A lovely analogy

Book review: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button by F. Scott Fitzgerald

So as part of my schools compulsory summer reading I decided to read this book. It's quite a short read (it's only 50 pages long) And there is a movie based on the book!

Today, F. Scott Fitzgerald is known for his novels, but in his lifetime, his fame stemmed from his prolific achievement as one of America's most gifted story writers. "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," a witty and fantastical satire about aging, is one of his most memorable stories. 

In 1860 Benjamin Button is born an old man and mysteriously begins aging backward. At the beginning of his life he is withered and worn, but as he continues to grow younger he embraces life -- he goes to war, runs a business, falls in love, has children, goes to college and prep school, and, as his mind begins to devolve, he attends kindergarten and eventually returns to the care of his nurse. 

This strange and haunting story embodies the sharp social insight that has made Fitzgerald one of the great voices in the history of American literature

To be honest I expected a little more from this novella.. It has such a great hook but it didn't follow through. The beginning  of the story itself is quite intriguing and you can easily tell that Benjamin Button is very similar to his father Thomas Button. They are both stuck up and self absorbed. The same characteristics are passed down to Benjamin's son. So overall the character's personalities were quite homogenous in my opinion.  I also felt that there were too many characters for a 50 page novella. There were too little words/scenes/descriptions given to each character. One other thing is that all of the characters were very pompous, or rather quite conceited. I think that F. Scott Fitzgerald chooses to portray the majority of a novels characters with one common trait. True my hypothesis is purely based on two of his novels and may not continue throughout all of them but it's food for thought. 

Even though the hook of the novella is well beyond its years, the actual medical reasoning was not explored at all. True it would be quite difficult to explain it but none the less some attempt should have been made. I feel that Fitzgerald just ignored the medical aspect. It is quite impossible to expect a mother to carry a fully grown man in her womb for 9 months and then give birth to him, all whilst he is conscious and has the mental capability to comprehend what is happening. 

I also felt that Fitzgerald's writing style for this novella is not at par to that of The Great Gatsby, but this was published before. The words in The Great Gatsby were put together to mean much more than what they were simply stating. Please don't misunderstand that I'm saying that his style in The Great Gatsby was better than in this novel because I'm not. The wordplay and various quotes in the novel were, well I wouldn't say better but they were different in the sense that this novella has much less romanticism and portrays a different side to the upper class society than that of The Great Gatsby. But it is also the change in Fitzgerald's style that makes the novella interesting. The entire novella was more of a tell instead of a show if you understand? (I'm not sure you will) Basically the plot and the dialogue was quite simple, and in it's simplicity the readers are open to think about what is happening to Benjamin and just process and appreciate the story more.

At first when I finished reading it I thought it was quite a plain novel with a wonderful hook. But I was quite disappointed that it wasn't as similar to The Great Gatsby and that Fitzgerald produced something like this. I had different standards of him and his novels (Probably because I read Gatsby first). But after some time you realise that there is much more to the novella that meets the eye. And I also liked change from The Great Gatsby, it allows the two novels to co-exist without being replicas of each other and it also shows a different side to Fitzgerald's writing. The thing is that people living in the early 20th century would probably not have the same opinion as me, they might have read this book, they might not have but I think they would understand that Fitzgerald had more time to develop and grow as a writer between the two books. That is also the main reason I prefer The Great Gatsby to this novella. 

All in all I would still recommend you read it, it's still a better than mediocre novella even with it's shortcomings. 

That's all for now, more book reviews will be coming shortly!

Exams, Reading, and Summer!

Hello guys,
apologies for not posting anything in such a long long time. I recently finished my IGCSE's and I needed to study really hard for those. So I didn't have time (or rather I didn't make time) to blog. Anyway I'm back now and it's my summer so I will be reading loads and loads and I will also be watching loads of movies! I'll definitely be posting lots of book reviews so I'm really excited about that.

Now, as you can see from the title of this post there are three things I really want to talk about. First let's get the boring exam stuff over with. Honestly I am feeling exam fatigue. My first exam was the Edexel Art exam that started wayyy back in  march the coursework took 6 weeks and the exam was on the 14th of April  (it's really sad that I have to go check my calendar to see when this was because I forgot) and my last exam was economics which was last week! That is a long time to study for and write the exams for. Understandably I am all worn out. I really don't want to do anything now as all my energy went into writing for so long. Typing used to seem like second nature to me now it feels really strange and I keep making silly mistakes.

