Book 3 Review

James Patterson’s bestselling book, Now You See Her, is a thriller/ mystery that was #1 on the New York Times Bestseller list and was released in 2012. It is about a senior in college named Jeanine who is on spring break in Key West, Florida. She is driving drunk and fast when she notices a man running out in front of her car. She tries to stop but it is too late, she has hit and killed him. The police officer that arrives at the scene helps her to get away with it. They end up getting married and having a happy life, until… Jeanine finds out about a dirty secret her husband has been keeping from her.  She runs away from her seemingly perfect life and renames herself Nina Bloom. All is going well with her new life until her ex- husband’s life and Nina’s, cross paths yet again. Now You See Her will keep you on the edge of your seat waiting to see how Nina will deal with her past life’s problems. This book is like a mystery that was solved but new evidence comes in that reopens the case. The feel of the book is fast, every page holding something new and exciting.

This novel was incredibly written with great writing craft and excellent diction. James Patterson really knows how to write thrillers to keep you on the edge of your seat.  Patterson has a way of writing where he can use the same plot as many other stories but twist it to make it different and it makes a completely different story that is brilliant every time. He always makes sure to tie up all loose ends at the end so you keep guessing until the very end of the book.  Patterson knows how to step into the book and adopt his characters thoughts so you can hear the characters voice and it makes this book unique.  James Patterson also uses different types of literary elements such as similes, metaphors, personification, etc. He uses these to help paint a picture in your mind about the scene and what the character is thinking. An example of this is, “I shivered like a cornered rabbit,”.  This quote helps you to know that the main character, Jeanine, is scared and she feels as if she has no way out of the situation that she is in.

There are strengths and weaknesses to this book as there are to any book. A strength of the book is that there is a lot of action and there is never really a dull part of the book, and if there is, it only lasts for a chapter or two. Another strength is that Patterson creates characters that everyone can relate to in some way. Everyone has thought about what it would be like to just leave their life and start anew with nothing from their old life to hold them back. You get to see what it would be like to actually do this because that is what Jeanine does in this book. A weakness of the book is that Patterson switches points of view throughout the book which can make the book difficult to read for some people. This book isn’t for anyone who likes slow, romance type books because it is fast and while it has some romance, it is minimal.

The plot of this book was very interesting because there were a lot of coincidences. It just so happened that Jeanine was staging her death from the Jump Killer when she actually got abducted by him. Also, Peter just so happened to see Nina at the baseball game after 20 years, “Because the good-looking blond woman embracing the teen girl reminded him even more of someone else. His dead wife, Jeanine.” It is a huge coincidence that they are at the same baseball game and Nina and her daughter end up of the big screen and Peter happens to look up and see them. In real life there is a small possibility that this could happen but it is very unlikely. There are a lot of coincidences in this book that if you reread the book would just seem weird, but while you are reading the book you don’t think much of it because James Patterson makes it seem like they all happened for a reason just as life may seem sometimes.

I would rate this book as 4.5 stars our of 5 because it was a good, fast read and it was very well written. Patterson really hit the bull’s-eye on this one. Patterson isn’t limited in his writing style, he uses great writing craft and he uses formal and informal diction when necessary. The fast paced novel will keep you on the edge of your seat and wondering what will happen to Nina next.

Book Talk Presentation

Book 2 Trailer

Perks of Being a Wallflower Trailer made by Daniel, Katie, Jennifer, and Courtney

Blog #5

I think that a book has to be 100% true to be considered non- fiction because then I am under the impression that it is all true and I would feel like I was getting lied to if it wasn’t 100% true. I feel like it makes the story more impressive or closer to the heart if it is fully true because you might be able to relate to it more and see how the person feels in that same situation.  I feel like you can relate to the person more if you know that they are real because then you can know all the struggles that there are in this world.

I don’t think half-truths are okay because if it is labeled as non- fiction then people get the impression that it is true. Also if a medical textbook was only halfway true then the doctor could give someone the wrong diagnosis with the wrong medicine and possibly kill the person. This could also be true with any other profession that uses textbooks to learn. With any other profession they could learn how to do something the wrong way and then others could get very mad at them for doing it the wrong way. For instance if someone who wrote the food safety regulations and how much meat has to be cooked to be considered safe then many restaurants could cook food unsafely and people could be harmed from this.

I don’t agree with David Shields because it does matter what genre it is because some people only read books because of their genres. If a doctor reads a book and expects it to be non- fiction, then it is important for the book to be true in order for the doctor to treat their patients for the right thing.

Post #4 Adapting Perks of Being a Wallflower

Adapting The Perks of Being a Wallflower

*I am done with the book and I have not seen the movie

 

I think the filmmaker would have issues in adapting and really capturing how Charlie is a wallflower. Also how Charlie doesn’t really talk to people other than Patrick and Sam and the others in his small circle of friends. It would be difficult to show how he would just sit and watch everyone. It would be tough for the filmmaker to decide which scenes to keep and which to get rid of when they are getting high or drunk. This decision would be tough becasue mostly all of them have some sort of importance however the movie would be boring if the filmmaker kept all of those scenes.

