Chronicles of Contemporary Lit

[kristenhmckay]

I have finished reading The Road and I have also watched the movie. Although the ending of the book did not give any details to what happens to the boy after he went off with the family, I felt like it was a good ending just because the boy did not end up alone and that he would be with people...

[jvanste]

I agree with you about the ending. Leaving it up to the reader's imagination let us believe he would be happy and civilization would once again prosper.  However, if you are a sicko you would probably imagine he was dinner, breakfast, lunch, and a snack the next day. After all Veal is a tender young calf, so why would the young boy not also be tender. Or maybe the family is not a family at all and the man uses him as a slave. I wonder how long the boy lives and if there is any way civilization can restart with a fresh food source from the earth.

[jvanste]

This represents almost every story we read.  I learned more about sex than I will ever need to know. Living in a wheelchair doesn't exactly bring women and sex to my lap. Never knew what I was missing until I read these stories. I have truly been inspired. But seriously, I have enjoyed most of the stories.  I am not sure post modernism is my thing, but I did enjoy the class. I truly prefer stories with one plot that can carried throughout the story.  My favorites were Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close and The Road. Time to move on to upper classes.

[nichole-haire]

Plenty of spoilers if you haven’t finished the book, don’t read this post then.

Don’t get me wrong, I have two kids. But I am over exasperated on reading two novels about “helpless children.” As I finished The Road in one sitting and just now watched the film, I’m ready to get back to the genre...

[jvanste]

I totally disagree with this post.  I felt the book showed the boy grew over time and in the end he cared for his dying Papa as the man had cared for him when he was sick.  The boy just kept humanity alive in a dog eat dog world.  It was refreshing to see the boy's passion and tenderness for others along the road. This was seen with the old man, the dog, and the lost boy. The boy wanted to feed the old man.  The boy was very angry when his Papa left the thief naked and starving. He could not understand his Papa's lack of compassion. It was a tough world for a boy to grow up in and his Papa allowed him to have moments of innocence.

[jvanste]

In the novel The Road the whole world is burned to ashes in the apocalypse. Fire destroyed everything in its path.  There were few survivors.  The story tells about a man and his son, a young boy, and how they survived. The man and the boy had a mission to carry "the fire"  to any good people surviving. I think that they were carrying hope for a new life, with others. They had lost so much and his Papa kept the fire burning in the boy's heart, knowing he was the future.  He knew he would die, but charged his boy to keep strong and take the fire onward.  The boy only new the mission and insisted they take the fire to others.  He held the fire in his heart and wanted to share it with everyone, no matter what. The boy was opposite of the man.  He felt everyone mattered and deserved to live.  The man thought everyone was the enemy.    

[sarahefstathiou]

How I feel when I get behind on Tumblr posts for this class…but anyways kind of glad we finished “A Visit From The Goon Squad” today. I hated how the book didn’t offer a resolution in Ch. 13. Jennifer Egan really just left us hanging out to dry. Ch. 12 was definitely unique, with it being a PowerPoint written by Allison. Allison writes this journal entry, describing her family life, and their relationships with each other. This structure definitely contributes to the book being Po-mo.

[jvanste]

I agree with all of the points you made in this post.  I found that with every new story I wanted to know more about those particular characters and especially the kleptomaniac and why she stole.  In chapter twelve the power point was a strange way to describe your family life and relationships.  Most people write in a journal or diary in paragraph form. How many people do you know that relate/share their personal thoughts in power point format?  I think I will write my memoirs in power point form with lots of pictures and caricatures included.

[jvanste]

"The Goon Squad" has me totally perplexed.  There was no plot for the book; nor was there a climax combined with rising and falling action.  The book was like a cliff.  The more I read the higher I went and on the deeper my perplexed I became.  I have never spent so much time trying to understand something I am reading.  I kept waiting for the author to reel it all in.  It was like the author was trying to pull in several fish at one time and accidently let them loose.  I want to know what happened to the kleptomaniac. This last book, "The Road", has finally taken this look off my face. Phew!

