Short Critical Essay on Silent Joe I first heard about Silent Joe at the Bare Bones Writers Retreat, held in the mountains above San Diego by the Sisters In Crime. T. Jefferson Parker, its author, was invited to speak. The buzz: "I couldn't put the book down." Everyone seemed to agree that Silent Joe was the best-written character they'd ever seen. I never read murder mysteries. Don't like `em. But I picked up a copy of Silent Joe. From the first page, T. Jeff Parker salt-and-peppers every paragraph, every line of dialogue, with hints about Joe's character. By the inciting incident - his adopted father, Will, is murdered by gang members and Joe vows revenge - we are fully hooked into the story. After spending 20 pages with Joe, I want to kill the guys who murdered his adopted father too. It's my belief that the secret desire of every reader is to unwrap a story like a Christmas present. First they inspect the outside of the package, then they shake the box and try to guess what's inside, then they pull off the bow, then they tear at the paper. It's a process of discovery. And we love the "tickle-tickle ha-ha" of being forced to wait until Christmas morning. T. Jeff Parker could have served Joe's life to us on a TV dinner tray. In his ninth novel, he could have gone for the jugular of Joe's ugliness, appealing to our pity or to the macabre curiosity that forces us to slow down and ogle a fatal accident hoping to catch a splash of blood. But no, that would've been too easy. By making us wait, breathlessly as it turns out, for each snippet of information, Jeff conjures a spell. We are no longer casual observers. He makes us participants in his dream. As Robert McKee says in Story, "Bad writers give informati... ... middle of paper ... ...the book is really about. It's about why we suffer, our search for meaning. It's about hatred and forgiveness. It's about beauty and ugliness, kindness and cruelty, how we heal, and the desire for revenge. We've all seen ugliness. Some, like Joe, have it poured on them before they reach their first birthday. The surface is a lie. Life teaches us that ugliness on the outside can conceal a heart of gold, and a beautiful outside sometimes hides an ugly heart. And those of us who've had the faces of our psyches splashed by battery acid - a metaphor for human cruelty - know that you usually don't die. You just keep living, with your open wound that never stops bleeding. Like Joe, you just go on each day, one foot in front of the other, trudging through the storm of life, leaning into the gale, searching for some meaning. And in the end, are there any answers?
The main idea of the book was a girl learning to cope with her past and and trying to grow from it. Charlie starts of in a mental institution for self-harm. She is then taken out of the place because of her mother’s lack of money. She goes to Arizona to be helped out by her friend Mikey, which is gone most of the time. Charlie gets a job at a weird coffee place and meets a guy named Riley, where they instantly get a connection. The rest of the book is Charlie trying to learn how to deal with all of her past hardships and find a better way to deal with the memories and pain. The only two coping methods she seemed
They had a narrator read all about Scott, the teenager who is being charged with DUI. The narrator would explain how bright Scott’s future was. What he would go on to accomplish and how he was a ontrack senior in college. Now that is all gone. His future was shattered because of the choice he made to drink and drive. His job he had lined up, gone now because of the years he would spend in prison. His plan to have a family? Now shattered because how would he care for a family until he is released from prison. Each individual fact they gave about how the accident ruined Scott’s future touched the audience. Who would want to go through that all because of one dumb decision to drink and drive. Every member of the crowd in awe of how messed up his future became in the blink of an
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.
I always looked at death as such a sad thing that is eventually going to occur to everyone. However, after reading this book, it made me realize death can actually be a beautiful thing. Death allows a person to go to a next life, one where they will be loved and others will be there for them. It was interesting to be able to read about stories that these hospice care workers witnessed themselves. I have experienced a few deaths within my life and I never coped with them very well. After reading this book, I honestly believe I will be able to look at the positive side of death and be able to deal with my emotions better. I can also help others surrounding me deal with a death that they are experiencing. This book was filled with information that I loved learning. For example, I never knew that a dying person can choose a time to die. The thought of this never occurred to me before. I always thought that when it was someone’s time to go, they had no choice. But, a dying person can “put off” passing on until they see a certain person or event that has great significance in their life. Nevertheless, there are still people who will wait to die until they’re all alone in the room. This book makes you think of real life situations and think what you would do in them. Taken as a whole, it was a very in depth book that changes the way you would naturally perceive
The theme of this novel is to look at the good you do in life and how it carries over after your death. The moral of the book is; "People can make changes in their lives whenever they really want to, even right up to the end."
