Summer Reading Assignment: Entry Four

When I originally looked at the list of books that were available to be chosen from, none truly stuck out to me until I arrived at this book, Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley. I think what first caught my attention was the book cover. I know the cliche “don’t judge a book by its cover” but this book just caught my eye. Then, I decided to do a little research on the book and found out that it was about more than just a bird, it was about a boy who magically disappeared into thin air one day, and a high school graduate who wanted nothing more than to get his father’s approval, and how a silly bird could bring all of these things together. For me, I think what really convinced me to choose this book was the fact that the main plot is about a high school boy and his brother who eventually disappears one day, and I too have a brother so I feel a connection to it.

There weren’t many personal connections that I could find between the novel and myself after I finished it. The biggest connection is that I too have a brother like Cullen, but mine is the older sibling, and like Cullen if my brother had disappeared I wouldn’t have been able to get my mind off of trying to find him. It wouldn’t matter what was going on, I would only be able to concentrate on my brother.

I would recommend this book to people that want to read a story about second chances that isn’t completely sad and will not make you want to ball your eyes out. I feel that this book should be read by people that are at all different stages of life, in high school, in college, out of college. In my mind,  this story is for anyone who is looking for a good read that could take a while. I say this because there is a lot of information that some people may not understand if they aren’t at least in high school. Also, this isn’t a good book for people that are looking for a quick read because it can be very slow moving at times, especially in the middle of the book and also because the context of the pages isn’t just something you’re going to want to breeze through if you are going to understand the story.

Summer Reading Assignment: Entry Three

I feel that in this book, Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley that there are only a few sections in the story that contain enough action to spark an interest, or in my case, re-engage me in the novel. The excerpt that I have chosen comes from the end of the book where you feel like the author is just prolonging the ending to meet a page length requirement, and then suddenly he slams a door in your face that is just filled with action. I have decided to exclude the name of the captor since that would nearly spoil the entire colliding of the two worlds that effect each other in the end.

The section of the book that would hopefully hook potential readers says, “With that, (the captor’s name) sat down on the edge of the bed, looked down at Gabriel Witter and his bleeding scalp, and said nothing. He looked over to the television to see a shot of a news program being broadcast from Lily, Arkansas. A small caption appeared under an image of a reporter standing before a patch of swampy woods. The caption read NO SECOND CHANCES IN LILY, ARKANSAS. (The captor’s name) began to laugh. He got louder and louder and finally stopped, abruptly, as he looked back down at the motionless figure on his floor. ‘It’s times to say good-bye, Gabriel,’ (the captor’s name) muttered, standing up and switching off the television.” (Pg 223)

In this excerpt from the book, Gabriel is with his captor and is being grilled with questions of whether he himself is doing the right things in life, and if he is the chosen one from God.  The captor asked  why Gabriel killed all of the fallen angels, and also if Gabriel was the Angel Gabriel from the left hand of God who had prevented humankind from being as smart and powerful as God himself, and also that Gabriel must go home to heaven. During the excerpt, Gabriel is also being thrown about like a rag doll and being abused until finally telling his captor that he is not the chosen one of God. To which his captor’s response is that Gabriel must say good-bye and go home. What really keeps the interest of the audience is that we do not know which home he is going to. Is it Gabriel’s actual home in Lily, Arkansas or heaven to go be with God like his captor thinks is his true home? To find out you’re going to have to read the book. (Or you could just skip to the ending!)

Click on the link for a trailer of the book that gives a good perspective of what the novel is about http://vimeo.com/30104827

Summer Reading Assignment: Entry Two

I feel that the complexity of each character is brought on by their actions and feelings in the novel Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley. The main characters in Lily, Arkansas are Cullen and Gabriel Witter and their best friend Lucas Cader.  They all have one thing in common and that is what they desire. These three all desire to someday make it out of Lily and not get sucked back in by the “Black Hole of Arkansas” (aka Lily, Arkansas). For Cullen, once his younger brother randomly disappears, all that he wants is for his brother to be found and return home. He also wants the rest of the town to treat he and his family normally like they used to before Gabriel’s disappearance.  As for Lucas Cader, all here cares about is getting Gabriel back for Cullen’s sake because of the connection and close relationship that he has with his family. You see Lucas’s brother died in a car accident when he was only 12 years old, so if they lost Gabriel, Lucas would feel that he lost another brother because of how close he is to Cullen and Gabriel. For Benton Sage, I believe that the main thing that he desires is to find a way to truly do the work of God and he feels that he cannot accomplish that when he himself does not fully understand the testament of God.

