The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
The Pillars of the Earth follows the construction of a cathedral in the fictional town of Kingsbridge, England during the twelfth century. Although Follett’s novel is fiction, it is very well researched and provides a fantastic overview of the time period, and an insight into the worlds of people from all walks of medieval life, from nobles and knights, to masons and monks. Taking place over the course of forty years, during the Civil War following the death of Henry I, the story follows a community and its leader who struggle to build the cathedral that will revive their town amidst the political and social instability of the nation. I would strongly recommend this book to future students, simply because of its entertainment value. Follett is a fantastic writer, and this is one of his best efforts. Despite the vast time difference, Follett makes it easy to relate to his characters, and tells an amazing and vivid tale of life in Medieval England.
World Without End by Ken Follett
The sequel to Pillars of the Earth, World Without End takes place in the same town of Kingsbridge 200 years after Pillars and follows the descendants of the characters from the first book. The remarkable thing about this book is that, like its prequel it is over 1000 pages, but yet the action never slows down and the reader is always engaged in the story. In this book, the politics of religious and civil power clash in medieval England as the townspeople try to wrestle their political destiny out of the hands of the stubborn, proud and inefficient Prior of Kingsbridge. Although at times similar to Pillars of the Earth, the book is as good, if not better than its predecessor, and is one that I would again recommend. An amazing story, and very well researched, it is a major asset for background knowledge in any Early British Literature class.
The Economist
Since my freshman year, I have had a subscription to The Economist because of my participation on the Speech and Debate Team. Although dry or complex at times, The Economist is a great asset. In an era of cable talking heads and thirty second sound bites, American news networks often lamentably follow the “if it bleeds, it leads” philosophy of journalism, with a few exceptions. A British magazine, The Economist provides an interesting, outsider point of view, especially in its analysis of the United States. At the same time, it is comprehensive and all encompassing, carrying news from all over the world, in detail. In less than an hour, one becomes well informed about all of the major stories, all around the world. The Economist has definitely provided me with an insight on world affairs that I would not have otherwise had. When one first begins reading the magazine, its almost akin to starting to watch a T.V. show half way through the season, however, after a few issues, one knows all the characters and their relationships.
The Appeal by John Grisham
In his novel The Appeal John Grisham draws attention to the ability of well financed groups to have tremendous influence over elected office, including, in some states, the court system. In The Appeal, a chemical company, that spent years dumping toxic byproducts into a small Mississippi town’s water supply loses a multimillion dollar wrongful death lawsuit after one of the many cancer cases in town dies as a result of the polluted water. To protect itself from further financial harm, the company’s CEO covertly funds a candidate in the Mississippi Supreme Court election in order to overturn the verdict on appeal. The very conservative candidate wins the race, and overturns the decision on appeal. Unfortunately for the judicial system, Grisham’s inspiration for this novel was a similar, real life case, Capperton v. Massey in West Virginia.
Americans often extol the virtues of our government, and truth be told, there is much good in our system, but as the saying goes, money talks, often quite loudly. As long as elections continue to cost, even on the local level, well into the hundreds of thousands, and in some cases millions of dollars, our politics will in some sense always be tainted by those interests, whether individual or corporate, with more money than others. This is a problem however, that can be solved.
The Richard Sharpe Series by Bernard Cornwell
The Sharpe series, spanning 21 novels, follows the military service of Richard Sharpe, of the British Army, during the Napoleonic Wars, starting with Seringapatem in 1799 and culminating with Waterloo in 1815. Sharpe is one of the few men who served in the ranks to win promotion to the officer’s mess, in an era where officer’s commissions were bought and sold. The books focus on his extraordinary skills, and his fight for acceptance by the aristocratic and class conscious officers serving with the Duke of Wellington in Spain and Portugal. Sharpe, the bastard son of a London prostitute, who joined the army to escape a murder charge, has no family but the army, and no skills except ruthlessness in combat, and thus sees the army as the only place in which he is comfortable or where he thrives. Unfortunately, he knows that a peacetime force would get rid of him in an instant, despite his wartime heroics. Cornwell is a very skilled author with fantastic character development. (which I suppose is not hard to do over the course of 21 books featuring the same character) He also takes the time to create very intricate relationships between characters that become very well developed. Cornwell is a fantastic author who makes his stories come to life through his detailed, but never dry or excessive descriptions.