She moves through all eighteen chapters by dissecting the meaning of all twelve truths labeled as “Healing Truth”. The first truth tells the reader that if God allows pain it is because there is a purpose for it. A purpose that will work out for good. The chapters are arranged in a way that the reader understands why God works the way that he does even if it does not make sense. She also chose to include how some people burden themselves with pain they themselves can bring to a halt. After all the soul searching she encourages the book ends on the twelfth Healing Truth. The twelfth of the truths explains to the reader how the only way to heal is if the “healing begins at the cross” for it is “the greatest expression of God’s love”. The writing is set up so simple and easy to understand. It is very difficult to get lost reading her book.
The main message of the book is that anybody can overcome anything with the right thoughts and traits. Eric Greitens has shown that numerous times throughout the book, for example, in this quote; “As warriors, as humanitarians, they've taught me that without courage, compassion falters, and that without compassion, courage has no direction.” (Eric Greitens, The Heart and the Fist: The Education of a Humanitarian, the making of a Navy SEAL).
In conclusion this book had a big effect on its readers, and therefore accomplished the purpose of being written. It really made me think about the purpose of life and how to be happy in life. Overall it affected my personal beliefs greatly and made me appreciate what I have. By reading the teachings of a dying, wise, old man, trying to teach a young man how to be happy in life, you can learn a lot about how to do just that. Be happy.
Why did so many people, young, old, sick, wealthy and even convicted felonies had to experience firsthand of the worst evil man could ever pursue to one another. What was the point? Surely there have been many explanations, but those did not answer mine. I understood why the prisoners questioned their faith in God, I probably would have to. On the contrary, not even prayers to God could stop such evil. It criticizes the acceptance of human rights. This story puts a strain on trusting others. The individuals in this novel had a redundant encounter. It maddens me to the core. The hardships of what they had to go through, just for survival gives me grief. The story overall makes me feel distressed from every angle of the
The stories suggest we shouldn’t be spending so much time trying to get to the “Happy Ending”, and we should be more concerned about what’s going on in the middle. The majority of us are that typical person living the typical life, and perhaps Atwood is suggesting that we strive for more.
“The Secret Lives of Sgt. John Wilson: A True Story of Love and Murder” is studied as a historical non-fiction novel, in which Lois Simmie shows the reader the actions of a man who sets his life up in a series of lies and betrayal. Her purpose is clear, to intrigue the audience with a true story of the murder of Polly Wilson, which had not yet been heard. Though not a lot of people had ever heard of John Wilson, the first ever Saskatchewan RNWMP officer who was found guilty of a crime, being that he killed his wife, and hung to his death. She writes her novel that is not only entertaining to her audience but also serves the purpose of educating fellow Canadians about the true life events that followed John Wilson and his fellow RNWMP officers.
If my life had no purpose, no individuality, and no happiness, I would not want to live. This book teaches the importance of self expression and independence. If we did not have these necessities, then life would be like those in this novel. Empty, redundant, and fearful. The quotes above show how different life can be without our basic freedoms. This novel was very interesting and it shows, no matter how dismal a situation is, there is always a way out if you never give up, even if you have to do it alone.
This is an odd little book, but a very important one nonetheless. The story it tells is something like an extended parablethe style is plain, the characters are nearly stick figures, the story itself is contrived. And yet ... and yet, the story is powerful, distressing, even heartbreaking because the historical trend it describes is powerful, distressing, even heartbreaking.
It's about sunlight. It's about the special way that dawn spreads out on a river when you know you must cross the river and march into the mountains and do things you are afraid to do. It's about love and memory. It's about sorrow. It's about sisters who never write back and people who never listen.” -pg. 85
The events in the novel are predicated upon the death of Joel's mother. The account of his mother's death and the upheaval it caused for him (p 10 ) is more poignant to a reader who has experienced the untimely death of a parent than to one who has not. The reader who has experienced the loss can identify with everyone “always smiling” and with the unexplainable changes in one's own behavior toward others as one adjusts to the emptiness.