A Tree Grows In Brooklyn

Hi everyone! Well today I have decided to take a break from my intense Harry Potter marathon to write a quick blog. I am doing this Harry Potter marathon as a sort of lead up to the final Harry Potter movie, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2. By the way, my Harry Potter marathon consists of reading every single Harry Potter book and then watching all of the movies. So far I have gotten through "Goblet of Fire" and am reading, for probably the thousandth time, "Order of the Phoenix" (books four and five respectively if you are not familiar with the series. If that is the case, I highly suggest you sprint to the nearest bookstore and save yourself from this serious literary and culture deprivation. I am being totally serious). Anyways, today I am going to review a book that I read while I was at the beach with my family called "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" written by Betty Smith. And away we go!

Characters: Francie Nolan: fiercely independent/ an avid reader/ desperately wants to finish high school and get into college
Cornelious "Neely" Nolan: Francie's brother/ is Mama's favorite child/ does not want to go to school unlike Francie
Katie Nolan: Francie and Neely's mother/ a hardworking woman who works two jobs to support her family/ has been married to Johnny for over a decade
Johnny Nolan: Francie and Neely's father/ works as a "singing waiter"/ relates more to Francie than Neely
*As a note, this book probably had the greatest amount of characters out of any book I have read. There are a wide variety of characters that could go here, but for simplicity sake I have just included the characters that are truly essential to the story*

The Plot: Francie Nolan has one goal in life: get as much knowledge as possible. She wants to get an education, no matter what it takes. However, that is not so easy when you live in Brooklyn, New York at the turn of the 20th century. Money is so tight in Brooklyn homes, that children are forced to leave school at an early age to support the family and get jobs. Francie's family could only afford for one child to go to school (they needed the other child to earn wages) and against the wishes of both Neely and Francie, Katie picked Neely. Francie however, still really wanted to go to school and would not take no for an answer. She enrolled in summer school and began to study at night to prepare for the college entrance exams. However, Francie begins to lose her idealistic nature as she grows up: the world deals her cruel hand after cruel hand starting with losing her hero, her father, to sickness and his own drunk habits. As her disillusionment grows, Francie begins to question the world around her not only because of how outsiders treat her, but how everyone treats each other because they are from Brooklyn.

What I liked: This was, by far, one of my favorite books that I have read. My mom, who reads my blog every time I have a new post, commented on how obvious it is that I love strong female characters. Francie is another one of those strong female characters, except for at one point which I will get to later. She was stubborn, at times fiercely independent, and had a thirst for knowledge that was very similar to my own. She loved her family and specifically her brother unconditionally, even when her mother treated her second-rate to Neely. I also loved Francie's relationship with her father. Granted, Francie's father was not the most reliable of people and he put a lot of unnecessary strain on the Nolan family but he loved Francie unconditionally. The family dynamic in "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" was really the sole focus of the story and I loved the interaction between all of the family members. The family dynamic between Katie and her sisters Sissy and Evy was lovely and they, along with the Nolan family, presented this sharp contrast against the seemingly fragmented families around them. Second, I don't think I have ever read a book that had such rich imagery and detail. I felt like I was actual in Brooklyn, walking the streets with Francie. It was unapologetic, and sometimes harsh, but it offered an unfiltered view of Brooklyn at that time. However, I don't want it to sound like Smith was painting this landscape of a place that was filled with desolation and despair. On the contrary - she was able to pull from the seeming chaos and poverty to create a place that in its own way had beauty too. There is a scene near the end of the book where Francie is marveling over just how much she loves Brooklyn and how she is afraid of how she will see it when she grows up. She is afraid that she will lose the ability to see the beauty in the crooked streets and chaos. This love for a city and love for a place really hit home with me. Cities have this almost magnetic draw, at least for me, and I was able to feel that same love for a place when Smith writes. Some people may think that "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" is slow, and in places it is. But these lulls fit in with the story of Francie's life and it allowed the reader to get immersed in the details and immersed in this life in Brooklyn. Finally, the book had a reasonably happy ending which I liked. I was reasonably happy because it was not a "Twilight ending" (meaning that Smith did not choose to end her novel as Stephanie Meyers does with everyone getting exactly everything they ever wanted with no sacrifice and disappointment and a lot of over the top happiness to go around. Can you tell I am not a "Twihard"? I cannot believe I just used that word). Instead, Smith left us with not only a feeling of sadness but a feeling of hope for Francie and the future to come. And really, that is all we can ask for.

What I didn't like: Okay, this part actually drove me crazy. Why in the world would Francie lose her head over a guy (Lee) that she knew for only a week, who was not only leaving the country to go to war, but was also engaged. I don't have a problem with her liking him, but she acted like she was in love with him, completely losing her head. It was also for just a week. Totally out of character. Also, I didn't really understand Katie Nolan's crazy reasoning for why she liked Neely better than Francie. Katie said that she liked Neely better because Francie was "weak" (at least at first) and Neely was exactly like her husband Johnny but she could mold him to be better. She even made Neely go to high school when he did not want to go and refused to allow Francie to go to high school even though she actually wanted to attend. I did not really understand where she was coming from or where her logic was at at all.

