BABEL 17

When i picked up this book, i was seemingly bored and unimpressed with the first few pages, i almost put it down but decided to keep on reading just a bit more. The topic was interesting to me, and i did some research on the theory about the sapir-whorf hypothesis - which states that human thought is constrained by language, and therefore people who speak one language may be able to think thoughts that others who speak a different language - without words for those thoughts, simply cannot think. (And, not as strongly, that some things will come much more easily and readily for people who speak one language than for people who speak a different language.) I thought it was interesting that there were two sides to the interstellar war, both which had different languages. The one side, Babel 17, could be used as a weapon as those who learned the language could alter their perception and thought. The change allows dangerous abilities and enhancing of other abilities as well. This is discovered by the main character, a poet named Rydra, a starship captain and also a linguist telepath. She was recruited by her government to figure out how the enemy was working to sabotage strategic sites. Once she realizes it is a language, she teaches herself and finds herself becoming a traitor, but neutralizes its effects once rescued by her crew. The novel deals with several issues about the peculiarities of language and body language, thoughts, etc. I found it interesting that they never used the word "I" and how words themselves can shape the actions of people.

LULLABY - CHUCK PALAHNIUK

I actually picked up this book in high school, i think my senior year, right after I had read to do a report on Fight Club. I read the book first and loved everything about it. I loved Palahniuk's writing style and how it was sort of dark and disturbing but had such a good story line and plot that you tend to look past all the gore (if you're not into it.)

After i had read Fight Club i had gotten the movie and had to analyze it, i can say that i still enjoyed the movie, however i found that i enjoyed the book a tremendous amount more. Hollywood tends to ruin most books for me. Anyways, after doing tons of research on the novel and on Chuck Palahniuk himself, i was really intrigued by his stories and novels. After i had read Fight Club i went out and bought several other books by him as well.

I bought Haunted - which was a collection of short stories he had written that apparently was "so gruesome and shocking" that people at his reading were fainting, etc. So of course, i had to see what it was all about. I also bought Choke, and Invisible Monsters which were two of my favorites, and also got Survivor - another great one but i dont remember if i finished it or not? and Snuff, which i did not finish. Oh, and of course Lullaby.

I remember i picked up Lullaby first to read because i was excited by the sound of the plot. Somehow, at some point, i put it down for one reason or another and started reading the other novels. For me, this was not one of my favorites.

I guess i was expecting something different, and not necessarily more thrilling, but maybe more clear for this novel.

The first time around i never finished it, and reading it now I find it more interesting as i continued past the slow beginning. The story is about a short poem that when is repeated causes the person to die, it is an ancient Zulu culling song, that was originally meant to filter the population during times of famine. As i picked up the book again i was remembering certain images i had gotten when the Helen lady was selling houses that i guess were haunted. In the beginning i did not realize that that was what was happening, and was trying to connect the haunted houses with the lullabies. I guess i was just waiting for the real story with the sudden infant death syndromes.

One thing i always enjoy about a Palahniuk novel, is his sense of humor. Although his novels may be dealing with serious or disturbing matter, there is always some sort of wise crack jokes. One thing i thought was funny was that his computers password is "password" - which is what mine was for awhile so i would not forget. I also enjoy how all of his characters are always such quirky and weird combinations of people. Each character has their own 'thing' about them that makes them unique and stand out from the others. They are all in a way, sort of misfits.

For example, Oyster places bogus lawsuit ads in newspapers, which gradually become more and more absurd, and then Carl who likes to meticulously build model buildings with his hands and then stomp them to bits with his bare feet, and likes to kill people by rehearsing the culling song at speed to people who bump into him on the street.

Little things like that really made the novel a whole other level of depth and story, and i am glad i gave the novel another chance, although it is still not my favorite Palahniuk novel.

MONSTER ISLAND

I have never really been into zombie novels or movies, and i still am not sure how i feel about the whole genre, but i will say that parts of this novel that i read had me surprised. I liked that it was about survival and had many twists and unexpected turns throughout the story. I liked how Gary was a sort of half human - half zombie and therefor you got a bit of the both worlds with him. I thought it was a good first person zombie narrative of suburban morality. The characters seem to have a go with the flow type of outlook on things, and whatever happened, they were meant to adapt and deal with it. The fact that Gary was a thinking zombie was interesting because he could outsmart situations and adapt in both circumstances. The novel was a sort of survival of the fittest, and with Gary you get to find out first hand what it's like to be a zombie. The characters in the book are forced to not think and to take whatever action necessary to survive, because everything that is happening around them is bigger than them. In fact, nobody really talks about change or making an effort to stop things except for this one guy who started to try to see the bigger picture, which helped for an occasional rise of hope.

Anansi Boys

I have never read a neil gaimon book, and the first time i had become familiar with him as a person i think is when coraline came out, which i also, was not aware was a novel before the movie. Had i known, i would have read coraline first before seeing the film. However, i really enjoy his writing style and found it very captivating, after watching the interview with him in class i understand where he comes from as an author, and respect that he is a good children's writer and understands what kind of themes and stories children want to hear about, despite others thinking that it may be too dark or disturbing. I liked that the Anansi boys was folk fiction, which is something i have never really read before as well, and i had no idea what to expect with the story line. I like the way that gaimon makes the animal spirits and humans interact with one another throughout the novel, and how they can communicate.

THE GOLDEN COMPASS

I had never actually heard of this story or movie and was surprised at how many people in class were familiar with it. I felt like i was missing out on something, and indeed i was. I enjoyed the story as it explored the idea of a parallel universe, and the author gave us the best of both worlds. I liked the details in the story that made things a little more interesting like the gyptians and the daemons, which i liked that they took the form of animals, relating to the idea that everyone has an inner animal. I also liked that the daemons just wandered around and everyone could see them, so essentially no one could hide from their true self. Even though the book was written for a younger age group i still found myself enjoying the story. I liked that rather than being punished for where she was not supposed to be while spying, she saved her uncle from the poison and even allows her to stay and spy on the other attendees of his meeting. I enjoyed being able to imagine what it would be like to live in such a world and would like to see the film to see what differences and similarities there are.