Week 7.5- Miniblog

Some plot twist.

Apparently when the uglies become pretties, something happens to their brains to brainwash them. Seemed pretty obvious and anticlimactic to me, since it's not even affecting them that much. It just makes them nicer and more confident, and more responsive to authority. It's not like the brainwashjng is making them evil or anything. But of course Tally reacted like it was the end of the world.

Also there's some completely random thing between Tally and David, the leader of the Smoke, and now they're like... together I guess? Even though literally a second before she said she was upset because Shay likes David, and now they're, like... making out or something? Where did that come from? But I'll talk more about that at the end of the week when I've read more.

Week 7- The Maryest of Sues

Hi! So… a lot has happened since last week. Tally is still the biggest doormat ever, but now she's a doormat on an ~ADVENTURE~.

First of all, she met some girl named Shay who was probably was voted “Most Likely To Accidentally Kill Herself” and is against the idea of making people ‘pretty' and that people before this procedure are ‘ugly.' In my opinion, Shay definitely seems more like a main character than Tally. But instead we're seeing everything from Tally's point of view because… reasons. I guess because of what happens next: Shay tells Tally about a place called the Smoke where everyone is ugly. Because Shay knows about it and Tally is an outsider like the reader, Tally is the one telling the story. That's basically it. And from what I can tell, she really is a Mary Sue, just like I predicted, but I'll get to that later.
Shay disappears, and leaves Tally some cryptic instructions to get to the Smoke if she wants. Then these random guys come out of nowhere and say, “Hey, so, you can't turn pretty until you find Shay and the Smoke because of course only you can find it. After all, even though we've totally been spying on you, there's no way we could just listen to your conversations and figure out the right directions, because that would make the problem solve itself. And of course you care enough about being pretty that you'll do it for us.” Not impressed, Scott.

So, the Mary Sue thing. I was expecting most of the book to be the epic adventure of deciphering the instructions and almost dying multiple times in a thrilling adventure that is adventurously adventurous. Instead, it took maybe five chapters and I still have about half of the book left. C'mon, Scott. Not only did it take no time, but things that should have killed her like FALLING OFF A CLIFF didn't even faze her. Now she's safely at the Smoke as a secret spy. And only one person suspects her, so of course the leader of the city defended her without knowing anything about her. And she's adjusting perfectly to a place that couldn't be more different from the only place she's ever lived. You could have TRIED making her a realistic character, Scott. Work with me here.

There seems to be a big plot twist coming up literally on the next page, though, so maybe my opinion so far will change. Overall, it's not a bad book, it's just a ‘meh' book.

Week 6- Automatomatomaton

Hey! Like I said I would, I finished The Invention of Hugo Cabret on Wednesday. I don't have that much more to say, but I wanted to talk about the ending real quick because *shivers* it was simple but incredible at the same time. Basically, Hugo talks directly to the reader and says that many years after the end of the story, he built a second automaton, and it was that automaton that wrote and illustrated the book I just finished.

OH MY GOD SELZNICK IS A GENIUS! I know I've said it a million times, but I'll say it a million more. Just… *sigh* genius.

Aaaaanyways, since I finished Hugo, I started Uglies by Scott Westerfeld. A lot of people have recommended this book to me, but I haven't given it a try. The beginning is a little slow, but it's interesting so far. The thing that hooked me almost immediately is how you're thrown into the story. That is, Tally, the main character, lives hundreds of years in the future, with advanced technology like talking rooms and bridges, hoverboards, and a coming-of-age ritual I'm slowly learning more about as she drops hints.

This works because, instead of explaining what everything is and does, she refers to the tech in passing as though the reader is expected to know, because this is the real world, so why wouldn't they? If it hadn't been executed as well, it could have been confusing, but it comes off as mysterious and intriguing, which makes me want to read more.
I have no idea if I'll finish it or even if it's going to be good, but I guess we'll see. Tally seems like a bit of a pushover, but you do you. She did crash a party, pull a fire alarm, and bungee jump to safety, so… either she's an overpowered Mary Sue or there's more to her than I thought. I've still got a lot of reading to do. Talk to you next week!

Week 5 - I'm Late!

Sorry! I completely forgot to write my blog post, so here we go.
Last (this) week, I started reading The Invention of Hugo Cabret, by Brian Selznick. This. Book. Is. Amazing. I think I read it when I was younger, but I don't remember. What I do know is that I recently watched the movie based on the book, Hugo, for about the fifth time. Because I watched it so recently, I'll often find myself thinking, “Hey, this is different.”
For one thing, Isabelle was a lot more prominent in the movie. She helped Hugo get through the movie: gave him advice, helped him escape the Station Inspector, etc. She was actually a character. In the book, she's less of a character and more of a plot device. She's a way to introduce the key Hugo needs and a way into Papa George's house. That's it. It honestly makes me kind of mad. She was such a good character in the movie, but the book it's based on didn't give her much of a role at all.
Secondly, I feel like a lot of characters and events got cut out of the movie to make room for things that don't matter or weren't in the book at all, like the Station Inspector's side of things. The actor was great and all, and it gave him more of a round character, but he's hardly in the book at all so far, so if the story flows this well just mentioning him, why did they have to cut out characters like Etienne, who is pretty cool, to make room for the Station Inspector making eyes at a florist? On the topic of Etienne, he's not super important, but he's pretty awesome. He's got an eyepatch. So yeah. Also, he helps Hugo with a bunch of stuff, burt got cut out of the movie so Isabelle could help out instead. Another thing that got cut out seems a lot more important, that being the fact that Hugo breaks his hand and Isabelle breaks her ankle. It actually causes a bunch of tension, and makes things harder for them in general.
Also, I like the way you can sort of see into Hugo's head. I see a lot of elements from the movie that didn't make as much sense, and now I see Hugo's explanations and reactions. It helps me connect more with him and the story in general.
Sorry if this is turning into a movie review.
Anyways, besides differences with the movie, this book is amazing. Like I said, there's a lot of a connection to the characters. They're very relatable and interesting. But the thing that really draws me to this book is the illustrations. I mean, wow. Selznick did all of the drawings, and there are so many of them. Every single one is gorgeous. What I love about this is , a) pencil sketches are my aesthetic and b) the way the words and pictures are intertwined is incredible. The only other book I've seen do this is Wonderstruck. Every time I see this form of storytelling, it gives me chills. Somehow, even without words, the story is understood perfectly. And when there are words, they don't feel out of place. Selznick is seriously a genius. If I can find more of his books, you can be sure I'll write about them here.
The thing about this book is that, even though it's 500+ pages, it's something that doesn't take long to read because at least a third of those pages are illustrations, and some pages without illustrations aren't even a full page. It's awesome, but it means that after this week I'll probably finish it. Talk to you then!

