Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Kabul Beauty School part 3

I have finished reading Kabul Beauty School. It was depressing that the ending was so sad. There were several more stories about women getting abused and Debbie encountered more problems with the Afghanistan government. Debbie also had to fire her housekeeper Shaz, because she was in love with a bad man named Farooq who gave her drugs and was calling or texting many of the women running the Beauty School salon that funded the school. If the women's husbands found out about the calls they would probably beat their wives. This made me really sad not only for the wives sake but because Shaz was so disillusioned and she herself had suffered a traumatic childhood. Another sad story is the story about Hama, the girl who hung around with the abusive family friend. Though Debbie tried to help her, Debbie tried to get Hama a visa so she could live in the US, but Hama continued to be with Ali and his friends. Though Debbie tried she could not stop Hama from being with Ali and Hama endangered the Beauty School if she hung around it, so Debbie was forced to make Hama leave to protect the school. One really sad thing was that Hama was only around 15 when Debbie first met her and Debbie is unsure of how long this abuse has been going on. Finally, Debbie was forced to leave Afghanistan and the Beauty School. She was getting threatened by someone in Afghanistan, she wasn't sure who but she was informed by a friend in the government. Because she had her son with her in that particular trip to Afghanistan, she decided that she needed to leave so she and her son left Afghanistan and Debbie was not able to return.

I think that it is really sad that someone would threaten Debbie after all she had done to help Afghanistan. I also think it is really sad all the depressing stories about women being abused in Afghanistan. I believe that Debbie was brave to go to Afghanistan and try and help the women there, when Debbie didn't even speak the language or know any of the customs, she just went there with a dream to try and help.

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Kabul Beauty School part 2

I am continuing reading Kabul Beauty School by Deborah Rodriguez, I am currently on page 196. Debbie was able to make her idea about opening a school for hairdressers in Afghanistan a reality. She got several hair product donations from such companies as Paul Mitchell. Debbie than got help from the organization PARSA to help fund and run her beauty school. So with all the hair product donations and the help from PARSA the school Beauty Without Borders Kabul Beauty School got started. Debbie was a teacher there and she taught the women attending the school about various hairdresser things. Original she had trouble with that because she needed to use a translator because she wasn't fluent in Dari, however after a while she found out that if she had a student who understood the concept well teach the class instead, it was much easier. The school did have several problems including getting their land confiscated and having to move the school's location, and then having to move again because they were stuck in a place were empty rooms got rented out to men who liked to party a lot. There was also the problem of the lack of funding the school got. This prompted Debbie to make a salon to help fund the school. She had graduates from the school help run the salon which catered to western clients. I have also learned more about Deborah Rodriguez. She seems to always be sort of depressed. She always seemed to need some person to be with which causes her to quickly marry people who she doesn't really know much about. After her first divorce she married a preacher who became an abusive husband. She managed to divorce him and after that she went to Afghanistan to start her beauty school. In Afghanistan her Afghan friends believe that she needs an Afghan husband and so they find one for her. After only a few dates she and the Afghan guy, who was already married and had kids in Saudi Arabia, got married.

I think it is really sad some of the stories about women being abused in Afghanistan. There was this one girl named Hama who was molested by an older man who was a friend of her family. When Debbie found out about this she was very angry and tried to help Hama by keeping her away from the old guy. Eventually someone from the US told Debbie that she would take Hama in. So, Hama was sent to live in America. There was also a woman whose husband was very abusive and Debbie tried to help her. Debbie managed to get the women into the beauty school and after beauty school the woman managed to get her husband to divorce her. After that she started her own salon and is doing so well that she doesn't ever have to get married again.

I am really happy that Debbie has helped so many people and is trying to help even more. However, I think that Debbie is sort of a weird person and has some issues. I think it was really stupid of her to marry an Afghan man, even though he had some progressive thinking, he was still raised in a culture where women were considered inferior and were bossed around by their husbands. I also think that when Debbie went to Afghanistan she was abandoning her kids in America, when she first went to Afghanistan I think her kids were only in their teens and I think that by going to Afghanistan she abandoned them.