One essential scene that must be in the movie is when Sam, Charlie, and Patrick are driving through the tunnel and they listen to the song that makes them feel infinite.  The filmmaker needs to be able to show that they are infinite without one of them saying it because they never say it, Charlie just thinks it. This scene really shows how they are all friends and how Charlie is finally able to make friends and be more involved. Another scene that would be essential is the Christmas party that they have. They would need to show how Charlie felt left out when he didn’t get gifts from some of the people that he got gifts for. They would also need to show him giving out all of his gifts and tell the meanings of all the gifts. Another scene that would need to be in there is the fight in the cafeteria between Patrick and Brad. They would need to show the tension that built up and then they would have to show how Charlie broke up the fight.

When adapting the book there would be scenes that would have to be left out. One of those scenes is when Charlie is at the New Year’s Eve party and he is shoveling the party. Even though it may be weird that he is doing it, the filmmaker could just show everything else that he did while he was on LSD. The shoveling the driveway part isn’t really that important. Another scene that could be left out is the days of school after all of the seniors are let out but he still has to go to school. This isn’t really that important because he just sits and sleeps and school and he takes his finals. There isn’t much detail involved in that part so it would be okay to leave it out.

Book 1 Project

Room By: Emma Donoghue

Do you love the book Room by Emma Donoghue? Have you always wondered what it was like to live in Room? Well now you can know! Come live in Emma Donoghue’s Room on your next vacation. You can get the full experience. Step inside and you will see the rug where Jack was born, the track that they ran on, and you can even see the closet where Jack hid when Old Nick came. Also, if you get the value pack you can have your food delivered to you by Old Nick himself. To get the full experience we have added something new! On your last night in Room, one person will pretend to be Jack when he is making his great escape. That person will have to wrap yourself up in rug and wait until Old Nick comes to get you. You will then be carried and put in the back of Old Nick’s truck. He will drive you to wherever you put on your order form. At that point you will then get out of rug and make your great escape! If you don’t want to go through with this experience, that is okay too because you will have gotten to have the experience of staying in Room.

 

This idea comes basically from the whole book. With this idea the audience or fans can get the full experience of the book without actually being in the book. The audience gets to experience what it would be like to live in Room, what it was like to have Old Nick bring you your food, and if they wanted to they could experience the great escape from Room. Fans could even use Ma and Jack’s escape plan of, “Dead, Truck, Wriggle Out, Jump, Run, Somebody, Note, Police, Blowtorch.” However they wouldn’t be able to use the whole plan because they wouldn’t be able to find somebody to give them the note and they can’t go to the police as that would cause trouble in the community so they would just have to use the first five steps in the plan. The room that will be available will have the track that they ran on when they did their physical education, the closet where Jack hid when Old Nick came. It will also have the picture that Ma drew of Jack for his birthday on the wall in the closet. The audience can feel the frustration of Ma because they have been in the outside world and they experienced everything so they will want to get out just like Ma wanted to. While in Room you can do everything that Jack and Ma did and you can even see the place where Ma tried to dig a hole to get out. Under the bed fans will find an egg snake started by the people who were there before them. The fans can then add onto the egg snake just like Jack and Ma did. Jack talk about eggsnake on page 21, “Eggsnake is more longer that all around Room, we’ve been making him since I was three…” Fans can even decorate their eggs so that they can be remembered in Room forever. When Jack if talking about what eggsnake looks like he tells us how they decorated some of their eggs, “… some have patterns on from pencils or crayons or Pen or bits stuck on with flour glue, a foil crown and a yellow ribbon belt and threads and bits of tissue for hair. “The egg snake is a nice way to connect everyone who has gone through this experience. Everyone can tell their story of being in Room through the eggsnake.

I think this idea will work because people are fascinated with other people who have interesting stories, and this is one of those stories. People wonder what it would be like if you were captured and you had to live in someone’s backyard or basement or house against your own will. This will give people a little taste of what that experience would be like. People always are fascinated with the fact that someone would take another person hand hold them captive for a while. Now people will be able to experience this without actually have to stay there for the rest of their life or until the person that captured them would release them. Also there would be no fear of dying in the Room and none of your family knowing about it. This could help broaden the audience for the book because you actually have to read the book to understand what all is in the room and what is going on. It wouldn’t make sense if you just went to the Room without reading the book because you wouldn’t understand why everything was in there. You wouldn’t have the same emotional connection to it as the people who have read the book had.

Post #2 What is a book?

What is a book?

A book is something that takes you to another dimension.  A book has the power to take you to another world and put you in it.  A book is something you can touch, smell, see, hear, and sometimes taste. To get the full experience of a book, I believe that you have to be able to hold it physically in your hand. Books are not something that can be downloaded online. In my opinion if you download it, it is basically just like a draft, it’s not finished. For a book to be finished, it needs to be in hardcover then paperback. There is no online version. The internet is where people go to catch up on the world and see what all of their friends are doing. Phones are for doing that on the go. Generally when people are on their phones, they are checking the news, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or any other social media network that they may have. They are not thinking about reading a book during that time. They may be reading, but all they are reading is the captions of the pictures or their friend’s latest status update or their latest tweet. When you can physically hold the book in your hand, you are committed to the book. You are committed to reading it and you can’t get distracted by your social media sites. You can actually get lost in the book because you are not distracted by your phone updates. When you hold a book in your hand you allow yourself to become a part of the book. When you buy a book online you can’t get the same attachment to it, there is a barrier between you and the book so you can’t become a part of it. I believe that books are something that it is essential to have. It should be one of the basic necessities to live. I personally love the sound of closing a book when I finish it, it gives me a sense of accomplishment. Books are things by themselves, they don’t need to be trapped inside an electronic device.