Life and Art

After watching the film, Jane Austen's Book Club, I can say that I now understand the concept of what it means for life to imitate art. For example, did you know that there really is a meth kingpin named Walter White?!?! No wonder drama television shows are so good, there based off of real life relatable scenarios. But back to the movie, interestingly enough all the characters embodied characteristics of Austen's famous characters with a modern twist. One lady was searching for love from a much younger boy, another refused to accept love and always insisted on helping out others than focus on herself. But with Jane's book each character was able to cope with the struggles in life and seek out happiness by closely analyzing Jane's principles.

Out Of My Comfort Zone

The 19th Century and Science Fiction

Up until a few days ago the only book I had read written in the 19th century was "Persuasion" by Jane Austen and I was so impressed with the " old english" writting style and imagination that I never picked up another one of her boooks again. Seriously though, I did enjoy the book but the amount of times I had to pick up a dictionary just to understand one sentence was annoying. When it came to reading "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" I was once again impressed with the creativity of the story line but I also find myself a bit bored. There were times where certain scenes in the book were just so predictable that it took the suspense out of the mystery but yet again this novel is considered premature to the 21st century horror/mystery flicks and stories one is used to seeing or hearing.

All in all the novel was brilliantly written and yes I would recommend the novel to others but only to those who enjoy classics and don't mind picking up a dictionary every couple of sentences. 

What Did I Think

Orphan Train & Mrs.Kline

Earlier this week, an author visited my school to talk about her latest novel, Orphan Train.
Just a little background information  on the author and the plot of the story: Christina Baker Kline is an American novelist who lives in New Jersey. She has authored five novels, including the #1 New York Times bestseller Orphan Train( which is set to have a film adaptation sometime in the future), and has co-authored five non-fiction books. Orphan Train, is a tale about hardship and loneliness of  troubled teen, Molly Ayer and Vivian Daly  and their  search for closure and acceptance in society. Mrs. Klien's visit was educational in a sense that her presentation was factual and  somewhat personal(i.e father-in -law inspired one of characters into existence), but to be honest most of the presentation was like sitting in a history class.

My opinion of the novel is not so positive but that's not to say I thought it was a bad book all together. I felt as though the incorporation of actual American History into Vivian's childhood was cool and necessary. The author really took her time to thoroughly explain the events that lead up to and behind the existence of Orphan trains  during the 1920s, rather than just assume that every reader was educated in a particular area. On the other hand, like in most books I do believe that there a some parts that could have been left out or expanded on  such as Molly's relationship with her mother, all we know is that she's in jail.