Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

I just finished reading Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close and I wanted to conclude that this book was extremely hectic. It was confusing at first because it switched narrator to narrator. It jumped to letters from Oskar Schell's grandma written to him to his grandfather writing letters to Oskar's dad who died in the World Trade Center. The book revolves around Oskar, a nine year old boy, trying to find what relevance a key has to do with his father. He gets closer and closer to finding out and once he does, he finds that the key had absolutely no relevance. He meets his grandfather for the first time since he was born because his grandfather becomes present in their lives. The book talks about the horrid events in Dresden and the lack of love the grandmother felt when she was married. It talks about the different lives of the different characters, especially the protagonist and how he came to be.

I personally did not enjoy the book in the beginning because I was confused as to what was going on. The author has a very different style of writing and sometimes it feels like his writing is all over the place but he explained a lot dramatic events pretty well. I started enjoying it later on because I started understanding what the letters in between were and what the author was trying to explain. All in all, it was an original story about 9/11 which I thought was very different from a lot of the other stories. It did not only talk about one event but how the character dealt with death and fear of losing someone and it talked about other events in history as well.

No Strings Attached (movie review)

I watched No Strings Attached with Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher and it introduced the dramatic events and emotions that come with friends with benefits. I thought it with into the category of Romantic Drama. The movie is about two young characters named Adam and Emma who're both emotionally confused and figuring out what they want from life. Adam's father is dating his ex-girlfriend and Emma does not like relationships because she is afraid to be hurt. These characters try to be friends with benefits but one falls for the other and there's a lot of tension and drama in their relationship and where it's going. There are questions raised and concerns about whether they can manage to have more than what they have.

Emma wants to keep their relationship strictly physical but Adam ends up wanting much more than that which Emma cannot give because she is confused and doesn't know what she wants. Adam gets his heart broken and decides he does not want to see Emma anymore because he's going to want more than just a physical relationship. He wants to put forth his emotions and make an effort to have an actual relationship with her. Emma agrees that they should not see each other but later on regrets the decision once she sees that Adam has "moved on." Adam tries to make Emma jealous and it becomes even more dramatic because it's more than just sexual tension.

I liked the movie a lot because it shows how dramatic "friends with benefits" can get and how emotions clash. The movie was pretty predictable though because in a dramatic romance movie, the couple almost, always ends up together...I suppose it's one of the rules of a romantic drama movie. But I liked it and the story made sense because a lot of this happens in real life and there are so many young people dealing with this kind of drama and tension. It was quite interesting.

The Secret Life of Bees

Secret life of bees

This movie is about a young girl named Lily who grew up with her father in the south. At the age of four, Lily began witnessing her father and mother fighting. This was a daily activity Lily had to endure. She found a gun on the floor during a fight and she tried to help her mother defeat her father, she pointed the gun and shot. Killing her mother by accident, Lily was forced to grow up with her abusive father who constantly reminded her of her mothers tragic death. During this time segregation was in play. Rosaleen is one of the main characters, her job was to clean the house and babysit Lily. One day they decide to run away after finding a honey jar with a black Woman on it. Lily feels as if she finds out who this person is, they can unlock the secrets of her mother’s life before her death. After many long nights, they reach their destination. The honey belongs to an elder woman named August. She has two sisters, May and June. They accept Lily and Rosaleen into their home. Rosaleen and Lily lie about who they are so they are provided shelter and a job. Later on in the movie Lily tells the truth about who she is and August tells her she already knew. Lily finds out that the reason her mother and her father were arguing the day of her mother’s death was because she wanted to leave Tj. He was controlling and abusive. August becomes a mother figure for Lily and she adopts her. The movie is beautiful and it's based on the book, the ending is a great one. This is one of my favorite movies because it’s inspiring for young children battling with abusive parents. As well as being brave and standing up for what is right.

