Pride and Prejudice; Rating: A

Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice is quite an entertaining novel. Although it’s set in the English countryside at the end of the 18^th century, I believe many people of the twenty-first century have and will find this novel enjoyable.

My favorite character is the protagonist—Elizabeth. She’s smart, witty and outspoken. I like how she doesn’t let Darcy intimidate her with his high social status, pride and wealth. Elizabeth and her mother scheme to send Jane over to the Bingley’s by a horse as it was raining and she’d get to spend the night over. However, she becomes very sick and has to stay for about a week. In the middle Elizabeth comes to visit Jane. That night, when Elizabeth is back into the room with the Bingley siblings and Darcy, the discussion turns to Darcy’s library at his ancestral home, then to Darcy’s ideal woman or as he puts it—“an accomplished woman”. After he and Bingley list the attributes that such a woman would possess, Elizabeth declares that she “never saw such capacity, and taste, and application, and elegance, as you describe, united,” implying that Darcy is far too demanding. As they disagree over the existence of the “perfect woman”, Elizabeth is able to show her knowledge/wit and Darcy’s opinion of her is not just based on the low status but rather on the “liveliness” of her mind. I like how their first conversation is not all sweet and sappy. It’s more of a heated debate over his ideal woman which makes it interesting and fun to read. I think because Elizabeth keeps turning him down for every proposal of dance, he feels a bit humiliated and simultaneously attracted to her.

It’s interesting to see what a woman to distract a man’s attraction of another woman. Bingley’s single sister is quite a humorous character. She wants Darcy. However, when Darcy begins to devote his attention to Elizabeth, she begins to do silly things. She dislikes reading but in an attempt to impress Darcy, she picks up the second volume of a novel he was reading. However, being so uninterested in literature, she is quickly bored and says loudly, “I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading! How much sooner one tires of anything than of a book!—When I have a house of my own, I shall be miserable if I have not an excellent library.” (lol) At first, I found her kind of shallow for poking fun at Elizabeth’s condition after travelling on foot and her family being poor. But later on I realized that she was doing that partly because she wanted to divert Darcy’s attention from Elizabeth.

I totally dislike Darcy for trying to separate Jane and Bingley. They were a happy couple, newly in love. I think it’s sad that only because of her social status, Darcy thinks that Jane is a poor match for marriage. It’s silly how rich people think they’re top class, think they own the world and are the most “agreeable”. I don’t think that wealth decides whether you are “agreeable” or not; I think it’s your wit that truly decides your level and Elizabeth Bennett proves to be the perfect example of this.

I like how we, the readers, are able to see this from a lot of characters’ views. Although the focus is on Elizabeth and Darcy, it isn’t just about them, this book is written about other characters too.. like Wickham and Lydia, mr. Collins and charlotte… it’s a well written novel. Although, I’m not done with the book, I sure can say it’s a great book. I love it. I’d recommend it to everyone. Rating: 5 stars!

Killing Mr. Griffin; rating b

After finding out Griffin is dead, everyone except for Susan head to the mountains and they put Mr. Griffin in a shallow grave. Two of the guys, David and Jeff do all the digging. David slips Mr. Griffin’s ring as it reminds him of his father. Jeff sprays the car a different color and tells his folks that it’s a friend’s car. Betsy and Jeff drive it to the airport and wipe off the finger prints off the steering wheel. Susan doesn’t help because they’re afraid that she’ll have a nervous breakdown.

Mark’s ex girlfriend goes up to the mountains for a picnic and finds Mr. Griffin’s medicine bottle for his heart condition and the ground looked as if it was recently uprooted. She informs the police and news of his murder was all over. David’s grandmother finds the ring and takes and doesn’t want to give it back. She believes that is really from David’s dad and won’t return it until she meets him. Mark needs to destroy all the evidence. Susan finds out from David’s neighbor that it a boy in a brown sweater was with the grandmother before she “fell”. Susan figures that its Mark. After killing an innocent, old lady, Susan feels really guilty and she tells the group that they all should go tell the police about all of it. Mark thinks that she’s a threat to the group because they don’t want to admit it all to the police. So Mark tells Jeff and Betsy to tie her up.

While killing her, he tells the truth about his father. I think it was here that I realized for sure that Mark could be mentally disturbed. I mean, who goes so far with simply bad grades? He was responsible for killing another life besides Griffin’s. He seemed mysterious and weird from the beginning. I think people that have messed up pasts, usually become worse when they are older. I think the author should’ve written more about Mark’s past because it would show exactly why he behaves the way he does.

