A Moveable Feast

Scott Fitzgerald was a character from A Movable Feast who I found very interesting. Throughout Ernest Hemmingway’s story about him, his personality seems to change back and forth. When Hemmingway first meets him at the Dingo, Scott seems arrogant and pushy. The next time they meet, Scott acts very differently, and Hemmingway takes more of a liking to him. “... his charm and his seeming good sense made the other day at the Dingo seem like an unpleasant dream.” Throughout their time together, Scott’s personality changes on many occasions, such as when he believes he is sick in the hotel in Lyon, and criticizes Hemmingway as being cold, or a bad friend. All of this helps to paint an interesting picture of Scott Fitzgerald.

One place depicted in A Movable Feast that I would like to visit is Shakespeare and Company. I found this store very interesting, as it had such a bright and positive atmosphere “On a cold, windswept street, this was a warm, cheerful place with a big stove in winter, tables and shelves of books, new books in the window, and photographs on the wall of famous writers both dead and living.” I thought it was interesting how this store compares to large modern stores.

Generation A

“Generation A”, by Douglas Coupland takes place in a future in which bees are extinct. Over the span of a few months, five people from around the world are stung by bees. In an attempt to find the reason why they were stung by bees, their governments take them in to an isolated facility to study them. Later, after being released, the five people meet up and discover a conspiracy relating to the disappearance of the bees.

Although there is some degree of character development in this novel, many of the characters appear to be very simple and one-dimensional. One character who shows some character development is Zach, who starts off completely irresponsible but becomes more mature over time. The dialog in this novel is unconvincing and doesn’t contribute to realistic characters. The characters come from many different places from around the world, such as Canada, Sri Lanka, and France, and range in age from their early twenties to late thirties. However, the dialog is very similar for all of these characters, and comes across as unnatural and much more formal than people would actually use in conversation.

One quote I enjoyed was when the five people were choosing voices to talk to them in the research facility. “Diana chose Courtney Cox Arquette and Harj chose Morgan Freeman, which was probably the best pick. Harj understands Hierarchy.” I liked this quote because it shows some of the humor from the novel, which was one of my favorite aspects of it. The following quotes are also good examples of humor in this novel: “When I was young, I had a job helping my oldest brother escort young people - mostly young American tourists – around the island as they tried to ‘find themselves. Oh, the awful conversations I have had to endure, listening to a Kris or a Max or an Amy or a Craig discuss what it means ‘to be free in one’s head.’” and “I have never understood what these Craigs mean about feeling ‘at one’. Maybe they just need jobs. Perhaps all of the antibiotics they took as children damaged the portion of their brains that dictates the sensation of at-oneness.” These quotes made the book enjoyable, even though the story and ch

Trumpets Sound No More

Trumpets Sound No More, by Jon Redfern is a mystery novel set in Victorian England. This novel is the story of the detective Owen Endersby, who is investigating the murder of Mr. Samuel Cake, a well-known and successful man in the theatre. Endersby solves the murder by interrogating suspects and looking for clues, all without the help of modern technology.

Jon Redfern describes London as a very dark, grimy, and gloomy place. I think that although this was effective for setting the mood for the novel, it seemed to be darker than the descriptions of London in Great Expectations. Although the descriptions were not accurate, they were very successful at creating a gloomy atmosphere. “Inspector Endersby looked out mournfully at the misery beyond the cab window. Beggars huddled in corners, barefoot children with blackened hands cried out for ha’pennies to buy food. Thick mud and slush and smoky brown air had become the three elements of London’s streets.” pg. 35.

In this novel, there are many characters that are similar to characters from Great Expectations. For example, I found Inspector Endersby is very similar to Wemmick. Both are very serious about their work, and try to do their best, but are very kind and friendly in their private lives, for example Wemmick has his home in Walworth, and Inspector Endersby has his wife Harriet. Another pair of characters are Pip and Betty. Both of these characters are of lower class, and strive to improve their surroundings. Although Betty works to achieve this, and Pip is given money from an unknown benefactor, they are still very similar. Jaggers and Superintendent Borne are another pair of characters with a lot in common. They both take their work very seriously, and spend much of their time working.

