Review of "Decoded" by Jay-Z

When I read Decoded, I was amazed at the pain and struggle that Jay-Z went through in his road to success. Jay-Z lived a poor life, he sold drugs for money just to get by, he was in constant danger of violence for as much as being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Jay-Z is really inspiring, because he started in what seemed like a hopeless life, and found a talent that he could use to become successful without hurting anyone or doing something against the law. He also had to refine this talent, write down some songs, make some calls to recording companies, before he was successful, and had to keep up with his life during all this time.

I think it's a big self realization for Jay-Z to write about hist time selling drugs because it's something that he knows was illegal. He admits to the world that he was doing something wrong, because he felt it was the best way for him to earn money just to eat dinner everyday. He's sending a message to the world that there are people who have to do things they aren't proud of, even in wealthy countries like America. I think Jay-Z is trying to tell the world that something needs to be done about this because it's not going to stop without lots of enforcement and new opportunities to make money.

The other message that Jay-Z is sending is that even when it seems like there's no hope, you can search yourself and find something worth living for. Jay-Z had no hope in life but when he realized that he could rhyme, and that he had a voice, he became so self aware and determined that he was able to rise to become a legend.

Jay-Z's story is an inspiring journey from hopelessness to fame and confidence, and a message that sometimes doing the wrong thing is the only answer, which shouldn't be the case. People who have to go through tough times like Jay-Z did should know that there is a hope, that you have to search yourself for why you are great, because there is talent in everyone.

Character Developments in The Knife of Never Letting Go.

In the book, The Knife if Never Letting Go, the characters Todd and Viola are devoloping as they are faced with an unexpected adventure. When Todd first found Viola, she was scared and depressed because of her crash in this unexpected land and her parents' death. Now that shto knows that she can trust Todd, she is speaking to him and has expressed that even though she
doesn't have noise, she can still hear Todd's noise. 

Viola told Todd that she could hear all the mean and ungrateful things he thought about her. She had gone through losing her parents and they had saved each other's lives. This would seem like something that would bond them, but since Todd is being so antisocial (which I think is because he is scared and taking it out on her) and he was scared that he might give her "The germ". 


I really like this book and I'm sure the characters will continue to develop. They've already shown a lot of change and I'm interested in what will change and when.

More about The House of the Scorpion

In my last post about this book I wrote that the original Matteo Alacran was just making a clone of himself out of spite, but recently in the book I read that he just made the clone so that he could take it's organs for transplants when he was close to dying. When I read this and that he had done this before to other clones, given them the impression that they were actually loved, I was really appalled. It is sad that someone would make a clone of them self just to harvest its body and live longer. He says the reason for doing this was because all his seven siblings died when he was young and el patron thinks he deserves to live their lives by doing this.

I think that a reason he's doing this that he couldn't say was that he was scared of dying, because he had so much in his life that would fall to ruins without him. His family would let the farm fall to ruins because they would be clueless as to how to run it. El patron knew that his last days would be the last days of the empire he spent his life building. I think that he wanted to extend his life because he wanted to spend every last second that he could creating a perfect world, even if that meant cheating death and harvesting a person who's only purpose was to die for him.

The house of the Scorpion

This book has some really strong plot action going on, but in this blog post I'm writing about the inner feelings of the main character, Matt. Matt is a clone of the lord of an opium farm. The farm usually makes clones with no brain for field work, but Matteo Alacran, the original Matt, wanted to make a copy of himself in his old years. Matt is just starting to learn what he is and dealing with the fact that he's different from people. And he's going through this at about 9 years old.

Matt is going through a lot of emotions. He's sad that he's not normal, mad that people hate him for being a fake human, and scared of what's going to happen to him as he gets older. Even though it's very in the moment and  about what Matt is figuring out about the world while he's young, I think it's sort of a coming of age story. He's being exposed to a world he never knew all at once, a world full cruelty and love, and he is maturing in a way. This is a strong story and I like it a lot so far, even though I've just started reading it.

The true plot in Shades of Grey

I'm reading; Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde, and I'm starting to finally see the real issues in the book. Until recently this book has been a utopia-like book that is supposed to be messed up somehow but had no huge problems. Now that there are problems showing up I can really analyze the book more as I read it.

I think that this book has a really strong theme of how social hierarchy hurts the people who are excluded from the top. At first it's just the way it is, the hierarchy seems normal, but then you realize it is really destroying their world. The way their classes work is people can only see one color, or none at all. The people who can see colors are judged and treated based on the color they can see. People who can't see any color; "Greys" are seen as inferior to the rest of society, much like black people were treated during slavery and segregation. For example in one scene when they were playing hockeyball, Courtland referred to Jane, a grey, as just "The grey" instead of Jane, which, despite being true, is a big put-down to say. The greys always have to work labor jobs in factories or serve as house maids, or a similar job. The author does a good and moving job of showing how people believe greys are simply not as good as everyone else. When I read parts like this, it was angering. It's just like what our country went through.

I think that the author didn't just write this book as a fun book, he wrote it to show how terrible social classes and hierarchy can be. Their society supports the idea that certain people are superior to others.

This book makes such a big point of how bad this kind of a society is that it is disturbing, but I think it does this in a way that doesn't turn off the reader but brings them into the lesson. I really like it so far and want to keep reading and I'm sure something will change with the social system.

What really hard things are happening in "Shades of Grey"?

