Book Review of The Subtle Knife by Phillip Pullman
This week I chose to read the novel 'The Subtle Knife' written by
Phillip Pullman. Philip Pullman was born in Norwich on 19th October
1946. The early part of his life was spent travelling all over the
world, because his father and then his step father were both in the
Royal Air Force. He spent part of his childhood in Australia, where he
first met the wonders of comics, and grew to love Superman and Batman
in particular.
From the age of 11, he lived in North Wales, having moved back to
Britain. It was a time when children were allowed to roam anywhere, to
play in the streets, to wander over the hills, and he took full
advantage of it. His English teacher, Miss Enid Jones, was a big
influence on him, and he still sends her copies of his books.
The Subtle Knife is the second part of the trilogy that began with The
Golden Compass. That first book was set in a world like ours, but
different. This book begins in our own world.
The Subtle Knife begins in our own world, where Will Parry, driven by
curiosity about his mysterious, missing father and concern for his
vulnerable, disturbed mother, accidentally kills an intruder. While
fleeing, he finds a "window" into a sunlit otherworld. What could be a
better refuge than a hidden universe? But this universe is a strange,
empty place: a city that seems to have been abandoned in such haste
that food is left rotting on plates at a sidewalk cafe. The
inhabitants of the city, Cittàgazze, have fled from the invading
Spectres, ghostlike creatures that devour the souls of adults. But
Spectres are harmless and invisible to children, and soon Will meets
another fugitive child in Cittàgazze: Lyra. Although he does not know
it, their lives are soon to become forever intertwined when Lyra's
alethiometer gives her one simple command: Help Will find his father.
Philip Pullman gives his readers precisely the satisfactions they look
for in a novel: well-made, absorbing characters, supreme elegance of
Hatchet is a book about Brian Robeson, who recently has been going through a lot of trouble.
Anti-Semitism is the hatred and discrimination of those with a Jewish heritage. It is generally connected to the Holocaust, but the book by Helmut Walser Smith, The Butcher’s Tale shows the rise of anti-Semitism from a grassroots effect. Smith uses newspapers, court orders, and written accounts to write the history and growth of anti-Semitism in a small German town. The book focuses on how anti-Semitism was spread by fear mongering, the conflict between classes, and also the role of the government.
This book is a study of the personal tales of many single mothers, with intentions to understand why single mothers from poor urban neighborhoods are increasingly having children out of wedlock at a young age and without promise of marrying their fathers. The authors chose to research their study in Philadelphia’s eight most devastated neighborhoods, where oppression and danger are high and substantial job opportunities are rare. They provide an excellent education against the myth that poor young urban women are having children due to a lack of education on birth control or because they intend to work the welfare system. Instead, having children is their best and perhaps only means of obtaining the purpose, validation and companionship that is otherwise difficult to find in the areas in which they live. For many of them, their child is the biggest promise they have to a better future. They also believe that though their life may not have been what they want, they want their child to have more and better opportunities and make it their life’s work to provide that.
During the process of this research paper this semester sources we have been using different sources to create a strong argument and support my point of view regarding Mexican businessmen in El Paso. Among the sources we are using, primary and secondary, historian Mario T Garcia’s book, Dessert Immigrants: The Mexicans of El Paso, 1880-1920, is one of them, and most likely, the most important. The book was published on September 10, 1982. The book is an exceptional work dealing with details, statistics, and historical events related to the Mexican journey to the United States. In his book, Garcia spent an entire chapter talking about obreros y comerciantes (labors and merchants) and what their economic activities were in order to support their dream of getting enough money in the United States and come back to Mexico afterwards.
All graphic novels are structured to provide few words so the reader can follow the story through the illustrations. The comic panels are drawn to be extremely vivid and revealing. In Watchmen, a story based in a Cold War America, political symbolism is everything. Alan Moore strategically places numerous clues for the reader throughout the story to develop and reveal crucial components of the character’s lives, the setting, and the theme of the novel.