The themes of this novel that are beginning to appear are resurrection and second chances. These two themes are heavily called upon throughout the novel and easily connect with each other. They connect because Lily, Arkansas is basically the town where things come back and sometimes where they get a second chance.  In the case of the Lazarus Woodpecker it becomes resurrected after thought to be extinct for sixty years in Lily, Arkansas and gets a second chance to live.

This book is structured very oddly when you first begin to read it. It starts off talking just about Lily, Arkansas through the narration of Cullen but after the first chapter, the novel shifts to the story about Benton Sage, which early on seems to have no bearing on what’s happening in Lily.  As both storylines progress, we see how the two become one.

Summer Reading Assignment: Entry One

In Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley the major characters are Cullen Witter, his brother Gabriel, their best friend Lucas and also Benton Sage who is the most important character of the other part of the novel. Yes, there are indeed two parts of the novel that later intervene which explains the title. The interesting title describes the small town of Lily, Arkansas that happens to be the setting of this award-winning novel. The author, John Corey Whaley gives this town this title because of what occurs in this small town. As Cullen describes it he says, “who tried and subsequently failed to leave this place behind.” (Pg. 10) Cullen means that this small town of Lily, Arkansas is where people come back because that just can’t escape its powerful grip as one of, “ The Black Holes of Arkansas.” (Pg. 36)

The conflict that is on going for the audience is the random, and sudden disappearance of Cullen’s younger brother, Gabriel. This disappearance also occurs right at the same time that a man from Oregon claims to have seen a woodpecker that was said to be extinct for about sixty years in their small and non-important town of Lily, Arkansas. Another conflict is what is going on with Benton Sage because he feels that he is not truly doing the work of God, but I guess we will see if his current position plays out into a larger conflict.

A prediction that I have is that Gabriel will end up back at Lily at the end of the novel because the title says it’s the place where things come back. The novel does not say that Gabriel left town, it just states that he has disappeared.  Another prediction that I have is that Benton Sages’ story will end up connecting and maybe even affecting what is going on in Lily.

I feel that this connects to the song Dust by Eli Young Band because the story to the song is that this girl is sick of the town she’s in, sick of her dreams never fulfilling, and sick of the same old story that keeps reoccurring. The lyrics go on to say that she has the opportunity to leave the town and she takes it. And I feel that maybe if Cullen or one of the other main characters gets that opportunity then maybe they will also take the chance. 

For the lyrics to the song Dust by the Eli Young Band, click on the link provided! http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/eliyoungband/dust.html

Final Blogging Reflection

In my previous blog I discussed how one quote can show an incredible amount of information that may possibly be missed without it, how it can also be used to intrigue an audience and also be used as a literary technique.

Identify and Explain the Benefit of the Quote

The quote that I decided to inculde for that certain blogging prompt was a short quote. That quote being, "I have very fond memories actually." (Herbach, pg. 24) This quote benefits the reading of my independent reading novel because it as a reader it allows me to understand that he did actually have good memories in his life, and also that his life wasn't completely terrible. I had chosen this quote becuause it was the only real positive thing that Felton had discussed throughout the novel, up until that point. This quote adds value to my conversation within my blog becuase I later discuss how a short qute can be used as a technique and can alos be used to add voice to your own writing. Utilizing only a short quote allowed me to more thoughtfully anazlyize the underlying details in the text that I would've missed had the writer include a lengthy quote instead. This engages the reader more becasue it allows them to use the context in which the quote is inset to find out more iformation that mey be new to them.