Thirteen

Tracy Freeland lives with her mother and brother. She’s still coping with her parents divorce. She is 13-years old in the 7th grade. Tracy is a straight A student and she’s still very naïve. She begins to get curious of what it would be like to be popular. As Tracy struggles to fit in, she starts trying to become friends with Evie, the head leader of the “cool” crowd. As Tracy becomes closer to Evie, she begins changing her appearance by wearing tighter revealing clothing. She starts to lose interest in her friends and constantly makes excuses for why she cannot hang out with them. In reality, they embarrass her because they are a perfect reflection of who she was before she became friends with Evie.

Evie lives with her foster care mother, she is well known because of her looks and her slim fit body. Evie deals with abandonment of her parents and takes a lot of her pain out on drugs and getting negative attention from boys. She leads Tracy down the same path as she. As Tracy begins lying to her mother about her whereabouts, she is actually getting high off of drugs with Evie. Her positive attitude towards school slowly drifts away, she starts failing all of her classes and is in danger of not passing the 7th grade. Tracy’s life starts going downhill when she begins hanging out with Evie her drug addictions start to increase. Her and her mother fight constantly and Tracy takes her emotional pain out on herself when she begins cutting, to escape from reality.

The movie is a perfect description of reality and peer pressure. Many parents do not inform their children about the dangers of drugs and sex. This is a good movie for teenagers to watch because it shows you how a couple bad decisions could possibly ruin your life. In this generation, kids at 13 begin doing drugs and begin having sexual intercourse because they either want to fit in or aren’t getting any attention at home.
The movie ends with Tracy and Evie no longer being friends, Evie blamed Tracy for her behavior while everyone knew Evie was the one who peer pressured Tracy.

Continuing Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close...

As I continue reading this book, the protagonist, Oskar Schell, a nine year old boy is creating a dramatic plot by the way he is trying to figure out what his father left behind. He's trying to figure out his fathers mysteries by going around finding every single person with the name "Black" in New York City and questioning them to get to an answer and what his father had to do with them. Currently, in the book, Oskar walked all the way to queens to start his "Black" scavenger hunt and the first encounter he has is with a man who is plugged into machines and is disabled. Oskar does not get to see his face because they just talk through the bell of his building but this person does not have any relation to his father. The second person was a lady who Oskar was sure had something to do with his father. He kept questioning her and eventually befriends her and talks about elephants. She starts getting emotional and spills her feelings to Oskar. When he asks her if she knows his father, she says no and he does not believe her. He finds a connection with this lady and asks if he could kiss her and she denies him.

Gossip Girl Dramatic Clips of Blair and Dan

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ODes0Te_Sc

Go Ask Alice

The irony in this story is that the first time Alice did drugs, she wasn't aware of it. She was given a cup and drank it, not knowing there was LSD in it. At the end of the story, once she finally realized that drugs were tearing her, and her family apart she decided to quit once and for all. LSD was placed in some peanuts, and not knowing she ate them. She had a horrible trip and ended up hurting herself severely. She was in the hospital for days. Someone who highly disliked her placed the LSD on her peanuts. This is extremely unfortunate. She was then placed into a mental hospital because of her intense actions when she was drugged. She ended up injuring herself, pulling out her hair, breaking bones and even damaging her fingertips.

Go Ask Alice

Go Ask Alice is a very dramatic book about the life of a 13-year old girl, named Alice who struggles because her insecurity is eating her alive. Alice is in junior high school, she starts becoming friends with the wrong crowd which led to her lying, and going behind her parents backs to sneak around. Alice began engaging in sex, drugs and excessive drinking. Her life went downhill. From trying LSD by accident, she began to get addicted to Cocaine, Marijuana, Speed and Acid. Her poor decisions led her to run away from home because she didn't want her parents to concern themselves with her life. Alice began hitchhiking around the United States. She battled many obstacles, and at one point she had to do things for money. She was raped numerous amounts of times due to her intoxication with alcohol and drugs, she was unaware of her surroundings and unfortunately she was then taken advantage of.

