Destiny's Thoughts

This is the blog of thoughts from Destiny's mind about book discussed in Contemporary Literature class. :] If you need to find a post related to a book just click the tag link at the top right of the navigation bar. _____________________ Feel Free to ask me anything if you have a question! :] Just click the Ask button at the top! :3 _____________________

[kellylasko-blog]

In The Road, by McCarthy we read about a little boy and his father who are traveling the roads headed to the South. It appears that they are living in some form of post apocalyptic time in America. While reading the novel we are not sure what kind of tragedy has occurred. We only know that the...

[onceuponanovel-blog]

  I agree that the bond between the father and the son in a strong one the care that he took to keep the child safe and out of danger which sort of transfers from the father to the son as the father's illness increases. If this book has anything is ideas of protection and survival. Also, I suppose, the idea of hopeless hope. Since the world seems so hopeless but the boy and the protection of his father just seems so hopeful. 

[onceuponanovel-blog]

Some books talk about the past and some talk about the present, but my favorite books are the ones that talk about the future. May the future be near or far, good or bad, it is always interesting to see how people depict the future. This can actually be seen in both A Visit from the Goon Squad and The Road. Pure Language, the last chapter of A Visit from the Goon squad, gives a little glimpse in to the future, which actually may or may not be the present, which involves hand held devices and talk of surveillance by officers among other things that I would love to get into but I seem to have misplaced my book. The Road is a whole book of future which focuses on the nuclear, apocalyptic future in which a catastrophic event (or humans) destroys the planet turning it into a barren wasteland and humans are turned into animals using basic instincts to survive. This also becomes a fight for humanity where the borders of right and wrong are heavily skewed and balancing on a thin, thin wire threating to tip with each step taken. Indeed the future is an interesting topic whether it depicts progression or regression it just shows that anything can happen and almost everything is a possibility. Plus it’s just fun to read about. I just realized I’ve come full circle with my first pose. Everything Is Grey Here.

[anna-webber-blog]

The final chapter of AVFTGS was a good ending to the story. It shows how time really does move on to newer generations with the older generations feeling nostalgic at times as to what their lives used to be like. It is interesting how Bennie and Alex met and became friends as mature adults with...

[onceuponanovel-blog]

I agree with your statement about children using technology today. It's incredibly weird for me to see children with cellphones and tablets and frankly it's a little annoying since when I was growing up I spent my time reading and playing out side. I wasn't allowed to watch television all the time or play video games constantly. I wonder if technology is aiding or crippling the growth of children intellectually and or physically. 

[onceuponanovel-blog]

I'll have an order of dysfunctional, with a side of humanity please.

A Visit From the Goon Squad is a definite po-mo book for sure. In both writing and content this book really slaps all expectations you have in the face and throws back something you just do not even know. The changing of point of views in the book are definitely far more pushed than the other two books we read, which you could still kind of figure out who was talking. This book just throws all sorts of different point of views, botched grammar, and writing styles, so each chapter you're in for a different surprise. Over all I was very satisfied with this book, even the ending. This book dives deep in to the dysfunctional lives of people showing a truly human side of an individual that many novels avoid when illustration modern day life on the grunge side. I know this book made a lot of people uncomfortable, but I’m really desensitized to this because of the people I have known and the stories I have heard in my life. I really just like this book a lot because it was within my comfort zone and it was easy for me to read even with all of the narration changes. I feel like that kept me on my toes.  

[eaglefan4life]

First Impressions

After reading the first 90 pages of “A Visit From the Goon Squad” I have to say the book kind of took me by surprise. I mean the first two books we read have a had some rough scenes and vulgar language but this book definitely tops both of them. The book has strong language and some bizarre sexual scenes that left me questioning how these scenes and moments were suppose to tie into the overall meaning of the story. Furthermore, Egan constantly jumps from one point of view to the next and never really tells you who is and who isn’t a main character. For a while I thought Rolph was a main character but next thing you know Egan says he kills himself. The only thing that I am absolutely positive about this book is that it is Postmodern. 

[onceuponanovel-blog]

This is a definite po-mo book for sure. In both writing and content this book really slaps all expectations you have in the face and throws back something you just do not even know. The changing of point of views in the book are definitely far more pushed than the other two books we read, which you could still kind of figure out who was talking. This book just throws all sorts of different point of views, botched grammar, and writing styles, so each chapter you're in for a different surprise. 

