One of the greatest changes in the storyline so far has been Claire's active social life. She is now involved with the bartender. She has a lot of mixed feelings about being close to him, or even just spending time with him because of her deceased husband. When is it right to start seeing other people after the death of a spouse/significant other?
Claire's children also feel a need to be taken into consideration when it comes to their mother spending so much time with another man. They often ask her if she has kissed Frank or not, which causes Claire to question if persuing a new relationship is too soon. In fear of losing their mother, her kids (as well as a family friend's child--their family issues too are numerous)set up a back up plan, saving money and medication and making blueprints of the house that they are going to build in case their mother marries Frank and they have to be all on their own.
Claire's best friend, Donna, is also having marritial issues of her own, dealing with her drunk husband who is emotionally absent from the lives of both her and her children. Donna and Claire spend a lot of time at the local bar, where Claire's husband used to spend a large amount of his time, drinking his life away, and Claire would often come pay the tab and take him home. Arnold (Claire's now desceased husband) spent so much time at the bar, spilling all events that were happening at his home, with his wife, and with his children to the bartender, Frank.It seemed as if Frank already knew Claire, making it near impossible for her not to fall in love with someone who understood her so well with her putting little effort into the relationship.
I certainly hope that Claire does not give up on the relationship with Frank, despite the opinions of her children. I think that this is truly what Claire needs to help her move on and get the optimal closure from her husband's suicide.
Showing posts with label Outside Reading2. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Outside Reading2. Show all posts
Saturday, January 5, 2008
[Post A Week 7]
VOCABULARY:
indignant(168): feeling or showing anger or annoyance
pointedly (189): expressing criticism in a direct
FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE:
(1) "Kate's tiny red head bobbed like a buoy." (208)
This is an example of figurative language because Hornbacher is comparing Kate's head to a buoy using like or as--making it a similie.
(2) "Kate, Esau and Davey dangled off the furniture like melted candy." (203)
This is an example of figurative language because Kate, Esau and Davey aren't acutally melted candy. Hornbacher is making a comparison to better help the reader a better picture of how they behaved during the summer when it was hot. It is a similie because of the use of 'like' or 'as'.
(3)"They shruged in unison. They were like a two-headed monster."(172)
This too is an example of figurative language because Kate and Davey is not the name of a two headed monster, rather this is just how they looked because they behaved in unison.
SIGNIFICANT QUOTE:
" 'Tell you one thing,' he said, shaking his head. 'We don't get along so good, but I sure did love your momma. Time was, I'll tell you.' He put his arm on the back of the couch and petted Davey's head. 'I sure did.' He looked at Davey to see how he took this. 'Easy to love a woman,' he said. 'Not so easy, getting her to love you. See how it is?' " (260)
PROBABLE THEME:
The passage of grief and moving on after a family tragedy, and how it affects each minute of every passing day.
indignant(168): feeling or showing anger or annoyance
pointedly (189): expressing criticism in a direct
FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE:
(1) "Kate's tiny red head bobbed like a buoy." (208)
This is an example of figurative language because Hornbacher is comparing Kate's head to a buoy using like or as--making it a similie.
(2) "Kate, Esau and Davey dangled off the furniture like melted candy." (203)
This is an example of figurative language because Kate, Esau and Davey aren't acutally melted candy. Hornbacher is making a comparison to better help the reader a better picture of how they behaved during the summer when it was hot. It is a similie because of the use of 'like' or 'as'.
(3)"They shruged in unison. They were like a two-headed monster."(172)
This too is an example of figurative language because Kate and Davey is not the name of a two headed monster, rather this is just how they looked because they behaved in unison.
SIGNIFICANT QUOTE:
" 'Tell you one thing,' he said, shaking his head. 'We don't get along so good, but I sure did love your momma. Time was, I'll tell you.' He put his arm on the back of the couch and petted Davey's head. 'I sure did.' He looked at Davey to see how he took this. 'Easy to love a woman,' he said. 'Not so easy, getting her to love you. See how it is?' " (260)
PROBABLE THEME:
The passage of grief and moving on after a family tragedy, and how it affects each minute of every passing day.