Three of the major themes in this novel are love, social class, and crime. Love can be seen between Inspector Endersby and Harriet. This is also a theme in Great Expectations, and can be seen between Pip and Estella, Joe and Biddy, and Herbert and Clara. One of the other themes in this novel is social class. Betty strives too improve her social standing, just as Pip did in Great Expectations. This is a major theme in both novels. The third theme, crime, is very evident in both novels. Trumpets Sound No More is a novel about crime, and in Great Expectations, Magwitch and Compeyson are involved with crimes.

One thing that I noticed about Redfern’s descriptions of the theatre is the contrast from the rest of London. There is lots of intrigue in the theatre, and even the building, The Old Drury, is described as spectacular. I thought that this was interesting, as Redfern describes the rest of London very differently.

One of the main symbols of this novel is Inspector Endersby's gout. It represents the difficulties he has to go through in his daily life. Another symbol is Mr. Cake's cane. This represents that he is of upper class.

“The Book Thief,” by Markus Zusak

“The Book Thief,” by Markus Zusak is the story of a girl, Liesel Meminger, growing up in Nazi Germany. She lives in the town Molching with her adoptive family who took her in after her brother died and her mother was forced to abandon her. Later, her adoptive parents hide a Jew from the rest of their town, which is mostly made up of strong supporters of the Nazi Party. Early in the novel, Liesel finds a book at her brother’s funeral, and this starts her love of reading, and a life of stealing books.

This novel is written from the point of view of death. I thought that this was very interesting, and was something I had not seen before in a novel. An example of this unique point of view is when Liesel talks to the Mayor’s wife about her son, who we discover had died. At this point, Death recalls collecting the soul of her son; “Oh yes, I definitely remember him. The sky was murky and deep like quicksand. There was a young man parceled up in barbed wire, like a gigantic crown of thorns. I untangled him and carried him out. High above the earth, we sank together, to our knees. It was just another day, 1918,” I thought this point of view was very effective, as it sets a dark mood in a unique way. This allowed the author to talk about the theme of death in a new way, and I think this made the novel much more powerful. Death is portrayed as slightly detached from humans, but not as evil. "They say that war is death's best friend, but I must offer you a different point of view on that one. To me, war is like the new boss who expects the impossible. He stands over your shoulder repeating one thing incessantly: 'Get it done, get it done.' So you work harder. You get the job done. The boss, however, does not thank you. He asks for more.' It is interesting that in this novel death is not seen as the villain, people are.

One of the themes of this novel is the inevitability of death. The narrator often talks of deaths that happened before the start of the novel, and hints at deaths occurring later. Another major theme of this novel is the power of words. The novel discusses the power that words have over people. For example, the Nazis initiated massive book burnings in which they destroyed anything that they thought could lead to their loss of power. Another example of the power of words is the connection between Liesel and Max, the Jew that her family is protecting; he writes her a story that managed to change her feelings towards him from suspicion to friendship. I think that the author did a great job expressing these themes, and that it was very effective.

Markus Zusak uses many rhetorical devices in this novel. The biggest rhetorical device is the personification of Death. This is used to give a darker mood, and also gives a unique view of death. Another rhetorical device the author uses are similes. An example of this was from the Nazi book burning. “To their left, flames and burning books were cheered like heroes,” This gives a good description of the excitement at the scene, and how people were happy to see the book burnings.

This book is a coming of age story like “Great Expectations.” As the book progresses, Liesel grows up from being a little girl with no idea of the events going on in the world, to a strong independent person. When Liesel was young, she accepted the way life was, but as she grows older, her attitude changes and she starts to hate Hitler and the life she is living. Although the two novels take place in very different circumstances, they are both about growing up.

I found this book very interesting, as it is about life in Nazi Germany, something I knew very little about. I found it interesting to learn about the war from a different point of view. Although I had read about the war from the point of view of soldiers or people living in Canada, reading about it from a German’s perspective was a new experience. I enjoyed this book very much, and would highly recommend it.