idea going into today as to just how much we needed to talk to get the most out of the workshop session. I guess that I felt that I got more out of this session than I did from the other one, because last time, since we were trying to stay to the prescribed time, we got to the point on some stories where we were really stretching to find things to say.

Also, this might just by opinion, but I am rather mixed as to whether these work-shop sessions might go better with smaller groups. I feel like the larger group brings a more dynamic communication and more points of view, but in the end everyone says the same things (at least this time around), and that smaller workshop groups would allow for more personalized feed-back. It just seems like when I, as a reviewer, am looking at seven stories to read and review, I feel like that the shear amount of reading/reviewing means that I give feedback overall that is not as in-depth as I might like. I still try my best with every piece, but when it takes you an hour or more to review a piece and you have seven to do it can be extremely stressful. Also, in large groups like these I feel that people tend to go with the dominate interpretation, and don’t always stand-up for their own interpretation as well as they might if it were in much smaller groups.

Just a thought.

On a side note, Hunter is the Master of Ambiguity. Go Hunter!

First off, I am not a crazy person. Does my writing really make me seem like some nut? I hope not. I guess I am drawn to dark characters, strange situations, and unlikely circumstance. Think about it this way. Do you want to read a story about happy people living their happy lives in their happy home? No, obviously. That would be awful. More than awful in fact. Truth be told, I haven't really dedicated myself to writing one of these stories yet. I sit down at my computer and, about two hours later, I have my story. But crazy. I don't think it comes across as crazy. I've always wanted to be the big idea writer. The one that changes the world for years to come. A stroke of the pen can do a lot, I find, and I want to be the first in a long time to really motivate change with a few drops of ink. For my next piece, I want to dedicate myself. As a warning to my group: it might be long. It might be dense. It might not even make any sense, but I am dedicated (and hopefully, will still be when I sit down to write) to creating something special. I don't know what's come over me, but there was something about my drug-crazed characters that really shocked me into wanting to express something more.

Blog 6

I have to admit, I sat down to write my first story much earlier than I did for the second one. I think the result is pretty obvious – my first story was much more developed, especially the set up to the person’s problem, which was where my second story faltered in its confusing lack of detail. I struggled more with the ideas in first story – it took me much longer to set out, in my mind, what I wanted to write about, and create a mental focus. However, writing my second story was a much more complicated process because I did not take as much time beforehand to plot it out. I was just reading how the other group felt that their papers had dramatically improved. I wish I could say the same for mine!! Although I do think my classmates have improved.
I also would like to note how interesting it is to read the various styles of writing my classmates have. It is clear now, from two separate stories, that we each take on a unique tone even when we write completely different plots. Adam’s stories, for example, are extremely easy for the reader to relate to, making his stories really fun to follow along with. Sarah C’s stories are engaging and vivid details make even twisted plots seem realistic. Craig’s writing is just crazy… and his advanced style comes naturally to him. It makes me wonder what my style of writing seems like to others. I did realize that my second story sounded like my character had a mental disorder (like the character in my first story), however, she was just a little kid with a big imagination. Hmm… maybe that is my common theme… that would be strange!

So it's been really interesting to compare this workshop with the first one. I definitely think that the stories have improved a lot. I think that just by being introduced to different techniques has helped a lot. Then there's the fact that we have just plain done more writing so we all have a little more experience. Anyway the stories have improved a lot in comparison to the first bunch.
It's funny because in some ways I had a harder time writing this story than the first one, but in some ways it was easier too. I know that some people had a hard time finding ideas to write about, but it was easier for me this time around. Also since we have covered more techniques in class I had an easier time thinking of different things I could do with my story. I found it harder though to write some parts of my story because I was trying to think so much about energy and tension and things like that. But on the whole I think it was easier for me this time.

People Are Getting Better

Wow. I must say that the stories have gotten better and better. I can’t say anything yet because my group has workshoped my story yet, but when I wrote it I felt like I was breaking out of my shell…which is what we are supposed to do, I’m assuming. It was weird the first story I wrote was decent but I didn’t feel like it was the greatest thing I could have ever written. Even when I turned it I felt uncomfortable, not that I hadn’t put enough energy or effort into the piece just that there was something (I don’t want to say invisible that’s weird) but some kind of force that was restraining my writing. I have never really written stories except for when I was a sophmore in high school and it wasn’t until I got to college that I really found my voice and style for writing. So coming into this class I consider myself a virgin to writing fiction or creatively.