            In "Shades of Grey", the main character, Eddie, is leaving the soft and "normal" life he has always known to go to a new town. This book actually has a lot of social justice going on. People are ranked by what colors they can see. Certain people are simply better than others, with greys at the bottom. This is racism and it shows throughout the whole book. Eddie is starting to realize that there is something wrong with the way that people treat each other.
            I think that the characters are going through some really hard things. They have to face the fact that certain people are better or worse than them based on their color, and they are not supposed to be friends. I think that Eddie is starting to understand why Jane is so mad at everything and realize that he isn't happy with the way the world is. I haven't read much of the book yet but I know it will turn out to have a really deep and serious look at the issues of racism and prejudice.
            This book directly relates to people being treated differently based on how they look, what they believe, or who they love. When I first started reading the book I was really disturbed by how vividly and literally these issues were portrayed. I think it's a really strong book so far and I really like it.

Who's perspective is missing? In Feed

         In Feed, the book I'm reading, the character and his friend Violet are realizing how skewed their world is. The perspective that is missing is that of their friends, who are going on with life normally. While Titus and Violet are wondering what's really going on in the world, their friends are going on with life but having to watch Titus and Violet do all this.
          I think that Link and the others are confused by what's going on but also they just see it as some crazy obsession. It's weird to think that Titus and Violet are discovering terrible things but there's nothing about what their friends think of it. They are portrayed in the book as not very intelligent, so maybe they just don't think anything of it at all. But I think there might be something there that the author left out on purpose.

How the protagonist is dealing with the conflict in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's nest

In One Flew Over the Cuckoo's nest, the protagonist (Chief Bromden) has started to let on that he is not deaf and dumb. One of the characters; Mcmurphy, is rebelling against the "Big Nurse" and when he offered the chief a piece of chewing gum one night, the chief said "Thanks". The reason this is special is because chief Bromden doesn't talk. Ever. The whole ward thinks that he can't hear or speak, but now he has told his life story to Mcmurphy.
I think that Chief Brombden trusts Mcmurphy, and that is why he is talking. He believes that Mcmurphy will understand how he feels, and what he has been through, which Mcmurphy does.Chief Brombden is scared to tell anyone else that he can hear though, because he has been to secret meetings where things he shouldn't know were discussed. I think that some of the things Chief says happened at the meetings, like doing weird experiments on a patient, are another part of his imagination. On the other hand, the weird moments Chief has where the world slows down are becoming less frequent. I think that maybe Mcmurphy is exciting Chief and he is starting to come out of his wierd shell.
I really like how this book is coming along and I really want to keep reading to see what will come of Mcmurphy's invasion.

Blog Post #3: Protagonist review

            The book I'm reading is One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey.The book takes place in a mental ward at a hospital, and most of the characters are insane.This makes it really hard to understand what's going on in the story, because you don't know whether or not to trust what the main character says is going on. For example, he said that sometimes the "big nurse" (the antagonist) turns off the clock and time freezes for days at a time. This makes me think that maybe he has some sort of thing where his mind spaces out and he feels time passing really slowly.
        
            Besides the fact that he is insane, I think the main character is really smart. The other patients call him deaf and dumb because he never speaks or responds to what someone says. I think that the reason he never talks is because he is such a good observer. It is a really cool POV in the book because he is so rarely involved in what's going on that you forget that it's a first person style book instead of third person. He just watches.
            The most recent thing I was reading is when the main character skips taking his bedtime pill that the staff gives them. He thinks this is something to make the patients sleep and not be woken by anything. While he is awake in bed the room is lowered down into a room full of lifeless workers in some strange facility. I'm sure that this is another one of his fantasies, but maybe it is going to become a symbol or metaphor later on.
           I really like this book so far and the narrorators observance is a really intruiging way of getting the story through.

Peak- end of book reaction

Peak, by Roland Smith, is a realistic (sort of ) fiction book about a kid who's parents are both experienced climbers, and his dad left him as a child to run expeditions on mountains like Everest. The book starts off with Peak,  the main character, climbing skyscrapers in New York because he wants to climb and the buildings are the tallest things around. On this one particular night when he is climbing the Wolworth building, he is caught by the police. After hearing about his climbs, a boy with no climbing experience tries to climb a building to be "cool" like Peak and falls to his death. Peak is arrested and put on trial just for climbing the building, but people are even more mad at him because of the other boy's death.
        The first twist in the plot comes when Peak's father, who has been out of Peaks life longer than he can remember, shows up to the trial. He offers to take Peak out of the country to keep the media away. He says that Peak is going to be going to an international school in Nepal, but he has other plans. When they arrive in Kathmandu, a city in Nepal, Josh (Peaks dad) tells Peak that the real plan is for Peak to climb mount Everest. If he does, he will be the youngest person ever to summit the mountain.
        Throughout Peak's training on the mountain, he starts to have mixed feelings about his dad. He thinks that his dad wants to have Peak break the record just to get publicity for his company. Also, he thinks about how his dad was never his father, he was never there throughout Peak's life, and Peak resents that.
         I think that Peak has good reason to be mad at his dad, but also in a way I think that Josh is sort of trying to make it up to Peak, he just doesn't know how to because he feels ashamed that he was never a good father.

First Blog Post

        In Freak The Mighty, by Rodman Philbrick, Max Changes as the story goes on. At the beginning of the book, he is extremely insecure and has really low self expectations. He constantly calls himself a "butthead" and points out all of his mistakes. He's officially learning disabled in school, but I  think that he could do well in school if he would just try.
        When Max meets Freak, at first he's very shy, but they quickly bond and become great friends. As they talk a lot and learn more about each other Freak starts to teach Max a lot, and Max really pays attention. I think one reason that Max actually listens and learns from Freak is the way that Freak explains everything to him. Freak says everything in context that Max understands, such as something he enjoys or knows something about.
        Towards the end of the book, Max frequently mentions something that he knows, and how Freak explained it to him in a way that makes sense. Max no longer feels as stupid or insecure because he has a greater feeling of knowledge and understanding.