gotiffany-blog

[gotiffany-blog]

I agree, this has been my favorite book that we have read this semester. I loved McCarthy’s writing style and some of the shocking horrors that stay with you even after you have put the book down. However, I can’t say the film filled all my wants. It just didn’t compliment the book in the way that I had imagined it would. The actors in the movie were however spot on. I think like you said, they helped put to the visual emotion into the character and that played really well on screen. Overall, I'm happy we did the movie-tie-in thing.

Ugh I didn’t realize that this did not post last week. So this is the response on how I felt about the movie vs the book. Sorry its late.

The Road was one of my favorite books that we read this semester. I was kind of worried about watching the movie because that normally ruins a book for me....

[gotiffany-blog]

Novel---Movie: The Road

I feel like this movie really couldn’t have been viewed unless the audience had previously read the book.  I mean if I had not read the book, the movie would have been incredibly dull. There is no way the poetry- esque style could have been transferred to film.

I was looking through some of the amazon reviews for the movie, just to get insight on what people thought about it from a movie only perspective. It was interesting that some people pointed out the lack of story.   Most of the negative reviews went along with this notion, “The problem boils down to this: they haven't got a story. They haven't got any insights. All they've got is suspense.”  As most people who left reviews had not read the novel, I understood where they were coming from. There was no background exposition and no really clear motive for the characters to keep going. I feel like the movie offered readers a moving picture of the events that happened in the story, however it didn’t open the doors for the movie only audience.

[gotiffany-blog]

I wasn't sure if we had to post or not, I missed class the week of thanksgiving break so I didn't catch that memo. I agree this was one of the hardest books to put down, because it was fantastic book to read. I will not give away any spoilers, but while the book does end on a sad note. However, it also has bit of optimism too. The story has been my favorite of all the ones that we have read. I liked that we stuck with the same characters throughout the narrative.

I thought we didn't have to post thanksgiving week but everyone else did, so..

Thankfully, I have finally got into the book ‘the road’…and I must say, I am glad because it really is a good book that is hard to put down..it is also a quick read. I would have already read fifty pages and not even realize it! I am not finished with the book yet but I only have just about a quarter of the book left! I am almost scared to keep reading it because everyone says it is a sad book but I do not want it to end badly! I cannot help but hope for the best for the father and son!

[gotiffany-blog]

A lot more thankful.....

As I read through this book, the one thing that keeps popping up in my head is the realization of how much stuff I take for granted. The other day I set down my book and looked around at all the stuff I had around me and realized how hard it would be to live in world where none of it existed. I mean today everything is about instant gratification.  I know this may seem a bit random, but this book has made me more appreciative of the easy world that we live in. I mean it only takes a flip of the switch to change the temperature, food and clean water are easily accessible, and society is balanced by a set of rules.  I don’t really know where I was going with this post, but the thought is especially relevant with the thanksgiving holiday just only a day behind us. 

[gotiffany-blog]

NOTE: This is actually week 11 Reblog, but I didn't realize that I saved it under draft, instead of selecting publish now.

I’m glad someone else was hoping for zombies too! I was a little disappointed that they never showed up, but I too have enjoyed this novel anyway.  It is definitely the most depressing book that we have read.  I’ve felt myself becoming attached to these characters.  With each horrifying scene in which they come in contact with the “bad guys”, I feel my heart skip a beat and for a moment I think that the next time one of them won’t make it. I can’t imagine how hard it is for the father to find the motivation to keep himself and his son alive, when the future looks so bleak

Was no one else hoping for zombies?

Immediately after finding out that this was a post-apocalyptic novel, I began wondering at what moment in the read would bad guys, monsters, and yes of course zombies would appear (incredibly stupid and geeky I know, but there you go).

Unfortunately if...

[gotiffany-blog]

I agree with your post about the relationship between the father and son. This had been my favorite novel because of the bond the reader builds with the characters. The father, like you mentioned, has a very survival state of mind. While I believe the son has an understanding of the need to stay alive, I think he keeps the morals that no longer exist in this new world.  The love between the father and son is a very unselfish love. They both care for each other immensely and they are the epitome of the “good guys”, especially is this uncivilized world.  For them, there is  line that is drawn between surviving and barbarism.  

In the second reading section of The Road, One thing I really paid attention to was the relationship between the father and son. The father is very protective of the boy. He always thinks of him before himself. For example from the first second, when they find the can of coke he wants to give...