Alice grew up in a nice family. Her parents only cared about her well-being. She was a naive girl, who simply made the wrong decisions. She was addicted to drugs and had no escape or anyone to turn to. When Alice made the decision to stop doing drugs, drug dealers and other druggies began harassing her. Calling her names, beating her up, and threatening her were daily struggles she faced. It became overwhelming. The story is heart breaking, and it really makes you realize the crazy things drugs do to your body and how badly it destroys families. Although it is a sad book, it is worth reading.

Will Grayson, Will Grayson

This is John Green's interesting review and introduction to his novel Will Grayson, Will Grayson.

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

I started reading Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer for my drama genre and the book suits the category perfectly because it is about a dramatic and important event in history—September 11—an enthralling but complex story that shows bravery. It is about a nine-year-old boy named Oskar Schell who lost his father in the 9/11 event and it shows his struggle coping with what happened, confronting the cataclysm of our time and finding out the truth behind everything his father left behind, specifically a letter addressed to someone named "Black" with an old key to an unusual lock. It contains many shattering emotions and tons of dramatic situations in which the author lets the reader know that it wasn't something small that you just deal with but amounts to many steps to get there.

Don't Tell Mummy

I found a song that actually reminds me of the book, since there isn't anything else on youtube about it.

It's called: The Voice Within by Christina Aguilera

Don't Tell Mummy

In the following chapters, the book revolves around Antoinette and her poor relationship with her father. It's extremely sad, the amount of torture she has to endure by her own parent. Througout the book it explains how her mother knew what her father was doing but decided to purposely ignore it. How can you ignore your own child? I thought a mother was supposed to have unconditional love for her children. In many cases where children get abused by their father's, some mothers decide not to take action because they're either scared or are not financially stable without the other parent. It's extremely sad, and it's not okay. A child will always remember the rough experiences they went through and i can affect them for the rest of their lives. Antoinette, at her mid 30's still has horrible flashback of her father raping her. Towards the end of the book, her mother feels guilty. Guilty for not doing anything to protect her daughter. She was scared and lived in denial.

At age 13, Antoinette gets pregnant by her father, and the whole town found out. She ended up getting an abortion that was poorly performed and gets extremely ill. When she told the doctor her father raped her on numerous occasions, she was accused of sleeping with her father with consent. The whole town found out and she was no longer able to hang out with her friends, or attend her school. I don't understand how the world works sometimes. An innocent child, accused of incest. She stood alone. Antoinette was a brave child, and she felt completely abandoned by the people who should have loved her the most.

50 Word Story

As they slowly kissed, Kevin was looking into the eyes of another woman. I came home. My heart shattered.

Don't Tell Mummy by Toni Mcguire

Don't Tell Mummy is a very strong book. It is nicely written, about the life of a young girl named Antoinette. She grew up in Ireland raised by her mother. Her father was rarely home because he was in the military, yet when he was things we're disastrous. Antoinette is forced to keep a secret that could potentially ruin her parents relationship. She is forced to grow up at a young age because of this. At the age of 6, she told her mother that her father was sexually abusing her. Her mother ignored what she said, it wasn't because she was in denial, but because she was afraid of what her father would do. I find it extremely sad when women keep their children in a horrible position in order to benefit themselves. Antoinette was forced to do things that were the ultimate betrayal. As her father continued doing inappropriate activities with her, her mother pretended like she didn't know. How could a mother do that to her own child? The book is a lot of drama and it's very emotional. It touches a soft spot. I recommend it for those who can take abuse seriously. It isn't a laughing matter things like this happen all over the world and unfortunately there are people who know and decide not to do anything about it. Antoinette suffered for years until she became pregnant and had an abortion. When her family found out, they disowned her. Her father got sent to jail, yet her mother spent many years not speaking to her. I find this very odd. As a mother, your job is to love and support your child unconditionally. The book goes back and forth between a flash back of memories that Antoinette has, and her life now in her mid 30's.

50 Word Short Story

She opens her eyes and feels her heart racing; the indigence to carry on is prominent in her unsteady hand. Her fingers twist around the nearest pen, clutching it tightly her knuckles faded to white. The curves of each letter filling pages upon pages with lavish lands and curious life.

