Oskar Changes

            I have never been this happy to finish a book.  I have just finished reading Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer.  I didn’t like this book because it was so confusing to read.  It is written in a train of thought which means it follows the way of Oskar’s thinking so it was more like an unfinished book.  It seemed at times to be rambling of thoughts rather than a story.  This book did get a little better at the end as Foer started to wrap things up.

            While I didn’t care for reading the book much, I did like to see the character, Oskar, change a lot during it.  During the story he goes from a depressed boy to a mature young man.  In the beginning of the story he appears depressed and misses some school, doesn’t want his mom to love again, seems to always be feuding with his mom and he is afraid of what might happen next.  I bet many people who lost someone on 9/11 very close to them felt the same way as Oskar did.

            During the book he matures and realizes that life must go on.  He goes back to school and thinks it will be okay if his mother finds someone else to love.   He starts to live the way he thinks his father would want him to live.  I think his travels through New York, looking for the owner of the key, helped him a great deal to mature.  If nothing else he learned to think things through before he acts and have a plan and he should have done his search systematically.  This could be a lesson everyone should learn at one point or another.

            Life is like a roller coaster, there are ups and downs.  I am glad that Oskar didn’t let this down ruin his whole life because after life goes down it must go up again.  Even though I am happy to see Oskar grow and change, I don’t think I will be reading, Everything is Illuminated, another book by Foer.

Not A Good Read

            I am reading a book I don’t like very much, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Foer. I think what I don’t like about the book is Jonathan Foer’s style of writing, I find it very difficult to follow.  The first paragraph of the book is talking about tea kettles and the next paragraph is talking about microphones.  I don’t see the connection between the two things and it wasn’t clear in the book either.

            Another aspect of his style that makes it difficult for me to get into his story is that he doesn’t use paragraphs.  His writing seems to be like a person’s thinking, a person who has lost their mind.  I have been taught that paragraphs are for a new idea or topic, so a reader can take a break.  In his style of writing a topic seems to change at random with no reason or connection.  He also doesn’t use new lines for dialogue.  This style of writing goes against what I have learned in grammar.

            I prefer to read a book that follows one storyline from beginning to end in time order.  In Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Jonathan Foer jumps from one storyline to another.  In no time at all he goes from a little boy telling a story to an old man telling a different story.  This book reminds me of the way Ender’s Game was written.  I had a hard time following that book too because it’s time frame jumped around a lot.  Opposite to this style I enjoyed the way Peak because it was a continuous story and easy to follow.  I am only going to finish this book because my group is reading for class.  I am so unhappy with this book I will not read any other books by this author.

I am Not A Mountain Climber

            Before reading Peak by Roland Smith, seeing the world from the top of a mountain seemed pretty interesting.  I have been able to have a view of the land from an airplane but from the top of a mountain would be completely different.  I think it would feel like standing on top of the earth.  The book has helped me realized that this is not a trip I would like to take.

            I don’t think I would have enough patience to do the climb properly.  I am a person who likes to move forward trying to reach my goals.  To reach the summit of Mount Everest, Peak climbed up one day, stayed there to acclimate himself to the altitude and then the group had to return to camp for a few days to recovery.  I know this is necessary to do but I don’t know if I would have enough patience to do the climb up and then down repeatedly.

            I can understand the need to adjust to the thinning air because I have been in altitude and felt the thin air.  My family and I went to Colorado to ski.  We skied the Colorado Rockies; the mountain not the baseball team.  After we got off the chair lift, I had a hard time catching my breath.  The summit of Mount Everest is about 29,000 feet above sea level and I noticed the difference at only 1000 feet.  Although the view would be great, Peak has already been working on the climb for 7 weeks and is only at stage four.

            During Peak’s 7 week experience he has already learned a lot about himself and he hasn’t reached the summit.  Peak has learned how to take care of himself since he has spent very little time with his father.  His father had taken responsibility for him to keep him out of jail but then did not help him much during the climb.  Through these seven weeks Zopa’s opinion of Peak’s effort has changed.  Zopa now thinks that Peak will reach the summit.  Since I do not have the patience to be a climber but I am enjoying the experience of reading this book.  Roland Smith’s style of writing is very descriptive and I often have the feeling of being on Mount Everest with Peak and the rest of the climbers.

Peak and His Challenges

            Reading Peak by Roland Smith has made me realize how secrets, sickness and the weather can affect one person’s life.  During Peak’s challenge to be the youngest person to reach the summit of Mount Everest he faced all these obstacles. Peak faced these obstacles in a short amount of time but reading the book made me think about the times I also was affected by these things.

            Peak finds out the pain of secrets when he learns that his father didn’t rescue him because he wanted to help his son.  Peak’s opportunity to spend time with and get to know his father comes with a price.  He feels used by his father when he finds out that his father rescued him because he wanted Peak to be the youngest person to reach the summit because the climb would help Josh become rich.  The secret that hurt me was when a team mate stole my brand new ipod and blamed it on a stranger.  I think both Peak and I were shocked when we realized we were lied to.  In both cases it worked out fine, I got my ipod back and Peak stayed in camp and was determined to complete the climb.   

            In another challenge Peak questions whether or not he will be able to make it to the summit when he starts to get sick.  He wakes up one morning to find his throat very sore and while trying to give an interview he finds he has no voice.  I remember when I was in the first grade and got pneumonia.  Not only did I have to stay out of school for a week and I liked school then, I was sick for Thanksgiving and didn’t get my feast.  For both Peak and I these sickness were due to getting tired and run down.  I know I learned from my mistakes and I look forward to seeing if Peak can stay healthy enough to complete the climb.