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Kabul Beauty School

I have read the first 56 pages of the book Kabul Beauty School. This book is a memoir about Deborah Rodriguez, a hairdresser, who went to Afghanistan to try and help people. The book starts out with the wedding of Debbie's best friend, Roshanna. As a favor to Roshanna Debbie did all of Roshanna's hair and make-up. This was a lot because brides wear tons of make-up for their wedding and they have to have all of their hair, except for the hair on their head and eyebrows, waxed off. After Rodriguez talks about the wedding, she talks about why she went to Afghanistan. She went with the group CFAF (Care for All Foundation). At first Debbie didn't know what she could do to help since she was only a hairdresser and not a doctor or other medical person. At the beginning Debbie did little things to help, like doing people's laundry or praying for the group. But, when she went to a meeting that had many people from various organizations to help Afghanistan, many women there were excited to have a hairdresser. So, Debbie did many of the volunteers hair. After that Debbie was interested in seeing what a salon in Afghanistan looked like, since under the oppressive Taliban rein they had been wiped out and were only starting to come back. Once Debbie saw a salon, she realized that she could teach women how to hairdress so that they could make money and become the breadwinners of their family. This is where I stopped reading and I am really excited to continue reading.

I really like this book so far. I think that it is so cool that this woman, a simple hairdresser, is trying to help all these people in Afghanistan. I think that it is amazing that this one woman could help so many people and that she is unafraid of trying to help and is trying to do everything she can to help. I also think it is interesting learning about the culture of Afghanistan and how different it is from the US. The marriage ceremony is so different from American marriages, it was cool learning what the Afghan marriages were like. However, I do not like the sexism of the Afghan culture, like women have to wear the burqas and the women don't really go out in public much, and how the men and women are in separate spheres.

Sunday, December 7, 2008

2 Annotations

How much should the government help the environment?

Susskind, Lawrence. "Strengthening the Global Environmental Treaty System." Issues in Science and Technology Vol. 25, No. 1 Fall 2008. SIRS. .

The author of this article is Lawrence Susskind. He is currently a professor of Urban and Environmental planning at MIT. He has a B.A. in English literature and sociology from Colombia University.He also has a Masters in city planning and a PhD in Urban planning from MIT. He has also won many awards including the Global Environmental Award for his work contributing to the field of environmental conflict. Lawrence Susskind is also the founder and president of the Consensus Building Institute. This institute helps mediate disputes between countries worldwide. This article by Lawrence Susskind is about the problems of international treaties that are specifically about environmental issues. These problems include there being no way for the treaties to be enforced, not all the countries are joining and there is no profit for them to join, and the fact that the countries do not know what each countries contribution should be, considering how developed the country is. Finally, the article discussed ways the treaties could be improved, including making it profitable for counties to join and having groups in the various countries try and help the countries follow the treaties.

Jayson, Sharon. "What It Means to Think 'Green'." USA Today 13 Aug 2008. SIRS. .

The author, Sharon Jayson, is currently a journalist for USA Today, specializing in articles about behavior and relationships.She has worked in the media for a long time and has had jobs in different media areas. She was a journalist for the Austin American-Statesmen before she worked for USA Today. She has also worked for radio programs and been anchors for newscasts. This article by Jayson is about the psychology of thinking green. It talks about experiments by different psychologists including experiments about the effect of propaganda on peoples’ opinions on being green. The article is also about how people do not always understand what they can do to help the environment and how they do not understand everything they are hearing about such things as global warming.

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Seeing Redd part 3

I have finished the book Seeing Redd. Hatter Madigan managed to get into Boarderland and he starts to serve King Arch, while secretly he is looking for his daughter Molly. In Boarderland he finds that Weaver is actually alive and has been staying in Boarderland for safety. While Hatter is trying to save Molly, Redd was gathering forces on Earth. After a while, she came back to Wonderland to complete her Looking Glass Maze, every person who is going to be queen or are in royal succession have a maze, and once they complete their maze they become immensely more powerful. While that is happening Alyss and her army are trying to protect Wonderland and is fighting against King Arch's forces. Once Redd had completed her maze, she went to Boarderland and managed to get a lot of military support from the different tribes in Boarderland who didn't like the king. With their help Redd overthrew King Arch and took over Boarderland. Because of this Hatter, Molly, and Weaver managed to escape Boarderland, although Weaver gets killed while they escape. After Redd conquered Boarderland she went after Wonderland. She and Alyss fight for control of Wonderland. Alyss realizes that she is losing and follows the advice of a caterpillar. Arch had made a secret weapon that could supposedly destroy all of the countries. Hatter and Molly had fled for safety and were at the point where they could activate the secret weapon. When it seems that Redd is going to win and Wonderland will be lost, Alyss tells Hatter to activate the device. The secret weapon has a huge explosion that causes any one with magic to lose their power to control the magic. This forces Redd to retreat. The book ends with Redd's retreat and the belief that slowly the people will be able to gain their magical abilities back.

