A Novel Journey Through High School
A Novel Journey Through High School
Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld
My first English teacher at Stuy read this book on her own and since she liked it so much, she decided to add it to the curriculum. She described this novel as the experiences of a girl in her prep school. New to the high school experience and only having had five years at a public school, I thought this book would be interesting – something I could relate to. While the plot and setting may have captured my interest, a few chapters in and I was in torment. The characters were not at all realistic and the main character, Lee, was so depressing, she reminded me of a female Holden Caulfield.
I never enjoyed English class and writing was a chore. However, with this book, I realized English class could be so much worse. Reading Prep was bad enough but having to analyze it and break it down was just painful. Fortunately, the essay was an opinion piece and opinions I did not speak in class were fully expressed. The only benefit I had from this book was it produced the first essay I wrote wholeheartedly. I would not recommend this book, especially to any English teacher.
Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt
This book was on the curriculum because the author, Frank McCourt was a Stuy alum, but this book is, to this day, one of the better assigned English books I’ve read in class. The story seems like one of just another poor boy growing up but, this book is actually a memoir and this adds another dimension to an otherwise average book. McCourt writes so elegantly of all his experiences that although he probably doesn’t recall everything as he wrote it, nothing is out of the ordinary. Readers truly feel like they are watching him grow up and because he was in fact poor, we sympathize with him, making us want to read even more (and perhaps buy his second and third autobiographical books).
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Frankenstein is exactly what society made it – a misunderstood horror story. I grew up with the notion that the story was just like the movies and cartoons in which a monster named Frankenstein goes around terrorizing innocent villagers. However, I soon learned that Frankenstein was actually the name of the scientist – the first of many surprises. I read this book during my freshman year and it was the first book I actually enjoyed analyzing. Mary Shelley wrote this novel in a profoundly engaging way where you just have to turn the page and read it cover to cover again and again.
There are so many universal topics that Shelley touches upon that one can’t help but become emotional. Unfortunately this was the book I last read before my father passed away and the theme of life and humanity particularly stuck with me. Instead of just reading an entertaining horror story, I got a book that in a way helped me through one of the toughest times of my life.
The Odyssey by Homer
The Odyssey is a classic book that everyone will read and in introducing the book, my teacher said, “If you haven’t read this book yet, you will now in class and you will again in another class”. So I paid attention and this book receives mixed reviews from me. The story on the surface was interesting enough with gods, monsters and humans both good and bad. However, I disliked analyzing this book and my habit of hating to write reappeared. Every tiny little thing supposedly had a deeper meaning to it and I repeatedly found myself wondering “How do you know that’s what Homer is implying? Maybe all of this is just a story and you’re reading too much into it all.” Learning the history and mythology of the book was a more enjoyable experience than the actual reading of it. Under normal circumstances, I would not recommend this book but in this case, because The Odyssey is such an epic classic (pun intended), I recommend reading it on your own before having to inevitably read it in an English class.
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
Oscar Wilde’s novel is by far my favorite school assigned book. The story itself is captivating and writing the assignment was challenging yet pleasant. There is so much to analyze and the story prevents the usual student-coma-like reading of a heavily symbolic book. It also helps if the movie The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is watched prior to reading this book. The movie is the only one I know of that brought together literary superheroes. Dorian Gray was one such character. He was the double agent in the movie and my favorite of character so of course I was interested in reading this book from the beginning.
The first chapter reveals that much of my interest was due to Hollywood but Wilde’s story still managed to keep my interest. Dorian is portrayed differently; he is hardly super but as his story of downfall is so strange that even all my disappointments were interesting. So far, Oscar Wilde managed to write the only book that I looked forward to read.
The Taming of the Shrew by Shakespeare
No collection of high school books is ever complete without something written by Shakespeare. Although not the first Shakespearian play I read, The Taming of the Shrew is by far, the most interesting and perhaps the only one I would willingly read again. This is quite obviously a comedy and even I, as one who must use SparkNotes in understanding Shakespeare’s words, was able to laugh along with the story. As much as it was fun, it was written in a way that I had no problem with dissecting the story in an attempt to better know the story, particularly since the ending continues to puzzle me so. I would definitely recommend this book that I believe it is a far more interesting Shakespearian romance story that Romeo and Juliet.
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
What stands out about this book is not the characters or the storyline but the assignment itself. I was grouped with other students and had to write and perform our own version of a major scene in the book. Of course, in the age of Gossip Girl and Jersey Shore, it wasn’t hard to transform a story of love and marriage. We made it modern and changed a couple things. However, as I try to remember, I don’t remember my retelling, I remember Jane Austen’s original version. While modern or contemporary shows and stories will fade into history, Jane Austen’s story has managed to survive time. I recommend this book on the sole fact that it’s a classic that no one will be able to top.
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Another classic, The Great Gatsby is a title heard all around. However, because I lived under a rock, although I recognized the title, I did not have an inkling of what the book was about. Thankfully, this classic is short. On the hand, despite its length, it is jammed packed full of ideas both big and small. My writing assignment for this book was one of my best. I found the storyline to be simple and like all my favorite school books, the themes and ideas did not dull the storyline. In fact, having to search around for deep meanings and thesis probably enhanced my reading experience. I would not have picked this book up on my own but with the help of the Stuyvesant English Junior curriculum, I found a hidden gem.
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon
Making its way up on my “banned” list is Chabon’s novel. While others may rave about this book, I simply can not. Like a traumatized child who was forced to keep eating cake as punishment, I will never read this book again. As a storybook, Chabon produced a wonderful tale of two young boy/men and their life involving comics. Even when being taught this book, I got to learn about Superman and the history of comic books. Overall, it seemed like a book I would have found and read on my own.
However, once class became more than remembering what we just read, I almost died. Looking for meaning and trying to write a thesis about this book was by far, the hardest writing assignment I had the displeasure of being assigned. Chabon’s novel was wonderfully written, switching from one character to the other, with both getting enough page space that readers feel for both, but I simply couldn’t find anything substantial to write about.
At the same time I began having trouble in my math class and math is not something that one can sail through without understanding. I had thought that I, at least, understood what was going on in English class but my teacher seemed bent on proving me wrong. The end result of my frantic typing and page turning was two pages of what my teacher thought I wrote in ten minutes. Therefore, no matter how great the story, I can never again pick this book up.
Man’s Search For Meaning by Victor Frankl
This book, although assigned, was not for an English class. For my senior medical ethics class, my teacher replaced the usual textbook with this book. Split into two sections, Frankl tells of his experiences in a Nazi concentration camp and of how he lived through it all. Not particularly eloquent, Frankl writes in the way one speaks, with only his ideas keeping any sort of flow throughout the book. This style of writing made me more emotional about the things he described and it allowed the scientific point of view to be easily expressed when past experience showed me that science is never easy to read about. I would recommend this book because the experience of reading and actually learning was so great, I will remember this book when I think of school assigned books.
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