Griffin’s wife gives Susan a note that she found in Griffin’s briefcase. In the note, griffin was actually praising her and says that he’s glad that she’s a junior and that’ll give him another year to work with her. I felt very sad at that point for various reasons. One, because he’s dead and there is no year left to work together and he won’t “be able to contribute towards” her development. Two, because if he had just given the note before the students kidnapped him, he wouldn’t have died. I mean, the sole reason why they kidnapped him was because he didn’t give good grades and was always critical no matter what. But that note proved that he actually did enjoy the students’ work and wanted to help them become better. Third, because Susan must have felt VERY guilty after reading the note. I think she may have been able to prevent the kidnapping and the murder following if only she had received the note.

Also, I was kind of surprised that Mark’s friends didn’t realize that he was a little messed up. He was very demanding, however, they still have their own heads to tell them what they should do and what they shouldn’t be doing. I think Betsy just agreed to everything because she liked Mark and same with Susan. While Mark attempts to kill Susan, she realizes herself that she loves him even though he was burning her alive! It was the note that saved her life and Mrs. Griffin enters the house to give the note and finds it lighting up in flames.

I’m sure that all the students involved with the accidental murder probably aren’t the same people anymore. It’s obvious that Susan isn’t because she doesn’t even cry when she reads the note; her tears have all “dried up”.

This was an interesting read. I’d read it a B. 

Killing Mr. Griffith

Lois Duncan’s novel Killing Mr. Griffin is about a teenage students who plan to kidnap their English teacher. Mr. Griffin is one of those proper and strict teachers who doesn’t accept late work and is extremely tough on grading and gives projects like every other day. His strictness really frustrates the students; therefore, a group of his students decide to kidnap him. Mark, one of his most-picked on student and some other guys make the plans as a prank to scare him and “teach him a lesson”.
At first when I began this novel, I thought that it was quite a far-fetched story—who kidnaps their teachers even if they are strict? However, as I read further, I learned about his treatment and I began to feel for the students. I think anyone that goes to school and has to do homework and projects would be able to relate. 
Mr. Griffin doesn’t give A’s because he thinks no one is a perfectionist. If I had a teacher like that, I think I wouldn’t devote as much time to the work solely because it wouldn’t pay off. It would mean that no matter how hard you work and even if your work is great and deserving of an A, you simply won’t be granted an A. Even his good students became frustrated with him. Susan, a fairly good student in Mr. Griffith’s class, keeps him busy afterschool in conversation about an assignment. She leads him to the parking lot and there the others kidnap him and take him to a place in the mountains. It’s too bad he didn’t have a cell with him. I was surprised how some of the students agreed to the “prank” even though they weren’t willing to. Peer pressure is a problem in most schools.
I like how Lois Duncan portrays the story through the different characters’ perspectives. It’s a great way to learn what’s going on in everyone’s minds for the reader. I’ve only read until they kidnap him, not yet to the murder. I’m wondering how they kill Mr. Griffin because in their plan as of yet, no murder is mentioned. It’s only supposed to be a prank to scare him. I’m sure, eventually they’ll understand that his strictness was for their benefit. I also wonder if they’re going to be punished and what the punishment would be because murder is not a small crime. 
Lois Duncan is one of my favorite writers. Once I start a book of Duncan’s, it’s like I can’t put it down. However, this seems to be so-so. I’m sure the second half of the book will be intriguing as all the other books by her. I’d rate this a B so far.

Murder at Markham: Rating B

April 14, 2009

Murder at Markham by Patricia Houck Sprinkle

The body of Melanie Forbes was found five or six weeks later. It was wrapped in a rug that disappeared around the same time. Mike Flannagan is in charge of solving the case.

The writer foreshadows that it’ll be Aunt Mary and Sheila that will help solve the case and that something awful is going to happen in the first place. When she sees police cars, she remembers what her dad said about Aunt Mary. “Trouble follows that woman like fleas on a dog.”

Some humor is added here and there throughout the serious plot of the book. Melanie had great amounts of money in her saving account. The detectives first suspected it’s due to the money that she was murdered. When Mike and Sheila’s aunt, Mary were discussing this, Sheila’s thoughts at the moment were revealed. While Mike was obviously amazed that Melanie Forbes possessed so much money, Aunt Mary was horrified to think for even a moment that any money wasn’t invested and thus making more. “Should she point out the comedy? No, she was sure no one else would find it funny.”