[gotiffany-blog]

The Road

I’ve really enjoyed reading this story, it’s kept my attention and I feel rather attached to the characters. Unlike the previous novels we have read, I’ve actually been able to build a continuous relationship with these characters. It really is ultimately about the love from a parent to child. The son is truly the fathers warrant for life.  I’ve also become fond of this odd Poetry-narrative mix that McCarthy has conceived in this novel.  I find it intriguing how the author makes these elaborate and poetic descriptions of the setting, but when it comes to the dialogue, it is often very short. I know there might be a bit of criticism on McCarthy’s lack of formatting, but it’s honestly never phased me while reading. I think the lack of quotations and apostrophes adds to the flow of the novel.

[gotiffany-blog]

The road---my first thoughts

            I’ve always loved reading these types of post apocalyptic novels, such as The Road. It’s interesting to think about what you would do in a world where society doesn’t exist and one must rely completely on their self. Like the most of my fellow classmates, I haven’t gotten very far in the novel yet. However, I have pretty good understanding of the relationship of the father and son. They are both each other’s world and they mean everything to one another. I still don’t have any real background information on what has happened to the world. At the current moment I have just been thrown into this desolate new world where society no longer stands to enforce normality. While nothing eventful has happened yet, I can already tell that this novel is going to make me shed a few tears and I’m pretty much just waiting for that first tear-jerker.

[gotiffany-blog]

I have the same problem of adjusting to a different character in each chapter. When I usually invest my time in a book, I end up following the same characters throughout the novel. However with a Visit from the Goon Squad, I don’t feel like I’ve genuinely bonded with any of the characters, yet. Also, in this novel I have yet to see the reason for some of the character’s stories, except for the fact that they make a good story.  I’m sure it will all make sense closer towards the end of the story.

I have not yet finished the book, due to work allll day every day!, but I THINK I like this novel. I say ‘think’ because it does grab my attention every chapter, some more than others, but I still do not like and cannot hardly adjust to reason about someone different in every chapter with someone...

[gotiffany-blog]

A visit from the Goon Squad

             A Visit from the Goon Squad has been a fascinating novel to read. I do use the word novel lightly, because it’s more like short stories held together by a common thread. It kind of reminds me of The Things They Carried, but with more of a cohesive plot.

            However, one of the things that irked me in The Things They Carried also irks me in this novel. It’s the reader’s relationship to the character. I feel like I read a few pages with one character and then BAM randomly jump to a character that was merely mentioned one time in the previous chapter.

            Sure all the characters are interesting and have great stories, but I can’t really tell a main character apart from the rest on my own. (Although according to the back of the book, it’s a story about Bennie and Sasha.)

            I’m sure the same thing will happened to me like what happened at the end of TTTC, in which I'll actually end up enjoying the story.

[gotiffany-blog]

I agree, reading this segment from Generation X was like hearing a child tell a story, where everything doesn’t make sense, yet makes sense. I do believe that Buck and Serena had some kind of love for each other (obliviously she saved him for a reason). However, I also feel that she had ulterior motives for helping him, too. She didn’t like Texlahoma and Buck promised her a way out. She chose to take an opportunity when it presented itself, unlike her sisters who weren’t nearly as optimistic . Maybe, even with the risk of dying, she saw this as her only way out of Texlahoma.

Okay I went a bit overboard on this so no one will probably bother reading it but I don’t feel like cutting it down and therefore I’m just going to stick it under the cut 

Read More

[gotiffany-blog]

     In the brief introduction about the author before the story, there was a part that said “generation X is generally thought of as a class of young people with little hope---and little reason to hope.” And Douglas Coupland responded to that statement with, “I’m not pollyanniaish, but I’m optimistic about the future.”

      I believe that this short story about the Texlahomans really embraces that last statement. In the story, Texlahoma is a very sad and boring place, full of generation X –esque people who all live day to day without much hope of change. However, that all changes for Serena who breaks from that shell and becomes a hopeful optimistic individual when she falls in love with Buck (The space poisoned astronaut).  Serena embodies Douglas Coupland’s optimism, she risks dying in order to leave Texlahoma and save Buck. Her whole attitude defies the Generation X stereotype. Even though she actually dies, she had hope and could see beyond the day and see the future.

[gotiffany-blog]

It’s already time for the mid-term, which means we're halfway through all the books we were assigned to read. I found an interesting review on Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by a rather cynical book reviewer on the link provided above. While a little crass in its exposition I think it really does hit on some of the negative points some of us have in regards to the book overall. I do agree with the reviewer on this issue, “We never knew what the clues were who the people were, what the point of the stories was or even what the anticlimactic key meant. We only know that it was meant to mean something.” While I know the whole point of the story was obliviously not about the key or anything else mentioned above, it would have added something to be desired. In addition, I don’t feel that the mother had a fair shot at character development, but we were stuck in 1st person POV and Oskar didn’t have a strong bond with his mother at the beginning. These were all things I wish were expanded upon in the novel, even if that’s just me being a selfish reader.