The novel “The Scarlet Letter” was written by Nathaniel Hawthorne in 1850 and is probably the book for which he is most famous. He was a prolific writer and wrote many short stories, a few collections, and several novels during his writing career. Nathaniel Hawthorne was injured as a child and became an avid reader and decided that he wanted to be a writer. Though he was a lackluster college student, after graduation he returned to his hometown of Salem, Massachusetts and began his writing career in earnest. Not only did Nathaniel Hawthorne have one of his ancestors who had been one of the three judges involved in the Salem witch trials (of which he was not too proud, but it probably helped his career because it was depicted in his writings), but also he had many influential friends to include President Franklin Pierce, Henry David Thoreau (Author), and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (Poet), Herman Melville (Author) and he had actually rented the “Old Manse” mentioned in “The Scarlet Letter” from Ralph Waldo Emerson (Essayist). The “Scarlet Letter” is a work of non-fiction, but the preface is loosely based on Hawthorne’s actual life due to the fact that he actually did work at the Customs House in Salem and did lose his job there, which gave
The quote stated in the bible “Money is the root of all evil,” has been argued for many years. This statement is claiming that, the need of money can create a monster out of anyone. As in this story where the merchant is forced to make a decision due to the lack of money he owns. He chooses to sell his only son to a black dwarf to become rich. This trade will become the seed in turning his own child into a monster. Heinel does start off with a great heart, but due to a series of events it’s almost as if he’s forced to be a monster. Constantly, being the victim of each situation undoubtedly changes who Heinel starts off as and who he ends as in this story. He truly becomes the Monster of Golden Mountain. As the theory in “Serial Killers” by Andrew Cooper & Brandy Bale Blake, shows that growing up in bad environments can potentially make a monster out of anybody.
Gladwell refers ‘thin slicing’ as the ability to make a fast conclusion using very little information. This is an activity that almost everybody does on a daily basis when faced with different issues. In his book, Gladwell focuses on how mental process work rapidly for one to make the best and accurate judgements. He provides several examples where quick and accurate decisions are made and they are; gambling, advertising, wars and sales. Thin slicing proves that sudden decisions are right compared to those that are planned and calculated. However, thin slicing can limit individuals’ understanding of the surrounding because of inadequate data.
This book was a good read for me, but I also read book reviews to help me keep track on what I am reading. These book reviews just made a better understanding of what I was reading.
One aspect in the novel Beloved is the presence of a supernatural theme. The novel is haunted. The characters are haunted by the past, the choices made, by tree branches growing on backs, by infanticide, by slavery. Sethe, Denver and Paul D are haunted by the past that stretches and grasps them in 124 in its extended digits. A haunt, Beloved, encompasses another supernatural realm, that of a vampire. She sucks the soul, heart and mind of her mother while draining the relationships that exists between Denver and Sethe and Sethe and Paul D.
“The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell and “The Child By Tiger” by Thomas Wolfe are two short stories that have completely different plots, but have many similarities that relate them. Both stories deal with unexpected killers and have a twist that surprises the audience. These pieces make use of foreshadowing and address discrimination, but the characterizations of the protagonists are very different and they affect the readers in distinctive ways.
An Eye for an Eye was written by Stephen Nathanson. Mr. Nathanson, like many, is against the death penalty. Mr. Nathanson believes that the death penalty sends the wrong messages. He says that by enforcing the death penalty we “reinforce the conviction that only defensive violence is justifiable.” He also states that we must, “express our respect for the dignity of all human beings, even those guilty of murder.”
When Maurice Keen set out to write a book on the components and development of chivalry, he did not know it would be “the last word on a seductive subject,” as stated by one Washington Post reviewer. Instead, Keen was merely satisfying a curiosity that derived from a childhood fascination of stories filled with “knights in shining armour.” This juvenile captivation was then transformed into a serious scholarly interest by Keen’s teachers, the product of which is a work based upon literary, artifactual, and academic evidence. Keen’s Chivalry strives to prove that chivalry existed not as a fantastical distraction, as erroneously portrayed by romances, but instead as an integral and functional feature of medieval politics, religion, and society. The thirteen chapters use an exposition format to quietly champion Keen’s opinion of chivalry as being an element of an essentially secular code of “honour” derived from military practices.
People tend to do or commit acts of craziness in times of distress. However, this maybe due to the realization of how important the situation is, resulting in great, or stupid, acts of courage and bravery. Nonetheless, most of these crazy acts revolve around the love of someone or something.
Rich Dad, Poor Dad is a non-fiction book written by Robert Kiyosaki. Kiyosaki takes us into his life to describe to us the difference between two separate households and how they manage money. When you first open up the book, you are immediately shown the confliction Robert has between choosing whose advice to follow. His biological father is known as his poor dad who is highly educated but doesn’t make the right choices when it comes to money. His rich dad isn’t his father but is a childhood friend’s father who is also trying to teach Robert how to manage money. Rich dad has very little education background but the way he deals with money is what made him successful. Robert’s poor dad views education as the main principle to success. As long as you do well in school, you will have a good steady job thought poor dad. Poor dad always stated “I’m not interested in money”, and “money doesn’t matter.” Rich dad on the other hand knew how to make money work for him not the other way around. He felt that in order to succeed and make a lot of money, you need to work for yourself and not others. Robert learned many lessons from both dads and he feels he is very fortunate to have had two father figures to teach him and give him examples on how to become rich and successful.