Anyways back to writing my first story. I was concerned and uncomfortable about how my writing, even coming into this class the first day my ideas were…o god I’m going to have to write a story one day and read in front of the entire class, it’s going to be humiliating and no one is going to like it and they will just think it is stupid. But the way the workshop was set up was good and I realized how much I could learn from having not just one person but several critique my writing. With the ideas given I went into the next story with more energy and my guard down. When I read the stories for this first workshop, I was so excited I feel like everyone else did the same and the stories get better and better. So my conclusion is I think now from this class, you can be proud Theo Hummer, I’m switch my major to English writing from literature.

improvements

I think today's workshop is proof that we've all been getting a lot out of Heather Sellers's book. Compared to the first workshop, the stories have improved drastically already. I know in my own story, as well as in others I've been reading so far, we have done a lot of work with gaps, especially during flashbacks. Sellers advised us to jump around in our stories to make the reader more interested and it worked! It was fun to write gaps in my own story and definitely made it more fun to read other stories with gaps. These spaces allow our minds to work harder, making the reading more interactive. Cathy did an especially good job with jumping around in her flashbacks, making her story more powerful and her flashbacks more effective. We have also improved the amount of tension and energy in our stories. Thinking back to my first story, it lacked high energy, high tension, and big jumps. However, because we have spent time working on these techniques, I was consciously aware of each of these techniques in my second story. I tried very hard to have every sentence working as hard as it could to create tension, energy, and gaps.

So we all started the second peer review session today. It was very interesting to go through everyone's stories. I want to personally apologize to everyone in my group on the blog for my quiet disposition. I was pondering my writing at the point when everyone was giving me extremely helpful suggestions. I was pondering my lack of...commitment to my writing. I do not put nearly enough time that is needed to write a good story. There are lots of possible ideas that I have, but I am too afraid to develop them for fear of where they will go. The parts that I want to use in stories are areas of my life that are vulnerable, and I am afraid of how I would respond if there were any sort of critique. And the only way for me to take the ideas that I want to use and make them better is to have critique, therefore I am in quite a pickle! But the adventure of writing is stepping out of my comfort zone, for my writing would flop without trying new things. So the value that I have learned from today, is that I have fabulous resources at my disposal. And though my ideas may flop or may succeed but the only way that there is a chance of them of improving or succeeding is if I allow others into my world of thought. For without others my writing would fail. So to all of the members of my group, again I apologize for my quiet disposition but these were the thoughts going through my head. And I thank you for your help and suggestions because nothing I write could go anywhere without your helpful suggestions :).

Tension

Don't get me wrong I think tension is so very necessary to stories. I think that it is one of the key components to any piece that has a fighting chance. The problem that I am struggling with when it comes to tension or descriptions of certain scences is that it is very hard for me to conceivably write a short story when it is so very necessary to have details and tension in order to create the story. I think at times as well that if you have to much description, though the tension could be there, the description after description, may bog down the potential of the story. I think that my main struggle is finding that middle ground of all of the wonderful aspects that Sellers has contributed and brought about simply to the writing world. I want to be the kind of writer that can incorporate all of these different aspects gracefully without someone having to point out and say..."yes this is definitely her energy piece." Etc. Now I know that the world is not perfect, but I like to hope and dream. But I would love to learn how to generalize without it being overbearing, to intensify without that being overbearing. Oh, the constant struggle of the fine line...

Blogging away...

