Book Review: The Kite Runner

Hosseini, Khaled. The Kite Runner (New York, NY: Penguin Group, 2003), 371 pp.
Reviewed by Carleen Rodriquez, Los Osos High School, Rancho Cucamonga, CA.

The fictional novel, The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini brings to the readers' attentions the effects of a strong friendship between two boys living in Kabul, Afghanistan in the 1980's. The author uses great amounts of detail and descriptive diction in order to portray the characters' lives to the audience and create a greater general effect by appealing to the reader's senses by describing the surroundings and what life was like living in Kabul. Although the author finds inspiration in structures and figures that he remembers while growing up in Kabul, he doesn't describe the city and his experiences while living there directly through the two boys, but instead takes parts and puts a twist on them to make the setting more original. The two boys, Amir, a wealthy, upper-class kid growing up with his dad, and Hassan, one of their servants at home, grow up together and learn from each others ways. While living in a harsh town, where people are competitive with each other and friendships may be difficult to find, the city adds to the plot of the story by proving the importance of close bonds with friends in order to learn from life in Kabul; without friends, the area would be more dangerous to live. However, although much of Afghanistan is not as lucky to be as wealthy as Amir's father, the amount of money someone has plays an important role in a person's social status, as the lower class people tended to hold on to their morals and value of respect tighter. The novel is greatly influenced by the value of money and how much is able to get people the level of respect they desire, also the difference between the personalities of the wealthy compared to the lower socio-economic classes.

Although Hosseini seems to make the novel seem somewhat realistic as the boys grow up together in Afghanistan, there are some aspects of the story that seem to be hyperbolic or a little too extreme to be unbelievable. The problems in society, such as criminal activity and financial conflicts amongst the people seem truly believable, however, when the author sometimes over-exaggerates events like Amir's father having so much more money than the average citizen of Kabul, as he traveled in his fancy cars and often went out to see movies compared to lower social class workers, he is treated like a man with all the answers to their questions. Furthermore, the economic competition and the aggressive battles amongst the people do seem plausible because in society there always seems to be some form of competition occuring. The author completely relies on coincidence up to a part in the story when Amir, as an adult living in San Francisco, California, hears word about his childhood friend Hassan still living in Afghanistan, has a child that had been abducted by talibans. The author creates small coincidences throughout the plot to propel it forward, such as cutting the strings on kites, the way the two boys separate and meet up with each other in casual ways, and even the role played by the young, neighborhood bully, that seem to allow the story to move forward.

The diction and ironic situations the author, Khaled Hosseini, creates while Amir and Hassan go on their adventures throughout Kabul, propel the story forward and continues to increase the interest of the audience to a climatic point. The descriptive scenes and specific details that the author shares prove that the story is fiction, however, nonetheless, they do add to the story's plot and continue the escalating excitement to know how the novel concludes.

The Count of Monte Cristo

Dumas, Alexandre. The Count of Monte Cristo. (New York: Modern Library, 2002.)1462 pp.

Reviewed by Mark Twain, Los Osos High School, Rancho Cucamonga, CA

This book, as one might assume from the title, is the story of the Count of Monte Cristo, following his story to just before the sequence of events that led to him becoming the Count to just after he made the decision to leave the Civilization that made him what he was. This, is the story of Edmond Dantes.

Dantes at onset was a man of remarkably amicable temperament, believing no one to be his enemy, and blessed with good fortune and skilled in the art of sailing, with enormous aptitude in other areas as his later characterization as the Count would show. However, despite his massive potential, he lacked certain wisdom that can be acquired only through experience, and the blow, when it fell, took him completely by surprise, his own naivete being his downfall. It was, ironically, his very good fortune that proved to be his undoing, as it prompted the jjealousies of his rivals in work and in love, who together conspired a plan to destroy him, framing Dantes as an imperialist by evidence of a letter he was asked to deliver by the Emperor from the Isle of Elba. The case became even more entangled when the magistrate, a royalist, discovered that the letter was addressed to his imperialist father, the discovery of which would ruin his career, and so Dantes was sentenced to imprisonment in the Chateau d'lf, where he meets the Abbe Faria, who provided to him the wisdom he lacked for want of experience, who sharpened his potential into acute ability. Faria, suffering from a mortal illness, bequeathed to him a glorious treasure passed down through generations of Italian nobles, and his death from the illness provided the chance for Dantes to make his escape, taking his friend's place in the body sack, and being carried out in place of the Abbe.