Overall: 9 out of 10. I am not taking off points because Francie lost her head, but rather because I didn't always enjoy the Neely-Francie-Katie dynamic. But overall, I absolutely loved this book.

Their Eyes Were Watching God

Hey blogosphere! I'm back! I know, you did not expect me for another month or two, but I decided to be proactive while I wait until I can eat lunch. Today, I am reviewing the last of my AP Language novels, "Their Eyes Were Watching God" by Zora Neale Hurston. Away we go!

Characters: Janie Crawford: heroine of the story/ is married three times/ is looking for more out of her marriage than just security
Logan Killicks: Janie's first husband/ wants to have Janie do a lot of work around the house/ is much older than Janie
Joe Starks: Janie's second husband/ dies a decade after he married Janie/ wants to control Janie and keep her as a trophy wife
Tea Cake: Janie's last husband/ moves to the Everglades with Janie/ teaches Janie how to shoot a gun

The Plot: Janie Crawford isn't looking for just security in a relationship: she is looking for something more. But her grandmother, out of fear that Janie will end up just like her mother, marries Janie off to an old man (Logan Killicks). Janie fears her chances to find true love are lost forever. Only months after her first marriage, Janie runs off with Joe Starks in the hopes that she can create a new life, one where there will be mutual love and respect between both husband and wife. Instead, she becomes Joe's trophy wife and is belittled and mistreated by him. Over a decade later, Joe dies and Janie fears that she will never know true love and happiness. But Tea Cake, a man of almost no money and importance comes into her life and changes everything. Through all her relationships, Janie goes on the journey of self discovery until she finally reaches the point she had only dreamed of: true independence.

What I liked: I really liked this book. First, I want to talk about the format of "Their Eyes Were Watching God". (From now on I'm just going to refer to the book as "Eyes") The book is written in this sort of free-flowing dialogue with this distinctive, flavorful dialect. I believe that this dialect gives "Eyes" its heart and soul. It gives the novel a greater substance than most novels. Novels like "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" and "Eyes" have rich dialect that take the reader into a time and place quite different from their own. However, there are moments where we get into the character's minds for long passages where the dialect completely disappears and a more educated narrator tells us Janie's thoughts. For example, we learn what Janie is thinking when she is "coping" with Joe's death. I used quotes around coping because Janie isn't really too sad about it. Anyways, Janie talks about the "veil" which separates the grief she projects to the outside world from the actual relief that she feels inside. These moments give a sort of clarity to what goes on in the characters minds that can be occasionally lost through the dialect, which can be challenging at times. Also, the Janie of the story would not be able to provide this beautiful allusion; the narrator of Janie's thoughts can. I also really liked that as a woman, I can relate to this story. Not so much the married three times part, thankfully, but the self-discovery and independence that Janie yearns and searches for. I identified with Janie because she was never satisfied with an average life; she wanted extraordinary and that drive really resonated with me. With both Logan and Joe she had a "safe" position in life but that was not good enough for her. She looked to find something greater in both her relationships and life. She looked to find her voice, and her spirit. That journey was the reason why I rooted for Janie so hard; I wanted to have her find herself like every person should. I also loved the ending. *SPOILERS AHEAD* Janie ends up shooting Tea Cake when he becomes infested with rabies and tries to kill her. Tea Cake dying was kind of a blah moment for me because he was not really my favorite character, more on that in a moment, but how Janie was finally able to assert herself and no longer truly live in submission to her husband. Also, the way that she stood up in court and defended her love for Tea Cake was a beautifully written ending, in my opinion. Lastly, Mrs. Turner was a truly awful character, and I am so glad that she was included. Mrs. Turner is a black woman that likes to spend time with Janie because she is "whiter" than the other blacks. (Janie is half white and half black). It was awful to see how she put Janie up on a pedestal because she was half white and vehemently hated her own race because they were "too black". It was such an awful portion of the book but it was so essential to see the struggles that Janie and others like her go through.

What I didn't like: Tea Cake was not my favorite character. He gambled a lot, he tried to "protect" Janie, and then he ended up hitting Janie to show Mrs. Turner that Janie was still his. I was not a fan. He just did not behave in a way that made sense for Janie to idolize him like she did. It also was completely out of character for him to hit Janie. I don't believe that he would actually do that if Tea Cake and Janie were real characters. Tea Cake adored Janie. He wouldn't hit her. Ever.

Overall: 8 out of 10. It would be higher but Tea Cake hitting Janie made me mad. Overall, beautifully written book by Zora Neale Hurston.