[sarahefstathiou]

As I’m reading “A Visit from the goon squad,” all I can think about is the A.D.D. Jennifer Egan has. Someone get this woman some aderall or Ritalin! She’s not helping those who suffer with a.d.d. with all these stories jumping around. It’s not a bad book, but honestly I don’t understand why she wouldn’t just write a bunch of different books rather than one with a million stories jumping around…and I thought I was scatter-brained…may The Lord be with her…

[kayleeluing-contemplit-blog]

The book is very interesting content wise. But the structure makes it even more interesting. Books have a hard time keeping my attention because i absolutely hate reading!! But Egan seems to do a great job keeping me interested. I guess the structure is just a way that she could be sure that this book is different and has that postmodern feel. That’s the only explanation I can think of for the chapters being so crazy and bouncing all over the place!

[jvanste]

Personally, I feel ADHD describes this book perfectly.  I am tired of bouncing from character to character.  I have no idea what the plot is and therefore; there is no structure to the story.  I like the last book much better.  I am hoping the final novel, "The Roads" is much better. I do not like bouncing from character to character and present to past, to future all in one chapter.  I hope I figure it out later, better sooner than later. The face on this man is not clueless enough to represent me.

[jvanste]

In the novel there is a chapter about Lou, his daughter, son, and girlfriend go to Africa and take a safari.  A man on their jeep jumps out and tries to take pictures of a Lion overseeing his lionesses eating a zebra.  This may be the  "Circle of Life", but putting one's self in danger, just for a picture so he can brag to his buddies.  This was stupid, idiotic, and just plain moronic.  Can anyone explain the importance of this scene to the book?  It would have made more sense and been more exciting if the Lion had eaten the Rock Star. 

[kristenhmckay]

I have read the first five chapters of a visit from the good squad and so far I’m not sure how I feel about this book. I like how you find out a lot about the main characters in the first few chapters however I do not like how the point of view changes in each chapter. I caught myself having...

[jvanste]

I agree.  The narrator switching with each chapter makes it confusing to follow.  When you are use to reading novels that flow sequentially, with a few flashbacks, it is difficult to read several books in a row that jump all around.  You are not able to get to know the characters and feel their emotions.  I get confused who the story is about and who I am pulling for. I can not figure out why the author spent so much time on the gold flakes and the fact he can not get it up.  Is that the point of the story - he finally gets it up and has sex, or he never again has it.

[jvanste]

Recipes. Edible gold leaf supplier. We also have edible silver, edible gold petals, gold flakes, gold dust, sliver leaf, silver petals, silver flakes, silver dust and more.

According to this website Gold Flakes are cheaper than Cocaine.  I do not know why Bennie spent $8000 on the gold flakes when he could have gone to this web site and got it for $24.95.  The picture of the champagne looks awesome with the flakes floating in it.  A must for everyone to experience, especially while flying high above the Earth in a Shuttle, while watching the sun orbit around our home planet.  We could toast to each of he nations and hope for world peace.  I wonder what the long term effects are from digesting gold flakes.   Flakes for thought!

[nichole-haire]

There is “no help”, like the help of a sleepy lazy kitty inspiring you to be lazy with them instead of studying leading up to midterms. Studying and finishing up my first critical response paper. 

However, I know that it is due tomorrow and I just dropped it in the drop box on Angel, but I have a question for anyone who is up this late/early. Did anyone else find that they exceeded the word count, by like alot, like say… a little less than 500 words alot? I last checked my word count half way through, but didn’t until I uploaded it to the drop box. I’m kind of worried if that was a mistake. I feel like I had alot to say about the subject I choose and tried to go back through and edit it, but skimmed it down to as little as possible with only taking a whopping 100 words off… I am kinda fearful that points will be taken off for it. but I’m going to cross my fingers.

Second address, I haven’t seen anyone post this yet, but is anyone doing a group study for the mid term? That might be a nice idea to verbally go over everything like what we do in class. Hearing and discussing always helps me more. #blog03142014

[jvanste]

I agree with your question about the number of words.  My words came between 500-750, but once I added the close readings it doubled.  I sent an email to Professor Clark and she said if I could not cut down the quotes any further she would accept it.  Hard to write a quality critique in less than 1000 words. In order to be precise you use more words, but it is more important for the paper to be accurate and precise. I trimmed of as much fat as possible.

[jvanste]

Mr. Ski Instructor says, "If you wait until the last minute to study for your mid-term it will haunt you like if you skied down the expert slope without ever learning/practicing to ski."  If you haven't started yet, it is not to late to catch the review train as it pulls out of the station heading towards the Wednesday Mid-term.  If you wait until the last minute to study, you will need to mop up your brain that exploded from lack of info on each story's plot.  The questions have been laid out before you.  Take advantage and STUDY!!!!!!!!!!!!  I am.