Overall I enjoyed reading this book, however I believe that the first book was better. I think that this book focused too much on other characters besides Alyss, I think that Alyss is the main character and should therefore be the focus of the story. But, most of the story was focused on Redd, Arch, and Hatter. I would have liked to know more about what Alyss was doing because it seemed to me that she somehow wasn't that important of a character anymore, even though the first book was mostly about her. I think it is interesting when the author chooses to continuously switch the point of view in the book. Some books work with the switching of the point of view because I think it adds to the story and gives different perspectives which can give more depth to different characters. However, some books I think take the switching of focus a little too far. Like in Seeing Redd, I think there was a little too much of this because I felt that the protagonist was lost.

Sunday, November 30, 2008

Seeing Redd part 2

I am on page 214 in the book Seeing Redd. A lot has happened in the last 100 or so pages. Molly, Alyss's loyal bodyguard has been kidnapped by the king of Boarderland and it appears that he is trying to use Molly to bring Alyss down in some way. The mystery keeps the book suspenseful because it is unclear in what exact way the king, Arch, is going to use Molly to try and destroy Alyss. The reader also finds out that Hatter Madigan is actually Molly's father. Apparently, Hatter Madigan and this woman named Weaver were in love and when Redd came into power and Hatter fled, Weaver had been pregnant and gave birth while Hatter was away. After giving birth Weaver apparently left and no one knew what happened to her. When Hatter returned he found Weaver's diary and learned about his daughter. While that was happening, Arch sent an army into Wonderland, under the disguise that it was Redd who sent them. Alyss and her army defeated them and then Hatter returned, only to find that his daughter had been kidnapped and he went off to Boarderland to get her back. While that was happening in Wonderland, Redd and her assassin, the Cat, arrived an Earth and started gathering forces to later use against Alyss.

I think Frank Beddor's style of writing is very interesting. It is in third person, but occasionally the reader learns of the thoughts of some of the characters. This allows the reader to learn more about the characters and understand them better than when, as with McCarthy's writing, the reader can only understand the characters through their actions and the reader doesn't know their thoughts. I also like Beddor's descriptions I think they allow the reader to understand the scenery, but it is not overboard and it doesn't distract from the story. Although, I think that Beddor could explain some things better, for example the Milleny, I believe that they are a race of people who are trained fighters, but I am not exactly sure. I think Beddor could have described them better because it is not until the second book, long after the Milleny are first mentioned, that I was able to understand a bit of what they are.

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Seeing Redd

I have read the first 90 pages of Seeing Redd by Frank Beddor. This is the sequel to the book The Looking Glass Wars, and I am excited to continue in this series because I have really enjoyed reading them. Seeing Redd starts off with Alyss just having been put on the throne and becoming Queen of Wonderland. However, her rein is rather rocky because she is ruling after her Aunt who destroyed much of Wonderland. Early on we find out that the King of Boarderland, Arch, is plotting against Alyss and wants to overthrow her. Arch, who is a sexist idiot, believes that he should be the supreme ruler of Boarderland and Wonderland, and he eventually wants to take over Earth as well. He plans to destroy Alyss through Molly, Alyss's trusted bodyguard. Molly is very loyal, unfortunately, she is rather impulsive and not very bright at times. She is also very young and inexperienced and thinks that she is treated differently because she is not allowed to go on many military adventures and she thinks that is because people do not understand her fighting skills, so she is desperate to prove herself. In the story there is also a side story of Hatter, Alyss's old bodyguard who went on leave to mourn the death of his love. So far, we do not know if he can overcome his grief and return to his post or if he will just continue mourning. Also, in the story there is the issue of Queen Alyss being in love with Dodge, her captain of the guards. She and Dodge were childhood friends, but Alyss's love may get in the way of her duty as Queen and Dodge is sort of obsesed about revenge for the death of his father.

I really hope that in this book Alyss doesn't forget about her duty as queen because she loves Dodge. I am fine with romance novels, unless the people get stupid because of their love. I think that Alyss needs to focus on being Queen and securing the peace in Wonderland, before she thinks about dating Dodge. I also hope that this book keeps the series good, because a lot of times sequels are not nearly as good as the first books. One thing that I really like about this book is how the people are realistic and have many flaws. Alyss is in love with Dodge and is rather inexperienced. Dodge is rather obsessed about revenge against Redd and the Cat and that tends to make him do stupid things. Bibwit, Alyss's advisor, is wise, but not very brave and in times of battle he can be a little cowardly. Molly has the flaws of being inexperienced and not thinking things through, and is rather conceded and overestimates her own skills. Hatter is realistic because he fell in love with this woman who died and now has left his duty to mourn for her.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

The Looking Glass Wars

I was planning to read for my outside reading book The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor. It is 358 pages and I ended up finishing it. So, instead I am planning to read the sequel to The Looking Glass Wars, the book Seeing Redd.