Armageddon Leon Uris
In Armageddon, Leon Uris shows the deterioration of Western-Soviet relations after the end of WWII, with Berlin as the epicenter. The book follows one Lt. Col. Sean O’Sullivan, an officer working with the Military Government in postwar Germany as the administrator of a region of Germany, and then, an attache in Berlin. Uris deals with the conflicts between the Soviets and the West, as well as the internal conflict Sean experiences. The death of his two younger brothers, both soldiers, while fighting the Germans has caused Sean to hate everything German. However, as he lives in Berlin, fighting for the people of Berlin as they are threatened by the Soviet Union, his mixed emotions, including the fact that he falls in love with a German girl, torment him. As the story progresses O’Sullivan tries to reconcile his views. On the political front, the United States, which would like nothing more than to send their troops home and retreat into isolationism, but stands with the Berliners against increasing Soviet manipulation and arm twisting. The story culminates in the Berlin Airlift. The Soviet Union cut off all rail, road and water links to West Berlin, in an attempt to force the Western nations out of the city. However, the United States, in conjunction with the United Kingdom and France began the greatest air supply operation in history, flying over 7,000 tons of cargo a day, with over 1,200 flights a day, and a plane landing once every 30 seconds. The Russians are forced to relent, and lift the blockade. Uris is a very interesting author. He presents the interesting emotional conflict of a man who spent years fighting the Germans, and losing both of his brothers to German bullets, but is now fighting to save the people of Berlin.
The Odessa File by Frederick Forsyth
One of his first novels, The Odessa File, by Frederick Forsyth was written over the course of a trip to West Germany in 1971. The book, which draws on the authors experience as a reporter for Thomson Reuters, features a freelance, West German journalist, Peter Miller. The story begins on the night of Nov. 23, 1963 with Miller hearing about the assassination of John F. Kennedy on the radio. That same night, he follows an ambulance to the home of an old Jewish man, a holocaust survivor who committed suicide, leaving behind a journal recording his life, especially the time spent a Concentration Camp in Riga, Latvia during the Second World War. The journal describes many of the atrocities committed by SS Captain Eduard Roschmann. At one point Miller reads that Roschmann shot a German Army Captain, who was decorated with a Knights Cross for valor, in cold blood. The date and location of the shooting, as well as the Knights Cross, which was awarded to very few soldiers, reveals to Miller that the Captain was actually his father, who died in the same place, on the same date. Miller sets off on a mission of revenge to bring Roschmann to justice. In the process, he clashes with ODESSA, a dangerous organization of former SS members, and barely escapes with his life.
ODESSA (“Organisation der ehemaligen SS-Angehörigen” or in English “Organization of Former Members of the SS,”) was a real life clandestine organization formed by SS officers in the final months of WWII to provide for the escape of members of the SS charged with war crimes, generally to the friendly Peron government in Argentina. Many infamous members of the SS used the resources of ODESSA to escape to Latin America and Egypt after being faced with the possibility of being charged. Towards the end of the 20th century, most likely following the death of many of its members, the activities of ODESSA came to light, and several books were published documenting the organization. Forsyth was one of the first writers to discuss ODESSA, in the early 1970’s.
The ODESSA File is a fantastic book. It takes many turns that deviate from the usually expected thriller plot line, and manages to engage the reader very well. The unlikely hero, that of a journalist rather than the typical thriller hero mold of spy or soldier, made the book quite unique and presented a very interesting, and refreshingly different point of view. This was the first book by Forsyth that I had read, and because of it, I developed a strong liking for his novels, and made him one of my favorite writers.