And now, after some decades reprive, during which his enemies were free to live and to prosper, Edmond Dantes returns, armed with his fortune and his knowledge gained from his exile from Civilization, for revenge.

Long Overdue Book Review

McKay, Claude, and Joan R. Sherman. Selected Poems. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, 1999. Print.

Reviewed by Toni Gott, Los Osos High School, Rancho Cucamonga, Ca.

 

     The book of selected poems by Claude McKay as a whole tells the story of living in a prejudiced world. Claude McKay, a black man, endured many struggles, and conquered many downturns in life. The prevelent use of imagery, similes, mataphors, and select diction thouroughly succede in telling the story of a hard life, as well as motivating others through their struggles.

     McKay describes scenes, people, and situtaions in many of his poems. The use of key diction played an important role in pulling the reader into the time and place. The majority of the poems were set in the time of the "Harlem Shadows." This is key because it adds to the feeling of restlessness and struggle.

     The poems portray extreme plausability, for we know that in fact the black population went through a time of strugles. However they may be plausable, they also may be biased. This man had endured these hardships and therefore may display his resentment for the situation by exaggerating slightly.     

     Overall, the collection was remarkable, bringing me laughter, gasps, and tears. I recomend this book to anyone looking for inspirational poems, appicable to any life situation. 

 

 

 

 

Villain

Villain, antagonist, take your pick. In any case this character will always exist so long as intellectuals write; create; imagine. As delayed as this may be, I am typing about the villain in Ray Bradbury's creation, Fahrenheit 451, Beatty: leading officer in Guy Montag's Firemen division. If the concept of a villain is a man apart of an evil plot, then Beatty may not seem so bad of a person in the perspective of a John Doe in this world. His philosophy and personal experience with a multitude of "banned" books more than warrants his position on controversial novels in general -- that such books only suppress and depress the citizens of that city. In Bradbury's author's reflection of the novel, itself, Bradbury goes into depth the characterization of Beatty as far as his imagination would take him. Projecting Beatty and Montag as physical, individual persons, Bradbury imagines the two in Beatty's "library" where laid dormant the multitude written works. He visualized the two in a teacher to apprentice setting, where Beatty showed and justified himself for keeping such an illegal trove to a very awestruck Montag. This scenario, one that would take place before the novel, gives definition to the mysterious antagonist as only but a philosopher disguised as a fireman. Beatty's opinion is what defines the general image of the dystopian society that they exist in; that the so-called "awe-inspiring" works only hurt and bring down the Average Joe, in plain sight. This position that Beatty sets himself upon almost gives him a wise yet misguided character rather than that of a nefarious one.
However, because this is a dystopian novel, this philosopher is later on seen as the villain of Guy Montag as he merely follows orders to burn Montag's home for housing copies of the Christian Bible and a range of poems. At the moment of Beatty's death by Montag does our protagonist see that this wise man had a desire to die; had a longing for deliverance from the terrifying world that he mourns in. And it is after Montag's realization of this that we, the audience, see that Beatty was forced upon this entitlement of villain because of the popular opinion of intelligence was: a menace. A question comes to mind upon reflecting upon this character. Who really was the villain? Beatty or popularity?

Handprints, Not Footprints

After rummaging through a stack of my dad's old magazines, I stumbled upon a Time issue named "10 Ideas That Are Changing Your Life." I know this is irrelevant to any assignments we have done in class and on our own time, but this article sincerely inspired me to think, and considering that we have emphasized a reflection of our journey throughout these last four years of high school, I think this is very appropriate.

It's about this guy named Gregory Norris.  He developed this system "to conceptualize our [personal] impact" on the environment by evaluating and summing the positive impacts we have personally made on our precious habitat.  These are called handprints, clearly a pun on the environmental term footprint which sums the impact that humans have on the natural world, often the negative ones.  We usually analyze our impact in any situation in a "footprint" type of way, the ways in which we have forced an inconvenience or affliction upon a situation; seldom do we analyze the way we benefit something.  Norris wanted to do just that, however.  He believes that "While our footprints are a significant measure we've all been getting used to, they do not tell the whole story. We don't just trample the planet; we also sometimes leave a positive impression."  He includes a few interesting examples of ways to boost one's handprint: 1. Buying a plane ticket that pays for a carbon offset, planting trees in a deforested region 2. Inflating tires to the correct air pressure, thus increasing fuel efficiency 3. Advertising on Facebook about pledging and documenting one's positive, environmental actions, persuading others to join on this "Green Movement".  In fact, many of the things we do in our everyday actions accomplish these handprint tasks, yet many of us would think about incorporating it into our carbon footprint.