I agree that meeting Richard Rubin was a pleasant surprise! He almost made writing the way he does seem effortless… yet he stressed the effort that he has put into it. It was so neat to be able to listen to an author discuss a story he wrote and tell you the inspiration behind it. When I read “November,” I remember actually thinking about what the author of that story must have gone through in real life to spark the piece. I remember thinking that he seemed to know some interesting people – so it is funny to me how his characters are really just pieced together. I have never consciously pieced together various aspects of a personality to form one character in a story. I agree with most of this class that writing the past two pieces – Observing the Familiar and the Unfamiliar, as well as Assignment 4, were extremely difficult for me. When I sat down to write Assignment 3, I started by describing a cell phone in a way I thought made it inconspicuous that it was about a cell phone. Then I realized that cell phones come in all different shapes and sizes, and I had only been one with a similar structure to my own. I scratched that, and started to describe a fantasy world. I quickly realized that since the world was not vividly formed in my own mind, there was a good reason why I fought to find words to put on the page. I eventually ended with attempting to mix two worlds – describing a girl in a shower, but she does not know she is in the shower (and the reader isn’t sure where she is because they have an extremely close-up description of her location, so it seems abstract). Then, she finds the shower head handle and turns it on, douses herself in water, and you realize she was in the shower. It was a pretty lame idea. My intention was to then place her in an unfamiliar world (the fantasy in my mind that I would try to matter-of-factly relate to the reader), but that went nowhere. As for Assignment 4, I struggled, for the second time, in coming up with a person with a problem. It’s funny that Richard Rubin said that no matter how far out the character or his problem is, the author must always be able to relate. For my first story, I wrote about a teenaged boy with an obsession with stuffed animals whose mother takes on the obsession once he leaves for college. I am not a boy, I never got into the stuffed animal phase (aside from Beanie babies – but even those, they were purely a decoration to me, I never played with them). I preferred soccer, ground hockey, legos and train sets as a little kid, and grew bored of always playing the baby of the family when I played with dolls with my girlfriends. Also, my mother is one of the most sane people I know, so I really had no personal relation to my made-up story. But when Richard Rubin said that, it still made me wonder what connections I might have felt when writing it.

CR Blog 6: Oct. 6-10 Apparently, Eating Dinner for Breakfast is in Itself Hell

Blog 6: Oct. 6-10 Apparently, Eating Dinner for Breakfast is in Itself Hell

Okay, I’ll admit it proudly: when it comes to food and eating, I’m a sinner, a walking paradox, and unorthodoxical. I make up new foods (and words; I blame Galinda) all the time. I’ll eat fish and arroz con pollo at 6 A.M. as easy as I would eat a doughnut for breakfast— assuming I liked those disgusting things. That’s not my problem. Now what may or may not be my issue is, and I’ll let other writers and critics be the judge because I honestly don’t know, scenery. I hardly ever describe physical settings. And it’s not like I can't write in detail, or that I haven’t described the physical features of a place (“Raising Arms” the printing room), but more that— naturally, unless I describe a rooms for a reason— I just don’t. For “Hellova Story” I kinda sorta neglected to leave out any characterizations of Hell for what I admit is a half-reason. I want to let readers imagine their own Hell, how it looks, and even how it feels (I never once say that any of the characters felt hot or any heat at all, even though I do say there are fires about). I wonder if it’s ever a literary technique not to describe physical settings, or if that makes my story weak.

Well I have to say, that I agree with previous blogs that I struggle to come up with ideas for my stories. It really resonated with me though, what Richard Rubin said about how all writing is re-writing. That really got me thinking, and now I do not feel as guilty per se that I feel like all of my ideas are so pregenerated and, I guess in a sense, I think they are kind of lame. For my second story, I basically created this hybrid story of two dramatic storylines that were on the sheet that we were given for the assignment, and took off from there. For some reason though, I feel rather uncomfortable writing about some of these ideas I have. It was interesting to hear that Richard Rubin thinks that fiction writing is easier than non fiction: for me, I think that non fiction is easier, but that is probably because I am not as creative of a thinker. To me,it is easier to write about my own life, my own experiences, and to make the smallest situation into an analysis and expansion of something bigger. It is more challenging for me to try and create something or some sort of story: I can never think of all the details,and it just always seems to be so stagnant and cliche. I feel like my own life can't really be cliche, because it's my life. And, I cannot make the wrong decisions or choices in the plot, because I have no choices: it's what actually happened. So, I am struggling in this class to come up with creative, legitimate plots. It seems like the majority of the class has these crazy stories that end with such twists and I just feel very plain jane vanilla. But, I guess it is just the kind of thing where some people are just naturally stronger at this type of writing. Regardless, it is still frustrating to me as I sit and try to write each story.

