SSR Book Review: White Oleander

I am currently reading a fictional novel titled White Oleander by Janet Fitch. It's about a 15-year old girl name Astrid who lives and travels with her single mother name Ingrid. I contains 390 pages and 32 chapters.
Ingrid is a beautiful, free-spirit poet that manipulates men with her beauty and charm. After she ends up gaining feelings for them, they disappear or breaks her heart. After coping for a week or two she packs up her and Astrid's belongings, quits her job, and moves to a new city to start all over again. But after this one guy whom Ingrid is really in love with leaves her heartbroken,Ingrid murders him and is sentenced to life in prison.
Astrid admires and adores her mother and finds her inspirational of how well and eloquently her mother speaks poetically. When her mother dates man after man Astrid doesn't turn her away, or think of her negatively. She accepts her mother for whom she is. As Ingrid is in prison,she travels from foster home after foster home searching for the right place to live and the right family. Throughout her life she faces many challenges such as starvation, religion, forbidden love, near-death experiences,and drugs.Without her mother, she has to learn hot to survive in life and not follow in her mother's footsteps.
I think White Oleander is a wonderful book and everyone should read it. Each chapter is full of suspense and excitement and makes you wanting more.

That SSR Book

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides is about the main character Calliope Stephandies growing up in detroit in the 1960's where she discovers that she is a hermaphrodite; raised as a girl, the body and the mind of a boy. She tells the story of how this mutation of her chromosome 5 mutated leaving her the unique genetic make-up and a troubled identity. Now 41, Cal digs into his family history to find out how he became how he is. He tells the story about a Greek family immigrating to the united states, settling in Detroit. The books goes through significant events in history: Greco-Turkish war, industrial revolution, prohibition and the depression years, also race riots, and discrimination. Once Cal's parents find out the truth of their daughter, they go to New York to see a genetics specialist. He concludes that hormones andcosmetic surgery will complete Cal's female identity. She will not be able to have kids, adoption is her only option for a normal family. She runs away, transforms herself into a boy and hitchhikes across the country.

The reader explores the the story of a girl going through puberty, tyring to fit in and questioning herself about her feelings and trying to understand the changes her body is going through. While Cal is trying to be normal she knows she is quite different from everyone else. The author uses Cal as a figure of the humane. The reader sees more than a "freak" but a person who they eventually root for at the end of the book. The authors attempts to show the readers that no matter how unique, strange, or different we are, everyone has genetic history. He really makes you care about this awkward girl in the begining of the book that you would have never of imagined of understanding her situation.

I think the book is very insightful; it shows us how to look past someones appearance. Everyone has history and a background, but just because someone is different doesnt mean we should treat them differently. i mean think about if you were in Cal's situation: imagine being an hermaphrodite; going through life especially different from everyone else. Imagine not understanding whats going on with you and your body. No comprehension of the thoughts your having and no control over the action your body makes. Imagine waking up one day and realizing that your a "freak" that you have to take dramastic measure to live as normal human being; surgically removing apart of you, not knowing which half of you is the right half. Living all your life being raised as one sex but realizing that your a whole different sex. Can you really picture a life of being a girl and second guessing yourself or your sexuality because you may like someone of the same sex; recieving mixed signals and mixed feelings.

I think the book is great, i highly recommend it. The book starts off really slowly so if your person who cannot do with the long beginings then this book may not be for you, but it does take a while for the book to unfold. Once the book does start getting into the meat of the story that it flow nicely.

Rainy California and Catch-22's

What happened to Sunny California? What happened to the glamorous shots of Palm trees swaying in the breeze, the sun shining brightly? I'm writing this from Ms. Fletcher's computer, the sound of rain hitting the pavement continuously is loud enough to be heard through a heavy steel door. But I'm ranting right now. I'm ranting because I get to walk home in the rain today after fourth period. I'm ranting because I want to start looking for a job so I can pay for car insurance, but I can't start looking for a job until I get car insurance. What? Weird how that works out huh? Catch-22 in effect. This is the premise of the book I've been reading, Catch-22.

The book takes place during World War II. The main character in the book is a bombardier named Yossarian. He flies dangerous combat missions, and constantly lives in the fear that he could die at any moment. He also believes that thousands of people that he hasn't even met yet are out to kill him, and is paranoid of everything. The book tells about his attempts to stay alive throughout all the madness. But there are a couple things that thwart his attempts at every turn. One is Catch-22. Catch-22 is a sneaky, underhanded and sinister idea. The idea is that a man is insane if he continually flies dangerous combat missions, and should be grounded from flying. But to be grounded, he must formally request to be grounded and by doing so proves that he is not insane and is therefore fit to fly. This is important because one of Yossarian's Commanding Officers, Colonel Cathcart, is continually raising the number of Combat Missions needed to be flown in order to be rotated back home, and Yossarian is always a couple missions away from being rotated back home, before Colonel Cathcart raises the number of missions again. Yossarian attempts to get a doctor to declare him insane, it doesn't work and Yossarian is stonewalled by Catch-22.

I'm gonna stop here because I'm too lazy to keep typing, and I don't want to give away too much of the story. Some of the dialogue that takes place between characters in Catch-22 is hilarious. I would recommend reading it, but you should probably be paying close attention when you're reading it. There are a lot of colorful characters, and you have to pay close attention to what they say, otherwise you may be hard pressed to understand it. Alright, enough of me talking, don't forget to attend the Faculty-Student Basketball game tonight at 7 P.M.

Edit: Anyone that comes up with a solution to my Car Insurance/Job problem will get a double double, fries and an extra large coke from In N Out, delivered to a Sixth period class of your choice.

-Yvan