The Beauty of Humanity Movement by Camilla Gibb

The reviews are coming slowly but surely. I’m disappointed that there aren’t as many page views coming in as in the summer, but I know it makes sense. In the summer months I was finishing a book a week. Just wanted to give a shout out to all of my readers: THANKS! You make me seem popular. Here is a novel I read in my Creative Writing class.

Tu is a young tour guide working in Hanoi for a company called New Dawn. While he leads tourists through the city, including American vets on "war tours," he starts to wonder what it is they are seeing of Vietnam--and what they miss entirely. Maggie, who is Vietnamese by birth but has lived most her life in the U.S., has returned to her country of origin in search of clues to her dissident father's disappearance during the war. Holding the story together is Old Man Hung, who has lived through decades of political upheaval and has still found a way to feed hope to his community of pond side dwellers.

 

 

The beauty of humanity doesn’t always show, especially in this novel. There is great contrast between the horrific past events that went on during the Vietnam war compared to the country in the present, which is where the story is set. The bits and pieces of the country’s cruel past are brought to life by Hung’s memories. Transitions to and from the past and present are written very well by Gibb, she brings out the past at precise moments throughout the plot.

One of the strongest parts in this story are the characters. Written in third person point of view ensures that the reader gets to know each main characters well and Gibb has you rooting for all of them as they make their way through the plot.

Many people in my class commented on how they didn’t enjoy the ending but I thought that it tied up many things very nicely. This is one of those hit and miss novels, either you like it or it’s a big disappointment. If you’re looking for a fiction that is focused on Vietnam history then don’t pick this up, there is more focus on Pho than the details of the war. This novel is also pretty slowly paced so don’t expect super exciting things to be happening all the time, like I mentioned it’s focused on the characters and a deeper concept of people as a whole.

I would recommend The Beauty of Humanity Movement to somebody who is looking for a quick and light read. I’ll give it a 3 OUT OF 5. Here is her website http://www.camillagibb.ca/

Later biznitches,

 

-MRR

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

Well hello everybody, another long week in Megan Rempel’s busy life. I guess everybody has busy lives though. About to head to a softball tournament in Kelowna. GO CLASSICS! I’m proud to say I’m the loudest centerfield that a team probably has ever had. Anyway, go team, lets get on with this lovely review.

The hero-narrator of THE CATCHER IN THE RYE is an ancient child of sixteen, a native New Yorker named Holden Caulfield. Through circumstances that tend to preclude adult, secondhand description, he leaves his prep school in Pennsylvania and goes underground in New York City for three days. The boy himself is at once too simple and too complex for us to make any final comment about him or his story. Perhaps the safest thing we can say about Holden is that he was born in the world not just strongly attracted to beauty but, almost, hopelessly impaled on it. There are many voices in this novel: children's voices, adult voices, underground voices-but Holden's voice is the most eloquent of all. Transcending his own vernacular, yet remaining marvelously faithful to it, he issues a perfectly articulated cry of mixed pain and pleasure. However, like most lovers and clowns and poets of the higher orders, he keeps most of the pain to, and for, himself. The pleasure he gives away, or sets aside, with all his heart. It is there for the reader who can handle it to keep.

This novel is written from a character’s mind that at times can be very difficult to understand, especially with Holden’s capability to always get lost in his thoughts. The style of writing lets you get lost in the never ending, subject changing abyss of Holden’s mind and emotions. I have read other reviews, and listened to comments on Catcher in the Rye and people say it’s a book that you either love or hate. I didn’t really love it or hate it honestly. Holden is unpredictable and doesn’t make too much sense most of the time, and there isn’t really a point to the story that I could find. That isn’t to say that there isn’t poetry throughout the story.

According to me, Holden is just a depressed guy that wanders around trying to weed through his sadness. He is also a very hypocritical character which I found entertaining seeing as he does the very same things that he hates about other characters in the novel.

To be honest, I don’t really know how to feel about this one, as well as I don’t understand how you could study this book in school. Then again, there is lots for a reader to interpret any which way you want. I think I’ll give Salinger a good 3 OUT OF 5 on this one. I enjoyed it but it’s not one of my favourites. Still, Catcher in the Rye is a classic, I think everybody should read it if they have a chance its not a heavy read.

ANYWAY, I’ll be off to play some softball now.

Toodles

MRR

Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green & David Levithan

Well here we go kiddies, another book gone and done. Read this one because of a recommendation from a nice lady at Chapters, and it was interesting enough. It got a lot of attention apparently, but I don’t see what makes it super special honestly.

 One cold night, in a most unlikely corner of Chicago, Will Grayson crosses paths with . . . Will Grayson. Two teens with the same name, running in two very different circles, suddenly find their lives going in new and unexpected directions, and culminating in epic turns-of-heart and the most fabulous musical ever to grace the high school stage. Told in alternating voices from two YA superstars, this collaborative novel features a double helping of the heart and humour that have won them both legions of fans.

The best part about this story is the characters, especially the contrast between the two Will Graysons’ personalities. They are very different people despite having the same name. All of the characters are very realistic in how they interact with each other. Tiny Cooper was the most amusing person to read about and I liked viewing him through Will’s point of view, it took his enthusiasm to the extreme.

The writing style was funny, I loved the depressed (I don’t know what else to call him lol) Will Grayson’s attitude towards life and how he bluntly swore at people. I laughed out loud more than a couple times while reading this book, and if not that little giggles to myself. Through the humour though are very common problems not only teens but probably adults face as well. The ending didn’t sugar coat everything, two people didn’t end up together in a super romantic fantasy ending. It was real.

So I guess I have to give some credit to that, and to this duo of authors right here. http://johngreenbooks.com/ & http://www.davidlevithan.com/ . Ill give this one a 3 OUT OF 5. Not bad you guys, a funny story with some funny twists.

Chow for now,

MRR