CR Blog 5: Sept. 29- Oct 3 Vampire Butterflies; Thee Art Wicked

Blog 5: Sept. 29- Oct 3 Vampire Butterflies; Thee Art Wicked

Did I make that plural? I don’t think so. Anyway, I just had a question about how you grade assignments we hand in. I’m assuming we all put in a good amount of work, and make a valiant effort to create good art; so I guess the most direct way I can ask the question is: is that enough to get us 4.0’s? I asked because I realized I failed miserably on Assignment 2: Energy for whatever reason. Well, I know the reason, and that is that my obsessed mind was determined to somehow write something about Wicked, and with that idea set, my subconscious brain wrote what it did with little thought as to what the assignment was, and my typing fingers were but pawns to the queen (and yes, Fabala is one of Elphaba’s nicknames, along with Elphie, little frog, little snake and lizard girl). I digress. What I was really trying to say is that I imagine sometimes we can't always control what we write, and it comes out terribly wrong on paper. How does this affect our grade? I’m assuming class discussion and workshop responses also play a role in our grade, but there are 4 major stories and about 7 other pieces to write and a portfolio. I checked on the syllabus for a grade breakdown, but there is not one, and I wonder if you have one to share with the class?

Oh, the Tension!

I don’t know about anyone else, but I found writing the story for this week’s assignment very, very difficult. I’m not totally sure why, but I am not really totally happy with the end result. I have always had a hard time writing short stories; I think that it is because I have a hard time thinking in short story form. The stories that come to me are always of a rather epic nature, tales that would not lend themselves well to short story form. Likewise, those few short stories that I have been able to create are always on the longer end of the spectrum. I am not sure if my story for this week was giving me so much trouble because it, perhaps, is not well suited to short story form? Or, at least, not as short a story as I made it? I really don’t think I hit the tension on my piece. Argh, I don’t know….

In other words, I really have to agree with most everyone else; meeting Richard Rubin was pretty awesome. I know that several other people have mentioned it, but I think that the most interesting part of the discussion was the part about life experiences. That is something that has always stopped me writing in the past: the idea that I don’t have enough knowledge or experience with something to write about it. Though I defiantly think that having understanding of, and information about, something is important to good writing, I also think that I need to start putting more faith in my own imagination.

So I found class on Monday to be really interesting. Actually meeting Richard Rubin was really neat and (in all honesty) I ended up liking his story more because of it. I guess it just impressed me how he used separate little pieces of his own life and sewed them together to make the story. I really appreciated that because that's what I try to do with my stories some of the time, but obviously not as well. I think that hearing him explain how he did that gave me new ideas about how I can try to improve my writing.
Then I really liked the discussion we had about whether or not authors come up with the character or the plot first. This is something that I hadn't thought about before and I'm not really sure which category I fall into. I know that when I have ideas it usually starts out as a plot, but then the main character seems to be there right away too. Of course that just might be because I usually put a lot of my own characteristics into my main characters so maybe I'm just imagining myself in that position at first. So I guess I kind of come up with the character and the plot at the same time.
All in all, I think having Richard Rubin come into class brought up a lot of things for me to think about when I'm writing.

I must say that class on Tuesday was great. It was really interesting getting to meet Richard Rubin and here what he had to say about writing and answer all of our questions. First I liked how he asked us what we thought what was drawn from his real life experiences and what was imagination and to my surprise most of the story was taken, bits and pieces from real life experiences or people he had met. Then as we asked him questions he had great answers that were not what I would have expected. When the class contrasted whether or not each person created their story around a character or a plot. That really made me think because I’ve never looked at my writing like that and I guess I would have to say I typically develop the story around the character, I don’t begin with the plot. This gives me ideas of how I might start trying out new techniques of writing.
I have really been struggling with this last paper just because I am trying to really take into consideration the criticism from the last workshop and trying to avoid the same mistakes, which is trickier than I had expected. During the last workshop when everyone made their comments on my paper, I thought at the time…yea your right I need to not do this. More easily said (or thought about) than done. When it’s a whole new story its hard to take criticisms from the last one and apply them but the new ideas that Richard Rubin helped provide in class were exactly what I needed. I hate to say it but I feel like I lucked out by having writers block because now I have a little more to go from.