[onceuponanovel-blog]

'How can anyone call me "the girl with freckles" when my hair is green?'

"You're scary, he goes, you know that?

It's the freckles, I go. 

It's not the freckles it's you.

....

People will try to change you, Rhea, Lou goes. Don't let em.

But I want to change.

No, he goes, serious. You're beautiful. Stay like this.

But the freckles, I go, and my throat gets that ache.

The freckles are the best part, Lou says. Some guy is going to go apeshit for those freckles. He's going to kiss them one by one."

- Pages 56-57 from A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan

  ------

When I first started reading ‘A Visit from the Goon Squad’ it really sort of caught my attention and fancy. The best part of this book is that all of the characters are relatable and human. It’s not some hero with some generic story. This is a book about being human really. Chapter three, Ask Me if I Care, is my favorite chapter out of the whole book, because of the quote mentioned above. It had just stuck in my head immediately after reading.  This chapter really just best describes growing up on the weird side of the tracks and the issues of being a teenager.

Lou is a sleaze bag, no doubt, but surprisingly he isn’t so shallow. Rhea is constantly downgrading herself because of the extreme amount freckles on her face. This makes her self-conscious and doubtful that she could ever be physically attractive in any way.  Lou tells other wise and for Rhea to hear this it just makes her break down. This is something I’m constantly seeing and promoting. I believe that things like freckles or just little quirks are the things that make a person an individual.

  Rhea is my favorite character in the book, the one I could just sit down with and befriend and let her know every day that she’s really just perfect the way she is. There are many people out there with self-confidence issues, children, teens, and adults who believe they’re not worth a spit. These people really just need someone, anyone, to tell them that they are perfect. That they’re extraordinary, wonderful people who could make all the difference in the world if they would just understand that sure they’re not perfect, but they’re the one and only and no one can replace them. Not in a million years.

[onceuponanovel-blog]

Half way there

When I signed up for this class I didn't know what to expect other than hopefully it wasn't going to be boring. I believe taking this class probably was the best decision I made as far as classes yet. I was really excited about the books, confusing as they may be. I'm really enjoying the class discussions and the assignments. This tumblr thing was a great idea for group disscusions and personal expression. It definitely beats writing a whole bunch of papers. The books have been interesting so far. Each having their own hidden meanings and quirky writing styles out of the lot Extremely Loud and Increadibly Close is definitely my favorite. The story is the closest to the books that I would normally read so I understand it, or picked up on it, a little more than two of the four books. (I read ahead). I'm looking forward to finishing the last two books and to hear what other interesting discussions await the class.

[h-poirot2090]

Jonathan Safran Foer and Sherman Alexie:  What is the future for books?

The pictures in Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close do add a postmodern touch to this novel, but does this book in any way beg the question of how books will look in the future?  Big Think asked Foer himself about this subject along with more ideas in the interview above.  

In this video, Foer describes what he calls the inevitability of change that literature will have to go through.  He does not assert that this change is either wholly good or wholly bad.  Foer says that literature is often slow to change, but that this change will occur and books will have to evolve as we move forward into the digital age.

But, e-books are not without their critics.  In this interesting interview with Big Think, acclaimed author Sherman Alexie (one of his works is in our textbook, on page 342) gives a compelling argument on the problems of e-books and the publishing world and whether print books are still viable in today’s world.  

I am not going to be a hypocrite and say that I am against e-books or multimedia books.  In fact, I will go on record and say that I love my I-Pad because, as Alexie points out, it is convenient and new.  I do understand Alexie’s train of thought.  Corporations (and publishing companies) are more concerned with what will generate the largest profit, but Foer is also  correct.  Change will happen in the literary world.  It has already happened.  I enjoy a print book as much as an e-book, but, as Foer explains, literature will have to change its format in order to live through the digital age.

(By the way, even though Alexie calls e-books elitist, two of his books, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian and Blasphemy, are available for both the I-Pad and the Kindle.  Food for thought!)      

[onceuponanovel-blog]

Oh! I love the thought of this. You can definitely see how books and literature are changing today. I personally do not see this as being a slow process at all thinking back to all the books and novels i have read since being in like middle school. With the new innovation of the e-books I agree we are sailing full speed into the future of reading. How ever I don't see paper books ever dying out. I love to read, and though the ebook readers like Kindles and iPads are convenient  there is just something they can't give that flipping the page in a paper book can. It's a whole different experience and turns reading into a journey rather than words. Or at least that how I feel reading books. Maybe they'll invent a hologram book to simulate actual books! I could compromise with that.