[kristenhmckay]

I really liked the review we did for the midterm in today’s class by making up our own questions and answering them. I have never had a professor that let the class choose seventy percent of the questions on the midterm and I enjoyed it. While working in my group trying to think of questions...

[jvanste]

I agree with your blog. I never have had a chance to contribute to an exam, either.  It was interesting to see that we, the students, actually made up some tougher questions than she might have.  It is an excellent way to review for the exam.  In the old days my father made up practice test for me to study from. The majority of questions never appeared on the exam.  This way I know exactly what to study for and increase my gut feeling for success on the test. It also allows for student buy in.

[jvanste]

The books we are reading have show me how important the elements of fiction are to the reader. In both books the element of conflict is crucial to the stories being read. They include both internal and external conflicts for the characters involved.  In "The Things we Carried' an example if an internal conflict would be the love they carry for the people in their lives and the longing to be with them.  An example for an external conflict in this book would be what they actually carry upon their person, day in and day out.  For the other book, "Extremely Loud. . " an internal conflict would be  coping with the loss of Oskar's father.  An External conflict can be found in navigating the city New York to accomplish his goal.

[amber100801]

It is so strange that a book can contain so many heartfelt moments, so many sad moments and so many humorous moments all within the same chapter. Sometimes the same page! I would love to have read more about how Oskar was before 9/11. The short tid bits of memories tell the story of a boy who was...

[jvanste]

I disagree with this analysis.  At first I was thinking Oscar was ADHD, but within a couple pages I knew he had Asperger Syndrome (High functioning Autism).  The way he gave the keys to "key" people was one indication.  Made sense to him, because in his world everything is either Black or White - no gray area.  The games his father played with him supports the methodical side of Autism. The father always chose a scavenger hunt.  He always uses numbers that are big (humongous) and when he shared tidbits of information with us he states the same thing - I know these things.

[jvanste]

Oskar was reading The Brief History in Time and sharing an interview with a Japanese mother who had lost her daughter when the bomb was dropped.  He shared all the gory details with his classmates. This included the shedding/peeling of skin on the people exposed to the mushroom cloud, as it exploded.  The response of his classmates is not friendly.  They did not comment on the interview and the specific horrific details, but how weird Oscar was; so they thought.  Oscar was right in sharing the Interview with his classmates.  People should be aware of the horrors that occurred when The Bomb was dropped, so we never repeat out action.    

[kkesther]

In this past week I have begun to read Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close and to tell the truth, I am thoroughly enjoying it so far. I definitely understand how one would find this boring or untasteful due to the character of Oskar, but I for one find him fascinating.

As I said in class, I have a developmentally delayed brother, and I have found one of the most intriguing things about him, is learning how he thinks. Getting inside that brain of his and figuring out how it functions the way it does. How socially awkward he is while yearning for human contact at the same time. Why he gets attached to certain (what we would think of as irrelevant) subjects and learns all he can about them, but yet he cannot tie his shoe or ride a bike. How he has the mind of a 7 year old (or less depending on the day), and yet his vocabulary exceeds mine at times. (and he understand what the word means!). How little things in his routine, like getting the Sunday Paper every week just for the comics, become the most important thing to him. When you live with an Autistic child you really understand how fascinating it is.

A lot of what I have read of Oskar thus far shows signs of him being developmentally delayed in some fashion. He is socially awkward in the limo but yearns for the drivers attention all at the same time. His logic is intriguing on jewelry and inventing, but giving a stranger the key to his house makes perfect sense to him. His actions at times shows his age and at other times exceeds or diminishes his true age through simple things like crude jokes or advanced vocabulary. He refuses to wear any color except for white, and that is extremely important to him. 

All that being said, this book has already hit home with me and I’m only a few chapters in. I cannot wait to figure out the whole story line behind his family, and Oskar himself. :) 

[jvanste]

My tutor has an Autistic son, Asperger Syndrome, and says not all of them are developmentally delayed.  People on the Autism spectrum only see Black and White - there is no Gray area. Because of this it makes perfect sense that he would give the key to those people.  Her son also choses to only were certain things.  He only wears one brand of clothing and the style is always the same.  As a child he wore his Superman PJs every where and they could only be washed while he was in the bath tub. I enjoy how Oskar's mind works when he is trying to solve a "mystery".