Week 4- The Finale

If you've read the title, you might have guessed what happened... I finished Conversion! Yay!
So, a few things.
First: my prediction about Wheez was wrong. Completely, utterly wrong. She had absolutely no purpose in the story. What the heck, Katherine.

Second: It was exactly the kind of ending I was hoping I wouldn't get. Which is, open-ended. In some cases, they're cool. And the way it was written was very interesting in the moment, but at the same time, not really as satisfying as some other open-ended books I've read.

Third: Because of this open ending, it's kind of unclear what's happening and what the true reasoning behind the events were. I think I mentioned last week that Colleen seemed unsure of the true reason for the Mystery Illness. She saw the parallels between the girls at her school and the girls in The Crucible, but at first she thought everyone was faking, but towards then end experts diagnosed the symptoms as conversion disorder (ha, ha, Katherine. Nice title drop), an actual illness. Colleen, because of how her symptoms had started around one of her (frankly kind of forgettable) friends, Emma, when she was upset, decided that this was being caused by Emma, either on purpose or without knowing, and it sure feels that way. The thing is, though, that because it's told from the point of view of a girl who, according to experts, has a mental health issue, we can't actually know if the glowing eyes or energy emanating from Emma are real or in her mind: that's the problem with an unreliable narrator. Plus, the story ends with a motif from Ann's story. There's a yellow bird (like the one on the cover. We get it, Katherine, you're very clever).

I'm guessing this implies that everything really was caused by witchcraft. But then it cuts to an epilogue with Ann, who admits that she was lying about being attacked by witches. So it's all kind of confusing and not very satisfying.
I think that was everything I wanted to talk about in the finale, so there you go! Thanks very much for reading. I'll be starting a new book, and I'll tell you about that either this week or next week, depending on how I feel! Bye~

Week 3- Oh, Quiznak

I didn't see a theme this week, but it doesn't matter that much since I wasn't gonna stick to it very well anyways. I'm aaaalmost done with Conversion, and there was stuff I thought I had figured out that, just as I was about to call it, got disproved. Howe is awesome at not being predictable--or rather, at making you think she's predictable and then--BAM!-- whacking you upside the head with originality! Like when I think the suspicious substitute teacher is the one sending mysterious texts, and then she denies it, and then she says she is and AUGH Howe is such a good writer. She knows how to suck you in to the scene without trying to describe every detail like I sometimes fall into the habit of doing. In fact, most of the time, she leaves out details like who's speaking, and instead of being confusing, it just kind of adds to the spooky mood. So cool!

Anyways, things are starting to get really crazy. At first I didn't understand the connection between Ann and Colleen: there didn't seem to be any parallel in the stories or even in the time span that everything on their sides of the story were happening.

But now I can see that Ann's story is a version of what happened during the Witch trials in a way that relates to the illness. It's interesting how Howe's been dropping hints the entire time, without even my over-analyzing brain figuring it out. I had my doubts that the girls were faking, especially when they seemed to lose their symptoms completely at one point, but it seemed like that wasn't the right answer somehow. It was too easy to reach that conclusion.
But then Colleen of all people starts feeling symptoms, at first just a headache, and I knew it was coming and then it came and she got sick too, which meant no one was faking after all! Called it! Only everyone but her seems to think it's the girls' brains tricking them into having symptoms. Which I guess makes sense, since why would they trust the opinion of a teenage girl with no medical training? But everything is still really weird. I honestly have no idea what's going to happen next.

But the thing that really interests me is about Ann's story. All of the girls, from what I can tell, are the actual ones from the Salem Witch trials, and the story is based on their accounts of what happened. What interests me is that, even though it started out as pretend, and it only continued so they wouldn't get in trouble for lying, now they're acting like they really believe it, and even Tituba, the slave they accused of bewitching them seems to be either truly believing it or completely out of her mind. It's hard to tell what's real and what's not, especially now that Colleen is feeling symptoms, and it really is scary now, with real suspense and mystery. Exactly what I was looking for!

I really love Howe's style of writing, and I think it's her style that helps create this mood, combined with her interesting word choice. Not to mention the idea of an unreliable narrator, which both Colleen and Ann may or may not be. It's creepy not knowing if the person whose eyes you're seeing through is really seeing what you think they are.
In conclusion, I'll probably finish this book by the end of next week, but until then, just know that I am seriously freaking out. Keep being awesome!