 Regardless I am really tired of exams and I am so so happy that they are over. I calculated how many hours of exams I had and it rounded up to around 56 (inclusive of the time spent for Art coursework.) That is a lot of time; most of which maths, science, ICT and english took up. ICT required 7 hours of exams, English needs 8 (my school makes us do both Literature and First language english,) Maths requires 5 hours and Science needs 3. Oh and I forgot about Art (10 + approximately 12 for coursework.) My friends think I'm really weird for calculating all of this but I feel like I need to know how much work I put into this. Anyway advice for other people taking their exams sometime soon:

1. Manage your time well and stick to the limits you set (otherwise you will not finish writing and will have a huge issue)
2. keep writing no matter what. Just never stop. 
3. to help with the proficiency of #2 make a plan before you start so that you know what you are talking about
4. Do practice papers because often the questions (or at least the type of questions) are repeated
5. Try not to drink too much water because:

• you will need to pee
• you might spill it all over your work

Topic #2: Reading!

Now this is something fun that we can talk about! It's summer and what's better than to sit by the beach or pool with a good book? well to the dismay of some, it's now compulsory in my school to read during the summer. Some people (like myself) think that it's absurd that others would not read during the summer. Uh hello when else will I get time to do nothing and roll around like a cat yet still look like I'm doing something smart? My school has found some very interesting information about how reading in the summer helps your intellectual development and how it helps people to diversify their interests and what not. In light of this they decided to force us students to read 4 books, one of the school's choice and three of our own choices. They also expect us to answer questions on these novels and want to see evidence that we have read them. Personally I don't mind because it is not extra work for me, I read loads during the summer and I wanted to post reviews of them anyway. But I don't think that forcing students to spend their free time after several exhausting exams reading a novel they might not like (the school set one.) And maybe the do not like to read or really don't have time for it? 

If you are trying to get people to enjoy and sustain reading then you should let them find their own book at their own pace. I believe that everybody is a reader, and if you currently don't think you are, that just means that you haven't found the right book. There is always one book that will change the way you think or that will interest you so much that you will pick up another book. Finding this book is difficult, I am really lucky I was always interested in fantasy stories that made me start reading (mainly because they were so wonderful and magical and more interesting than my life.)  Everyone has the capability to love reading, they just need time. 

Last topic! SUMMER! 

IM SO HAPPY THIS DAY HAS COME! YOU WILL NOT BELIEVE HOW HAPPY I AM. There are so many things I want to do this summer that I don't think there will be enough time to do everything! If you are bored or don't have anything to do during summer here is a list of things to do. This is from Rookie Magazine (thanks to my friend for showing this to me it sounds really fun.) Seriously do these guys it looks amazing! Things to do halfway through summer. If that doesn't work out I have a reading list to check out for this summer on Goodreads (become my friends guys!) Summer 2014 reading list. There are also so many movies coming out this summer:

And there is my Summer 2014 playlist to jam to : Summer 2014 playlist online version <- for people who don't have spotify on their computers. Then there is the browser version below:

  

That's it guys, thank you so much for reading my super long post that probably did not affect you in many ways, but yeah. Its summer so lets enjoy it!

Book review! What's left of me by Kat Zhang

Hello hello!
I'm really excited to write this review because I absolutely loved this book, definitely one of the most unique books I have read in a long time. So here it is :D

I should not exist. But I do.

Eva and Addie started out the same way as everyone else—two souls woven together in one body, taking turns controlling their movements as they learned how to walk, how to sing, how to dance. But as they grew, so did the worried whispers. Why aren’t they settling? Why isn’t one of them fading? The doctors ran tests, the neighbours shied away, and their parents begged for more time. Finally Addie was pronounced healthy and Eva was declared gone. Except, she wasn’t . . .

For the past three years, Eva has clung to the remnants of her life. Only Addie knows she’s still there, trapped inside their body. Then one day, they discover there may be a way for Eva to move again. The risks are unimaginable-hybrids are considered a threat to society, so if they are caught, Addie and Eva will be locked away with the others. And yet . . . for a chance to smile, to twirl, to speak, Eva will do anything.