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
[Post B Week 6]
Dear Esau,
I cannot believe that your mother and father would send you away to be taken care of. Clearly, you were doing fine and school was not a problem, after all, you had Kate there looking out for you. If only you knew the things that have occured while you have been gone. First of all, your mother and father got into very significant arguments. They both would drink themselves silly and then argue. Your poor sister had a very difficult time listening to them argue, that sometimes she'd have nightmares. What you won't know for a long time, is that your father comitted suicide. He just couldn't take it anymore, and your mother found him. She is very hurt, with everything reminding her of him. The smell of his clothing made her dizzy with loneliness. Your house was crowded with many visitors, bearing gifts in rememberance of your father. Soon your mother will come to your care facility and take you home. Although it is against the will of your facility and thier pyschologists, her isntinct is telling her to bring you home. Hopefully then, she will tell you about where your father really is.
-:-caitlin-:-
I cannot believe that your mother and father would send you away to be taken care of. Clearly, you were doing fine and school was not a problem, after all, you had Kate there looking out for you. If only you knew the things that have occured while you have been gone. First of all, your mother and father got into very significant arguments. They both would drink themselves silly and then argue. Your poor sister had a very difficult time listening to them argue, that sometimes she'd have nightmares. What you won't know for a long time, is that your father comitted suicide. He just couldn't take it anymore, and your mother found him. She is very hurt, with everything reminding her of him. The smell of his clothing made her dizzy with loneliness. Your house was crowded with many visitors, bearing gifts in rememberance of your father. Soon your mother will come to your care facility and take you home. Although it is against the will of your facility and thier pyschologists, her isntinct is telling her to bring you home. Hopefully then, she will tell you about where your father really is.
-:-caitlin-:-
[Post A Week 6]
bewildered (123): completely puzzled or confused; perplexed.
highboy (121): a tall chest of drawers on legs
EMOTIONAL APPEALS:
"She returned, holding her hands as if they were covered in something dity."(116)
Kate's hand are not acutally dirty, but her mother is describing the way she carried them when she walked in the room.
"We visited him on Sundays, as faithful as churchgoers." (121)
They didn't go to church, but often the churchgoers go ever faithfully. Instead of going to church faithfully, they visited their the husband/father's gravesight.
"So we swam through the ark, in the car, with his voice like his hands, giding me, keeping me afloat." (129)
Esau and his father aren't in a swimming pool or a lake or even by water. They are driving to Esau's treatment center in the dark and Esau describes it as he feels like he's swimming and his father's lovingness is keeping him afloat.
PROBABLE THEME:
The way one death has a complte ripple effect, as well as the way ecach individual grieves. Death can bring both togetherness and solitude from those who loved the desceased one.
highboy (121): a tall chest of drawers on legs
EMOTIONAL APPEALS:
"She returned, holding her hands as if they were covered in something dity."(116)
Kate's hand are not acutally dirty, but her mother is describing the way she carried them when she walked in the room.
"We visited him on Sundays, as faithful as churchgoers." (121)
They didn't go to church, but often the churchgoers go ever faithfully. Instead of going to church faithfully, they visited their the husband/father's gravesight.
"So we swam through the ark, in the car, with his voice like his hands, giding me, keeping me afloat." (129)
Esau and his father aren't in a swimming pool or a lake or even by water. They are driving to Esau's treatment center in the dark and Esau describes it as he feels like he's swimming and his father's lovingness is keeping him afloat.
PROBABLE THEME:
The way one death has a complte ripple effect, as well as the way ecach individual grieves. Death can bring both togetherness and solitude from those who loved the desceased one.
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
[Post B Week 5]
Sometimes I wonder if the timing of a death can have different effects on the period of grieving and moving on.
If a death ocurs in the spring, I would think that healing time would be a decent period of time, but not extensively, because it is much more difficult to be sad when there are flowers blooming and the days are getting longer and the weather is getting warmer. It's natural to be happier with more exposure to light--especially sunlight
If a death occurs in the summer, I think that grieving would be the shortest. The temperatures are nice and high, and the days are so long! It's hard not to spend time outside, and the Vitamin D would naturally raise your mood.
If a death occurs in the fall, it would be a more difficult grieving time. The leaves are falling off the tress and it gets kind of windy. The temperatures are getting crispy, and the days get shorter. Almost as if the light is closing in on you.