So at this point in the post, you are probably wondering why this is significant to us as we near graduation and look forward to college.  Well, we've been challenged many times in this class to reflect upon our journey throughout high school.  Personally, this article had a large impact on the way I now view my experience as a whole.  Instead of thinking about moments I would not be necessarily too proud of, such as poor grades on tests or unfortunate endings of relationships, I think about my achievements and the way I've positively contributed to the lives of those who are around me and those who look forward to graduation in the near future.  Whether it's encouragement through a pat on the back or advice through long conversations at Starbucks, I have made an impact on those around me. And, to be perfectly honest, I believe that my "handprint" on Los Osos High School nearly equates to my "footprint" on the school.  And furthermore, my impact is microscopic in the scope of the graduating class.  Everybody has their own unique handprint on their own environment, and I challenge all of us, as we soon divide and attend our own respective colleges, to not only analyze the burdens we have brought, but also to broaden our perspective to consider these positive impacts we make every single day.

-Christopher Lee

What I Read Mattered

                Little did I know, my sophomore year in Mrs. Salvadore’s Honors English class was that I was going to read a novel that I truly enjoyed, and the best part was that it counted for a grade. As a class, we were reading The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, and although at the time I had firmly believed that reading check quizzes were a tedious way of making sure the students were keeping up every week with the scheduled chapters, reading a novel that I thought interested me, had me liking the class and the topics we were discussing as a group a lot more.

Many students realize that sophomore year is usually a time when they are exhausted of testing and school work after the wide variety of standardized tests they take throughout the year. However, after reading Steinbeck’s novel, I came to realize that the school year may have seemed like it was passing by slowly, but conveniently, my curiosity in the history behind the story about the effects of capitalism, the 1920’s Great Depression in the United States and the significance of the Dustbowl in the mid-western states kept my interests alive. I became more aggressive with my reading habits while reading The Grapes of Wrath, eventually elevating my grade In Salvadore’s class and helped the weeks in the school year proceed a little faster. In order to pass the time when I wasn’t occupied with class work, I would take out the novel and read in my other classes as well. I became more willing to read for my English classes over the years, as well as more diligent and productive with my time, in hopes to read another novel that would peak my interests in a way that I wasn’t left bored with a grade that was slowly decreasing.

After reading Steinbeck’s novel, I found myself paying more attention to descriptive details and references in the way I write as well as in the styles of other authors. Steinbeck used a great deal of creative words that seemed to flow into long sentences and made even the more simple objects, such as a glass vase, a more intriguing piece of work to look at, rather than its conveniences acting as ordinary. Like any novel, The Grapes of Wrath did have its moments when the chapters were really moving at a slow pace, however that forced me to pay closer attention to the author’s diction and comparisons. If I knew Steinbeck personally, I would say he was quite the gentleman with a way of words. It was unexpected that I would have truly enjoyed reading this novel, because of its length and simple cover, but I suppose that’s why the saying goes, “never judge a book by its cover”.

Teacher and Student, A Little More Than Just Friends

As I have begun to read my next novel, Teach Me by R.A Nelson, a lot of thoughts have flown through my mind. The novel's protagonist Nina is a high school senior who is very mature for her age and is bored with her small towns boring everyday life. Nina is intelligent beyond her means and nothing seems to challenge her. That is until the new language arts teacher, Mr. Mann comes along. Mr. Mann and Nina end up in a twisted and risky relationship that could ruin both of their names and reputation among the small conservative Alabama town. As I continue to read, I am and have been hooked since the very first page. Even though Nina is already eighteen, it is still taboo that she is in a secret relationship with her teacher. Should students be allowed to be involved with teachers despite they are of legal age? When and where do professional ethics come into play and how much is too much between both teacher and their student?

-Jasmine C