[onceuponanovel-blog]

  This whole novel has sort of left me speechless. I really loved it but at the same time it made me feel uncomfortable. Most of this lack of comfort comes from the lack of legitimate communication between characters. By legitimate I mean problem solving, and by problem solving I mean two people sitting down discussing what’s really going on and then moving on. Everyone in the novel sort of tip toed around real issues a lot of the time. The Grandmother and Grandfather for instance, their relationship was really weird. I suppose it may just be weird to me because I don’t think I have ever seen something so mutually torn apart but together at the same time. I could also suppose the tragic event that happened in their life contributed to such an awkward living. I really suppose I don’t understand how hard it might be to move on from an event like the bombing. 

   I do know the whole time I was reading I was shouting in my head at these two. Look at what you have! Look at what’s in front of you! I’m sorry, they’re all dead. I’m sorry that neither you nor I can bring them back, but Hakuna Matata! Remember what you had and be grateful for what you have. You can see that something is there! The way you joke some times or they way you know you both care some how. You should have worked together to build something good, let your anxieties go and put you energy to let something beautiful grow, like watching Tomas Jr. grow up; together.

       Or maybe it was just dead to begin with. And maybe I just don’t understand, so who am I to go yelling at people who are painfully content at living in nothing spaces. Hiding from the past and not living for the future. Maybe I’m just harsh, but watching it just hurts my heart.

[kellylasko-blog]

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

BLOG 5, WEEK 5, 2/15/2013.    In the novel Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, by Jonathan Safran Foer we learn of a little boy named Oskar who is seeking unanswered questions about life in general. Oskar is especially trying to hold on to the idea of who his father is, in doing so he comes across a key, after his father’s tragic death during 9/11. This key he finds in his father’s clothing is in an envelope with the name Black on it. We can only assume that what is written on the outside of the envelope is actually a name and not something else, or at least this is how it is portrayed in the novel thus far. I believe Oskar is searching for something to hold onto through this key. Oskar wants his father’s memory to live on even if it is simply through the key. Through Osker’s journey he has come across many friendly people most of which share the same last name, BLACK. Oskar throughout the novel comes off as a very mysterious and socially awkward young child who appears to be very intelligent. Oskar I believe finds a certain closeness to his father in searching for the key. His father used to have him search for things not knowing what they truly meant, but still every day he would continue the search just as he is doing with the key. What can we say really about a boy who searches for the love he had with his father? I know if it were me I would have to know what the key belonged to as well. Maybe it is what Oskar needs to keep his father close to him even though he is no longer alive. Maybe after I actually finish the novel I will have some better in sight to what is really going on with Oskar and the entire novel. Right now I am not sure of everything and find myself wanting to know what the key belongs to, and it is not even my key!!!!!!

[onceuponanovel-blog]

This book does a good job with keeping secrets doesn't it? Even though there are no real intense cliff hangers I think with the way they book is set up it is still enough to make you keep reading so you can figure it out. I think that's what I personally love about the book, is that even though there are three separate threads in the book that at some point will be fully intertwined by the end of the novel. That and all the characters have some sort of depth to them. Even the minor characters have some sort of back story to them even if it’s very little. I love how rounded out they are.

[onceuponanovel-blog]

Friday, February, 15, 2013

  Hello Oskar!

How are you doing? Are you having a good life? Have you invented anything fun and cool lately? Something to change the way the world runs maybe? Have you gone on any adventures, losing yourself and finding yourself again better than ever in the processes? My life is going alright. I’ve been going to college and in one short year will be going off to college away from home. I’ve got two amazing cats though to keep me company. How’s Buckminster doing? Your Mom? Your Grandma?

You know it’ll be 12 years this year. You know since 9-11… It does not seem like it has been that long to be honest. I won’t even try to imagine how you must feel now or ever. I’ve never lost some one so close to me before and I won’t imagine it. They say that the things that were happening during a tragic event are the things that people remember the most.

 I still remember where I was when the planes flew in to the trade centers. I was in fourth grade at Shady Grove Elementary in Keller, Texas. I was definitely too young to really understand the situation. I just knew something bad happened. The teachers were all aghast and we got little fliers to give to our parents that said something about the incident. I however cannot recall if we got sent home early that day.

 How are you feeling about it now? Are you still coping? I hope everything went alright with that key you told me about previously. I hope it helped give you some closure.

