What can I say about "Empire of the Sun" other than it is a brilliant book, "Empire of the Sun" is not about the end; it's all about the journey. Knowing that's going to happen is irrelevant, it's how things happen that's important and how people react to the events. The novel tells the story, in a fictional account, of the author's experiences as a young boy in Shanghai at the outbreak of the Second World War. Jim, the third person narrator of the novel, is separated from his parents when the Japanese invade Shanghai at the end of 1941. The first part of the novel tells of his adventures on the streets of Shanghai, trying first of all to find his parents, then to give himself up to the Japanese. When even that fails, Jim's life becomes a simple battle for survival, first of all in Shanghai and then at the hands of the Japanese in a staging camp, where he is effectively sent to die. The second part of the novel moves on three years to the internment camp where Jim has spent the war. It is the middle of 1945, and the novel tells of the last days of the camp as the rations run out and the Japanese realise that they are about to lose the war. The fascination here is to watch how the people behave as the war reaches its inevitable conclusion: seeing who keeps going and who gives up. The second part ends with a "death march" as the Japanese move the exhausted and starving prisoners out the camp and march them towards Shanghai. The final part of the novel tells of the anarchy of the days immediately after the end of the war and ends with Jim being reunited with his parents. Again, the fascination is with the people and how they react to their new found freedom. What is so brilliant about this novel is the absolutely compelling way that it portrays the world through the eyes of a young boy. Jim was 11 when the Japanese seized Shanghai and 15 when the war ended. Throughout the novel, everything is seen as Jim sees it. It is his interpretation of the confusing events that is given, along with his strange thoughts about the war. The "real" knowledge of adults is not allowed to intrude and there is no attempt to preach a particular morality or make any specific point.
...as nice to know what the book was talking about when it mentioned places, people, and battles like Cold Harbor, the Battle of Manassas, the Wilderness, Sergeant Evans, General Grant, “Bobby Lee”, etc. I liked the way the author ended the book, the fact that both his friend, Hank, and his father died, made it more realistic. If I were in his shoes, I probably would’ve run away to the army also. It’s sad how their barn house was burned by the Confederates. He must’ve thought there to be a lot of glory in the war to have run away instead of do chores at the farm. I’m sure a lot of young men at that time wanted to be a part of the war just like Jem and Hank. I admire how Jem loved his father so much, and wanted to follow him to the war. He didn’t want to only go into the war for the glory like his friend Hank, but he believed that the slaves should be set free. His family had their share of slaves, but in the book they were treated well. The details of Jem’s daily life as a soldier are interwoven with vivid depictions of actual battles and historical figures in this taut, fast-paced story. And that’s what I like about this book. It brings alive the realities of war and its aftermath.
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 book begins with an in-depth explanation of what happened in the latter stages of the Civil War. Major battles like Sayler’s Creek, High Bridge and Richmond are described through detailed language. For instance, at High Bridge, “Each man wages his own individual battle with a ferocity only a life-and-death situation can bring. Bullets pierce eyes. Screams and curses fill the air. The grassy plain runs blood red.” (page 61). All of these iconic Civil War battles led up to the Confederate surrender at the Appomattox Courthouse and the inescapable rebuilding of a new nation Abraham Lincoln had to deal with. Next, John Wilkes Booth is introduced and his pro-Confederate motives are made clear. His conspiracy to kill the president is described and his co-conspirators like Lewis Powell, David Herold, and George Atzerodt who also attempted to kill Secretary of State Seward a...
... concludes simply with a rolling of the credits, so to speak. The Afterword of the novel lists the accomplishments and significance of the main players that occurred after the battle of Gettysburg. While Gettysburg may be in our nation’s past, it continues to remind Americans of the bridges that were crossed and burned in order to get to where we are now. Shaara solidifies the ideals fought for out on the field of battle in Gettysburg. They serve as the white angel of Cemetery Ridge that Buford saw before the first day of battle: we may lose sight of them as they become overshadowed by many other symbols and markers, but they are as solid as stone and will never pass away. These truths and ideals watch over the procession of time as it passes, and events as they come and go, in order to remind us of the fact that what has been will always be a part of what remains.
The book that I have read chose to review is Banner in the Sky by James Ramsey Ullman. James ramsey Ullman was born in New York City in 1907. His highest-honored book was Banner in the Sky, but four of his books, including this one, were made into major motion pictures.
