Book 3 Review: Thirteen Reasons Why

Thirteen Reasons Why is a novel written by Jay Asher about a girl who commits suicide and has a story that leads up to it. This book is a journal of her story and the thirteen people that had a part in her life. Each story is a mystery to finding out what they had all done in her life and how they affected/ played a sick and twisted role in her story. She was misread and that is shown in this quote from the book Thirteen Reasons Why and goodreads.com (first website), “I simply wanted a kiss. I was a freshman girl who had never been kissed. Never. But I liked the boy, he liked me, and I was going to kiss him. That's the story, the whole story, right there.” This shows in the story where she reveals about her first kiss, and people think there was more to it but there wasn’t because of people judging her off of what they had heard from the rumors. This is a mystery, a thriller, most importantly a wake-up call to awareness. “Everything, effects, everything."- goodreads.com (first website) and Thirteen Reasons Why.

            It is a thrilling un-ridden rollercoaster of mysterious stories of how each person is connected to this girl. Thirteen Reasons Why is a realistic awakening in the fast moving pace of the story to the next tape. Makes you not want to put the book down. The style this book is very unique. The way the story is told is through Clay, one of the main characters listening to the tapes of Hannah, the girl who the story revolves around, telling her story through cassette tapes. This is a very neat feature especially in parts like when Hannah is under another character’s bedroom telling play-by-play what is going on makes you feel like you are standing right there with her.

“You can't stop the future
You can't rewind the past
The only way to learn the secret
...is to press play.”  - goodreads.com (second website) and Thirteen Reasons Why.

In this quote it is in the part where Clay first starts listening to the tape. This is an important part in the book that makes the heart jump being anxious to start listening to what will happen next and why the main character has the tapes, how he plays a part and connects to Hannah.

The old timed cassette tapes spin a different twist on the book making it more of a rare story with the creative touches.  Also, the map is a great unique add-in for the story. It connects Clay to Hannah and at the same time connects the events to each other marking the most important parts in her tapes. In the scene where Hannah goes to a diner called ‘Rosie’s’ Clay goes there too according to the map. That was a strong scene when Clay and Hannah’s lives connected. This book is a desperate cry of a story that has you not wanting to think, or say what the outcome is during the entire plot.

            Thirteen Reasons Why has many strengths, like the unique way Hannah’s story is revealed through the tapes. Also how the entire story happens within hours makes it a fast paced read to want to keep up with the characters in the book; especially Clay. The weaknesses of this story though is that Hannah’s story is interrupted more than average by Clay’s thoughts on what she has to say. Making this fast read slow down a little bit.

            Thirteen Reasons Why deserves an 8/10 star rating. It is a great story and important message for the readers with a drawing to the book that pulls people in to keep reading. One thing that would have made the story better though is if Clay’s thoughts hadn’t interrupted Hannah’s story the whole time. It made it somewhat difficult to follow the story without a steady flow. This was true when Hannah went to the party with Clay, it is a the scene that the story mainly revolves around and skipping over Clay’s thoughts in the book become something easily done to keep moving with the event. This story is still a strong plot and pulls readers in making it have a high rating.

http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/thirteen-reasons-why

http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/569269.Jay_Asher

Book 2 Trailer: Perks of Being A Wallflower

Post #5

            To me a book that is non-fiction is better if it is truthful. If the author is not honest about the story and what they have written I rather not know than be disappointed by what I thought was true. A story is much more powerful and has more meaning if the events actually happen. I do not expect every detail to be the exact same, like little differences in dialogue in a non- fiction book but the difference is when what happen in reality is completely different from what is written in the book. Sometimes little details that are changed do make the story better but I want most of the book if not all to be true or close to what happen.

 If part of the book is false information, a fake story; then it does make the rest of the writing questionable if it is the truth or not. I think that yes it is important to have a line between non-fiction and fiction books because if the book is non-fiction then the reader expects for it to be true and it makes the reader think that those events or what is written about is possible to happen. Where in fiction the reader knows that not always/ most of the events cannot happen to them and they are not set up for disappointment. Where in no fiction they have hope and if non-fiction isn’t true then that hope is gone, taken away from the reader because the author lied.

Also another important thing to think about is that when doctors or students are studying out of a non-fiction book the information needs to be valid in order for the students to be educated the right way and know what they need to for their career. If the information is wrong it could be a serious problem to the public or people that that person would be working for.

Post #4: Adaption of Perks of Being a Wallflower

Some challenges of making The Perks of Being a Wallflower into a movie would be that there would have to be a lot more detail to the scenes and the plot. Most of what Charlie says is somewhat detailed but not enough for the movie. In the book the mood of how Charlie feels is shown through the word choice and structure of his writing. In the movie there would have to be a lot of detail and a lot less of skipping around to different things being talked about since the book is in letter structure.