The Alienist by Caleb Carr
The Alienist is a novel that I picked up recently in the Stuyvesant library, almost by accident. While looking for another author, this book caught my eye, and as it turns out, was one of the best books I’ve read recently. The book is set in New York City in 1896, and paints a vivid portrait of a city rife with poverty, gang violence, slums, filth, corruption and greed, where humanity exists only as a thin veneer. Carr, a historian who generally writes non fiction work provides a very accurate, and almost depressing portrait of the city at the turn of the century. Following the conclusions of the Lexow Commission in 1894, Theodore Roosevelt is appointed president of the Board of Police Commissioners, and attempts to reform the “most corrupt municipal organization in America” (according to the Lexow Commission). However, he is met with hostility from the entire NYPD, and faces a hard battle. In this setting, a young boy is found murdered and mutilated on the not yet finished Williamsburg Bridge. Considering that the boy was merely a street urchin, the NYPD would not bother investigating the crime. However, Roosevelt engages a strange team, consisting of a New York Times reporter, two reformist NYPD detectives who are shunned by the department because of their adherence to new investigative methods, like fingerprinting, and rudimentary forensic analysis, Roosevelt’s private secretary, and an Alienist (the 1896 term for a behavioral psychologist). They attempt to discover the identity of, what is becoming to be, a serial killer.
Caleb Carr does an amazing job on creating the setting of his story. Making good use of his background as a historian, he describes the City in rich and vivid detail, while avoiding the pitfall of boring the reader by doing so excessively. This is, perhaps the best thing about his book. At the risk of sounding cliche, Carr really does make the hectic, turn of the century New York come alive for the reader. His two main characters, John Moore (the journalist) and Lazlo Kreizler (the Alienist) are described in great detail, as are their lives. Both characters are deeply flawed, and portrayed on a deeply human level. For any author, but especially for one who doesn’t write fiction, this is an amazing novel.
Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
Gone With the Wind is a book that, on picking up off the shelf, I would never decide to read. A thousand pages of what I perceived as the story of a whining, selfish, southern girl never seemed that interesting. My sister rented that movie, however, and since I had nothing better to do, I watched it. I was so impressed by the movie, that I decided to read the book. My preconceived notions were immediately banished. Contrary to what I thought, Gone With the Wind is a vivid description of the old, antebellum South, the carnage and horror of the Civil War, and the pain and ultimate failure of Reconstruction. More than that, however, it is an incredibly engaging story, and probably one of my favorite books. The book presents a romanticized view of the old south that even the staunchest northerner can feel a nostalgia for. (albeit, without slavery) and presents in vivid detail the collective horror at the butchery of the Civil War and the frustration of reuniting the nation after the conflict. The plot and the characters, which were written in great detail and depth, were simply fantastic, and engaged my interest, despite the fact that a romance novel is certainly not my type of book. This is simply an amazing work of literature that I would recommend to anyone who has the time to read it.
All’s Well that Ends Well by William Shakespeare
All’s Well that Ends Well is one of my favorite Shakespearian plays, and is one that I am intimately familiar with. In eighth grade, my grade read, saw, and performed the play, but over time, as my scope of Shakespeare grew, I developed a deeper appreciation for it. This is, in my opinion the funniest of Shakespeare’s comedies. Helena, after years of longing for him, marries Bertram by order of the King of France. Bertram, who hates the idea of marrying Helena runs away to Italy to fight as a mercenary with his friend Parolles. He tells Helena that “if thou canst get the ring upon my finger, which never shall come off, and show me a child, begotten of thy body that I am father to, then call me husband. But in such a ‘then’ I write a ‘never.’” Helena follows him to Italy and enlists the help of two local women in trapping the unwitting Bertram, accompanied at all times by Shakespeare’s witty remarks and double entendres. This is one of Shakespeare’s funnier comedies, but one must have some background knowledge to glean all the jokes from the script.