The Looking Glass Wars is a very good book and is a fractured fairy tale of Alice in Wonderland. The story is about Alyss the princess of wonderland. She lives in a world where magic is real and there are a lot of fantastical creatures, including caterpillars that can predict the future and card soldiers. On Alyss's seventh birthday her Aunt came and took over the palace by killing Alyss's parents and making Alyss and her bodyguard flee to England. However, Alyss and her bodyguard get separated and her bodyguard has to spend the next 13 years looking for her. While this is happening, a rebel group of people have formed in Wonderland and are fighting against the fake Queen. On Earth, Alyss was forced to forget about Wonderland and believe that magic wasn't real and that she had just made everything up. She was even going to marry a prince who had fallen in love with her. But, before that could happen, she was taken back to Wonderland where she had to relearn magic and everything again. Alyss ends up taking her throne back, but her evil Aunt manages to escape. It ends where Alyss now has to restore her kingdom and find out what happened to her Aunt.

I really enjoyed reading this book. I thought it was a lot more interesting than Alice in Wonderland, where I never really understood the story. This book makes a lot more sense and had a lot of enjoyable characters. Alyss's Aunt, named Redd, has an experienced assassin, known as the Cat. The Cat plays an important part in the story because he kills many people. He is mainly responsible for the death of Alyss's parents. He is also a real character because he tries to hide his mistakes from Redd so that he doesn't get in trouble. I thought that Alyss was a pretty real character. She had her doubts about her strength and she caved to peer pressure and she easily was angered and was not always easy to forgive. When she was seven she enjoyed playing tricks on people and causing trouble. Dodge was another character that was very real. He was very upset about the death of his father because of the Cat and ever since then has been thinking about revenge and only caring that he kills the Cat and not about the welfare of the kingdom as a whole.

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Beka Cooper

I have read the first 42 pages of Beka Cooper Terrier by Tamora Pierce. This book is by one of my favorite authors. I have enjoyed reading Tamora Pierce's stories about Alanna, Diana, and all of her other characters. Beka Cooper Terrier is the first book in this series and I am really excited to read the next book Bloodhound, when it comes out. Beka Cooper Terrier is written in the form of diary entries, it starts with a few diary entries from people who know Beka (the main character). These entries give more depth to Beka's character because you learn about her past. Beka Cooper at the start of the story is a16 year old girl who dreams of becoming a policewoman. In the story she is a policewoman in training and has been apprenticed to two full fledged policemen. She is really excited to be assigned to them because they are famous. The story is set in ancient Tortall, the main country of Tamora's books. In this world there is a lot of magic and mages, Beka has the ability to listen to the dead and uses that ability to help her with her job. One thing that I really like about this book is that it is all in Beka's perspective because it is Beka's diary entries that you read. It allows the reader to understand how Beka feels and know what she is thinking. It allows you to follow along really well with the story because you know what Beka knows and can try and puzzle out who is the person behind all of the kidnappings and robbings in the city.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

1984

I have read the first 186 pages of 1984 by George Orwell. 1984 is a book about a world where there are 3 countries that are constantly at war with each other. This is because all the countries need the war for their economy and government to work. The main country in this book is Oceania. All the countries have basically the same political, social, and economic policies. They have a government that brainwashes its citizens and can constantly watch them from telescreens that are everywhere in the country, even in people's homes. The main character in this book is Winston Smith. He is against the government, known as the Party, and wishes that it would be overthrown. He has always wanted the Party, and the main political head of the Party Big Brother, to be destroyed. He goes from thoughts to actions by writing down his thoughts and opinions in a diary. After that he meets a woman, Julia, who was also against the party, and they fall in love. They love each other, but they know that someday they will be captured, tortured, and killed by the party. They knew this was inevitable because the party always found out who was against them and would capture them. They also knew that they would confess to their crimes because they would be tortured and everyone always confessed. The last step that caused the party to catch them was their trusting a man named O'Brien. They believed that they could trust him and that he was part of an organized group of people who went against the party. However, it turns out that he is a member of the secret police force and he turns them in. I have ended with the spot where Julia and Winston have been arrested.

