Week 7 - Harry Potter

I had read The Harry Potter series about three times prior to this. The first book was the beginning to a long, amazing, and enthralling adventure that had it’s audience hooked on every book and movie. It was the first book series that I had ever really read and been into. My favorite part of the whole series and what mainly intrigued me was the fantastical element to everything. Hence, why I’m even majoring in computer animation. Witchcraft and wizardry are central devices in this story. And they are presented in a very stereotypical manner. For example, Harry's school supply list includes "three sets of plain work robes (black) … one pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar) … one wand, one cauldron and books like "The Standard Book of Spell, Magical Theory and One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi."

References to dark magic and other evils that pertain to the "dark side" are included, but they are never presented as desirable. Every character who is allied with these forces is an enemy or at least a tormentor to the hero of the story.

Another powerful concept that runs though the entire series is Harry's parent’s unconditional love for him, even sacrificially. The message is clear about the effects of this kind of love: Voldemort says, "I killed your father first, and he put up a courageous fight … but your mother needn't have died. … She was trying to protect you." Later, Dumbledore says, "Your mother died to save you. If there is one thing Voldemort cannot understand, it is love. He didn't realize that love as powerful as your mother's for you leaves its own mark. Not a scar, no visible sign.

                      

                                           

Week 6 - The Hobbit

By far one of the most original and happily imaginative books for children that are out there. This is a far more light-hearted tale than the Lord of the Rings and introduces to the world the unforgettable Bilbo, Gandalf and Gollum. The Hobbit is a book that can be enjoyed by children and adults alike and authors from J.K. Rowling to David Gemmell class it as an inspiration upon their own work.  Though, I guess this is almost always exactly the same in all of Tolkien’s work. The Hobbit is one of the longest books I have ever read, because though it is relatively not that long it feels very long and over drawn just because of the writing style. When reading this book it can feel difficult because of all of the different aspects and adventures in it. Definitely not the best book I have ever read and has many flaws and issues but is still a good piece of well structured writing and does deserve some credit at least.­ Though I do enjoy all of the different adventures that go throughout the novel and how each chapter is kind of separate but still come together in the end. For example, at the beginning it was quite humorous in a way that today’s readers might find funny, rather than being old-fashioned.

                                               

Week 5 - Aunt Maria

In the beginning, Aunt Maria appears to be an old friendly woman who just oozes out patience and love. But there is a harsh mean, iron side to Aunt Maria that can hardly be believed at first because it is cushioned between all of her layers of pure kindness and heart feltedness. But gradually the Lakers realize that they are expected to keep house, look after Aunt Maria, and provide the cakes (home-made, not store-bought, mind!) for the tea parties that Aunt Maria has every day with other women from the village. She is not the most exciting character; it’s mostly dull with a few spots of light here and there. I think Jones’ point ran away with her quite a little bit and ended up just overshadowing most of the book in general. Mig’s mother was quite great through.  Definitely a lot better than other books written out there, but Jones has written better books. The whole male/female magic thing was quite strange. It was all, “No, men and women are the same, really! It’s when they’re treated as different that things go wrong! See, look, we shut away all the men’s virtue in this box because that’s not manly! And all the women dress like they’re from the Victorian era because patriarchy rant rant!” That just wasn't the best way to make an argument, because it ended up just shadowing the book as a whole. Third, what would the characters when learn from this? Nothing at all. Everything stays the same. if the point was to make it obvious, show some kind of difference.

Week 4 - American Psycho

I had been meaning to read this book for a while considering of the amount of controversy it had stirred up in its audience.  American psycho in my opinion is a novel that makes a strong statement about modern society. In summary, its thesis is that certain types of people are so obsessively set on outward perfection that they miss the real substance of being human. Money and beauty insulate these people from regular needs but create a high-power rivalry over status: the novel’s characters boast of paying more than they really did; they seek relationships for show rather than companionship.

Bateman spends his mornings at the gym and his nights clubbing with his friends. Everyone believes Bateman is a nice guy, the shy boy next door. What his friends didn’t know was that Bateman is a psychopathic killer who had confessed to his crimes repeatedly. No one wants to believe that the boy next door could hurt someone, so everyone chooses to ignore Bateman's confessions. This novel is both entertaining and frightening to me, it opens peoples eyes to the consequences of apathy in society. 

Reading American Psycho can be disturbing at times, but also the casualness with which Ellis presents the graphic scenes is as horrifying as it is genius. Although, Ellis’ style of writing kept me enthralled  and invested in a character who possesses no real emotion, no qualities with which I can relate to, which is quite genius to me because this is a hard quality to pull off.