Identify and Discuss Purposeful Diction and Syntax

The diction and syntax choices that I utilized to enhance my voice were a short sentence, asyndenton, and casual diction. The casual diction was used to enhance my voice becuase I feel that you do not always have to use big words to make your own writing style stand out and also that it allows the reader to not feel overwhelmed by the vocabulary.  For example, I keep the vocabulary simple in this section by saying, "his mom sang him all of these distinctive songs as they sat under a star and moon lit sky." This quote enables the audience to freely move about my article and not feel overwhelmed by large words. As for syntax, I used a short sentence that followed the quote, and also an asyndenton. The quote for the asyndenton is, " This line is important to the plot because it foreshadows that this summer will be different form most since his mom isn't taking them camping this summer, his best friend moved to Venezula, a new family moved into his best friend's house." This technique is used to list out events while leaving out conjunctions between phrases. In its coontext it was used to list the events that allowed me to see the foreshadowing of the summer, and was hoping that it would lead others to the same conclusion. 

Technology

The technology that I used in my blog post was a link that lead my audience to another site where they could learn other techniques that would add to their voice and also make their writing more interesting. This benefits my specific audience for that blog post because it can lead them to see new strategies for making their writing more intriguing to others. This allows further thought and consideration by opening their views of how to add voice and make their writing more interesting to new ideas that they may have never been taught before.

The most important line from a chapter is…

    For me the most important line from a chapter would be, "I have very fond memories acutally." (Herbach, pg. 24). This short quote comes from Chapter 5 in Stupid Fast. Although this chapter is only about a page and a half, I feel it gives the audience background on Felton's summer life and what it means to him. For Felton, it means being one thing that he feels he doesn't have. A normal family. 

    When Felton syas that he has good memories of summer he is describing going on the camping trips with his brother and his mom. One example that Felton givees us is when they went camping his freshman year of high school and his mom sang him all of these distinctive songs as they sat under a star and moon lit night sky. He later goes on to say that his mom is a really good mom even though they've had their rough times and the fact that Felton thinks she is really wierd. 

    This line is important to the plot because it foreshadows that this summer will be different from most since his mom is not taking them camping this summer, his best friend moved to Venezuela, a new family moved into his best friend's house. Also I like how Herbach gives such an important line at the beginning of a chapter that is only one sentence long. This is a technique that I feel could be very benefical to not only my writing style, but also everyone else's. 

For more ways on how to make your own writing more interesting, click on the link below: http://writingcenter.gmu.edu/some-tips-to-make-your-writing-more-interesting/

Predictions: Stupid Fast

So I just started reading this book titled Stupid Fast, and there have already been some interesting details that have been shared. One such detail being that Felton Reinstein, the main character, his dad committed suicide when Felton was only 5 years old. I feel that this piece of information will be important later on in the story because he constantly keeps referencing his dad. Also Felton talks about the issues he has had in his life like the anxiety attacks only in school, getting DQ'd (Disqualified) at regionals for track and also once again, his dad.

Some predictions that I have are that Felton will later get a second opportunity to qualify for state and instead of getting disqualified, he will win and move on to the state meets. Another prediction that I have is that he will end up playing high school football because the front cover of the book shows him in a football locker room with shoulder pads on. A third prediction that I have is that his best friend Gus, will not return from Venezuela because his grandma is terminally ill. Due to the fact that she is ill, I feel Gus's mother will want to stay in Venezuela for a while to be with her family. Also due to the inconvenience that Gus is out of the country for the summer Felton has to do his paper route and finds out that a new family is renting the house and Felton then has to deliver paper's to that house as well. But that's beside the point. The point being that my final prediction is that Felton will fall in love with the girl that is staying in Gus's house because he describes her as being beautiful and pleasurable to look at.

A few question that I have come across my mind are, why is Felton's dad committing suicide relevant to any part of the story?, or is the author giving us background information for later in the novel? Also, will there be a relationship between the new girl and Felton, and what will happen if Gus's family does move back into the house?