1984 is an interesting book that is against totalitarianism. It is a warning against the government getting too powerful and taking away all the freedoms of the people, making them into thoughtless followers who just do what they are told. It is also about people who are trying to revolt against this government in any way they can, even though they know that eventually they will be caught and tortured. It is about their struggle to be who they are in a country where conformity is everything.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Brisingr Part 2

I have finished Brisingr by Christopher Paulini. I enjoyed reading it. It was a rather long book, containing 748 pages total, but it was a pretty good book. However, after reading it I kind of feel that nothing really major or has a lot significance happened until the last 100 pages or so. I think that it focused a little too much on Roran fighting, instead of what Eragon is doing to keep the story moving. I feel that Roran's battles could easily be shortened, which would allow the book to continue and get to significant events. I also feel a large part of the book is finishing up what has happened in the previous two novels. Such as Eragon and Roran killing the Raz'ac, or Eragon repaying his debts to people, and Eragon trying to correct his mistake of accidentally cursing a baby instead of blessing it (he misspoke a word in the magic language). I also believe that there are too many remaining mysteries, like what did the Menoa tree take from Eragon? And how is Eragon going to defeat the evil dictator? The dictator seems to have limitless power and Eragon can't even defeat one of the dictator's minions alone, so how is Eragon ever going to defeat the dictator? Another thing that was annoying was the stupidity of Eragon and even at sometimes Saphira. Eragon doesn't seem to think before he says things and seems to have severe difficulty having the slightest bit of control over his emotions. He continues to act irresponsibly and without thinking ahead. But what is even worse is that Saphira has started being stupid as well. She has become extremely vain and believes that she is really special and that she is the most beautiful creature in all of the land. She was also really stupid when she attacked the Menoa tree that then would have killed her and Eragon if Eragon hadn't managed to talk the tree out of killing them. However, overall the book was enjoyable to read. Because nothing to significant happened till the end, it made the book fun to read without having a need to read it and find out what happens.

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Brisingr

I have read the first 486 pages of Brisingr by Christopher Paolini. It is the newest book in the Inheritance series. I have really enjoyed reading the Eragon series, although it can be annoying how stupid Eragon can be at times. In the Inheritance series my favorite book is Eragon, however I have really enjoyed reading Brisingr so far. I plan to finish this book soon because I like the Inheritance series and I am looking forward to reading the last book of the series when it comes out. My favorite character is Saphira, the dragon that bonded with Eragon. Saphira is very powerful and intelligent, unlike Eragon. Saphira will always try and think things out and not make rash plans. She will try and be careful and won't do many stupid things. This is very unlike Eragon. Eragon always charges into battle without any idea about what to do. He constantly makes rash decisions without thinking them through thoroughly. He always binds himself to people by swearing oaths to them, so that he ends up being trapped by all the promises he has made. Eragon will also cast spells that require too much energy and nearly kill him, making it so that he has to either rely on someone else to help him, or take energy from plants and animals near by. He is also very quick to anger and take offense and he won't forgive very easily. But, Eragon does have some good points. He and Saphira are very caring and always want to help people. Together they have teamed up with another group of people, the Varden, to fight against the evil dictator of the land. They also try and help everyone however they can.

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Kicked, Bitten, and Scratched

I have read the first 170 pages of Kicked, Bitten, and Scratched by Amy Sutherland. This is a book about the world's premier school for exotic animal training. It contains the daily life of the students and what they have to do to graduate. It is amazing to read all that is happening in the book and what people are forced to do. The book starts off at the student orientation, where the students normally have to kill a pigeon by ripping its head off. However, due to an unexpected illness in the pigeons the school couldn't acquire the birds and they instead killed rats by putting them in a container and releasing toxic gas into it. This sadness is present through out the book, where animals have to be put down and students are injured. Also, there is a severe competitiveness among the students, everyone is trying to do their best and beat everyone else, people never know if they will be kicked out of the school and not be able to pursue their dream of becoming an exotic animal trainer. All the students have a pretty hard day, they have to be at the school's animal zoo promptly at 6:30am, if they are late they risk, when the time comes, to not be able to choose the animal they want to train, because the students with the best record choose their animals first. During the day they have to work nearly nonstop, they have to clean all the animal cages, make sure the animals are happy and healthy, and they have classes. While they are working temperatures easily reach over 100 degrees. The school is broken up into first years and second years. The first years have to endure, along with all their work of cleaning and classes, the hazing of the second years. Because the second years have been there longer, they have more experience and consider themselves above the first years. They will constantly show their superiority by telling first years that they haven't cleaned something well enough, or report first years that break a rule, even though the second years break many rules themselves. Furthermore, the first years can only have brief contact with the animals, not even being allowed to talk to the animals, unless given special permission, while the second years are free to talk to the animals all they want. Also, many of the students don't have much of a social life outside of the school, they don't have enough time. Many relationships ended when the person went to the school because they didn't have enough time to have a serious relationship with anyone. Furthermore the students are constantly in danger, and as the title implies, they are kicked, bitten, and scratched.
It's hard to imagine anyone who would actually go to this school, where they have to suffer two years of this grisly schedule. Especially when after all this work they won't even get a high paid job. It must take a very disciplined person who is willing to follow their dream, even though it means a lot of hard work and not very much money. After reading this book, anyone who wanted to become an exotic animal trainer would have to think twice about it. I can't imagine that the reward for being an animal trainer would be worth all of this effort, especially when you may not get paid very well for being an animal trainer.