The killer also tries to kill Sheila as she became so close to solving the case. However, the murder accidently ended up killing Evelyn. Luckily, Sheila does see this murderer and later helps identify the suspect. It’s also interesting that police were so quick to judge because at first they arrested Quint, who was Melanie’s ex. The weird thing about the murderer was that he didn’t mean to kill Melanie. Melanie was this extra beautiful woman who poked fun at everyone around her. This was the primary reason that people didn’t like her and it provoked the killer to kill her.

Reading a mystery book in a very long time, I enjoyed it much. Digging into people’s sordid pasts and suspecting everyone has its own interest creates more curiosity for the reader. Turning lives inside out for motives. Mysteries are always interesting to read. I’d give this book a B+.

PREDICTIONS: Murder at Markham by Patricia Houck Sprinkle

PREDICTIONS

Sheila Travis is new administrative assistant to the president of Markham. She lived her whole life in Japan and until a year ago when her husband passed away. She’s fit for her new job as her husband was in the diplomatic service in Japan and she served as his excellent hostess over their married years. The middle-aged woman learns a lot from the Japanese secretary. The students of Markham that I’ve come across yet have all been guys that are bored to death because of the lack of students at the institution. Usually a class is composed of over a hundred students however, this year only thirty seven are present.

I haven’t come across the murder yet but I’m warned there is one as the title Murder at Markham hints. Because of the lack of students and fun, I predict that someone might just be fed up and murder another person. I believe that Peter will become important further into the story. This is because the writer describes him with vivid details of the fire in his eyes. “They were such a rich brown they looked maroon and they smoldered in his pale face as if fired from within… Meeting the full force of those eyes as he towered above the piano, Sheila felt an urge to chant… Tiger, tiger, burning bright. In the forest of the night…” I believe he may be a suspect for the murder. I predict that Sheila as the protagonist, will come close to being murdered also but somehow will be saved and the murderer will be caught. At least that’s how most mysteries go. However, I still love to read mysteries as they’re interesting and really grasp the reader. I usually can’t put down the book once I begin. I’m looking forward to how this mystery unfolds.  

I don’t think I should rate this book as I’m not far into the plot.

 

Cage of Stars by Jacquelyn Mitchard; Rating: A

Ronnie takes over the responsibilities of her mother. She begins to cook and take care of Rafe, her baby brother. The argument between Ronnie’s parents that she overhears is about her brother. I felt kind of bad for Rafe at that moment. He came into this world only a few weeks after his sisters’ deaths. London says this to his wife: “He’s a blessing come to us in our sorrow. You act like he’s a burden.” It’s a difficult time for the whole family. Cressida says, “I try to give him the same love I gave the girls. I pray for the strength to overcome grief with love…” Because of the murder of his sisters, Rafe is deprived of the love he should receive as a baby, which is very sad.

I think the author does a great job of portraying everyone to be a sympathetic character. Everyone in the Swan household is filled grief. Ronnie’s parents think they must forgive Scott Early in order to move on with their lives. I guess it’s understandable because when the judge stated his verdict and read Scott’s words from his journal, his writing seemed sincere. He was mentally ill and wasn’t able to control his actions. The author never depicts Scott as a truly evil man so the judge’s decision seems valid. He’s given an opportunity to live a normal life however; he’s weighed down by the guilt forever. I can understand Ronnie’s rage and disappointment that Scott Early wasn’t sentenced two decades in jail, rather received such a light sentence. However, Ronnie’s sisters are not going to get another opportunity, another chance to live. I think most people would feel the way Ronnie had felt after losing a dear one to murder.

Ronnie and Scott early both go on to lead their lives. Ultimately, Ronnie finds happiness and peace but Scott, it seems, will always be taunted by remorse and sadness. 

Cage of Stars by Mitchard; Rating:A-

Cage of Stars is about a Mormon family with Ronnie as main character who is also narrating the story. She’s torn apart when her two sisters are horrifically murdered by a man named Scott. Ronnie was playing hide and seek with her sisters, Ruthie and Becky one afternoon. The man wasn’t in the right mind when he brutally murdered the two and Ronnie finds them lying with blood.

She’s only 12 years old and is traumatized by this experience. I think Ronnie is a very brave girl as she calls 911 and when they are giving her a hard time, she runs to her neighbor’s place to seek help. It’s awful that she has to go through this and feel like she’s guilty because she failed to take care of them. Truly, it’s not her fault but it’s the guilt that motivates her to seek revenge.

Until now, I think the writer has been very descriptive in the Mormon’s lifestyle, setting, and paints little details. Thus, creating the right mood for the events to occur. It’s easy to read although it isn’t a light read due to the serious nature of the topic of the novel. I think it’s well-written. Here’s an example from the book. “The guilt was like using a plain magnifying glass to focus a beam of sunlight, bringing all that heat together, turning something soft and bright into something that could hurt… It was the guilt that made my anger like a burn that no one ever ran under cold water; and so it kept burning and burring down to my bones.” I like the method of foreshadowing here indicating revenge.