If a death occurs in the winter, the grieving time would be the most difficult. The snow puts a blanket of silence, and there is essentially very few daylight hours. The cold, sub-zero temperatures Minnesota so kindly drops in our laps make it hard to find joy. In winter, the light does close in on you...if you let it, I guess.
That is why, in the book The Center of Winter, I think that the grieving is so much more difficult. Claire and Kate are nearly suffocated underneath the dead of winter. I'm curious to the degree of how much different the grieving behaviors would have been.
If a death ocurs in the spring, I would think that healing time would be a decent period of time, but not extensively, because it is much more difficult to be sad when there are flowers blooming and the days are getting longer and the weather is getting warmer. It's natural to be happier with more exposure to light--especially sunlight
If a death occurs in the summer, I think that grieving would be the shortest. The temperatures are nice and high, and the days are so long! It's hard not to spend time outside, and the Vitamin D would naturally raise your mood.
If a death occurs in the fall, it would be a more difficult grieving time. The leaves are falling off the tress and it gets kind of windy. The temperatures are getting crispy, and the days get shorter. Almost as if the light is closing in on you.
If a death occurs in the winter, the grieving time would be the most difficult. The snow puts a blanket of silence, and there is essentially very few daylight hours. The cold, sub-zero temperatures Minnesota so kindly drops in our laps make it hard to find joy. In winter, the light does close in on you...if you let it, I guess.
That is why, in the book The Center of Winter, I think that the grieving is so much more difficult. Claire and Kate are nearly suffocated underneath the dead of winter. I'm curious to the degree of how much different the grieving behaviors would have been.
[Post A Week 5]
belatedly(115): old-fashioned; out-of-date
fatback(116): the fat and fat meat from the upper part of a side of pork, usually cured by salt.
EMOTIONAL APPEALS:
"[...]and trees waving their arms."(102)
The trees don't really have arms, but the author gives them personification by saying that their arms (branches) were waving in the wind of a storm.
"I felt as if I'd swallowed something warm and huge, like a child."(104)
This is how Claire says she feels after eating a bunch of sweet potatoes in sorrow for the death of her husband. When she wakes up, she explains the way her stomach feels with as if she swallowed a child, which is dark and twisty, but her husband comitted suicide. She's allowed to be.
"The corners were buried in snowdrifts of dark." (115)
The dark cannot acutally bury a corner, but it gives the reader a feel for just how dark it is.
PROBABLE THEME:
The way one death has a complte ripple effect, as well as the way ecach individual grieves. Death can bring both togetherness and solitude from those who loved the desceased one.
fatback(116): the fat and fat meat from the upper part of a side of pork, usually cured by salt.
EMOTIONAL APPEALS:
"[...]and trees waving their arms."(102)
The trees don't really have arms, but the author gives them personification by saying that their arms (branches) were waving in the wind of a storm.
"I felt as if I'd swallowed something warm and huge, like a child."(104)
This is how Claire says she feels after eating a bunch of sweet potatoes in sorrow for the death of her husband. When she wakes up, she explains the way her stomach feels with as if she swallowed a child, which is dark and twisty, but her husband comitted suicide. She's allowed to be.
"The corners were buried in snowdrifts of dark." (115)
The dark cannot acutally bury a corner, but it gives the reader a feel for just how dark it is.
PROBABLE THEME:
The way one death has a complte ripple effect, as well as the way ecach individual grieves. Death can bring both togetherness and solitude from those who loved the desceased one.
Sunday, December 2, 2007
[Post B Week 4]
After Kate's father commits suicide, the long funeral process begins immediately. Neighbors come over bearing casseroles and other hot dishes, as well as flowers. Listening to Claire discuss her emotions and happenings at the funeral immediately brought memoires of the funerals I've attended throughout my life.
Just the thought of a funeral gives me a feeling of pterodactyls in my stomach. Unlike butterflies, pterodactyl are evil, and gut wrenching, with their beaks tearing out your insides. At each funeral I've been to, essentially, the only thing that varies is the person who passed away. The most recent funeral I've attended was for one of my grandfather-like figures in my life. Papa Dave and his wife, Joann (who I had fondly nicknamed Bobes), babysat me when my parents worked. Every morning since I was 3 months old, I would get dropped of at Papa Dave's and Bobes' house. I credit my happy childhood with their personalized attention that I got all day. As I got older, their daycare was no longer needed. Papa Dave retired from his job as a cop, they moved south....about an hour away from Red Wing. I saw them during the summer and on some breaks, and they always came for my birthday. I loved staying with Joann and Papa Dave, and I espeically loved this little vanity that he made for his niece. Its ironic that the vanity he made for me was proably the last thing he made. Long story attempted to be shortened, Papa Dave battled for a long time with brain cancer, and in the final stages, I avoided seeing him, because he was no longer the Papa Dave that I love.
