Book Club #4: C, TBC

Passages From The Text	Pg #	Comments & Questions
·         “Or does he weep for himself alone, to be let be, to be let alone, to be free of the merciless rain of questions, why, why, why, when he does not know why. They do not speak with him, they do not jest with him, they do not sit and let him be, but they ask, ask, ask, why, why, why, -his father, he white man, the prison officers, the police, the magistrates, -why, why, why.”	132	·         (R) I’m not exactly sure what Paton was attempting to do with this passage. Does he want the readers to feel sympathetic towards Kumalos son? Because I feel anything but sympathy for Absolom. He stole, abandoned a woman pregnant with his child then shot and killed somebody and wants people to sit around and “jest with him”? He must be out of his mind. It almost seems like the reader was meant not to like him before they were even introduced to him. If this passage was meant to appeal Absolom to the reader, to make it seem like “Oh, he’s caught up in so much stuff, he just needs a break”, then I think the author failed. Miserably.

Book Group #3: C, TBC

Passages From The Text	Pg #	Comments & Questions
·         “-You do not understand he said. The child will be my grandchild. ·         -Even that you do not know, said Msimangu angrily. His bitterness mastered him again. And if he were, he said, how many more such have you? Shall we search them out, day after day, hour after hour? Will it ever end? ·         Kumalo stood in the dust like one who has been struck. Then without speaking any more he took his seat in the car.”	100	·         (R) It’s been 100 pages and Kumalo is no closer to finding his son than he was at the beginning. Instead he’s learned how his son has run from place to place, leaving behind a bad reputation. He went from being a possible thief, to being a man that was at the very top of his game at the reformatory, to being the kind of man who would get a girl pregnant, than run away. I am not even sure if Kumalos son is worth all the running around. Honestly, the boy’s father is a reverend. You would think he wouldn’t be so … messed up.

Book Club #2: Cry, the Beloved Country

Passages From The Text	Pg #	Comments & Questions
·         “-That is a bad thing, she said, but she spoke as one speaks who must speak so. ·         -It is a bad thing, he said, and I cannot leave you until you have told what you would not tell.”	78	·         (R) Alan Paton, the author of this book, sometimes writes like he is the South African Dr. Seuss or something. He has a habit of repeating things, so just in case you didn’t catch it the first time, you’ll be sure to catch it the third time. This book took a while to get into- I wasn’t really feeling it the first 20 pages or so. It’s getting better though. The characters move very quickly. Their travels from one place to another take about a paragraph.

Book Club Reading Blog #1: Cry, The Beloved Country

Passages From The Text	Pg #	Comments & Questions
·         “Already the knees are weak of the man who a moment since had shown his little vanity, told his little lie, before these respectful people. ·         The humble man reached into his pocket for his sacred book, and began to read. It was this world alone that was certain.”	44	·         (R) I’m not exactly sure what to say about this book. I don’t think I like the story so far, but it’s getting better. The way the author, Alan Paton, writes is weird at times. He doesn’t really describe what the characters are doing all that often, so I’m not sure if they are walking, or just sitting in living room or what. I liked the quote though.  In the last sentence it says that Kumalo could only be certain of that world that he’s reading about in his “sacred book” which I took to mean the bible since he is a priest. I just wonder- what world? The world of the biblical days? Or maybe God’s “world”, like heaven? I like how I was forced to think for myself instead of just being told.

Dialectical Journal #40: Something, Maybe

Passages From The Text	Pg #	Comments & Questions
·         “’Sorry about the interruption,’ Jackson says. ‘I’ll take care of the travel arrangements, all right? And Hannah-I can’t wait to see the city with you again.’ ·         I don’t say anything, knowing he’ll keep going.  And sure enough, he does. ·         ‘I love you too,’ Jackson says, as smoothly as if I’d actually said it to him first, or at all. ‘I’d tell you how to find me when the limo brings you in from the airport and drops you at the hotel, but then I’ll be easy to spot-just look for all the beautiful women and I’ll be there!’ ·         Then he hangs up. Just like that, like the five years of silence means nothing-and it does, it means nothing to him and I hate that- but I force myself to make a wry fact at Mom and hand the phone back to her. ‘Show crap.’” ·	52	·         (R) So not only is this girl the daughter of an internet stripper (I’m not exactly sure if those exist but I will call her that anyway) but she’s also the daughter of this Hugh Hefner like character. Her father (James Jackson) has his own T.V show, which stars many young beautiful women while showing the life of a 72 year old bachelor. I must say, Hannah is one strong girl. If I was her I would cry myself a river and then attempt to drown in it. Having one of those parents is hard enough but having both is just too much.

Dialectical Journal # 39: Something, Maybe

Passages From The Text	Pg #	Comments & Questions
·         “’I don’t understand,’ she says. ‘I got so much e-mail from my fans after the interview, and they all said they’d write to the magazine and ask for more.  Do you think I wasn’t memorable enough?’ ·         I look at her, dressed in a tight, bright pink T-shirt with CANDYMADISON.NET in sequins across the front, and a white skirt that barely skims the top of her thighs. Her shoes have heels that could probably be used to pierce some things.”	3	·         (R) Ok, it’s not even cute for girls my age to wear stuff like that, but for a mom to be wearing it? That just makes it all the more gross and shameful. If I was “Candy’s” daughter, I would refuse to leave the house until she put on something decent or at least dressed like other people in her age group. It must be traumatizing to have to live through that.

Dialectical Journal #38: Mockingjay

Passages From The Text	Pg #	Comments & Questions
“Gale makes a noise of exasperation. Nonetheless after we’ve dropped off the birds and volunteered to go back to the woods to gather kindling for the evening fire, I find myself wrapped in his arms. His lips brushing the faded bruises on my neck, working their way to my mouth. Despite what I feel for Peeta, this is when I accept deep down that he’ll never come back to me. Or that I’ll never go back to him. I’ll stay in [District] 2 until it falls, go to the Capitol and kill Snow, and then die for my trouble. And he’ll die insane and hating me. So in the fading light I shut my eyes and kiss Gale to make up for all the kisses I’ve withheld, and because it doesn’t matter anymore, and because I’m so desperately lonely I can’t stand it.”	197-198	(R) This girl is completely out of her mind. She’s so crazy that I kind of have to put down the book and take a couple deep breaths before I can continue reading. First, can I just say that Katniss is so sickeningly selfish? Does she not care about Gale’s feelings? Does she not care that while for her this might act as a anti-depressant or something, for Gale it might mean so much more? She doesn’t plan to commit or anything she just wants to feel better now. And the next day, when Gale’s being more friendly than necessary she’ll act as if she has no idea why. She’s crazy.           Secondly, why does this girl never give anything time?! Peeta got tortured to the brink of insanity and she writes him off that quick? She still has some mental trauma from her time in the Games, how can she expect Peeta to get over his so fast? She has no idea what they were doing to him, and she isn't a doctor; how does she know how long it should take someone with his amount of  traumatization to recover? What is wrong with her?! Why does Peeta have such bad taste in women?!