Doesn't that sound so exciting! Basically what the hook is that everybody is born with two souls within one body. For a long time both souls exist coherently in the same body until the body develops and then the more dominant soul will take control. What usually happens to the passive soul is that it basically withers up and goes into a super-extra long hibernation and never wakes up again (unless prompted to or that the passive soul never went into a "deep" hibernation.) The society in the novel calls this "Settling." If a body doesn't settle then both the souls are taken to a mental hospital/medical are to be treated. Yet in this book the main character has not settled in but the passive soul/personality (Eva) is still awake and did not go into said hibernation.

One thing that's really cool is that the POV (Point Of View) is almost third person but its also first person at the same time! I thought that was a really unique idea and this book has such a fresh perspective on dystopian novels and it is such a unique idea! I read this just after reading The Collector by Victoria Scott which was a drag in my opinion (I'll get to that some other time) and this was really refreshing. The novel is not that "literary" so if you are looking to expand your vocabulary I wouldn't say this is the book to read but you are an avid reader of YA or Dystopian novels then you should read this, I think (like me) you will love it <3

 The characters in this book just blew me away. I think that Zhang somehow managed to collate 6 types of major characters and fit them into the 3 main "protagonists" if you will. The character development is superb but I really want to know what happened to make Addie so uptight and quite frankly selfish. Eva has never been in control of their body yet Addie (at first) refuses to let Eva try! All right I wont say much more because people have been really controversial about this book so I will let you make your own judgements.

But lets just say that my expressions whilst reading this were all over the place. Kat Zhang really makes you empathize with the characters and it felt as if I was actually within the novel, as a character who couldn't speak, or be seen. I was special and had a super power, INVISIBILITY! You get the point

I went from this

to this

and this

in a matter of chapters

I also did make a playlist/soundtrack for this (Yay!) the link to that is here <- list version, the compact version for people who have spotify is the little playlist icon at the bottom of this post :) The problem with my playlists are that they don't account for the entire novel or how fast someone reads. So the songs are meant to be for specific parts of the book. I'm pretty sure when you listen to them you can figure it out because I don't want to spoil it for anybody. But if you must know then I will post a comment with which part is for what ;)

That's it guys I hope you enjoy this!

Yo guys I'm back, Also NEW BOOK REVIEW!

Hihi :)
I'm back (for a little while at least!)
So recently I read the famous "Thirteen reasons why" by Jay Asher and I really wanted to review it :) So here goes

Clay Jensen returns home from school to find a mysterious box with his name on it lying on his porch. Inside he discovers thirteen cassette tapes recorded by Hannah Baker, his classmate and crush who committed suicide two weeks earlier.

On tape, Hannah explains that there are thirteen reasons why she decided to end her life. Clay is one of them. If he listens, he'll find out how he made the list.

Through Hannah and Clay's dual narratives, debut author Jay Asher weaves an intricate and heartrending story of confusion and desperation that will deeply affect teen readers. 

Now this review is going to be hard to write because I don't know how much to give away without giving away too much. One thing I will tell you is that this book can be quite despair and it's meant to be this way. It isn't one of your usual teen or Young Adult books that have a deep romance or a happy ending at all. I for one am relieved to know that people are still willing to read serious and heart-moving books. Anyway back to the book.

The main idea of the book is the aftereffects or the events that succeed a suicide and how it affects the people who were either involved/were the cause of a person's death or their family and friends. Often we do not know why a person commits suicide, and it's hard to find out. Think about it, there was something or someone who caused another person so much pain and angst that one day they decided that living just wasn't worth it anymore.

And I get it, life's tough, sometimes you feel like there is no one for you. No one to love you, no one to care for you, no one to take care of you, no one for you the relax with, no one to share your woes with. Believe me, I feel like that sometimes too but thats not true. There is always somebody out there in the large vast world of seven billion people who will gravely benefit by your presence in their lives. It might not have been somebody you met in the past, and it might not be anybody who you know but I'm sure that someone in your future will love you so much that it scares them. But you might not have known it then, you might not know it now but there will always be someone.