            Sometimes challenges come from things outside of our control, like the weather.  During the climb a blizzard hits and Peak has to go searching for his father and two other people.  The search team finds Josh and the other two after a long search.  For me the blizzard happened on my seventh birthday and my family wouldn’t drive to my house to celebrate.   My mom invited some friends and neighbors over and I had a good time.   Since Peak found his dad and I had a good time I guess good things can happen when you don’t expect them.

            The events of Peak’s climb bring back memories to me.  Both Peak’s and my life have been affected by secrets, sickness and the weather and I think everyone’s would be.  Do you have any memories of secrets, sickness or the weather and how they changed your day?

Peak and His Dad

            I am sure glad that my parents were not Joshua Wood and Teri Marcello.  If they were I could have had a strange name like: track, run, teach, math or gym.  Well I guess Gym would not have been bad until people realized how it was spelled.  Peak Marcello of Peak by Roland Smith was given his special name because of his parents’ interest in mountain climbing.  My parents did give me a special name but at least it was just my father’s name.

            I would like to be like Peak Marcello in other ways though.  I think it would be great to go on an adventure with my dad.  Peak got to climb Mount Everest with his dad.  When he made it to the top he became the youngest person to ever climb Mount Everest.  Although I may not have had such an adventure with my dad, I have been lucky enough to spend a lot of my first 14 years of life with my dad and go a lot of places with him.  Peak hadn’t seen his dad for several years before the court allowed him to go live with him.  Peak missed his dad and didn’t feel like he knew him.  I know my dad and he knows me.

            It is more than just not knowing his dad that I found strange.  As they are getting to know each other, Josh tells Peak to call him Josh and not dad.  I think that this makes him more like a big brother than a father.  I can’t imagine what it would be like now to try and get to know my dad. 

            Reading Peak has pointed out that not all families are alike.  Each family has good times and bad times.  It took Peak getting arrested and an injured faced in order for him to get the opportunity to get to know his father.  But because of his difficulties he has the opportunity of a life time, a chance at an adventure and a father.  I enjoy reading the book and think I would like to do a mountain climb one day, maybe even with my family, but I will skip the arrest and plastic surgery on my face and keep my sometimes annoying sister and parents.

Peak: Jail or Mt Everest

             I just started reading a book named Peak by Roland Smith.  The title or cover didn’t look very interesting to me but I was wrong.  Peak doesn’t start like a traditional book that goes in chronological order.  It starts with a hook; an exciting part that will catches people into the book, and then fills in the middle.  I started off with a 14 year old boy climbing up the outside of the Woolworth Building, like it was a mountain.  Seeing the skyscrapers of NYC every day I couldn’t imagine climbing up one.

            The main character’s name and the names his parents almost called him may give a clue to why he climbed the building.  His name is Peak but his parents also considered calling him, glacier, abyss or crampon.  His parents were both climbers and his dad is even a very famous climber.  This is one case where being famous could be good for you, his dad being so famous helped keep him out of jail.  Sometimes being famous is not good, Prince William of England would rather not be as famous as he is.

            Peak was arrested for climbing the Woolworth building while the mayor was in the building.  It was possible that Peak would spend time in jail after being arrested.  It was not only his father’s fame that saved him but also that the judge was a graduate of the school that Peak attended.  I realized how much his arrest affected the rest of the family, his mom and his twin sisters.  It also shows that the media can go too far by sensationalizing his story another young boy tried to copy him and ended up dying.

            Peak is given a great opportunity.  Instead of going to jail he is going to go live with his dad, who he hasn’t spoken to in seven years.  He gets to spend time with his dad and get to know him.  I can’t imagine not seeing or talking to my dad for seven years.  Another reason it is a great opportunity is because he is going to get to climb Mt Everest and be the youngest person to ever do it.  I am looking forward to finishing Peak and seeing how Peak’s homework assignment turns out, after all writing his adventure down is so he can get credit for his year of school.

Ender: The Small Package

            It is often said that “Good things come in small packages”.  Andrew Wiggins, aka Ender, of Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card could be an example of this.  He was taken from his family at the age of six and placed in Battle School.  The Colonel of the school felt that Ender would be ready to be the Commander when the next invasion of buggers occurred.  Most people would not like their future determined when they were only six.  Physically he may be a small package but there is a big powerful mind in it.

            Ender’s mind is like a super computer.  He learns from any source he can.  He watches the videos of earlier battles so he can develop new strategies to win his battles.  He is not afraid to share information with the other commanders because he doesn’t think they will be able to use it against him.  He has sleepless nights because he is often thinking and cannot shut his mind off.  To many people a mind that works like a computer would be a good thing.

            Having a mind that works like a computer isn’t enough to have to make a life happy.  Because of his battle success, Ender had no friends on his level and the other commanders were jealous of him.  His success also leads to quick promotions so he doesn’t get to spend a lot of time with many people.  The pressure for Ender to be the next great commander is also great.  It is surprising that a six year old boy could be giving so much responsibility and handle it this well. 

            Even though this is a science fiction book, there are many parts of it that are real; the bullying, sibling rivalry and pressures to succeed.  My plans for the future have changed many times since I was six and I couldn’t imagine having someone else plan my future or having Ender’s fight to be successful.  But having a brain that worked like a computer wouldn’t be bad because then I could have 100% in all my classes.