A Face in Every Window by Han Nolan
You know how they say never to judge a book by its cover? Well, that is what I find myself doing before most books I read. Whether it is an assigned book as a class, or a choice book we have to read on our own. I usually look forward to books with a catchy cover or an interesting title, and those are the books I look forward to reading. Books with a boring cover or a title I don't find interesting are usually the books I dread reading the most. I don't know why I do this, I guess I just can't really help myself, but most of the time my opinion and views on the book change before I finish it. This happened to be the case for A Face in Every Window by Han Nolan.
First off the title didn't really catch my attention too well. Secondly, the cover seems to be a bunch of pieces of abstract art put together, which also didn't really appeal to me. However, at the very top it says, "author of the National Book Award winner Dancing on the Edge." This was the tiebreaker between the books I had picked out to choose from. I figured if she has won a national book award that this book has to be somewhat decent, and thus my journey began.
When I first started reading the book I wasn't quite sure what to expect. It showed a functional family in their daily routine. The story starts out with Mam, Pap, Grandma Mary, and JP (James Patrick) all living in a home. Grandma Mary was the one who kept everything in line. Pap is mentally challenged but seems to catch a grasp of a few things. Mam seems to be antisocial, while her son, JP, strives for good grades. His main reason for this is not to fall into the shadows of his father. However, this all changes when Grandma Mary dies. Now that the backbone of their family has passed away, they have to start over from scratch and hope that their family doesn't get ruined. It doesn't help that Mam makes them move while doing many other crazy things. She lets people come and go as they please at their new house. She also leaves with Dr. Mike to Switzerland for vacation.
As the book progressed I found myself more and more interested in it.
In Under a Cruel Star, Heda Margolious Kovaly details the attractiveness and terror of Communism brought to Czechoslovakia following WWII. Kovaly’s accounts of how communism impacted Czechoslovakia are fascinating because they are accounts of a woman who was skeptical, but also seemed hopeful for communism’s success. Kovaly was not entirely pro-communism, nor was she entirely anti-communism during the Party’s takeover. By telling her accounts of being trapped in the Lodz Ghetto and the torture she faced in Auschwitz, Kovaly displays her terror experienced with a fascist regime and her need for change. Kovaly said that the people of Czechoslovakia welcomed communism because it provided them with the chance to make up for the passivity they had let occur during the German occupation. Communism’s appeal to
The authors who wrote True Faced were right on the money with their thoughts on how we often times walk around constantly wearing a mask in an attempt to hide the judgment from the outside world because of our imperfections. In the first chapter the authors tell that many of us have “lost our confidence that we will always please our audience, so we feel compelled to hide and put on a mask.” This immediately reminded me of one of my favorite articles written by the founder of Youth Specialties, Mike Yaconelli. He wrote an article called “Reader’s Digest Selves” in which he talks about this exact issue of hiding our true selves and keeping the rest of the world away at a distance. In this article, Yaconelli says “That is why the "Good News" of the Gospel is so painful. Jesus wants to do much more than forgive our sins; He wants to capture our real self—and for us to face who we are. Not only is our real self full of sin, it is full of flaws and brokenness—and full of hope” He then concludes this article with one of the truest statements ever saying, “The power of the Church is not a parade of flawless people, but of a flawless Christ who embraces our flaws. The Church is not made up of the whole people, rather of the broken people who find wholeness in a Christ who was broken for us.” I also really like that the authors give us reasons why unresolved sin damages us to the core. I like books that are practical and applicable and this book is definitely both.
The story, “Raising the Blinds”, by Peggy Kern, inspired the reader to correct their life from difficult dilemmas. The author was excited to be in college, and there was a different reason she wants to be in college. In the past year, Peggy started having problems with her parents. At first, her parents would argue in their bedroom, but the quarrel became extreme. Soon her father moved to the basement, and he no longer ate at the dinner table with them.
“Let Them Talk!” written by Wayne E. Wright is an article that focuses on the idea of promoting English Language Learners (ELL) oral-language skills in the classroom instruction time to improve their literacy and academic achievement. Too often are an ELL’s speaking and listening skills overlooked and not given enough attention to, even though it is one of the most important parts of communication. Wright encourages teachers working with ELL students to allow time for the student to adjust, not to pressure them into their language development, respect their various stages, bring them into whole class and small group discussions, correct simple language errors in speaking that impeded comprehension, and have them interact and communicate in the classroom for meaningful purposes.
