Book: After by Francine Prose
Do any incidents, ideas, or actions in this work remind you of your own life or something that happened to you? Explain.
The constant surveillance, mysterious disappearances, and robotic parents/management at the school reminded me immediately of the last programming job I had. The owner of the company was a security/surveillance expert and was keeping tabs on all the employees. This made every interaction with him and other management super unsettling, and eventually was one of the reasons I didn't fight it when I was essentially told to quit. I think the advantages and disadvantages of surveillance and security systems are a highly complicated issue, and I liked that this book posed the question.
What qualities of which character strikes you as a good characteristic to develop within yourself over the years? Why? How does the character demonstrate this quality?
I liked the main character of this book, Tom. He was always asking questions, never accepting things at face value, and saw what was really going on before anyone else. I try to be aware of what forces can be influencing me at any given time, but I'm always striving to understand them even better than I do. It sounds like victim blaming, but often we are responsible for our own ignorance when people take advantage of us. It has happened to me enough over time that I always hope I am wary enough to recognize it.
Sunday, September 25, 2016
Wednesday, September 14, 2016
Reader Response 3
Book: Paolo Bacigalupi, Ship Breaker, Chapters 20-25 (end)
How did this work make you feel? Explain.
Most of this book felt very suffocating and mechanical to me, which was fitting given that the characters were all living off scavenging ship parts. Most of the characters were morally reprehensible, but as I said a few posts ago, justified in their actions given their desperate circumstances. It was difficult to get invested in anybody's story, even Nailer's. This made me feel like I could not trust anybody, and the climax of the story involving patricide but making it clear this was perfectly okay at every turn did nothing to lift the mood. As a result of the book's atmosphere, I ended up being more interested in the lore, wanting to know where the swanks (wealthy people not scavenging) are living, why some of the mutants are not tied to masters and some are, and what series of crises led to the world being in this state.
If you were a teacher, would you want to share this work with your students? Why or why not?
Although I was not a huge fan of Ship Breaker, I would be fine with students selecting it for independent reading. One of the biggest problems I had was that several plot threads are left loose for the sequel, and the book is also quite long, so I would have trouble fitting it in to a busy school year. Also, I think the morality in the story is not delved into deeply enough for me to want to teach it, and the reading level seemed quite a bit higher than I would expect many students to be at outside of 11th-12th grade Honors. Students seeking an action-packed dystopian novel with a lot of gritty scenery and dialogue might enjoy it, and I'd encourage them to read it.
How did this work make you feel? Explain.
Most of this book felt very suffocating and mechanical to me, which was fitting given that the characters were all living off scavenging ship parts. Most of the characters were morally reprehensible, but as I said a few posts ago, justified in their actions given their desperate circumstances. It was difficult to get invested in anybody's story, even Nailer's. This made me feel like I could not trust anybody, and the climax of the story involving patricide but making it clear this was perfectly okay at every turn did nothing to lift the mood. As a result of the book's atmosphere, I ended up being more interested in the lore, wanting to know where the swanks (wealthy people not scavenging) are living, why some of the mutants are not tied to masters and some are, and what series of crises led to the world being in this state.
If you were a teacher, would you want to share this work with your students? Why or why not?
Although I was not a huge fan of Ship Breaker, I would be fine with students selecting it for independent reading. One of the biggest problems I had was that several plot threads are left loose for the sequel, and the book is also quite long, so I would have trouble fitting it in to a busy school year. Also, I think the morality in the story is not delved into deeply enough for me to want to teach it, and the reading level seemed quite a bit higher than I would expect many students to be at outside of 11th-12th grade Honors. Students seeking an action-packed dystopian novel with a lot of gritty scenery and dialogue might enjoy it, and I'd encourage them to read it.
Sunday, September 11, 2016
Reader Response 2
Book: Paolo Bacigalupi, Ship Breaker, Chapters 8-19
Overall, what kind of feeling did you have after reading a few paragraphs of this work? Midway? After finishing this work?
Initially, I was a little bored and waiting for the plot to really kick off. I understand now that the author was simply trying to establish the setting, but i felt like the early parts of the book might have been a little jargon-heavy. The overall writing style of the book is sound, though. Midway, I felt like the story was becoming a little too generic, though there were nice touches here and there. Toward the end (I didn't finish) I was growing somewhat tired of action sequences and wanted to get back to the strong character development that had been present in the middle of the story.
Do you like this piece of work? Why or why not?