Papa Dave passed away peacefully.The funeral followed 3 days later. Funerals are so difficult. I personally think that the hardest part is when a family member gives the euology. Watching them try to give a speech without bursting into tears is something I can relate to, because when I was 10 years old I had to give a speech at my grandmother's funeral. I found it heartbreaking to see all the pictures, and the smudged make up of the wife, daughters, and sisters. The funeral is just a landmark of healing, and even moving on, from the death of a loved one.
Overall, funerals mean pain. It means that someone is gone forever, someones love, husband/wife, sister/brother, grandmother/father, niece/nephew.
I admire Claire's courage through the funeral. I know more than well just how hard funerals are, whether you are giving a speech, standing at the gravesite years later, or just a family member or friend there for support.
Just the thought of a funeral gives me a feeling of pterodactyls in my stomach. Unlike butterflies, pterodactyl are evil, and gut wrenching, with their beaks tearing out your insides. At each funeral I've been to, essentially, the only thing that varies is the person who passed away. The most recent funeral I've attended was for one of my grandfather-like figures in my life. Papa Dave and his wife, Joann (who I had fondly nicknamed Bobes), babysat me when my parents worked. Every morning since I was 3 months old, I would get dropped of at Papa Dave's and Bobes' house. I credit my happy childhood with their personalized attention that I got all day. As I got older, their daycare was no longer needed. Papa Dave retired from his job as a cop, they moved south....about an hour away from Red Wing. I saw them during the summer and on some breaks, and they always came for my birthday. I loved staying with Joann and Papa Dave, and I espeically loved this little vanity that he made for his niece. Its ironic that the vanity he made for me was proably the last thing he made. Long story attempted to be shortened, Papa Dave battled for a long time with brain cancer, and in the final stages, I avoided seeing him, because he was no longer the Papa Dave that I love.
Papa Dave passed away peacefully.The funeral followed 3 days later. Funerals are so difficult. I personally think that the hardest part is when a family member gives the euology. Watching them try to give a speech without bursting into tears is something I can relate to, because when I was 10 years old I had to give a speech at my grandmother's funeral. I found it heartbreaking to see all the pictures, and the smudged make up of the wife, daughters, and sisters. The funeral is just a landmark of healing, and even moving on, from the death of a loved one.
Overall, funerals mean pain. It means that someone is gone forever, someones love, husband/wife, sister/brother, grandmother/father, niece/nephew.
I admire Claire's courage through the funeral. I know more than well just how hard funerals are, whether you are giving a speech, standing at the gravesite years later, or just a family member or friend there for support.
[Post A Week 4]
VOCABULARY:
viscerally(96): proceeding from instinct rather than intellect
harlequin (97): fancifully varied in color, decoration
FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE:
"Her sharp blue eyes met mine, as if she were looking for something."(88)
Claire is describing Kate's eyes, and the adjective "sharp" doesnt mean "pointy". It means more of a direct, or intense, blue-eyed look.
"Night hovered just over the horizon, the thick dark hesitating at the edge of town." (93)
This sentence gives night a little bit of human characteristics, because night cannot acutally hover, and dark cannot be thick or cannot hesitate. The author chooses to give the night and dark human characteristics so the reader can more easily imagine the night.
"Then you disperse like a shattered atom." (96)
This is an example of a similie, used at Mr. Schiller's funeral. Claire feels amost disbelief that her husband is in a box at the front of a church, and as she walks down the aisle to her husband's casket, talks about "dispersing like a shattered atom".
PROBABLE THEME:
The way one death has a complte ripple effect, as well as the way ecach individual grieves.
viscerally(96): proceeding from instinct rather than intellect
harlequin (97): fancifully varied in color, decoration
FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE:
"Her sharp blue eyes met mine, as if she were looking for something."(88)
Claire is describing Kate's eyes, and the adjective "sharp" doesnt mean "pointy". It means more of a direct, or intense, blue-eyed look.