[gotiffany-blog]

This post was very helpful and came in just in time to study in preparation of the midterm. I’m glad you pointed out more than just the first thing that comes to mind when analyzing post-modern elements. I think one of the biggest post-modern elements, like you mentioned, is the subjectivity for the reader. This was especially relevant in regards to the short piece we read, “See the Moon” and how the symbolism of the yellow flower is left up for dispute for the reader to decipher and attach meaning from the story. Subjectivity also came into play with “The things they carried”, because the author asserts his own values in his belief of “true story telling”.

In most of the material we’ve read, we’ve encountered plenty of ways to identify the comic, picture, or story as postmodern. For many the format of these stories provides a clear case of postmodernism. Examples of this can be seen in the novels, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, and The Things They Carried were the chapters are given to us as severed perspectives, letters, or flash backs, and are overall nonlinear. Then there were stories where the material itself showed you something you’d rarely see in novels before our time. Ex: “Shiloh” with its gender reverse roles and letting the characters speak out about divorce when it used to be taboo. OR “In the Heart of the Heart of the Country”, where the entire plot line was meaningless, fragmented, and if anything the READER had to provide their own meaning and guess at the non-existent background.

…And I’m going to stop myself there. I’m not entirely sure if we can use these entries as a review but I’m going to leave this here just in case. I hope it helps in some way and if any of you want to jump in and add something feel free! 

[gotiffany-blog]

I think in life we all search for our “Raisons d’être” and it’s also, very important essential for our existence in knowing that we were meant for something. I do believe that in Oskar’s search for his Father’s raisons d’être, he has also helped many others find theirs. I find this especially true when it comes to Mr. Black (the one that lives in the same apartment building). Oskar does a lot for him, helping him hear and venturing into the world again. I don’t think Oskar realizes that impact he actually has on others lives and how important it truly turns out to be.

raisons d'être

  raisons d’être- reason or justification for existence.

In Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Oskar mentions this phrase multiple times in reference to different ideas and actions and people he considers to be part of his reason for living. I feel like this idea is a main theme for this book. Many of the characters, including Oskar seem to be searching for their own raisons d’être. I also think that Oskar wants to know what his father’s raisons d’être. He wants to know that his father made an impact and is remembered. Foer seems to explore the ideas of what life is and what love is and what makes a life worth living and what is important in life. He explores this through all of the Blacks as well as Oskar and his grandma and grandpa. While reading I thought about my own life and the heaviness of what Foer was writing about and the ideas of raisons d’être.

[gotiffany-blog]

“Alive and Alone” and “Why I’m not where you are”

In these chapters of the novel “Extremely loud and Incredibly Close” I can really begin to see the pieces coming together and the “aha” moment at its brink.  I feel like the two plots are finally coming to a meeting and everything is starting to make a lot of sense.  It’s at this point in the novel we move from Oskar’s state of unknowing and mass confusion to knowing a little more than our character in the novel. While I haven’t finished the novel yet (only 40 more pages), I’m glad that this book is starting to make sense (even if took more than 80% of the book to get there).  I think I might have to reread this book just so I can put together all the clues as they show up.

Throughout this entire novel, I feel that I’ve come to love Oskar’s character a little bit more as each page goes by. He’s definitely a bit on the quirky side, but it’s a character that I never seen before in a novel.

[gotiffany-blog]

I do agree that Oskar is beyond his years in many ways and I enjoy his contemplations on things that as you said, "adults don't even think about". He is definitely a peculiar little boy. I'm glad you found this video from the author, Jonathan Safran Foer. I’m pleased that the author isn’t expecting anything in particular to move us, but he allows us, though his writing, to find our own meaning. This thought is a breath of fresh air, especially since the author of “The things they carried” was constantly in the background telling us what to expect or take from each chapter.

Heavy Boots. I love that metaphor. However, I have to say that while reading this novel so far, I have gotten “heavy boots.” This 9 year old boy is beyond his years in so many ways, thinking about things in a way that most adults don’t even think about them. Yet, he is still so young at the same time. I really just want to give him a big hug but I am not sure what he would say to me if I did. He is a little unpredictable. Oskar's character and also his family's revealed history has made me curious as to what the author intended for me to think and feel while reading this. That being said, I was very curious to find out more about the author Jonathan Safran Foer and his intentions in writing this novel. I found this video clip and it was really interesting to me. I liked hearing what he said about the novel and his purpose and what he thought about his readers.