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Wildwood Dancing

Wildwood Dancing is a 400 page book by Juliet Marillier. It is a story loosely based on the fairy tale The Twelve Dancing Princesses. It is about five sisters who live in a manor by a forest and every full moon they go to another world where they meet several magical creatures and dance. However, they have an evil cousin who is trying to take over their manor since their father had to leave for awhile to help his health. Also, the eldest sister falls in love with a person from the other world.
The protagonist in this story is the second oldest sister, Jena. She is strong-willed and a leader. She is constantly fighting her cousin so that she and her sisters can keep control of their house. Jena does not like being ordered around is portrayed as the main leader of her family. Although she is kind and compassionate and is always trying to help her sisters and make them happy, she has a very hard time letting her eldest sister Tatiana leave their world and go and live in the other magical world so that she can be with her true love. Jena can also be quick to anger and can not forgive easily. But, overall Jena is a compassionate person who only has the best interests of her sisters in mind. This is best shown when Jena allows her eldest sister to leave and go to the other world without trying to stop her. Jena's intelligence and practical sense is nice because a lot of the other characters are not as practical and wise as she is.
It seems that a lot of the problems of the book are forced onto to Jena to try and solve. It is left to Jena to try and stop her cousin from taking over their manor and from trying to attack the magical world. All of her sisters let her deal with their cousin and expect her to solve all their problems. The eldest sister, Tatiana is to busy dreaming about her boyfriend to help and another sister only cares about the pleasures of life, such as eating nice food and having fun. Another sister is in some senses smarter than Jena, because she has classes and is a scholar, and though may give some advice now and then, she still leaves all the problems to Jena. The last sister is too young to be of much help. Although this casts Jena's sisters in a bad light, they do care about Jena and are kind, and are also a lot younger then Jena, except for Tatiana. The problems also could probably be best solved by Jena anyway.

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Ithaka

Ithaka a 360 page book by Adele Geras is a novel about what was happening back in Ithaka while Odysseus was gone on his adventures for twenty years. It is a very interesting book containing many of the events that you know from the Odyssey happened in Ithaka. This included Telemachus sailing off to find information about his father, Penelope unweaving the shroud that she said she would finish and then choose a husband, and Odysseus coming back disguised as a beggar and killing all the suitors. The protagonist in the novel is Klymene, a maid to Penelope. Klymene is a character with a lot of depth, she has both good and bad qualities which make her seem very human. Klymene is a devoted maid and is always trying to help Penelope. Although Klymene is not always able to do much she is always there to give good advice and moral support to not only Penelope, but her twin brother Ikarios, and Telemachus. Klymene helps Penelope in many ways, she not only gives moral support, but she also helps to unweave the shroud, keep the affair between Penelope and Leodes a secret, and Klymene helped in Odysseus' plan of getting rid of the suitors. This shows that Klymene is a very compassionate and intelligent character, who is not afraid to do what she thinks is right. But, Klymene also has some human flaws. She is jealous of Melantho, a woman who dates Telemachus, a man Klymene has a crush on. Klymene also doesn't enjoy working in the kitchens with her grandmother and frequently tries to avoid those duties and do a more enjoyable job for her and help the queen. But, overall Klymene has an always willing to help attitude and is kind. Also, Klymene is forgiving, this is probably best shown when she is able to forgive Melantho for leading Ikarios into a fatal trap. All of these qualities make Klymene seem very real and human. She has good qualities as well as flaws that allow the reader to identify well with her character.