Will Grayson, Will Grayson

This is a novel by John Green and David Levithan. The books narrative is divided evenly between two boys with the same name, Will Grayson. John Green wrote all the chapters for the first Will Grayson and David Levithan for the other.

The book follows the two main characters who both go by the name Will Grayson. The first Will Grayson is always trying to live his life without being notice while the other Will Grayson goes through life without anything good to hold onto besides an online friendship with someone by the name of Isaac. I chose this book because it's very dramatic and talks about the life of two teenagers with the same name but very different circles of life. The first Will Grayson always has his name capitalized and he is part of the Gay Straight Alliance while the second "will grayson" has his name lowercased is gay. Both of them cross paths and suddenly in all dramatic-ness, their worlds collide and intertwine and their lives change and they start doing the unexpected things that they never thought they would do.

It's a good book to be categorized in "drama" because the lives of teenagers are mostly filled with drama and confusion and these characters explain that very well about themselves and you can easily put yourself into the characters and get lost in their lives.

Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult

This is extremely interesting.

Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult

"Children didn't make their own mistakes. They plunged into the pits they'd been led by their parents." (pg 319)

This is a huge controversy in society, do you blame children for their own wrongdoings, or do you point fingers at their parents for not raising them properly? In Nineteen Minutes, one of the main characters Peter Houghton, has been getting bullied all of his life. Since he lives in Sterling, a small town in New Hampshire, he's been going to school with the same kids ever since he's been in kindergarten. Getting shoved into lockers, and getting his pants pulled down in front of a crowed of people was an every day routine. Peter had enough, it was time he stuck up for himself. After being bullied for over 11 years, he came up with a plan. To get revenge, and the only way was to cost those kids their lives.

Should parents be held responsible for the actions their children decide to take? In many cases yes. A child is the reflection of their parents. Depending on how they were raised they're going to act a certain way. They'll make decisions for themselves once they reach a certain age. Mainly decisions their parents would have done as well.

After a certain age, mainly once a pre-teen becomes a teenager, people start making decisions based upon their own judgements. Whether or not they're good or bad decisions, they're based upon the person's wants/needs. Many times the only person to blame is yourself. Your parents aren't going to hold your hand throughout your lifetime. They can do the best they can in guiding you to make the right decisions but ultimately it is up to you. In Nineteen Minutes, Peter's mother Lacy, is being blamed for the decision Peter took in killing ten students who bullied him throughout his lifetime. She is being blamed because in many people's opinion she was a negligent parent who didn't raise her children well. This is a huge controversy because in her opinion she did the best she could to raise Peter with proper love, care and respect. There is only so much a parent can do, so that their children won't make bad decisions. We are all capable of doing what we want despite what anyone says.

Overall the book was amazing. It involves a bit of mystery, romance, and certainly drama. It was extremely difficult to put down. I read 500 + pages within two weeks. This jaw dropping novel will have your emotions racing. I recommend it to everyone who loves thrillers.

The Real Story of The Little Mermaid

So I was searching through google randomly for old classic stories and found The Little Mermaid. I found that this story could be categorized in Drama and Romance because it's not at all what disney's version was but more real and complicated and completely dramatic but I also thought it was quite depressing.

http://hca.gilead.org.il/li_merma.html

Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult

After many hours reading Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult, I've come to the conclusion that it's amazing. The author puts a great amount of time into creating these characters into real life people. The problems they face, in reality are things we endure as teenagers. Bullying, insecurity, romance, abuse and family issues are all things they go through. Although it is a pretty long book, the suspense makes you never want to put it down. The book flashes back and forth between what is happening in the present and what happened in the past to create such hatred between characters. The main characters, Peter, and Josie share secrets that no one could ever know about. In the book, you get to really know a character sort of like if they were your best friend. You feel the emotions they go through and you may even shed a tear. I give this book two thumbs up!