The book was set in a small town somewhere in America (Asher probably mentioned it but I have never been to/have much knowledge of the states of america or where they are located) and the great thing about this book is that the readers gets to see the same setting in two POVs, Hannah's and Clay's. I really think that this is one of the best thing about the book. I think that the setting is really crucial to the plot because it shows how rumours spread in a small town and how it can have a huge effect on somebody's life.

I really don't want to give too much of the book away (because it's worth reading) so basically what happens is Hannah (the main character) made a series of 13 cassette tapes (hence the name 13 reasons why) and she had someone (I'm not telling because its a pretty major part in the plot lets call them person X) sent them to the first person on Hannah's mailing list after she died. P.S. the mailing list is just people who are mentioned in the tapes Now you might think, why bother listening to them? well the tapes contain a lot of dirt on the people she talked about, if they didn't listen to the tapes then person X publishes the tapes for all the world to  hear. This story is about the emotions and events that occur after hannah dies and how people react when they find out that what they did caused another person to die.

Not lets talk about the characters! Personally I really liked Hannah, she seems like an amazing person from Clay's POV but when you listen to the tapes you realise that she sees herself as a completely different person. This is another thing that I really loved about the book, a person's views on you will differ greatly from how you see yourself. Clay's character development was amazing, at first I thought he was just this guy that liked her a lot but as the main story is told from his POV and reading about how each story (in Hannah's cassettes) affects him was shocking. Similarly person X's character development was a pleasant and welcome surprise :D (still not going to give away too much)

Last paragraph I promise! One of the reasons I picked up this book is because the idea of the after-effects of suicide aren't mentioned at all in our society and this book is an eye opener. It really makes you think about a lot of things to do with our society and it is a must read in this lifetime.

Also if you read thirteen reasons why and liked it another book similar to this is Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson :)

So that's it I hope you guys enjoyed this and I'll be posting soon!
P.S.S. Happy Chinese new year!  

My apologies

Hi guys :)
I'm so sorry I haven't been writing for ages (hence the tile to this post). It's just that I have loads of work now, grade 10 (or year 11) and all .... :/ All my teachers are keep giving us work and our mocks are coming up in january and they haven't finished all the topics in our courses and they are just like

So yeah I'm kind of drowning and to make matters worse I have my art mock exams in two weeks D: Yeah so I'll be posting super soon. I started reading Sentinel (fdla;fjesd;ilfjkadls;ifajk;sdl) so the instant I finish it I'll be posting a review so look out for it :)

Thats all for now, I'll be back soon <3

Short passage:

Sorry I haven't had much type to write recently as there has been loads going on in school, assessments here tests there, practically everywhere! Grade 10 is pretty intense but I wrote a short paragraph about miscommunication and it's effects in our current society, anyways, I'm not a philosopher so excuse me if It's a little cheesy :)

If someone doesn’t tell you to something new, doesn’t that mean that you carry on doing what you regularly would do? How is a person supposed to know when something new becomes regular if the person who arranged it doesn’t tell them. It’s simply a lack of communication. In most cases this would be a minor thing, a simple problem that could be sorted out between two people.  But when you makes plans with someone else, what happens then? Suddenly this repertoire you have built for yourself comes into play and takes control of your brain, your actions. You need to keep up this image that other people have of you, of your family. So you assume that whatever’s new is here to stay, like it will never go away. Yet what happens when the person who was supposed to tell you that you need to do something new. What happens then Do the people you had plans with judge you and your commitments? Do they say you are unreliable, do they assume that you aren’t in control of your life? Yes, yes they do and this is the tragedy of your current society, we jump to conclusions, searching for a reason, anything that is feasible. We refuse to consider the facts that there are obligations, responsibilities that people must fulfill. And when people fail to fulfill their responsibilities, when they neglect their requirements and when they forget their obligation, that’s when miscommunications occur. Because that’s all arguing really is, a lack of understanding of the other persons opinion. It’s our lack of empathy towards people of our own social class or above that causes us to turn green with envy or red with ferocious fury or even blue with a thousand thoughts, confused, full of uncertainty. In general miscommunication is the kryptonite of some relationships, and it is such a sad thing to let get in the way of you and another person, don’t let it get to you.

That's it from me, I promise to write more soon
Bye :)