"Night hovered just over the horizon, the thick dark hesitating at the edge of town." (93)
This sentence gives night a little bit of human characteristics, because night cannot acutally hover, and dark cannot be thick or cannot hesitate. The author chooses to give the night and dark human characteristics so the reader can more easily imagine the night.
"Then you disperse like a shattered atom." (96)
This is an example of a similie, used at Mr. Schiller's funeral. Claire feels amost disbelief that her husband is in a box at the front of a church, and as she walks down the aisle to her husband's casket, talks about "dispersing like a shattered atom".
PROBABLE THEME:
The way one death has a complte ripple effect, as well as the way ecach individual grieves.
Monday, November 26, 2007
[Post B Week 3]
During this section of the book, the father in the Schiller family commits suicide. His suicide changes the family and their ways greatly. There is little explanation behind his suicide, and when Claire is asked why she thinks her husband committed suicide, she says, "He was sad." This is clearly the great loss of the family that is described in the synopsis. I think suicide brings different emotions to individuals based on personal experience.
In my humble opinion, I think that suicide is very selfish. I also understand that suicide is very serious. I know that people who have this kind of issue feel like they are often alone and the world is against them, which is a probable skewed perception. However, when an individual follows through with the act of suicide, their issues do not evaporate into thin air. Instead, they are dumped into the laps of their loved ones. The loved ones have little explanation, and are left hanging. Even though suicide notes can offer closure to the parents, the siblings, the friends, the significant others, the true reasoning behind the choice to follow through can never be unearthed. Also, it shouldn't take a suicide to realize just how many loved ones that were there to support this individual. That is why I firmly believe in never ending a conversation on a bitter note, and I think it is important to always tell the people that you love that you love them. In any time of loneliness and hopelessness, I would rather a friend call me because they know that I love and care about them than turn to an extreme measure such as self harm, or even suicide.
What are your thoughts on suicide?
In my humble opinion, I think that suicide is very selfish. I also understand that suicide is very serious. I know that people who have this kind of issue feel like they are often alone and the world is against them, which is a probable skewed perception. However, when an individual follows through with the act of suicide, their issues do not evaporate into thin air. Instead, they are dumped into the laps of their loved ones. The loved ones have little explanation, and are left hanging. Even though suicide notes can offer closure to the parents, the siblings, the friends, the significant others, the true reasoning behind the choice to follow through can never be unearthed. Also, it shouldn't take a suicide to realize just how many loved ones that were there to support this individual. That is why I firmly believe in never ending a conversation on a bitter note, and I think it is important to always tell the people that you love that you love them. In any time of loneliness and hopelessness, I would rather a friend call me because they know that I love and care about them than turn to an extreme measure such as self harm, or even suicide.
What are your thoughts on suicide?
[Post A Week 3]
VOCABULARY:
commune (65): to converse or talk together, usually with profound intensity, intimacy
biddy (83): a chicken OR a newly hatched chick.
FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE:
"Spring twitches impatiently in its seat like a child wanting to go outside, straining towards summer..." (79)
This is a very good similie, and an excellent description of how the seasons are changing. It is good to see some brightness and a chance for things to look up after Katie's father's suicide.
" 'Scritchy kisses!' she strieked. i could see them without even looking, rubbing their cheeks together, lips pursed, like a pair of fish" (85)
Opa, Katie's paternal grandfather is trying to give Kate the utmost amount of love possible, due to her father's suicide. Kate's mom, Claire describes it as Kate is so sad that she doesn't even know (how sad she is) how much sadness she even feels for this loss. This is a similie, when Opa was kissing Kate.
"She surveyed her crowded kitchen, the refrigerator and freezer having long since run out of space and spilled over with covered dishes that took up every inch of counter space." (90) This is very descripitive language, because the the refigerator and freezer cannot "spill" so it's giing a different characteristic to the fridge and freezer. Hornbacher is talking about how because of the father's death, the enire town comes over with hot dishes and food to help the family mourn.
PROBABLE THEME:
I think the theme is how one family tragedy(crisis) really shows the different coping mechanisms as individuals, and as the entire family after, in this case, a suicide.
commune (65): to converse or talk together, usually with profound intensity, intimacy
biddy (83): a chicken OR a newly hatched chick.
FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE:
"Spring twitches impatiently in its seat like a child wanting to go outside, straining towards summer..." (79)
This is a very good similie, and an excellent description of how the seasons are changing. It is good to see some brightness and a chance for things to look up after Katie's father's suicide.
" 'Scritchy kisses!' she strieked. i could see them without even looking, rubbing their cheeks together, lips pursed, like a pair of fish" (85)
Opa, Katie's paternal grandfather is trying to give Kate the utmost amount of love possible, due to her father's suicide. Kate's mom, Claire describes it as Kate is so sad that she doesn't even know (how sad she is) how much sadness she even feels for this loss. This is a similie, when Opa was kissing Kate.
"She surveyed her crowded kitchen, the refrigerator and freezer having long since run out of space and spilled over with covered dishes that took up every inch of counter space." (90) This is very descripitive language, because the the refigerator and freezer cannot "spill" so it's giing a different characteristic to the fridge and freezer. Hornbacher is talking about how because of the father's death, the enire town comes over with hot dishes and food to help the family mourn.
PROBABLE THEME:
I think the theme is how one family tragedy(crisis) really shows the different coping mechanisms as individuals, and as the entire family after, in this case, a suicide.
Monday, November 19, 2007
[Post B Week 2]
LETTER TO THE MAIN CHARACTER:
Dear Katie,
This part of the book has been the hardest for you by far, because of Esau's sickness and the arguments between your parents.I know that it is very hard for you to understand why they fight,and why they won't always be happy together. Even though this is tough on you and Esau, it's important to keep out from under their feet. They have a lot more issues than you as "tween" could understand.A line that really stuck with me was: "I watched them. Froze them that way in my head. Stay there, I almost said aloud. Like that. But they broke apart. They always did." (39). Your father's issue with alcohol is a huge strain on their marriage, and not only emotionally but also financially. This is a big reason for why your mother wants to send Esau 'Away'. I think that its best for you to try and empathize with your mother and understand that the best place for Esau and his illness is definately where you call 'Away'. It was scary when Esau had an episode and you had to hold him down while your mother shoved a pill down his throat to stop the siezure. Unfortunately you and your mom cannot be there all the time in case of Esau's episodes, so even though sending Esau back "Away" is a difficult thing, and even thought it depresses you each night, maybe the best thing for Esau hurts you a little bit. Stay strong, because I have a feeling that this will not be your only loss.
<3Caitlin
Dear Katie,
This part of the book has been the hardest for you by far, because of Esau's sickness and the arguments between your parents.I know that it is very hard for you to understand why they fight,and why they won't always be happy together. Even though this is tough on you and Esau, it's important to keep out from under their feet. They have a lot more issues than you as "tween" could understand.A line that really stuck with me was: "I watched them. Froze them that way in my head. Stay there, I almost said aloud. Like that. But they broke apart. They always did." (39). Your father's issue with alcohol is a huge strain on their marriage, and not only emotionally but also financially. This is a big reason for why your mother wants to send Esau 'Away'. I think that its best for you to try and empathize with your mother and understand that the best place for Esau and his illness is definately where you call 'Away'. It was scary when Esau had an episode and you had to hold him down while your mother shoved a pill down his throat to stop the siezure. Unfortunately you and your mom cannot be there all the time in case of Esau's episodes, so even though sending Esau back "Away" is a difficult thing, and even thought it depresses you each night, maybe the best thing for Esau hurts you a little bit. Stay strong, because I have a feeling that this will not be your only loss.
<3Caitlin
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
It's Wonderful To Have You Back [Post B, Week 1]
Dear Marya Hornbacher,
The reason I chose "The Center of Winter" is because of how much I enjoyed your memoir, "Wasted". It is really cool to know that you grew up by Concord, which is a parking lot away from my middle school. I thought I would give your first novel a try.
So far, I am enjoying it very much. Your previous life experiences (drugs, sex, bulimia, anorexia, neglect, etc.) have been intertwined into this ficticious work. I am curious about how you will develop your characters, if you are going to make them who you wished you could be at a young age, or if you will make the young girl struggle with simliar issues you did. So far, the book is set in Motley, Minnesota (sticking with Minnesota for setting, eh?), which is a teeny tiny town, and contrasts to "Wasted" which mostly took place in Edina (Pop. 47,500)...that is when you weren't in any rehabhillitaion services. I'm also anxious to see how you will carry a fmily through grief, and how you will set the characters apart from each other with their styles of grieving and paces of moving on. I have high hopes for this book!!