There are aspects of Ship Breaker that I like: particularly, I liked the survival elements of the story and a lot of the earlier scenes with Nailer talking about his crew and meeting Nita. I also appreciated that the characters were not overly nice to each other and realistic about their situations. However, I was much less of a fan of the setting and general plot of the novel. At this point, I have read so many post-apocalypse stories that it is hard for a new one to stand out from the pack, and this one felt like Cowboy Bebop on earth mixed with a Walking Dead volume. The setting of New Orleans II was something that seemed like it was envisioned for an inevitable film adaptation, and I did not get a clear enough sense of how the city looked or felt within the novel. Though the author tries to make it seem like all of the villains are doing bad things because they are in a bad situation, I actually felt like they were a little over the top, particularly Lopez's gang. The shift in plot to trying to protect Nita also felt like a damsel in distress scenario that came out of nowhere and was belittling of a character who initially seemed quite capable of taking care of herself. I would not be opposed to finishing the novel, though I ran out of time, but I am not sure I could recommend it to others unless they are new to the genre/setting.
Overall, what kind of feeling did you have after reading a few paragraphs of this work? Midway? After finishing this work?
Initially, I was a little bored and waiting for the plot to really kick off. I understand now that the author was simply trying to establish the setting, but i felt like the early parts of the book might have been a little jargon-heavy. The overall writing style of the book is sound, though. Midway, I felt like the story was becoming a little too generic, though there were nice touches here and there. Toward the end (I didn't finish) I was growing somewhat tired of action sequences and wanted to get back to the strong character development that had been present in the middle of the story.
Do you like this piece of work? Why or why not?
There are aspects of Ship Breaker that I like: particularly, I liked the survival elements of the story and a lot of the earlier scenes with Nailer talking about his crew and meeting Nita. I also appreciated that the characters were not overly nice to each other and realistic about their situations. However, I was much less of a fan of the setting and general plot of the novel. At this point, I have read so many post-apocalypse stories that it is hard for a new one to stand out from the pack, and this one felt like Cowboy Bebop on earth mixed with a Walking Dead volume. The setting of New Orleans II was something that seemed like it was envisioned for an inevitable film adaptation, and I did not get a clear enough sense of how the city looked or felt within the novel. Though the author tries to make it seem like all of the villains are doing bad things because they are in a bad situation, I actually felt like they were a little over the top, particularly Lopez's gang. The shift in plot to trying to protect Nita also felt like a damsel in distress scenario that came out of nowhere and was belittling of a character who initially seemed quite capable of taking care of herself. I would not be opposed to finishing the novel, though I ran out of time, but I am not sure I could recommend it to others unless they are new to the genre/setting.
Tuesday, September 6, 2016
Reader Response 1
Book: Paolo Bacigalupi, Ship Breaker, Chapters 1-7
This week I'll respond to some of the RR questions from our class handouts, selected using a random number generator.
If you could be any character in this work, who would you be? Explain.
I did not connect to many of the characters in this book, at least up to this point, but I would probably act the most like Sloth in this setting. Sloth attempts to take advantage of a bad situation, stabbing Nailer in the back and potentially getting him killed for her own benefit. In a post-apocalyptic situation, I'm not sure I'd find much time for sympathy when I have to chance to get lots of resources. I liked that she still threw Nailer a water bottle so he could try and save himself, so she isn't entirely a monster, but she made the logical choice not to actively help him get out of the oil pit. Of course, once she got found out, she was in real trouble, but that's the risk you take.
What character did you dislike? Why?
Initially, I was not fond of Moon Girl, who seemed like a very token Indian character, all concerned with spiritualism and obsessed with telling people about Hindu stories. She becomes a background character very quickly, though, and my feelings shifted to disliking Nailer's father, Richard Lopez. He is a deadbeat to a near comical degree, and I feel like his role in the story is either going to be very limited or a constant annoyance. We still don't know much about him at this point, but his violent tendencies toward Nailer paint him as very unsympathetic, while Nailer remains attached to him out of their familial bond.
This week I'll respond to some of the RR questions from our class handouts, selected using a random number generator.
If you could be any character in this work, who would you be? Explain.
I did not connect to many of the characters in this book, at least up to this point, but I would probably act the most like Sloth in this setting. Sloth attempts to take advantage of a bad situation, stabbing Nailer in the back and potentially getting him killed for her own benefit. In a post-apocalyptic situation, I'm not sure I'd find much time for sympathy when I have to chance to get lots of resources. I liked that she still threw Nailer a water bottle so he could try and save himself, so she isn't entirely a monster, but she made the logical choice not to actively help him get out of the oil pit. Of course, once she got found out, she was in real trouble, but that's the risk you take.
What character did you dislike? Why?
Initially, I was not fond of Moon Girl, who seemed like a very token Indian character, all concerned with spiritualism and obsessed with telling people about Hindu stories. She becomes a background character very quickly, though, and my feelings shifted to disliking Nailer's father, Richard Lopez. He is a deadbeat to a near comical degree, and I feel like his role in the story is either going to be very limited or a constant annoyance. We still don't know much about him at this point, but his violent tendencies toward Nailer paint him as very unsympathetic, while Nailer remains attached to him out of their familial bond.
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