Richard Rubin

Having an author come in to talk to us was such a pleasant surprise! I found him to be a very engaging speaker and clearly a talented writer. I know he kept making jokes about how many metaphors he was making but I felt that demonstrated just how good of a writer he was. His metaphors really opened my eyes to ideas about good writing. Listening to him speak so passionately about his work made me want to be a better writer. I also really enjoyed reading November because of how much reality was put in it. I did not realize at the time I was reading it that so much of it actually came from real life. I noticed that I too do that in my writing. Through the class discussion today I learned just how acceptable it is to write non-fiction fiction. Richard Rubin was right, real life is very ironic, insane, and fascinating so why not use it?
His suggestion to open your eyes to detail was also incredibly helpful. I have always paid close attention to detail in everyday life and occurrences and I never realized just how much it helps while writing but it really does make a difference.
Finally, his advice about cliches brought a lot of comfort to me. I loved his improvisation to answer Erin's question about her seemingly boring story. His advice in addition to Theo's advice about being very specific to make it your own was what I found to be the most useful. I'm looking forward to writing more after today's class because of how inspiring Richard Rubin was.

As most of you probably noticed, I was very outspoken in class today. “The Bloody Chamber” is, in fact, one of my favorite stories, and Angela Carter’s works are, as a general rule, brilliant. If anyone ever wants to read good short stories, seriously, just check out her book The Bloody Chamber (Tanith Lee’s Red as Blood is also good, not Carter good, but good non-the-less). Now that I am done making my little plug for two of my favorite authors/research topics, I’ll move on…

The exercise we did at the end of class today about rewriting another person’s story was both easier and far more difficult than I had expected. When I started reading the piece I was to rewrite I admit that I had no idea how to do it. I say this not because I haven’t re-written stories or expanded on plot-bunnies before (I actually keep a file-folder on my computer that contains a whole slue of plot ideas that spring to my mind at random, usually in the form of little “camera flashes” that are between a sentence and a page in length. Assignment 3 was actually written from a 100 word “flash” I had had on file for over a year). What was so hard was that I was rewriting someone else’s work. I guess the part of me that believes strongly in the intellectual rights of author’s to their own works made me balk; this, after all, was someone else’s personal life I was recreating as fiction. Once I got past that the writing was fun and went very fast, but it was strange just how much, and for how long, I was hung up on that little fact.

Finally.

I hate titles. And I love titles. I hate them because I can never come up with a proper title until I have finished my story in its entirety. Perpetual title block you could call it. But really, what is better than a good title? It’s everything to a reader. When you look at a story you see nothing of its substance and merit unless it is reflected in its title. I don’t title most of my work in the class because, for the most part, I hate writing short stories. I write chapters or beginnings, so I feel unfit to give my stories a name when I have yet to finish them. I don’t know how my story will change and grow as I write. It could end up completely different from the story I had planned, or I could scrap it all together. I have no idea what will happen, so I feel like naming it is like betting on a lame horse. It’s premature. Now, I respect people who are able to name their stories before they are done. Or even people able to cram a story into eight or so pages. I cannot do that. What I urge us all to do however is to really sit with a title before you put it on the page. It’s the most important phrase in your whole novel until your reader turns to the first page.

So I definitely noticed the Bluebeard pattern in the two stories that we had to read for class today. I am also really glad that I read the Bluebeard's Egg story before I read The Bloody Chamber. If I had read them in the other way around I don't know if I would have figured it out. In Bluebeard's Egg not only is the main character focused on the Bluebeard story but the story becomes symbolic for her own life.
Then The Bloody Chamber is basically a retelling of the Bluebeard story in a slightly more modern France. At first when I started reading that story I didn't see the connection, but as I got further into it I found myself being able to predict exactly what would happen. I started to figure it out right after the newlyweds made it to the castle and I was certain by the time that the husband gave the main character his keys. In some ways knowing what the ending could be took some of the excitement out of the story, but in other ways it made the story more interesting for me. I'm glad we read these two stories together otherwise I wouldn't have liked either one as much.