Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

Things Fall Apart

by Chinua Achebe

10 Words: Traditional Man, cannot accept change, longs for good old days.

     This story follows through the life of a man who works hard for himself, his family and his people. Then one day an accident happens and everything he has worked for gets turned upside down. He is forced to spend seven years in Exile (his wife and children along with him). The year ends with Missionaries starting to gain a foothold in both his tribe and the one his mother came from. 

    The way it is written to me is apart of the simplified way that the people live in this world. They value the basic parts of life; having enough food to feed one's family, having a safe place for your family to live. The story is told with these simple facts in mind and it makes those simple parts of life feel like the greatest ideals one could live up to. 

     When things are changing he reacts against them. He believes in the traditions and the ways that have always been what he has lived for and seen as the strength of the tribe and his people. He does not understand the white people, their ways, nor does he feel that there is anything to gain by learning these things. As such when his son joins them he feels greatly betrayed by that action. 

     Its his strict belief in the old ways of doing things that leads him to attack the members of the church. When none of the tribe follow his lead though he is forced to accept that the tribe has changed even though he hasn't. He continues along the path that he sees as the strong, correct force for a man of the tribe to act when faced by an invader, though in the end he is forced to face the change and changes himself by committing suicide instead of facing the law - and pour treatment - of the white men.  

(Read as apart of Crash Course Literature, part 2 )

The Septimus Heap Series By Angie Sage

The Septimus Heap Series

Magyk, Flyte, Physik, Queste, Syren, Darke, Fyre  

By Angie Sage

10 words:

Overall: Magical adventure series, with fun cast, understandable rules and dragons.

Magyk: A grand adventure as the young transform into something more. 

Flyte: Septimus and Jenna learn their new places in the castle.

Physik: That which is know as taboo, is questioned and explored.

Queste: Even the best of intentions can get lost over time.

Syren: Sometimes its just better to tell what you are doing.

Darke: Getting the result desired from actions may not be best. 

Fyre: Thrilling end, Uninformed Actions Caused problems in Past and Present.

     This was a fun Young Adult series about a bunch of different kids growing into there places in the world. They were also also finding their place within their families and learning the way their places change as they grow up and start to create their own path for their life. 

     The first book reminds me of Harry Potter, the two main characters get brought into an adventure which forces them to face who they are and who they can potentially become. The following books follow them both as they continue to learn about themselves, their world, and who they will eventually be as they grow into adults who are a productive part of their home. 

     The seven books are a very fun mixture of fantasy, fighting vague evile who in some ways is evil for the pure sake of being evil. Some of the antagonists have a reason, but many of these are young adults themselves and their reasons are the same petty reason a bully would be a bully... these bullies just have Darke Magyk that they do not understand to help them be bullies. The few who are truly greater do not feel to have a real reason that drives them, the only reasons being a mix of wanting the Power to Control what happens in the Castle town and the fact that they can. 

     Overall it was a fun series and I was happy to see that there were more stories after reading the first (and wikipedia tells me that a new series will be coming in August that is in the world but seen from a new location and new eyes). I enjoyed this story and I do think many others would enjoy it as well. 

Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonngut

Slaughterhouse Five

by Kurt Vonnegut

10 words: Sideways exploration during, before, and after the firebombing of Dresden.

     Slaughterhouse Five is the story of a Billy Pilgrim, a man who was an american soldier in WWII, though he wasn't a very good one at that. He claims that he was abducted  by aliens and that they taught him about the way that Time can work in the nonlinear fasshon. This has caused him to be unstuck in time and as such the story follows him through different points in his life jumping between moments in a nonlinear way. 

     This story is neet. Billy is a very simple person, with a very good live but not very interesting. To his children he has completely lost his mind when he starts telling the world about Time and the Aliens. Yet to him he is telling them the complete truth. You can't really tell if he is just a crazy old man. Or if what happened to him Actually happened. All you know is that HE believes it, and his Daughter doesn't.

     I also liked the way that Billy's wife is displayed. It is never actually stated that she is large and overweight. But whenever she is mentioned what is described is the food she is eating. The candy bars in her hands, or the wrappers. This gives me the feeling that Billy doesn't see her weight as a problem, its just a normal fact about the way she acts. 

     The way the story is told, through the different jumps through time leads to my uncertainty of weather or not billy was truly abducted by aliens or not. The way we as a reader is unstuck in time throughout reading about his life makes you wonder if Billy is actually living his life that way, and not just us. It also makes me wonder what that would be like. I kinda don't think Billy is crazy enough for it to really be happening to him. You would never know any context about what happened "yesterday" to the moment you are in. I would be forever writing things in my schedule and continually looking at the calendar because i wouldn't know what I needed to do when... ever! 

(This was read as apart of following along with Crashcourse Literature... I am just not reading them in the same order it seems... and I am skipping a few because I can't follow the Odyssey very well and I am over Hamlet... )