The God of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
1. How and when did you come across this book and what were your initial reactions to reading it?
I came across The God of Small Things when it was handed to me in class. I had never heard of the book or the author beforehand, but I now see people reading it everywhere I go. My initial reaction to reading the book was one of wonder and interest. I had read books that took the same postmodernist liberties with language and characters, and I had read books about India. I had never read a book that combined the two. The novel reminds me of A Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez in that it focuses on a family in a small town in a far-off country grappling with the repercussions of colonialism, and in its flirtation with magical realism.
2. How did the characters’ approach/attitudes towards life and their situations compare to yours at the time? To yours now?
Because the characters and their lives were so radically different from my own, there wasn’t a moment in my reading of the book that I didn’t want to keep finding out more about them. I can’t really say that I particularly related to any one of the characters in the novel, but this does not mean that I could not immerse myself in the novel—in fact, the exact opposite is true. The characters’ qualities were either so magnificent—the genius of Estha and Rahel, the valor of Velutha and Ammu—or so detestable—the selfishness of Baby Kochama—that they came across more as almost mythical entities than anyone I could relate to.
3. What memorable moments were there in the reading of the book, discussing it, or interacting with it/with others in any way?
The novel almost flows over with stunningly beautiful moments, both jubilant and sorrowful. The most specifically memorable experiences attached to reading the book have to have been the conversations we had about it in class. Michael Fabrizio always had something intriguing to add about a passage or a character. His reaction, for example, to the explanation of the romantic encounter between Estha and Rahel was a very public manifestation of the way that the entire class felt.
4. What connections to other books/movies/television shows/real life can be made?
Since reading The God of Small Things, I was inspired to buy a copy of Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie, which is also a postmodernist novel about India, though it features some more distinctly supernatural elements and characters. The parallel to A Hundred Years of Solitude was made above, and the similarities extend to that entire subgenre of fiction which includes works like Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer and Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel and concentrates on the workings on a family in a small town.
Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe
1. How and when did you come across this book and what were your initial reactions to reading it?
I came across Things Fall Apart in Ms. Chan’s Later British Literature class senior year. I had heard of it before from my sister, who studied post-colonial societies in college. It was very different than what I expected, though. The British influence on the Ibgo culture is handled very subtly in the novel, and is marginalized to make way for the much more interesting personal focus on Okonkwo and his family. Even though the village’s conflicts with the church do play a predominant role in the novel, they serve to advance the plot of Okonkwo’s story—this makes the reader a lot more sympathetic to the Africans’ plight. The story itself is also different from anything I had ever read before—the characters are almost archetypical and this means that the struggles between Okonkwo and his surrounding characters have a transcendent, almost mythical quality.
2. How did the characters’ approach/attitudes towards life and their situations compare to yours at the time? To yours now?
Okonkwo devotes all of his time, attention and social standing to appearing strong before his village. He cares much more about appearances—the way he is perceived—than his actual feelings or self-evaluation. I can relate to that. I would not go so far as to kill someone mercilessly to be considered manly, but I certainly do have to socially maneuver the village that is Stuyvesant High School very carefully so that my friends and classmates see me the way I want them to see me.
3. What memorable moments were there in the reading of the book, discussing it, or interacting with it/with others in any way?
The discussion that we had in class about Chinua Achebe (Actually Albert Achebe) was very memorable. Even though I understand why Achebe used his middle name and why he wrote a story about a time period in Africa that he personally didn’t know very much about, he did it in order for his book to appear more legitimate. Isn’t this similar to the way Okonkwo is so concerned with appearances, however?
4. What connections to other books/movies/television shows/real life can be made?
Connections can me made to Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, in that it deals with the repercussions of British colonialism in Africa. Things Fall Apart, however, is notably different in that it comes from the perspective of the Africans, not the white men. Connections can also be drawn to the Bible, which Achebe consciously parallels (the story of Abraham and Issac, for example) in order to appeal to his Christian readers and make his story more timeless and universal.
Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad
1. How and when did you come across this book and what were your initial reactions to reading it?
I came across Heart of Darkness in Ms. Chan’s Later British Literature class senior year. My initial reaction to the book was that, even though I had heard a lot about the novel, it had always been in a celebratory sense, and I did not believe it deserved to be celebrated at all. Heart of Darkness is supposed to be a champion for African rights and a rejection of British treatment of the continent and of the natives. The book is deeply racist, however, and, in my opinion, does more to advance the philosophical justification for colonization and eventually slavery than the contrary. Joseph Conrad portrays Africans in as almost sub-human, which was what allowed white men to treat Africa and Africans as they did with a good conscience.
2. How did the characters’ approach/attitudes towards life and their situations compare to yours at the time? To yours now?
I see very few parallels between Marlow and Kurtz and myself. We are in very different positions and, were we placed in the same position, would probably have different reactions to them. If anything, I can relate to Marlow’s trepidation when confronting the awesomeness and overwhelming wilderness of the jungle and of Africa. I have felt similarly when traveling to new and distant places.
3. What memorable moments were there in the reading of the book, discussing it, or interacting with it/with others in any way?
Kurtz’s death is particularly memorable for being so charged with symbolism. Michael Fabrizio’s insights about the novel and the author will be similarly difficult to forget. I am very glad that we read this book first, because many of the themes and points in Heart of Darkness manifested themselves in the other books that we read throughout the semester. This made Heart of Darkness more memorable within the context of the class.
4. What connections to other books/movies/television shows/real life can be made?
Connections can be made between Heart of Darkness and any other work that relates to colonialism that came afterwards, which is basically all of them. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe is particularly significant because it is a direct response to it.
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Michael Chabon
1. How and when did you come across this book and what were your initial reactions to reading it?
I bought a copy of this book in Sophomore year because the AP American Studies class was reading it. I instantly fell in love with it. Michael Chabon has a mastery of the English language that I’ve never come across in the work of any other writer, and he uses it to create characters that feel as real as real as your best friends. The book is very long and covers several decades in the lives of its main characters, and the versatility displayed by Chabon is shocking. The feeling that you get while reading Kavalier and Clay is not only one of relation to the characters, but admiration for the author.
2. How did the characters’ approach/attitudes towards life and their situations compare to yours at the time? To yours now?
When I read the book I found myself drawing a lot of parallels between myself and the character Sammy Clay in the book. At the time I had a close friendship and creative partnership with another boy that closely paralleled the one in the novel between Kavalier and Clay. In the book, Kavalier seemed to be overflowing with an innate talent and social ability that Clay envied. My friendship had a similar dynamic. As time has passed I have discovered my abilities and developed a more mature relationship with my friend.
3. What memorable moments were there in the reading of the book, discussing it, or interacting with it/with others in any way?
I had to reread the book in Junior year for American Literature with LaBonne, and discussing as a class the passages that I had internalized most personally was a very interesting experience. Some students had a very different take on things that I had interpreted in highly contrasting ways. One thing everyone agreed on, however, is that the ending is absolutely terrible. I remember talking to friends, family, and teachers about how unsatisfying the ending is not only for the characters, but for the reader, and probably for the author, too.
4. What connections to other books/movies/television shows/real life can be made?
The book is largely an inside look at the lives of two young men who produce a comic book in the 30’s and 40’s. Because of this, it changes the reader’s perspective on every single comic book and comic book adaptation that they read or watch afterwards. The novel is also comparable to any other story of youthful male camaraderie (now often referred to as “bromance,”) though it is certainly not a “young adult” book.
The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck
1. How and when did you come across this book and what were your initial reactions to reading it?
I came across this book when we were reading it in Mr. LaBonne’s class. I had previously read Of Mice and Men and so I had some familiarity with Steinbeck and his work, but I had no idea how expansive it could be. My initial reactions were mainly of interest in the way that the depression affected people’s lives. When I thought about the twenties I tended to think about them a historical perspective, or through the flashing images of newsreels and Dorothea Lange. Never had I really taken the time to think about the individuals that lived through the era and the difficulties that were presented to them, not only economically, but also socially and personally and familially.