In one scene, the mother (Cressie) lets out her feelings about her daughters’ unexpected deaths. She reflects on how Ruthie asked her many times to paint flowers on her doll trunk. However, she kept delaying it and putting it off for tomorrow. She’s deeply grieved by the missed opportunities to do things for her daughters that now she’ll never ever get a chance to do. “Things I did or didn’t do without thinking about them, the ordinary parts of every morning and every night, I took for granted.” Reality check: every moment that will pass by can possibly bring major changes. We do take a lot of things for granted and I think time and health are the most important blessings given to a person. I think the author does a great job of portraying the scene by Cressie’s emotional speech.  

This story is emotional and has been interesting to read so far. Rate: A- 

Finishing Touch by Betty Rowlands; Rating: B

Finishing Touch, a novel by Betty Rowlands is about a crime writer named Melissa Craig. Melissa decides to teach a writing class at a department. Angelica Caroli, also known as Angy is the secretary. Melissa gets involved in a murder that takes place. So far the characters I’ve come across are: Iris, Ricardo, Eleanor, Rodney, Sybil, Doug, Barney, Angy, Melissa and other minor characters. Iris is Melissa’s neighbor and close friend.

In my opinion, Betty Rowlands is very articulate in her writing. Through her vivid descriptions and analogies, she presents the reader with a clear personality of each character sometimes directly and other times indirectly. For example, Eleanor is the wife of the intelligent and well-learned Rodney. However, she feels so inadequate in comparison to her husband. Eleanor says to Melissa, “Rodney writes books you know. I sometimes wonder why someone as clever as him married someone as ordinary as me! I should have been clever.” When Melissa pushes her to join MIDCCAT for pursuing her artistic talent, Eleanor refuses saying she couldn’t possibly do that because Rodney wouldn’t like it. It seems as though Rodney always discourages her when it comes to her talent. Rowlands describes Eleanor character so well that as a reader we know if ever anyone needed a boost for their ego, it was Eleanor. I was mildly annoyed by her character because she seems to bow down to Rodney too much and she just seems way too obedient. I get very annoyed by people in real life that tend curl up in the corner and just say agree to everything. To a certain extent, it’s all right (because I do that sometimes :p) but I believe that everyone should be able express/do what they want within limits. “What gave a pip-squeak, third-rate academic like Rodney Shergold the right to make his wife feel so inadequate, and how could Eleanor be so spineless as to submit to his petty tyranny?”

Next, I liked how Rowlands portrayed Angy’s character. First, with all the visual details to depict her physical traits and then to her personality. From what I’ve read so far, her outer self is flawless which makes every guy in the department be attracted to her. Also, she’s a “sweet little pussy-cat who purrs for everyone”. Another character trait of Angy is that she has this air of childlike innocence. Rowlands has a humorous way of describing that without actually saying it. “I’m sure that if men fought and died over her, she’d sit there shaking her head and wondering quite sincerely why they couldn’t all have been friends.” From my view, she’s a person that oozes charm; just one of those lucky people. I also enjoyed the little analogy. “Life is one big cherry tree and if the best cherries falls into her mouth, why shouldn’t she eat them? Someone else can clean up the stones after she’s spat them out.” I thought this was the best explanation to the situation where she ran away with the ring and money. It’s an accurate depiction of her life. Despite her perfect life, she does get murdered… This will be discussed in the next literary letter (I think).

I really enjoy Betty Rowlands’ style of writing; she’s creative as well as precise in the descriptions. I can’t judge the plot as of yet, but I think it’ll be an interesting read as it’s a crime mystery. I’d rate it a B.

 

Reincarnation by Suzanne Weyn—Rating B+

From prehistory to the present, their love endured their deaths. It begins as a fight in a cave over an extraordinary green gem which ends in their deaths. However, the bond is so strong that they meet once again in Egypt as slaves, in Greek temples, Massachusetts witch trials, Civil War battlefields, Paris in World War II, America in the sixties… to modern day New York teenagers. In-between the transitions take us to other places that introduces the relationship between the previous life and new. Their love is so dominant that it passes the boundaries of status, life and death. Reincarnation is definitely a unique story.