"Constant Star" by Tazewell Thompson is a play which sticks out in my mind as being one of the best I have ever had the priviledge of watching. The play is centered around the life of Ida B. Wells, a black woman who stands up for equality at all costs. Although the content of the play is moving and very interesting, the lighting, songs, costumes, props, and special effects are what made the play so extraordinary.
After reading this very dramatic book I expected a dramatic ending with, maybe, the death of one his close friends that only had a couple days left in Vietnam just like him. I was a little disappointed, but I guess it got its job done. It wrapped up the book very nice; it just wasn't as exciting as the rest of the book. If you are interested in war books that can sometimes get a little graphic I would definitely recommend this book to you. It is a really easy book to get lost in the reading; he describes everything in great detail and makes it really easy to picture what is going on in your head. If you read his book you too will find out about Tim O'Brien's struggles in boot camp and also as a foot soldier in Vietnam.
about the war and his lack of place in his old society. The war becomes
In a country where war constantly looms over the people, one of the very few boys that can read and write in the city is dragged into the boundaries of conflict. At the age of fifteen, the timid Chiko is dragged away from the comfort of his home and tricked into joining a cause he does not believe in. Overall, I really enjoyed the first few chapters. Throughout the book, I felt like the author did an amazing job with both character and plot development, wasting no time at all with “lagging” events. Unlike most historical fiction novels, Bamboo People took an opportunity to progress the plot quickly, whereas many other books of this genre take too much time describing background information. However, while the book’s plot developed well, I noticed
War always seems to have no end. A war between countries can cross the world, whether it is considered a world war or not. No one can be saved from the reaches of a violent war, not even those locked in a safe haven. War looms over all who recognize it. For some, knowing the war will be their future provides a reason for living, but for others the war represents the snatching of their lives without their consent. Every reaction to war in A Separate Peace is different, as in life. In the novel, about boys coming of age during World War II, John Knowles uses character development, negative diction, and setting to argue that war forever changes the way we see the world and forces us to mature rapidly.
David W. Blight's book Beyond the Battlefield: Race, Memory and the American Civil War, is an intriguing look back into the Civil War era which is very heavily studied but misunderstood according to Blight. Blight focuses on how memory shapes history Blight feels, while the Civil War accomplished it goal of abolishing slavery, it fell short of its ultimate potential to pave the way for equality. Blight attempts to prove that the Civil War does little to bring equality to blacks. This book is a composite of twelve essays which are spilt into three parts. The Preludes describe blacks during the era before the Civil War and their struggle to over come slavery and describes the causes, course and consequences of the war. Problems in Civil War memory describes black history and deals with how during and after the war Americans seemed to forget the true meaning of the war which was race. And the postludes describes some for the leaders of black society and how they are attempting to keep the memory and the real meaning of the Civil War alive and explains the purpose of studying historical memory.
Typically, a novel contains four basic parts: a beginning, middle, climax, and the end. The beginning sets the tone for the book and introduces the reader to the characters and the setting. The majority of the novel comes from middle where the plot takes place. The plot is what usually captures the reader’s attention and allows the reader to become mentally involved. Next, is the climax of the story. This is the point in the book where everything comes together and the reader’s attention is at the fullest. Finally, there is the end. In the end of a book, the reader is typically left asking no questions, and satisfied with the outcome of the previous events. However, in the novel The Things They Carried the setup of the book is quite different. This book is written in a genre of literature called “metafiction.” “Metafiction” is a term given to fictional story in which the author makes the reader question what is fiction and what is reality. This is very important in the setup of the Tim’s writing because it forces the reader to draw his or her own conclusion about the story. However, this is not one story at all; instead, O’Brien writes the book as if each chapter were its own short story. Although all the chapters have relation to one another, when reading the book, the reader is compelled to keep reading. It is almost as if the reader is listening to a “soldier storyteller” over a long period of time.
This book was given to me by a good friend who knew that I had an interest in Asia. I chose to read it because it was a true story and was told that it was a good read.
The book starts out by talking about how they all went to school together. He introduces all of the characters and describes what they all are like. The characters in this book learn to deal with the cold nights and their growling stomachs. Some of the soldiers would sneak out and get hay to cover up with during the night. (Page 40)
The novel opens with Henry Fleming in the field and remembering the route to his current condition within the war. Crane spends a good amount of time relaying the interaction between Henry and his mother as he prepares to go off to fight in the war as well as the questioning of himself as a man. What is so interesting about this particular part, as it relates to the end of the novel, is that the America ideals of the creation of a man (hero) through war and war as beautiful are approached and challenged.