Adolescent Fiction: First Impressions

Thursday, February 23, 2012

First Impressions

Overall my first impressions of this novel have been questionable. I have yet to really make a strong opinion on what I think of the book, I usually can't decided if I like it or not until I'm done reading the book. I had no clue what I was reading when I was starting this book; meaning I didn't really figure out it was two females until halfway through the second chapter. Which helped to make the book a little more then just traditional building relationship that usually ends in some kind of major event. On page 67, Liza shows our first look at her feeling towards Annie. To this point we knew something was there and we all probably guessed the same thing. Seeing these feeling in more laid out then being written subliminally we see the creation of a new and different relationship. I agree with the previous posts stating that this book is no anything like Unwind and it was really slow starting. My last comment on the book is that I find myself thinking that it a male female relationship. And in my mind, when Liza talks I have to remind myself that she isn't a male. Questions as to why I have to do that are beyond me.

2 comments:

CourtneyFebruary 23, 2012 at 8:12 PM
I am in the same boat as in whether I like the book or not. I think it is difficult because it is a slow beginning compared to the other books we have read. I would agree on we all knew what was going to happen when Liza shows her first feelings for Annie. After looking at other posts, I am now noticing how you can think Liza is a boy at the beginning of the book or that you keep thinking she is a boy. I did not have that problem while reading the book. In my eyes, they are a same-sex relationship. With the relationship, I am anxious to see what the major event is to end the relationship because from previous comments in the letters we understand something happened between the two girls.
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JenMarch 11, 2012 at 11:22 AM
I like that you're asking questions, the ones you're asking are very good. When a book doesn't offer all of the answers right away, one of the questions to ask yourself as reader is why the book doesn't provide a basic layout. What might the reason(s) be for the lack of full background right away?
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Post #9 Shakespeare Bats Cleanup (due MONDAY, 4/30 by class time)

Shakespeare Bats Cleanup explores a number of themes, among them grief, identity, coming of age (Bildungsroman), friendship, love, and others. Kevin, our adolescent narrator, shares his story with us as a poetic narrative which includes poems written in conventional forms and free-form poems. Choose one theme which the book develops, and show its development through the text. As you do so, be sure to consider and articulate how the book's structure (as poems) affects whatever theme you discuss.

Post #7 Warriors Don't Cry (due Sunday 4/15 by 8 pm)

Choices for responses:

1. The title of this text refers to warriors. How are the characters warriors? Are you comfortable with that depiction? Why or why not? Be sure to offer specific description as you explore characterization.

2. While it could certainly be argued that the author of our last novel does place himself in the text, that book is fiction. This text is not; rather, it's a memoir. How does knowing that the book is non-fiction shape your reading of it? Does it cause you to respond differently? If so, how? If not, why not? Consider characters, events, and the historical context carefully as you respond.

Post #6 The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (due Sunday, 3/25 by 8 pm)

Post #5 Annie on My Mind (part 2) due Sun 3/11 by 8 pm

You have several different options for your response:

1. How is social transgression framed and treated in the novel? Do you as a reader find that the characters are affirmed or punished for stepping outside of social conventions?

2. We've talked a bit about parallel spaces in texts, spaces in which characters encounter very different experiences. After reading this novel, can we argue that those parallel spaces never intersect? What function might those separate (or not so separate) spaces serve?

3. The story is written in the epistolary (letter writing) tradition. How does that framing affect your reading? Your interaction with characters? Your response?

Post #3 Due by Monday's class (2/20)

For this post, you have three options:

1. Respond to some theme you identify in the novel. Be sure that you make a claim and support it using specific examples from the book.

2. Apply the article's claims to the novel. Be sure that you make a claim and support it using specific examples from the article and the book.

3. Examine the novel as science fiction. How is it both utopic and dystopic in its function? What might it be warning us as a society against? Be sure that you make a claim and support it using specific examples from the text.

Post #1 Due by Thursday's class (1/26)

Ellen Raskin's novel The Westing Game is a detective novel, yes, but we can tease out many themes as we examine the text. A few we introduced and explored briefly in class today:

the Cinderella effect

the roles of women

identity construction

gaming and strategy

trust (as it relates to other themes or on its own)

oppressive/repressive (think Trites) parents

Choose from a theme on this list or choose a theme you've noted in the text, and write about the way the theme is introduced and developed through the novel. As you show how the theme works throughout the book, be sure to offer specific examples to support your ideas.