The author did a brilliant job at portraying past. From what I’ve learned in history classes, the settings for the various lifetimes were illustrated with accurate description. For instance, in Egypt in 1280 BCE, the male character is so grieved after his death because he sees that his body was tossed into the Nile without any preparations for the afterlife. This, I knew, was referring to their old tradition of mummification and worldly items needed in the hereafter. Another example is in their incarnation in Salem, Massachusetts. The female character is burned at the stake as they accuse her of being a trainee of an old witch. The novel combines the facts of history and fictional characters splendidly.

I like how the author uses certain symbols throughout the story to bind it. Like the flawed ankle of the girl, her pleasant singing and the boy’s great archery skills and of course the legendary emerald earrings that somehow appear. This also helps us recognize which ka, or soul is which as they are sometimes reincarnated into different genders. The story is skillfully crafted. I’m sure the author spend as much time writing the novel as researching because the ideas tie together very well. The historical content seems accurate to me which implies much study was done.

Although the story is unique, I do not think it was taken to its full potential. I felt the ending was abrupt and not as grand as I predicted it to be. The last incarnation was a little rushed and wasn’t persuasive enough that young lovers would stay in love eternally.

On the whole, the novel left me disappointed, but it’s a beautiful story nonetheless. The approach to the concept of reincarnation was interesting to read. And yes, I’d recommend people to read Reincarnation as it’s very unique but I do warn you-it gets a little repetitive. If you’re a history lover, or if you believe in reincarnation, or simply you’re in love, this novel is written especially for you. 

A Thousand Splendid Suns; Rating A

‘Only the hardest of hearts could fail to be moved’– Glamour

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

A Thousand Splendid Suns is a gripping, fiery tale about family and friendship. It’s a beautiful, heat-wrenching story of ruthless time, an improbable bond and unbreakable love. The first part of the story is on the subject of a girl, Mariam, who suffers from lack of love and betrayal. She resides in a kolba (a type of small cabin) in Herat, along with her mom (Nana); her father (Jalil) is wealthy business man who slept with his maid, got her pregnant, but did not marry her. When reading this bit, I was irritated at how men can do such crimes and in this case, for society’s judgment of him. Nana always reminds her that she’s a harami, an illegitimate child who will constantly be ridiculed by the outside world throughout her life. I think that’s probably true considering that time period and culture. The Afganistani culture is similar to desi, Indian culture. I’m sure if there was a child or mom like that in India, most people wouldn’t respect them as they would be considered inferior.  

Jalil comes and visits Mariam and on her fifteenth birthday, he fails to remember to take her to the movies as he promised. Mariam sets out to visit his mansion; Jalil isn’t there as she’s told but Mariam catches a glimpse of Jalil through the window. Upon forced return back to Herat, she finds her mother dead as she committed suicide. I was very taken aback by her death. I don’t think she realized that Mariam wasn’t aware of what Jalil treated her mother as. She simply believed he was a good man because he spoke to her well, unlike Nana. This is a turning point in the first part of the story. More shocking details of her later life are continued in which is gets married to a dreadful man. I was unbelievingly annoyed by Jalil’s decision to get her married the very next day! Later on in the novel, I realized that his wives probably encouraged him to do so. At that time, she’s only fifteen and the suitor is almost triple her age. However, his age— by far— is the slightest flaw in him as we learn in the third part of the novel.

The second part of the novel –which takes place fifteen years later—is about another girl, Laila, who is neglected by her mother and has a quiet father. She lives across from Mariam and her husband Rasheed. She has a childhood friend Tariq who has lost a leg at war. Her older brothers are at war. I was seriously annoyed by her mom because she always publicizing her two sons who are brave enough for war and she failed to notice her daughter. News of her brothers’ deaths—that were at war—shatters her mother. During this period of time, Laila and Tariq grow closer and fall in love. Tariq’s family leaves Kabul because of the civil war and he begs Laila to marry him and leave with the family. She refuses because her parents have no one else left. Again, I was bothered by her mother because she’s the root cause they didn’t leave Kabul as she said her sons’ blood was spilled in that country. Its understandable how traumatized she would’ve been due to her sons’ deaths but she should’ve taken action for the remaining lives. The emotional farewell between Laila and Tariq leads to them sleeping together at Laila’s house. Seventeen days later, her family decides to leave too. A stray rocket hits the house and both parents are killed; Laila is injured. Rasheed brings her to his house. The intensity, action, emotion is greatly increased in Part 3 which I believe is the heart of the novel.  

It’s absolutely the most heart-wrenching story I’ve ever read. Hosseini captures the emotions per-fect-ly! If you’re wondering whether A Thousand Splendid Suns is as good as The Kite Runner, the answer is no, it’s even better.