Outside Reading: Day 7

Tonight I will be writing about the short section I read, I am doing this because of the unique style of this section. What is happening currently is Jack is in this dream like state, in which he awakes to a man with a "deep voice". I'm focusing on this topic because it is unusual for this book, so far, to be so abstract, one could say, in its writing style. This writing style reminds me a lot of Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse V, in which most of the story is just a elaborate dream or illusion by the main character. I found this especially interesting because I am nearing the end of Slaughterhouse V so the similarities in the two books, which are both very different was somewhat exciting. One thing that plays a large part in Jack’s thoughts are thoughts of his father. This is especially interesting because Jack’s mother seems to start changing herself and acknowledging her past. Acknowledging her past may in the end help her leave Old Bill, who beats her and treats her horribly. This is good because Jack begins to lose a lot of respect for his mother because of her choices to stay with Old Bill.

Outside Reading: Day 6

Since I read quite a bit earlier and I'm going on around 4 hours of sleep accompanied by an aching body, due to the wonderful delights of prom, today's reading was shorter than most. Today I'm going to focus on the way the book is being written, as in the structure of the events, which events are emphasized to show importance, which ones aren't, and those kind of things. When writing a scene including Jack and Naomi, Friesen typically includes an embarrassing mistake on Jack's part. This creates, as mentioned in other posts, some humor, but also a small bit of tenseness in the reader. This is created because the book makes the reader want for Jack and Naomi, crudely put, but "hook up". So the fear of Jack losing all chances with Naomi is constantly present. What I have found to be even more interesting, and another sign of rising action, is Friesen's use of Jack's real father again. Jack returns home in a mental mess, thinking about his father and Naomi. He soon awakens to his old "family" going about their day. Old Bill makes a nasty remark, and then the Old Coot takes a swing at him, and knocks him out. Jack’s mother yelling out the door that Jack is his real name, and that he is a Keegan follows this. This could be seen as a climactic point, but the emotions of Jack following this leaves things still up in the air. Yes, the climax of a book isn't going to solve everything, but this doesn't change anything for Jack all that much; he still goes on his way, twitching and jerking.

Outside Reading: Day 5

Today, well this evening, my reading consisted of little "action" one might say, but still packed full of excitement. The girls that Jack is practically in love with, isn't scared of him anymore, and by that, I am talking about the whole running at Naomi with an axe ordeal. In the spectrum of effeminate traits in men, I tend to have a few, which is why I found this section exciting. The part I've read over the past few days, (I only read about 2 pages on Monday) dealt with Jack's feelings towards Naomi associating them with his Jack's real father's letter. The Old Coot gave this letter to Jack; it was from Jack's father, explaining everything to him, and even a section about finding the right girl for him. This part would typically be boring for the "average guy" but I grew up in a house with a mother and a sister, so the romantic/chick part of me enjoyed this section. I guess al the years of overrated chick flicks ended up doing me some good in the world! A very exciting part, which isn't necessarily positive for Jack at the moment, is when Naomi witnesses Jack twitch, which has happened before, but this time she confronted him about it. She basically asked him why he did all of that stuff. I see this as "growth", one could say, in their relationship as friends at least. Eventually I predict Jack will give her all the dirty details on Tourette's and even his whole family life, but for now, he just blew it off by saying it was a long story.

Outside Reading: Day 4

As mentioned in my last post, Sam has many run-ins with Naomi, all of them entertaining, which will be mentioned late on in the post. In this section, Sam has moved into the Old Coot's house, and begun working for him. Since Sam lives with the Old Coot now, the name used most often is Jack, so from now on or until another name used, "Sam Carrier" will be referred to as "Jack Carrier". The Old Coot, being somewhat mysterious and unpredictable, informs Jack at 5AM that they were running late for their "big job". It turns out this big job is a gardening job at Naomi's house. After being instructed to different gardening tasks, Jack, being florally illiterate, couldn't complete these. So the Old Coot gave him a chainsaw, to go cut down some trees. Now, here is the funny run in with Naomi that I was talking about earlier. Jack see's Naomi walk out the door, and impulsively runs towards her to greet her, but since it’s around 7AM, she isn't awake yet. At 7AM having a man run at you with a running chainsaw would frighten anyone. Every time I read Naomi's name, I just wait for something "silly" for Jack to do. After some coaxing by the Old Coot, who is family friends with Naomi and her parents, she finally comes out and talks to Jack. The book has too many funny things not to shortly summarize them, as I have been doing recently. Anyways, I still am enjoying this book probably more than any other book I've ever read, because of the book itself, but also the similarities it has to my life, especially with Tourette's Syndrome.

Bitter Grounds

the author is trying to convey the theme/message, generally to not sit back and let things happen, but to be active, and do what needs to be done. Directed towards women though, it has the same general meaning, but to not let any stereotype of women hold you back.

Outside Reading: Day 3

Since I began reading ahead a bit in my reading schedule, this reading was fairly short. Nevertheless, this section is full of excitement, and twist and turns. Throughout the book, one of the plots/Sam's underlying struggles is with a girl, name Naomi. In the first few chapters of the book she is introduced to Sam while running. Sam, being his clumsy self made an interesting first impression, which I will leave to you to find out for yourself by reading Jerk, California. The section that I read has to do with a run in Sam has with Naomi (Earlier in the book it establishes that these two have a thing for each other). I enjoyed this section particularly because each time Sam runs into Naomi; a quintessential mistake is made by Sam, making him look "dorky". This time, he ended up saving Naomi from a minor car accident, but it was winter, and her car was trapped in the ditch. To add to the danger of this, Naomi and her friends, being classified (by me) as a popular preppy type, weren't wearing adequate clothing, so they could have potentially gotten very sick due to the temperature. The author, Jonathan Friesen, does a good job at adding humor, while sustaining a tone appropriate for a young adult’s book. In other words, Friesen didn’t add sophomoric humor or humor that just doesn't fit our age group. He also doesn't let things progress too quickly between Sam and Naomi; this scene in the winter was going pretty well, until Sam made one of his mistakes, which he recovered from, then some school bullies came around. In the end of this situation, Sam is left with a kiss on the cheek, “warming” him up in the cold of Minnesota.

Outside Reading: Day 2

For my second "day" of reading, more like second post, I am nearing the middle of the book. In my last post I mentioned the struggles between Sam and his step-dad. These issues grow increasingly intense as the book goes on. I personally find this section intriguing because of my own struggles with family members, particularly with family member’s medical issues. Such as in the book, Sam has Tourette's Syndrome, like me, and his hypocritical step-father has OCD, like a family member of mine. Sam’s relationship with his step-dad has begun to worsen; beginning with violence, beating Sam’s mother, to the forcing Sam to pay rent. The last section I will summarize is what happens after Sam is told he has to pay rent. A man known around the town as being a crazy old coot, offers Sam a job and room & board. This is a plus because the money gained from the old coot wasn’t enough to pay for rent in Sam’s own home. I find this all interesting even though much of it was negative. Sam’s step-dad forcing him to pay rent made me wonder what was going to happen next and added action to the book. I enjoyed the progression of events throughout the book so far; Sam has a bad event occur, has a small positive thing, then even more intense bad events. At first Sam is resistant to the old coot’s offer, event though he knows its his only choice. One thing that also makes it hard for Sam is that his real father was friends with the old coot, and this old coot character, insists on calling Sam by his real name, Jack.