One scene essential to The Perks of Being a Wallflower is when Charlie sees Sam. This is what the whole book basically revolves around. When Charlie sees her the scene is very intense. It’s like everything around them stops and it’s only Sam that’s important to Charlie.  From this point on in the book Charlie is part of their group and spends all his time with them or talking about them in the letters sent to his ‘friend’. Without this scene there would be no point of the book, it wouldn’t be as special either if they tried to replace this scene and somehow incorporate it in another way.

Another scene essential to The Perks of Being a Wallflower is when it is Christmas time and Charlie’s birthday. Charlie becomes very depressed, and we figure out why the rest of the book he has been so sad. His aunt had died on his birthday years before and it changed his life.  It made him feel sorrow and pain but also it made him be different from the others because he felt his aunt’s death was his fault or responsibility. Without this scene Charlie’s character wouldn’t make as much sense, nor his actions.

One more scene that is essential to The Perks of Being a Wallflower is when Charlie kisses Sam at the party. After this scene everything changes for Charlie for a while. He isn’t able to hang around the people he normally does. There is also tension between him, Sam, and Mary Elizabeth and leaves him feeling more alone. This is when he starts to drink and get involved in drugs more. Without this scene in the book people wouldn’t see the problems or situations that Charlie goes through in his life.

One part of The Perks of Being a Wallflower that would need to be cut out in the movie to make sure that only the important parts of the story was focused on would be Charlie’s description of his grandpa and the rest of his family. Other than his immediate family and his aunt, the other members of his family do not affect him or the story.

Another part of The Perks of Being a Wallflower that would have to be cut out in order to make sure that only the important parts of the story are focused on would be when Charlie is describing what he sees when he is at the mall. It really has no effect on Charlie or the story and would need to be cut out.

Weekend Getaway to Oriental; North Carolina

This weekend getaway is perfect for two who want to find the same passion that was there when they met. Will start on a Friday night and go until Sunday night. Housing will be an inn in the country setting with beautiful wildflowers surrounding the entire area.  With 8 bedrooms available you want to book quickly before the rooms are filled up! Months open: First weekend of April- Last weekend in September.

Friday night:

    Dinner in the hall beginning at 5:30

Saturday:

    Morning - breakfast at 9

    Afternoon- packed picnic lunch to go walk the beach or wherever you please in the at 12:30/1:00.

    Dinner -6:30 in dining hall

Sunday morning:

    Breakfast again at 9.

 During this weekend getaway you will feel just like Amanda and Dawson did when finding their love for each other within a few days.

        In The Best of Me Nicholas Sparks describes the intense and passionate meeting that Amanda and Dawson have again that reunites their love in a matter of a weekend. Life has gotten in the way for them and they put their feelings aside.  After they separated in their teenage years their lives both took different paths that happen to be far apart from each other. Both have gone through hardships and stick through just going through the routines of a normal day. After about 20 years or more they meet in Oriental, South Carolina again for their friend’s funeral. The time spent together within a few days makes the distance that has been between them disappear.  Back in their home town, their friend; Tuck has set up certain events that he knew would bring them together.  They reminisce on the times they had together and are in a way transported back to that time. When it was just them against the world in their small town home. As Tuck said, “There's a lot of magic between you too.”  When they are in Tuck’s wife house the house is magical to them. The setting, the environment, everything about the place makes it obvious that this house was for the two and in the getaway weekend package; visitors would feel the same way. They would experience the beautiful flowers that lie in front of the house, “But their eyes were drawn inevitably to the wildflowers. Thousands of them, a meadow of fireworks stretching nearly to the steps of the cottage, a sea of red and orange and purple and blue and yellow nearly waist deep, rippling in the gentle breeze,” and put themselves in these characters shoes were their love for each other was better than anything they could imagine. “It was just us.”

           

                                               

(http://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/15677976-the-best-of-me )

Post 2: What is a book?

                A book is an adventure. It brings you into a new world and allows you to go places never been before. The details are your senses and the tour guide that leads you further into the story. I haven’t had the opportunity yet to read a book off of an electronic device but in my opinion a physical book is more special to read and means more than reading a story without really having the paper copy of the book. I agree that the most important part of a book though is the idea or message perhaps lesson that has been learned and taken from the book. You can connect your thoughts and think about topics that otherwise might not be thought of without reading the certain passage or story. Though I have to say that having a book in paper copy brings you closer to the book. It allows you to get lost in the pages. Realize the depths that are within the words chosen. The crisp turning of the page and the little sense of victory after reaching a certain page or part of the book. Electronically page numbers don’t mean as much. It gives you no sense of how far you really are into the story.  Seeing how far you have read by the page amount ahead of you means something more than just a number. Yes there is something "magical" about an actual book. The fact that you can go into another world and let your eyes glide across the page and quickly turning to get to the next as if its a race. Then when you finally go to put down the book into the real world it is. Looking at the amount of pages you have read and seeing how far you were lead  into the book is the relflection after reading. Seeing those pages I have read will always mean something more to me then looking at a number of pages I had read on an electronic device. Yes, they are nice and helpful but even so a book will be something special to me. An adventure.