 It’s funny how different people cope with difficult situations. You know? How you invent things and the self-harm or how your mother tries to move on with her life. I don’t know if I’ve ever told you this, but, when something bad happens to me depending on the severity of the issue I just smile and laugh. It’s really out of nervousness. I never really laugh at a bad situation but somehow it just makes it feel better. Like a ‘well we have got to make this situation brighter somehow’ kind of feeling. That’s no to say I don’t throw tantrums or cry either. I wonder if anyone else has a quirky coping method.

Well I think I’ve run this letter a little long. I’m sure you’re bored of it by now so I’ll cut it off here. Thank you for sharing. Hope life goes great from now on for you~!

Sincerely, Your Friend,

Destiny

  P.S.

I have enclosed photos of my two cats Prudence and Jaguar and also. My awful crooked smile burn it if you will. J

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[so I wanted to try something different. I thought writing a letter to the characters for this book would be fitting.  I hope it works. ]

[cameronowens-blog]

[onceuponanovel-blog]

cameronowens: After reading “Knowing Things,” I came to two conclusions. One, I really did not enjoy this story, and, more importantly, I love that a comic strip can be considered real literature. And it should be! It had some heavy stuff in it. I have only recently discovered the vast world of graphic…

______

Well I could disagree with your dislike for the story. I felt that it was touching. Why didn’t you like it? I completely agree with your view on graphic novels being a true form of literature because that totatlly are. People just dont really give them a chance. I, being a heavy graphic novel reader and an illustrator, believe whole heartedly that a picture is worth a thousand words and that graphic novels can have some really intense content. But i suppsse you could draw. Line in literature on which types of graphic novels could be considered literature. Because there are those really out landish ones that are definitely are for pure enjoyment, like Homestuck. Where that comic is flipping awesome and Hussie is a genius I’m not sure if, I personally, could consider Homestuck actual literature. Mostly because the comics they have in the text are sort of serious but they still have the classic story telling elements and not really any tangents. Plus they’re mostly realistic. But who am I to say its not?

[onceuponanovel-blog]

"When I try to tell her she goes: "That's what they all say!". I don't know where she even go that! It's from all the books you keep reading with no reality in them. A magic tree starts talking or a magic dog starts talking and everything in the world can be magic. Even your spit can be magic."--'Knowing Things' by Lynda Barry, pg 212, Postmodern American Fiction: A Norton Anthology

From a young age humans are experimenting and learning. They move through life one step at a time. Babbling to talking. Crawling to walking. The path is not easy; there are many mistakes to be made. But the best things about mistakes are that they can turned around into knowledge, if one chooses to allow it.

In "Knowing Things" by Lynda Barry, a little girl conducts an experiment on plants in milk boxes. She tries many different things to possibly find lthe 'secret formula' to get the plants to grow. Her older sister sees this and tries to convince her that its never going to work because its illogical. She blames her little sisters ideas on magical books and such where everything is magical. In the end all the little girl's plants died and she was sad about it.

This is a beautiful example of growing up. People experiment and make mistakes and eventually learn things from it. People go through many ups and downs in life, some times losing faith in the process. Though just because something doesn't go right, no matter how many people try to say it wont work, if it doesn't work out the first time then try, try again. Eventually, something magical will happen. All it takes is a little imagination and perseverance.

[eaglefan4life]

The Living Dead

The book “The Things They Carried” often questions where humans go after they die. O’Brien writes that when at war there were some Christians who believed in heaven and hell but everybody else just had to make up stories about what happens after death. O’Brien brings up a theory that the dead are brought back to life in our dreams, memories, and stories.  In the chapter were Tim is a child dreaming that Linda was still alive he asks her in a dream what it like is to be dead, and she replies saying it’s like being in an old book in the library and waiting for someone to pick the book up and read it. The way I interpreted this idea was that you die your physical body dies but your spirit stays alive and lives in the memories, stories, and dreams of your family and friends. For instance when Linda and O’Brien were ice skating in O’Brien’s dream Linda was living through his dreams.

[onceuponanovel-blog]

That is an interesting idea. I agree that he was trying to illustrate the idea that people exist even outside of physical being. I think the whole book is a story about how stories, dreams, and memories keep the people we have known in life. People don’t just merely exist in the world and leave without a trace. Their presence, their words, their laughter and their tears all affect the world and the people around them. Sometimes it seems that stories are the only way to cope with death and keep the memory of the person alive.. 