They always say to never judge a book by its cover, but my first impression I got when I looked at this book was that people gathered around a bus waiting for their family members to get off. After reading The Latehomecomer by Kao Kalia Yang I then realized that the people on the cover weren't just waiting around for their family but finding their loved ones they once lost. When I first started reading this book I was a little nervous because I never read that many books and I feel that the reason why I don’t is because not many books stand out to me. In school I would have to read books for the class or for a book report but get bored or my attention couldn’t stay focused. Just a few pages into this book and I seemed interested in what was
She’s considering having an abortion. On the other hand the daughter wants to get merry to her African boyfriend he wants her to move with him to Africa. Momma is very excited to own her first home and they also refuse to take the money from Mr. Linden, they are tired of living in the apartment, momma thinks a house is the best investment. The son is going through some extremely hard times after losing all that money trying to open a liquor store. In the story the son faces more problems the son has the most problems for example he’s in charged of the house after his father die he took over all the responsibility he’s father had. During the 1950s after the father die the son usually took over the family and all its
According to Frederick Asals, the first half of the story serves a significant purpose as it informs the audience that the family’s journey to Florida is only a “mere empty movement through space” (42). Prior to the car accident, the family acts out of vanity and disobedience despite believing they are devote Christians. Through their actions and behaviors, O’Connor reveals that they are heading down a path of destruction. T.W. Hendricks examines the structure of the family and their relationships with each other, he comments that “the structure of the family is in disarray” (203). The patriarch of the family, Bailey, despises his mother and prefers to overlook her presence by participating in self-absorption. In comparison, his wife does not pay attention to her external surroundings, but simply puts sole focus on her infant child. Furthermore, she and her husbands are parents t...
We have all heard the African proverb that says, “It takes a village to raise a child.” The response given by Emma Donoghue’s novel Room, simply states, “If you’ve got a village. But if you don’t, then maybe it just takes two people” (Donoghue 234). For Jack, Room is where he was born and has been raised for the past five years; it is his home and his world. Jack’s “Ma” on the other hand knows that Room is not a home, in fact, it is a prison. Since Ma’s kidnapping, seven years prior, she has survived in the shed of her capturer’s backyard. This novel contains literary elements that are not only crucial to the story but give significance as well. The Point-of-view brings a powerful perspective for the audience, while the setting and atmosphere not only affect the characters but evokes emotion and gives the reader a mental picture of their lives, and the impacting theme along-side with conflict, both internal and external, are shown throughout the novel.
In the essay “Everything Now” Signs of Life in the USA: Readings on Popular Culture for Writers, author Steve McKevitt blames our unhappiness on having everything we need and want, given to us now. While his writing is compelling, he changes his main point as his conclusion doesn’t match his introduction. He uses “want versus need” (145) as a main point, but doesn’t agree what needs or wants are, and uses a psychological theory that is criticized for being simplistic and incomplete. McKevitt’s use of humor later in the essay doesn’t fit with the subject of the article and comes across almost satirical. Ultimately, this essay is ineffective because the author’s main point is inconsistent and poorly conveyed.
Breaking rules is what makes humans learn. This is what David Levithan interpreted in his 322-page fictional novel, Every Day. David Levithan uses characterization, vivid imagery, and irony to convey to readers that systems don’t follow rules.
The study of these elements of the cover - each book's signs and the images/ideas they signify- is particularly appropriate in the case of bestsellers. This is not to say that the covers of bestsellers hold a monopoly on sign/signifier possibilities - nothing could be farther from the truth - its just that in the case of bestsellers, the effect these signs and signifiers have on the aura of a book are just more interesting. Proof of this all but surrounds us. Take a look at almost any other section in the brown bookstore: almost all books, with the exception of bestsellers and the very new releases, are presented on shelves with their binding pointing out. The only thing one can really ascertain when gazing upon these books is the title and color on the cover. Such elements are important, but don't grab the eye. Unless you're looking for a specific title or author, what you see on these shelves doesn't really effect one's eyes.
The novel, Alone Together: Why We Expect More From Technology and Less From Each Other (2011) written by Sherry Turkle, presents many controversial views, and demonstrating numerous examples of how technology is replacing complex pieces and relationships in our life. The book is slightly divided into two parts with the first focused on social robots and their relationships with people. The second half is much different, focusing on the online world and it’s presence in society. Overall, Turkle makes many personally agreeable and disagreeable points in the book that bring it together as a whole.
The main characters in this story were Zach Wahhsted, Alan Mender, and Joey Mender. Zach Wahhsted was a schizophrenic sixteen year. He often hallucinates voices and people; but when ever he would forget to take his medication, he would hear two voices that would tell him to kill himself. Zach had a hard time understanding what was real and what was in his head. Alan Mender was a seventeen year old who grew up in a rough neighborhood with his little brother and their mom, who was diagnosed with cancer. He has a kind disposition, but lives in rough circumstances. Joey Mender was a fourteen year old younger brother of Alan Mender, who also lived with his mother, he is temperamental and thought zach was just a retard.
The short story, “Unlighted Lamps,” by author Sherwood Anderson is about a relationship between a father and his daughter. Their relationship is a stressful one because neither of them talk to each other, nor show their emotions. Throughout the story, you find out why their relationship is the way that it is, and why it is hard for her father to talk to her. The unlighted lamps in the story represent flashbacks of memories wherever light dances across something.
In this text Mohanty argues that contemporary western feminist writing on Third World women contributes to the reproduction of colonial discourses where women in the South are represented as an undifferentiated “other”. Mohanty examines how liberal and socialist feminist scholarship use analytics strategies that creates an essentialist construction of the category woman, universalist assumptions of sexist oppression and how this contributes to the perpetuation of colonialist relations between the north and south(Mohanty 1991:55). She criticises Western feminist discourse for constructing “the third world woman” as a homogeneous “powerless” and vulnerable group, while women in the North still represent the modern and liberated woman (Mohanty 1991:56).