<3Caitlin
The reason I chose "The Center of Winter" is because of how much I enjoyed your memoir, "Wasted". It is really cool to know that you grew up by Concord, which is a parking lot away from my middle school. I thought I would give your first novel a try.
So far, I am enjoying it very much. Your previous life experiences (drugs, sex, bulimia, anorexia, neglect, etc.) have been intertwined into this ficticious work. I am curious about how you will develop your characters, if you are going to make them who you wished you could be at a young age, or if you will make the young girl struggle with simliar issues you did. So far, the book is set in Motley, Minnesota (sticking with Minnesota for setting, eh?), which is a teeny tiny town, and contrasts to "Wasted" which mostly took place in Edina (Pop. 47,500)...that is when you weren't in any rehabhillitaion services. I'm also anxious to see how you will carry a fmily through grief, and how you will set the characters apart from each other with their styles of grieving and paces of moving on. I have high hopes for this book!!
<3Caitlin
Here It Goes Again [Post A, Week 1]
VOCABULARY:
transient (Hornbacher, 16): lasting only a short time
amorphous (Hornbacher, 33): formless, having no specific shape
FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE:
(1) "They weres stuffed into their second-best suits and dresses...which itched at the armpits and high collars."(Hornbacher, 8)
My 7th grade ELA techer always told me that an author successfully uses figurative language when you can acutally picture what the author really wants you to see. In this paragraph, they are sitting in a church. This is an image that my mind clearly depicts, and she ues a good adjective when she says that they were ""stuffed" into their suits and dresses.
(2) "The fields were lit up by the high, white moon, glistening like an eyeball in the sky." (Hornbacher, 12)
I know that this figurative language because she is comparing the moon with an eyeball using the word "like", and that is a similie, which is figurative language.
(3) "He scrambled to his feet and ran off into the dark like a frightened deer." (Hornbacher, 14)
This too is a similie because of the use of "like" in the comparison of the boy to a frightened deer.
SIGNIFICANT QUOTE:
"They always told this story at funeral parties, It was the best dead-person storiy they had, so they told it again and again." (Hornbacher, 10)
This quote is significant because so far, from what I know, death is a theme in this book, and rediscovering hope. The family seems to go to a lot of funerals for their elderly friends. There hasn't been an immediate family member's death so far, but I'm sure how funeral parties go in this tiny town is going to be a reoccuring theme.
THEME...SO FAR...
I think the theme so far is similar of that to "All My Sons" because of death, and how a family grieves, and how each person moves on and have different ideas of how far (to move on) is okay.
transient (Hornbacher, 16): lasting only a short time
amorphous (Hornbacher, 33): formless, having no specific shape
FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE:
(1) "They weres stuffed into their second-best suits and dresses...which itched at the armpits and high collars."(Hornbacher, 8)
My 7th grade ELA techer always told me that an author successfully uses figurative language when you can acutally picture what the author really wants you to see. In this paragraph, they are sitting in a church. This is an image that my mind clearly depicts, and she ues a good adjective when she says that they were ""stuffed" into their suits and dresses.
(2) "The fields were lit up by the high, white moon, glistening like an eyeball in the sky." (Hornbacher, 12)
I know that this figurative language because she is comparing the moon with an eyeball using the word "like", and that is a similie, which is figurative language.
(3) "He scrambled to his feet and ran off into the dark like a frightened deer." (Hornbacher, 14)
This too is a similie because of the use of "like" in the comparison of the boy to a frightened deer.
SIGNIFICANT QUOTE:
"They always told this story at funeral parties, It was the best dead-person storiy they had, so they told it again and again." (Hornbacher, 10)
This quote is significant because so far, from what I know, death is a theme in this book, and rediscovering hope. The family seems to go to a lot of funerals for their elderly friends. There hasn't been an immediate family member's death so far, but I'm sure how funeral parties go in this tiny town is going to be a reoccuring theme.
THEME...SO FAR...
I think the theme so far is similar of that to "All My Sons" because of death, and how a family grieves, and how each person moves on and have different ideas of how far (to move on) is okay.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)