Blog post 3

A book is a getaway, a way to not think about worries about school, friends...life. Whenever I am having a bad day I read a book- and all of my worries seem to disappear. Sadly I am not able to read as much as I want to- and I am also a picky reader; I don't read certain types of genres or certain types of story's.

Book 3 project

Book 3 Review

The Perks of Being A Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

The Perks of Being a Wallflower is told from a unique point of view, and the reader cannot help but feel a part of the main character, Charlie’s life. Stephen Chbosky the author of The Perks of Being a Wallflower told the story with a different writing styles; in the form of a diary. Charlie, a freshman in high school chronicles his life, his struggles and his achievements, although it was a diary, I found that none of the stories were irrelevant and unimportant; unlike a “usual” high school student would write in his diary. Charlie could be portrayed as many different kinds of heroes, but its’ all in the perspective of the reader.

                Charlie could be perceived as an anti-hero- “a hero that lacks the characteristics of a typical hero but the audience identifies themselves with… (Who) lacks courage, honesty or grace” (hero notes.) Charlie is perceived as a thin, clueless and who could be perceived as mentally handicapped freshmen in high school. While a typical hero would be strong, smart, and courageous.  The best attribute about The Perks of being a Wallflower how easily the reader can relate to Charlie. On several occasions I found myself feeling protective over Charlie, as if I was his oldest sister. Charlie is courageous, but not in the way of a “hero” he does what he can to help the people he loves; but his actions aren’t in the same scale as a hero. Charlie doesn’t think before he speaks-he is rather blunt, which could be characterized as honest.  The distinguishing trait Charlie has is his lack of grace-or no grace; Charlie is more of an awkward character who is just there.

                A romantic hero is “a character that rejects established norms and conventions, has been rejected by society” (hero notes,) Charlie is also identified as a romantic hero- in actuality he is the epitome of a romantic hero. At the beginning of the novel, Charlie doesn’t have any friends,” I don’t know how much longer I can keep going without a friend” (144 Chbosky.) he is the weird kid-the outcast. Charlie doesn’t really understand why he doesn’t have any friends; all he knows is that he has a popular older brother and sister. Eventually he stumbled upon Sam, and Patrick at a football game- and they became best friends. Sam and Patrick were “rejected by society” because Patrick is openly gay, and Sam is the new girl and Patricks’ step-sister.  The group of friends (Sam, Patrick, and Charlie) are constantly ridiculed; Patrick is bullied more than the others.

                As a modern hero- Charlie is not doing anything physical, everything Charlie is trying to overcome is mental. Charlie is trying to deal with the fact that his old best friend committed suicide, and his favorite Aunt Helen passed away. With Aunt Helens’ death, Charlie blames himself- he thinks that if she did not go out to get him a toy, she would still be alive. “Despite everything my mom and doctor and dad have said to me about blame, I can't stop thinking what I know. And I know that my aunt Helen would still be alive today if she just bought me one present like everyone else. She would be alive if I was born on a day that didn't snow. I would do anything to make this go away. I miss her terribly. I have to stop writing now because I feel too sad” (92 Chbosky.) Underneath the guilt, Charlie realizes with the help of Sam- what Aunt Helen actually did to Charlie. She molested him. Charlie has to figure out how to face his inner demons, and figure out what happened with him and Aunt Helen, and why she did what she did.

                Charlie is called a wallflower for his general passive existence-Charlie does not want to hurt anybody, and wants to help everybody. Which is different than a hero that most people think about.  Overall this book would be rated 5 stars- it is an amazing book that tells an accurate story about the hardships of high school, friends and family.

               

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When Charlie met Lennie

In “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” the main character, Charlie is described as clueless, compassionate, and is always leaning on someone else for help(for example Sam.) When I think of those traits, the first character I think of, from a movie is Lennie from “Of Mice and Men.” Lennie basically has the same main characteristics as Charlie. Although he stories are nothing alike.
In “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” we have Charlie, a sixteen year old high schooler telling a story about his life in a journal, and how he survived in high school. We learn about Charlie’s family and the tragic death of his Aunt Helen and his best friend, and how Charlie copes with that. He has older siblings, who he is not really close with; but he still loves them, and wants whats best for them. Charlie is described as smart-in school, but in life he is not so smart. He is also naive, trusting(not always good,) scrawny, and short.
In “Of Mice and Men” Lennie is accompanied by his best friend George, who takes responsibility of Lennie. When Lennie made a big mistake, Lennie and George had to run away; and find a new job at a farm. We see how Lennie adapts to a new place and how George is willing to do anything to protect Lennie. Lennie is shown as big, heavyset, and slow-could be considered retarded, and trusting.
Lennie and Charlie both find themselves in trouble by being too trusting of others.  I found myself feeling bad for them, because they don’t know any better.

Blog Post 6

I think a book must be 100% true to be considered nonfiction. If it is 95% true, you won’t help wondering what is the 5% that aren’t true; and will doubt a lot of stuff that occurred in the book. A book can be fiction, but can be based on true facts; just because it has some true aspects does not mean it should be nonfiction. Half-truths are not ok if it’s a good story and it isn’t right that Frey and Mortensen bent the truth to tell their stories, but sadly it is inevitable. In a memoir, you learn to trust the author; and when he/she lies you feel backstabbed, because in a memoir you are more vulnerable to become attached to the story, and think with the mentality that “this happened to someone, it could happen to me.” Although sometimes people become too attached to the book, people should also learn to take a step back and see that it is a book after all. The authors are probably thinking if I make this part a little bit interesting, then the book would be better.

When confronted about if the authors “stretched the truth” they should not lie, and own up to how it was a detail, that they thought wouldn’t change how people look at the book. That is the part that I don’t like, when the author lies; just so they can make more money. We should label fiction or nonfiction, because if it is labeled fiction, we can assume that it isn’t true; and if its’ labeled nonfiction we assume that it is true.

Blog post 5

 No, I am not content with swapping out Of Mice and Men for Twilight, because Of Mice and Men is a true classic that I believe everyone should read. Rather than Twilight, which is a sad attempt of writing on Stephanie Meyer’s part (no offense.) The writing in Twilight resembles the reading level of a 6^th grader; which is downgrading the reading level of high school students, because they are spending their time reading books that are in no way challenging. Which is why I believe we should have some classics in the curriculum; the students need and should be challenged. Although the challenging books should be entertaining and there should be activities with the books, to properly engage the students. The students need to read for the pure joy of it, rather than reading so that they can do well on a pop quiz.  I believe there should be a 60% for literary fiction and 40% genre fiction. Students generally wouldn’t read literary fiction, so I believe that schools should more reinforce literary fiction. With literary fiction there is a thin line between boring and interesting, so the teachers NEED to know how to make the book interesting and how to engage the readers; for example reference the story to modern times. If the teachers don’t make it interesting then the student won’t care, and end up spark noting the book; which should not happen.  I agree with Jodi Picoult in “I don't think readers have to choose between literary and commercial fiction” Basically Jodi Picoult is saying that a good book is a good book, it doesn’t matter what genre the book is in or whether the book is literary or commercial fiction, if the book has interesting writing, plot, characters; it should speak for itself. Rather than go under the category of literary or commercial fiction.