montana 2

In all, I thought Montana was a great book. I was in suspense for pretty much the whole book, wanting to see if Frank would be tried for his crimes, then what he would do in "jail" in his brother's basement, and if anything would happen with the men from David's grandfather's farm. I did not expect Frank to kill himself at all, rather I thought he might die trying to escape caught in a crossfire with the family and the men from Grandfather's farm, or something like that. Going to jail definitely wasn't an option, because there was no way there would be that kind of embarrassment for the family. I also really liked how the author added the epilogue, in that it ended the story fully, leaving nothing unsaid, unlike most books that try to make you figure out what the author wanted to say. Again, I thought this was a really good book and would certainly hope it remains part of the class.

For some insight into the native Americans of Montana:

http://www.native-languages.org/montana.htm

Montana 1

So far I'm really happy with Montana 1948. The beginning was very different from the rest of the books we have read, in that Watson first talked about the characters past, allowing for a better understanding of who they were and what to expect them to do in the future. In addition, something else that was different from most other books was that essentially, all of the thinking was done for you. At one point, when talking about how David's father could not respond to his mother in questioning about believing Marie's story, David just outright says that his father knew that Frank was absolutely guilty of raping Indian women in the past. Although you could have put this together yourself, Watson makes it obvious by simply stating it. I think this is partially attributed to the fact that the novel is seen through the eyes of a twelve year old, and so in essence, there should be a simplistic feel to the flow of the book. I am eager to see what happens next with Frank's case.

Bell Jar 2

I thought the overall ending of The Bell Jar was pretty good. I wasn't really expecting the ending where she was in front of the review board from the hospital, but it was certainly a good, and one of the few ways to end the novel. There was really nowhere else to go, since just up until that moment it seemed that the only thing that mattered was Esther getting her freedom back. If she was allowed to leave the hospital, then that would be the ultimate aspect of her attaining the freedom she longed for for so long in the novel.
Another aspect of he freedom that I wasn't really expecting was how she got the birth control. It seems kind of genius now that I think about it, because throughout the novel she has been simply worrying about losing her virginity and getting pregnant with the wrong guy, and this is a sure-fire way to stop that from happening. So, in terms of how she concluded the book, I though Plath did a pretty good job of bringing everything to a close.

For some information on mental institutions and mental illnesses, this is a great link:

http://www.toddlertime.com/advocacy/hospitals/Asylum/history-asylum.htm

Bell Jar 1

So far, I'm pretty happy with The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath. It seems, so far, to be about a college girl in the city who is studying English and has an internship with a magazine in New York City. It describes her her fanciful city life that she lives since everything is paid for through scholarships and the internship itself, which greatly contrasts her meager lifestyle she had living with her family in New England.
So far, the context of the book isn't extremely interesting since it takes a very feminine perspective, which I simply don't enjoy by preference. However, the writing style Plath uses throughout the novel is very good, with slight sarcasm at points, but most of the time being pretty upfront with whatever she is feeling in certain situations. For example, when describing a birth she witnessed with her boyfriend in medical school, she just says upfront that she would want to see more of them. OVerall, everyone who I have asked said the book gets progressively better, and because it is already pretty good I will take their word for it and assume that it will wutn out to be as good as the professional reviews it was given.

Bean Trees 2

In the end, I was really quite happy with this book. Finding out that Turtle had watched her mother's funeral was pretty powerful, and the fact that she was so innocent and calm about it was a bit cliché, because at the beginning it was Taylor who found this terrified little girl at a roadside bar, and now she was the one crying with Turtle not really understanding why it is so significant. I also thought that Kingsolver picked the perfect setting for the ending. Originally, she portrayed Oklahoma as a baron wasteland sort of area, but now she completely changed the viewpoint, with it being lush, mountainous, and life sustaining. This sense of renewal was all over the place as the book concluded, with Lou Ann getting a new boyfriend, Taylor's mother quitting her job, and even a bit earlier with the bar changing owners and being fixed up to look like a nice establishment. Overall, I actually enjoyed this book, and it completely beat my expectations.

for some insight into the Cherokee Nation, follow the link below:
http://www.cherokee.org/

The Bean Trees #1

I'm surprisingly happy with the Bean Trees so far. At first I didn't think i would have much interest at all, but Kingsolver has so far done a great job with the protagonist, Taylor, with her being in firm control of the novel. This is one of the first books I have read so far where there is a strong female character that doesn't take anything from anyone and it willing to voice her opinion regardless of what others think. One scene that was particularly interesting was when Taylor was near the roadside bar, and had an argument with someone who offered to fix her car but was giving her a bad deal. In this situation she really showed some resilience, and did not simply give in to a male character. Also, simply the fact that she got out of her awful town and had enough confidence in herself to go out on her own shows her own resiliency. Overall, it is so far a very good and interesting book.

House on Mango Street 2

The End of A House on Mango Street was much better than then beginning of the book. It got much more meaningful, and each chapter became much more defined, with specific themes and ideas behind them. For example, in the chapter Red Clowns, she essentially talks about herself being sexually assaulted after her friend left her by herself at a carnival, and how she could not forgive her for it. The theme was very straight forward with nothing to decode, and it made the entire chapter more interesting. In addition, the book moved away from a broad topic of poverty toward the end, and instead became more about the struggle of Hispanics as a people. This also made it more interesting, because it made you feel more for a people than just for people in poverty. Overall, I think this book turned out being alright, but still not worth the accolades it was given.

Here is a nice link for some insight into hispanic-American culture:

http://www.neta.com/~1stbooks/