2. How did the characters’ approach/attitudes towards life and their situations compare to yours at the time? To yours now?
The characters in The Grapes of Wrath certainly had a lot more personal strength than I did or do now. The tenacity, not only in trying to get ahead but in sticking together as a family, is something that I can only hope I could be capable of if such circumstances were presented to me.
3. What memorable moments were there in the reading of the book, discussing it, or interacting with it/with others in any way?
I remember hearing about this book when I was younger and being constantly perplexed by the title. As far as I knew, the novel had nothing to do with grapes, and especially not grapes that were so particularly angry as to be described as wrathful. It wasn’t until I read the book in class that I understood the origin of the phrase, from the Battle Hymn of The Republic (which in turn was referencing the King James Bible).
4. What connections to other books/movies/television shows/real life can be made?
The Grapes of Wrath has most similarity to the other works of John Steinbeck in that it deals with migrant workers during this very particular point in American history. The book can also be seen as a spiritual foil to The Great Gatsby, contrasting the reality of poverty and suffering as a family and the whimsy of solitary luxury.
The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald
1. How and when did you come across this book and what were your initial reactions to reading it?
The Great Gatsby is such a classic that by the time that you get around to reading it you feel like you already know it. I still remember falling in love with it, though, when I did finally read it in Mr. LaBonne’s American Literature class. The story is so rich and charged with meaning, and the characters so emblematic, that the book truly did meet the extraordinary expectations I had for it.
2. How did the characters’ approach/attitudes towards life and their situations compare to yours at the time? To yours now?
I can relate to Gatsby to a certain extent, insofar as I sometimes feel that I am presenting a manufactured image of myself to the rest of the world. I certainly don’t have the wealth that Gatsby does, but I sometimes use other means to pretend I a something I am not (to varying degrees of success, just like Gatsby). I can also relate to the hopeless romantic in Gatsby, and have certainly felt that impossible pull towards the green light across the pier, knowing full well I’ll never fully attain it.
3. What memorable moments were there in the reading of the book, discussing it, or interacting with it/with others in any way?
I have a close friend who has a summerhouse on Long Island in an area that could easily be classified as West Egg, and another who also has a summerhouse on Long Island, but in an area that could be better classified as East Egg. All three of us were reading the book at approximately the same time, and the experience created some palpably interesting tension between the two of them, especially as the reader’s sympathy for Gatsby grew and shrunk and grew and shrunk continuously throughout the novel.
4. What connections to other books/movies/television shows/real life can be made?
The connection to The Grapes of Wrath was made above. Similar stories have been told throughout all of history, however, with the moral that money cannot buy happiness. This goes all the way back to the mythical King Midas to real-life millionaire failures like Michael Jackson.
A Streetcar Named Desire, Tennessee Williams
1. How and when did you come across this book and what were your initial reactions to reading it?
A Streetcar Named Desire is yet another classic work of American fiction that I never read until Mr. LaBonne’s American Literature class in junior year. Before reading it I had obviously heard and read about Marlon Brando’s performance on stage and screen as Stanley Kowalski, so I found it impossible not to place him into the play as I read it. I don’t think this hurt my experience, though. I was astounded by the viscerally powerful writing and the interplay of sex, violence, class and family.
2. How did the characters’ approach/attitudes towards life and their situations compare to yours at the time? To yours now?
The characters in A Streetcar Named Desire are all deeply flawed. Stanley is a selfish brute (and a rapist), Stella cannot or will not stand up for herself, and Blanche is a pretentious failure. I would like to say that I do not see myself in any of the characters, though I can relate somewhat to Stanley’s animalistic passion and to the feelings of guilt, remorse and regret that plague Blanche. Obviously they do not manifest themselves quite so encompassingly in my life, but I would admit to having channeled the qualities of these characters at some points in my history.
3. What memorable moments were there in the reading of the book, discussing it, or interacting with it/with others in any way?
