Natalie

[nataliemarsala]

I’ve been to the OU library twice now and since my book is “newer,” finding criticism for my book was rather difficult, almost impossible. Two of my criticisms are from my book Year of Wonders, but the last one is on a book called March by my author. I had recently looked up my author and what she writes about and most of her books are from past-times and most of them involve “challenging, exhilarating and life-threatening experiences.”

[nataliemarsala]

Just finished my book and let me tell you the ending was god awful. It seemed rushed but went extremely slow. It ended with the plague being gone and burying bodies. That's it. Seems normal right? But I was hoping for something with a little more "something" but I guess not all books can be like that

[nataliemarsala]

I'm nearing the end of my book and I'm really not liking it. This book has gotten so boring. Nothing is happening and there is a whole lot of fighting (whether people are witches or not) and it's just repetition. When a book starts to repeat itself I stop reading, which is why I never finished the Half Blood Prince

[nataliemarsala]

Okay so this book is like a roller coaster. At some points of the book I get really into it and I'm fully engaged and then other times the book drags on and on and then I just skim pages. I don't even want to read it when it gets boring. Nothing is happening so why read?

[nataliemarsala]

So im about halfway through my book and it has gotten a lot better. The plague is in full force and has started to kill off the town. As the town gets even more ill, the healthy people start blaming some girls that use herbs and plants for medicine of witchcraft. They throw one in a well to find out shes not a witch and the sister revives her with CPR and they accuse the sister of witchcraft because she brought the dead back to life. Both sisters end up dying.

I really like the book a lot, although it’s really tragic when some people you come to like end up dying from this mysterious sickness.  

[nataliemarsala]

Reading the work kinda

So i started my book a while ago and i to be honest it’s probably the slowest book i have ever read. The opening is really hype and i really liked it but as i read on it just started to drag and now im really bored with it. But i can’t stop because i have a feeling that it will get better.

[nataliemarsala]

My tribe is my small group at church. There is about 10-15 of us (which isn’t technically a small group since there’s so many of us) depending on the day, and we are all so close. 

The first picture (top left) is from my second baptism and this picture holds a lot of emotion. When I was a little baby I had gotten baptized in a catholic church by my parents which obviously wasn’t my choice. And before my second baptism my parents were really against it and almost forced me to stay home and not go, considering that two days prior I had a 103.9 fever. But they were worried that if I wanted to get married in a catholic church (which i don't) then they would reject me since i was baptized again in a non-denominational church. But baptism isn’t about what church you belong to, it is a public declaration to faith. After I came up out of the water it felt like a million pounds were lifted off my shoulders.

The second, third and fourth pictures are from Never The Same Camp which is a church camp for us “Jesus freaks” where we are surrounded by people we all know and love and are free to do anything we want in the name of Jesus. The seniors are in the second picture and our small group is the third picture right before we loaded on the bus to New York. This camp was probably one of the best weeks of my life and after going I can honestly say that I wasn’t the same coming home.  

I love everyone in my tribe. Each person holds a special place in my heart and I will never forget any of them, even though I’ve only been in this group for about a year and we are leaving each other in about 11 weeks due to college. We will always be there for each other and I’m so proud of where we are as a group and as individuals. 

All I can say is thank you, Jesus for the most unbelievable year.

[nataliemarsala]

This is my querencia. It is church. Church is where I feel most at home and most accepted because I'm not accepted in school (I honestly don't care about being accepted in school). I feel at peace here and I feel loved here. I can express myself freely without being judged and it's amazing.

[nataliemarsala]

I still think this book is not good and very confusing to read. I don’t really like how the book is written and structured. Also i noticed some pages are not ripped up and they’re straight like regular book pages and i was curious if that meant something. Finishing the book was a pain, because this book is really boring to me. I do like Native American things but this book is not on my list of favorites.

[nataliemarsala]

while continuing with ceremony, the only thing i could think about was the trips my family and i took out west when i was smaller. we have gone to Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado (three times) and Utah. And while i was out in those areas we visited the pueblos and mesa verde national park (picture above) and thats what i think about while reading this book. I love learning about native americans and their culture and what they do.

[nataliemarsala]

I’m not saying that I don’t like the book, but I don’t enjoy reading it. Other than the use of poems the only other thing I like about it is the native american point of view. Yesterday when we were reading that essay about literature from a pueblo Indian perspective, all i could think about was out west. My parents and I use to travel out west every summer for about a week or two and just explore. We’ve been to New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado and Utah. All i remember is how amazing their culture is and how good their food is. That’s what i think when i read this book, that’s all i like from it.  

[nataliemarsala]

When I first started reading the book, I liked the poems mixed within the text because it’s a nice change to read a poem instead of paragraphs in a book. But they serve a purpose; they count as the beginning of a “chapter” as well as go into deeper meaning for the upcoming paragraphs. I thought it was really interesting how she incorporated the poems and i would rather read a book like this that a book with chapters.

[nataliemarsala]

I dont understand how anyone could live like the handmaids. They are basically sex slaves to a society that is dying. And it’s scary how real this problem is! It’s not just older women either. All over the world there are brothels where women and girls are kept to please older men and most of those women never get saved from this “job.” These women/girls are either kidnapped or sold for money to the brothels where they will spend the rest of their lives working as prostitutes. It amazes me how close we are to a society like Gilead. 

[nataliemarsala]

the commanders wives have the most power within the society, yet they dont do anything with their power. they oversee what happens within the society and see how each person is treated and yet sits and does nothing. even though they are high in power they are the most upset/depressed. the commanders fight with them and almost give no craps about them and what they do which is really sad.

[nataliemarsala]

Honestly, I hated the ending of this book. I do not like having open ended things because I just need to know what happens. On the other hand its nice because we can create an ending for ourselves that expands only as far as our imagination allows. I think that is the reason Atwood left her book as it is. She gives us a chance to think that maybe Offred was able to escape and live a better life. But it also gives us a chance to think that Offred may not have escaped and is still trapped in hell. I don't think we really know what's going on in Atwood's mind. Maybe she doesn't know the answer to her own book

[nataliemarsala]

Finally went to a college library for this project! I'm actually quite satisfied with the book that I chose and I'm really excited to read it!

[nataliemarsala]

I was not present for the conversation of the aunts but what i got from the book is that the aunts are there to “help” the handmaids. Although the ways they used weren’t the most ethical way. They used guilt tripping and cattle prods. I can connect these teachings with how nuns use to teach their students. My mother use to tell me how they would slap your knuckles until they bled when you weren’t behaving. The way we see the aunts is evil, having women turn on each other for “the good of society”