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

World War Z by Max Brooks

Spent the weekend in Osoyoos and most of the days we were there it was cloudy, which is rare in that city. Oh well I finished WWZ today while tanning on my trampoline, enjoying the cold water from the sprinkler placed underneath. The reading contest going on at my local library is treating me well, I got a coupon for a free pizza which I ordered today. I’m just relaxed!

The Zombie War came unthinkably close to eradicating humanity. Max Brooks, driven by the urgency of preserving the acid-etched first-hand experiences of the survivors from those apocalyptic years, traveled across the United States of America and throughout the world, from decimated cities that once teemed with upwards of thirty million souls to the most remote and inhospitable areas of the planet. He recorded the testimony of men, women, and sometimes children who came face-to-face with the living, or at least the undead, hell of that dreadful time. World War Z is the result. Never before have we had access to a document that so powerfully conveys the depth of fear and horror, and also the ineradicable spirit of resistance, that gripped human society through the plague years.

I didn’t have high expectations for this novel before I cracked the first page. There were many different things being said about World War Z and from what I could tell it was either a hit or miss with the readers. After finishing I could tell why, the novel is full of interviews from survivors of the war which is a unique way to write the entire book.

Because of this way of writing, WWZ might throw quite a few people off. There is no following a character through a secured plot while reading this book. I remember complaining about Soulless by Christopher Golden, which also was about zombies and had different viewpoints. I was surprised that by the time I reached the ending of this one I appreciated the overview effect given from the random perspectives.

Another thing about the writing that bothered me at the beginning was all of the technical terms that had to do with the military, including things like weapons, aircraft, vehicles etc. I got so lost in the intricate terms that it pulled me away from the story sometimes. After finishing the last page though I felt that brought more to the story than it did take away. I was won over in the end especially with the realism despite it being fiction. Brooks took many things into account like the different countries’ cultures, political leadership, and past wars. This book is very complex, I can admire that.

Check out Max Brook’s website http://maxbrooks.com/ he is a bit obsessed with zombies apparently. I’m going to give this one a 4 OUT OF 5. Thanks for another good read Alannis! I heard the movie sucks though.

Chow,

-MRR

1984 by George Orwell

Summer has started and I’ve really thrown myself into the world of reading and books on the internet. I have two other review sites one on chapters online: http://community.indigo.ca/profile/%D0%BC%D1%94gg%CF%83/445991.html Another on tumblr if you use that: http://www.tumblr.com/dashboard Been reviewing like crazy! My goal is to get a job at Chapters and Indigo in the next two weeks so we’ll see where I’m at. There is a writing contest going on for teenagers from Canada, mostly BC if you’re interested. You could win an iPad, and if you post reviews on this site you could win a Kobo book reader. Check that out as well: teenrc.ca

Winston Smith works for the Ministry of Truth in London, chief city of Airstrip One. Big Brother stares out from every poster, the Thought Police uncover every act of betrayal. When Winston finds love with Julia, he discovers that life does not have to be dull and deadening, and awakens to new possibilities. Despite the police helicopters that hover and circle overhead, Winston and Julia begin to question the Party; they are drawn towards conspiracy. Yet Big Brother will not tolerate dissent - even in the mind. For those with original thoughts they invented Room 101...

Nineteen Eighty-Four is George Orwell's terrifying vision of a totalitarian future in which everything and everyone is slave to a tyrannical regime.

Most people have to read this novel as a study in high school, and I’ve heard several great things about 1984 although I really had no idea what it was about. From the first page the writing style hooked me in, the descriptions of a drab sort of lifeless world emerged right away. The fact that the protagonist was so anxious about writing in his diary set the reader into the reality of Winston’s world.

The fact that Orwell has created such a society and government that is not similar to anything we have in modern day makes the story captivating and completely unique. Not only does he go into detail about the governmental issues and the inner workings of Oceanic politics, the novel has its own language and a completely different mind set.

I don’t think I’ve ever read a story which I thought showed as much originality and creativity. Not only that, but the story makes the reader think, I was trying to grasp all the ideas the party was trying to force into Winston’s head as the story rounded the ending.  The words used to actually tell the story matched the world in which Orwell was describing. Drab, dirty, dark and full of hatred.

AMAZING. A 5 OUT OF 5. I would recommend this book to any young reader, especially somebody interested in political theories and even psychology. Just brilliant. I’ll be back next with some awesome fiction,

Chow for now

- MRR

out.

Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card

Grad dinner and dance is finished! I am done with high school. Not much else to say, nothing else is going on in my life right now other than getting a $50 dollar gift card to chapters woooo! I bought 3 books that are outside the genre that I normally read so it will be fun.

In order to develop a secure defence against a hostile alien race's next attack, government agencies breed child geniuses and train them as soldiers. A brilliant young boy, Andrew "Ender” Wiggin lives with his kind but distant parents, his sadistic brother Peter, and the person he loves more than anyone else, his sister Valentine. Peter and Valentine were candidates for the soldier-training program but didn't make the cut-young Ender is the Wiggin drafted to the orbiting Battle School for rigorous military training. Ender's skills make him a leader in school and respected in the Battle Room, where children play at mock battles in zero gravity. Yet growing up in an artificial community of young soldiers Ender suffers greatly from isolation, rivalry from his peers, pressure from the adult teachers, and an unsettling fear of the alien invaders.

Ender’s Game is witty, exciting and has you hooked  in from the very start. Thrust into the future, the reader gets snippets of what is going on in the setting but the most vital thing is the buggers: the alien’s that invaded earth twice and almost won. Ender - who is only 6 years old when he is sent off to battle school -  has the weight of his entire planet on his shoulders as he is expected to win the last battle.

As he grows up in space, training every day of his life, Ender is tested until it seems he will break. But he is the smartest and most capable, no matter what his age, and no matter how many other older soldiers underestimate him. Orson Scott Card was imaginative in describing the games between armies and his writing really pulled me along. The characters are what really make the story.

The ending comes before you realize it, and even after the climax there is a nice twist. PROPS TO CARD, he did a splendid job once again. I’ll give Ender a 5 OUT OF 5. The movie is coming out soon with Harrison Ford http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SRizeR4MmU and if you want to check out Orson Scott Card’s website, there you go: http://www.hatrack.com/

Until next time!

-MRR