[onceuponanovel-blog]

"If you believed the Greenies, Rat said, Mary Anne was still somewhere out there in the dark. Odd movements, odd shapes. Late at night, when the Greenies were out on ambush, the whole rain forest seemed to stare in at them--a watchted feeling--and a couple times they almost saw her sliding through the shadows. Not quite, but almost. She had crossed to the other side. She was part of the land. She was wearing her culottes, her pink sweater, and a necklace of human tongues. She was dangerous. She was ready for the kill."

- Page 110 from The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien.

This is my second favorite chapter in the novel. This chapter best illustrates that war can change anyone into anything if they let it. Mary Anne came to Vietnam all sweet and innocent, as many soldiers do, and eventually got sucked into the life of war. She brought over to spend time with her boyfriend, Mark Fossie. Mary Anne was your all American girl, beautiful and flirty, but also curious. When she first came over she wanted to explore the village and even learn about things on base, as illustrated on page 91 in the book. The men began to teach her things like how to assemble a gun and various medical things. It said when a wounded soldier would come in she would work on them with calm, steady hands; there was no fear or disgust there. The more she let herself into the war the more she wanted. She went from simple ambushes to daring stunts, to just disappearing for good. She became completely engulfed by the war and Vietnam itself, becoming a creature in the end.

This just illustrates how easily anyone could become a part of this black being. There were men who would come over and just end up needing it in the end. I believe we actually discussed this in class to where men would just not know what to do with themselves because they were programed to do such awful things and they did not understand how to come back to morality and sensibility. It just illustrates the idea that war can take people over and most of the time never let go of an individual. It illustrates that war can turn people in to creatures of death and destruction and once one gets a taste it can be hard to go back. Or at least that’s what I’ve gathered based on the ideas in the book and people I've known in my life.. 

[soniapham21-blog-deactivated201]

The Things They Carried

I really liked the chapter “On the Rainy River”.

O’Brien goes into detail about how he doesn’t agree with war, him thinking that he isn’t war material, that he was the type that belonged in school. He basically goes on about how he was working this job that he didn’t care about, and dealing with conflicting feelings.

I can imagine that a lot of young people can really resonate with this chapter because many kids after they finish high school are caught between being forced into college or going into the Navy/Army/Air Force/etc by their parents and having this great passion to go off for a short period of time to find themselves.

[onceuponanovel-blog]

I agree with this completely. It was really a sad situation that they didn't have any choice in the matter. People now a days are lucky because they don;t have to face that road and that  we have a choice to go off and figure out what we want to do with our lives. I couldn't imagine what it would be like if the draft was brought back. Could you? ._.,

[onceuponanovel-blog]

"They were just goofing. There was a noise, I suppose, which must have been a detonator, so I glances behind me and watch lemon step from the shade into bright  sunlight. His face was suddenly brown and shining. A handsome kid, really. Sharp gray eyes, lean and narrow wasted, and when he died it was almost beautiful, the way the sunlight came around him and lifted him up and sucked him high into a tree full of moss and vines and white blossoms." - pg 67,  The Things They Carried, by Tim O'Brien

This chapter, How to Tell a True War Story, has to be my favorite chapter in the entire novel. I believe it best shows O'Brien's ability to illustrate a moment. This scene played out vividly in my head in fact, all of this chapter did from this, to the baby buffalo, to the haunted forests of Vietnam. The chapter illustrates the issue on what makes a war story a war story. Is it the way its told? Is it actually true? O'Brien's basic points are there is no moral in a war story and basically ideas are backwards. If it seems believable it probably is not true and if it seems unbelievable it probably is.

At the end of the chapter he points out that the story of Curt Lemon is not actually a war story, but a love story instead. Which makes a lot of sense since the way he tells the story seems a bit beautiful, even the unfortunate incident with the baby buffalo. In he buffalo scene, Rat Kiley shows a lot of emotion over Lemon's death. The two were boys, both young in the war so naturally they became friends and goofed off not really understanding the nature of it until the death of Lemon. The death of the the friend, of youth, and the death of the buffalo, symbolized they death of innocence in the war. 

"And in the end, of course, a true war story is never about war. It's about sunlight. It's about the special way that dawn spreads out on a river when you know you must cross the river and march into the mountains and do the things you are afraid to do. It's about love and memory. Its about sorrow. It's about sisters who never write back and people who never listen." - pg 81,The Things They Carried, by Tim O'Brien