The Scarlet Letter

Hi everyone! Well it has really been a while. In my defense, I have been busy what with homework. But that's all behind me because now it's summer!!! No more school work. Just kidding, like I could get that lucky. Apparently, the summer assignments for my classes are MASSIVE, but at least there are a lot of books on the summer lists. Better for blogging right? But as kind of a flashback, I am doing a book that I read in AP Language last year, called "The Scarlet Letter". Maybe you've heard of it (wink wink). Apparently it's an "American Classic" and let's just say I do not share that opinion. I digress! Let's start at the beginning shall we?

Characters: Hester Prynne: bearer of the "Scarlet Letter"/ mother of Pearl/ is ostracized by the Puritan society that she lives in
Arthur Dimmesdale: minister of the Puritan church/ is much loved by the community/ is the father of Pearl
Roger Chillingworth: Hester's husband/ is much older than Hester/ aims to enact his revenge on whomever is Pearl's father

The Plot: In the rigorous Puritan society of New England, Hester Prynne has committed the most serious of offenses. An adulterer, she is now forced to wear a red "A" for the rest of her days and is henceforth shunned from Puritain society. Hester is told that her punishment will be easier if she speaks the name of her conspirator, but she refuses to give up the identity of her lover. Her lover, is none other than the beloved minister Arthur Dimmesdale who has become consumed by guilt over his and Hester's actions. As Hester is ostracized, Dimmesdale seeks solace in his friend and doctor Roger Chillingworth. However, Chillingworth is no friend of Dimmesdale's: Chillingworth is really Hester's husband and he looks to enact his revenge upon Dimmesdale. In a "thrilling" tale about the true meaning of sin, Hester struggles to find her place in a world that constantly works to reduce her to nothing.

What I didn't like: I know that I usually start off with "What I liked" but honestly, I cannot exactly stomach it at this point. If you notice, I put "thrilling" in quotes when I was talking about the plot of Hawthorne's "classic". Personally, I found "The Scarlet Letter" to be one of the most awful books I've read. I honestly hated it. Now let me clarify what I am about to say here. I do not hate historical fiction. I actually love it. I do not hate Old English. I actually love it, particularly when it is written as beautifully as Shakespeare. I do not hate colonial history. I just hated "The Scarlett Letter". First, there were only three characters, and this god-awful book was about two hundred pages long. Yes, there were other side characters but the book mainly revolved around the interaction between Dimmesdale, Hester, and Chillingworth. I suppose you could consider Pearl, the daughter of Hester and Dimmesdale, a "character", but I have not-for reasons I'll explain in a minute. I felt like the story was grossly stretched out and in places unnecessarily long. Every scene that Hawthorne wrote was loaded with so much symbolism and hidden meanings that I was overwhelmed and did not really see what was important. There were some constant, all encompassing themes, such as the concept of sin, but I was so sick of them because there were no other characters. There should be supporting characters and subplots in any book, like in "The Kite Runner." In "The Kite Runner", there were many other side stories beside the central struggle that Amir goes through. There was the interaction between Amir and his father, Amir's adaptation to his new life in America, and Amir's interaction with his wife. Hawthorne had no side stories, nothing to provide a break from what I thought was a dull rambling story to begin with. I also did not really understand some of the characters actions, in particular Hester. She did not strike me as a particularly strong heroine. She, granted, took her punishment well and bravely, but I felt like her interaction with Pearl was strange. She spent most of her time wondering if Pearl was a fairy. This is why I did not really count Pearl as a character. She seemed, to everyone in the story and to me as well, as sort of...off. She was used by Hawthorne to portray that the innocence of children lets them perceive the truth of matters, rather than what they are told to see. Fine. I like that, I understand that idea. But why did Pearl have to keep being portrayed as this monster or fairy by Hester? I felt like Pearl as a character was very flat. Either she was a fairy or an all-seeing child who clearly understood complex matters. I was not a fan of that idea. Also, Dimmesdale is the weakest fatherly character that Hawthorne could have possibly come up with. I was actually cheering for Chillingworth to kill him off. But that doesn't make me dislike Hawthorne as a writer, Dimmesdale served a particular literary purpose, I think to serve as a foil for Hester. They are totally opposite, as Dimmesdale is weak and afraid and Hester is strong and brave. But what I did not enjoy about "The Scarlet Letter" was the structuring of the language. Here I am not talking about complexity: I love Shakespeare and old texts like "A Modest Proposal" by Jonathan Swift. (By the way, "A Modest Proposal" is an absolutely hilarious piece about what the Irish should do to save their country. One of my favorite pieces). But to me, Hawthorne's language did not have this beauty. It was stuffy, and over worked; I felt like there was too much going on. Honestly, by the end I was just sick of the entire novel. The constant discussing about "sin" and "fate" honestly made my head hurt. I was quite ready for the book to be over.

What I liked: This will be pretty short. But in all honesty, even though the characters drove me nuts, I loved how they were very well developed. Besides Pearl, I thought the struggles that Hester and Dimmesdale went through and their own emotional spectrum was very real and believeable. I felt like these were real people, not caricatures of Puritan society.

Overall: 3 out of 10, glad the book is over with. Nathanial Hawthorne, I was sadly disappointed.