I have a profound interest in theater and have produced, written and directed different pieces throughout my time at Stuyvesant. A Streetcar Named Desire is truly any director’s dream to read. The mise-en-scene, or the way that Tennessee Williams stages the work, as it progresses, is truly staggering. The growing claustrophobia and confusion throughout the entire scene leading up to the rape, and then during the rape itself, are deeply engaging when putting together what the stage will look like in your mind. Stanley’s violation of Blanche has to be the single most riveting moment in all of theater.
4. What connections to other books/movies/television shows/real life can be made?
Any other American play can be linked to A Streetcar Named Desire, and especially, I feel, the work of Arthur Miller. The connections, also, between the movie adaptation of Streetcar and the movie adaptation of Gone With The Wind are compelling enough to point out. The actress Vivien Leigh was the young southern belle in Gone With The Wind, and then, after she aged, played the faded and miserable southern old maid.
The Odyssey, Homer
1. How and when did you come across this book and what were your initial reactions to reading it?
I first attempted to read this book in elementary school, but didn’t finish. I tried again in middle school, and got a little farther, but again did not finish it. Finally, in sophomore year, I read it with Mr. Garfinkel as part of a section on the ancient Greeks. My initial reaction to it when I went back to it in high school was that Odysseus maybe wasn’t quite a heroic a figure as I had always accepted him to be. A lot of the things he does throughout the book, and the reasons he does them, are very much in contrast to what typically heroic people and characters are supposed to do.
2. How did the characters’ approach/attitudes towards life and their situations compare to yours at the time? To yours now?
Odysseus is simultaneously one of the weakest and most invincible characters in western literature. He can survive monsters and whirlpools and the wrath of the gods, but he cannot conquer his own basic urges for sex, for recognition, and for revenge. I feel the same way sometimes. I can use my intellect and abilities with people to overcome obstacles, but I cannot get myself to do the work that is necessary to avoid putting those obstacles in my path to begin with.
3. What memorable moments were there in the reading of the book, discussing it, or interacting with it/with others in any way?
When I finally finished the book, on my third attempt, the experience was totally anticlimactic. I was expecting a much more epic ending to such an epic story. Odysseus’s returning to Ithaca as an old man was laborious and unsatisfying, the murder of the suitors unnecessary, and his re-assimilation into normalcy inevitable, but still disappointing.
4. What connections to other books/movies/television shows/real life can be made?
The Odyssey, together with The Iliad, were the first works of western literature, and, a such, have connections to every single other work created after them. Most specifically, though, comparisons can be drawn to Ulysses by James Joyce, which is a direct reinterpretation of the classic story.
Cyrano de Bergerac, Edmond Rostand
1. How and when did you come across this book and what were your initial reactions to reading it?
I was introduced to Cyrano de Bergerac in Mr. Garfinkel’s sophomore English class. My initial reaction was mainly of disinterest in the story and the characters, but a fair amount of appreciation for the beauty of the language.
2. How did the characters’ approach/attitudes towards life and their situations compare to yours at the time? To yours now?
Cyrano is a confident, charismatic and talented gentleman. I cannot convincingly be described as being any of those three things. Cyrano is also incredibly selfless. He orchestrates a love affair between a protégé of his by the name of Christian and the woman that he truly is in love with, Roxane. Cyrano makes Roxane fall in love with Christian by feeding Christian lines and composing love letters to her in Christian’s name. When Christian dies, Roxanne swears herself to his memory, and Cyrano spends the rest of his days tragically silent on the issue, in order to honor the bond between Roxane and Christian that was really between Roxane and Cyrano. I could never do something like that. I am not so noble, or patient, or caring.
3. What memorable moments were there in the reading of the book, discussing it, or interacting with it/with others in any way?
Mr. Garfinkel took some days out of the schedule to show us the old, black and white movie adaptation of the play. Watching some of the more surreal and implausible elements of the written play be acted out onstage made them even more dubious.
4. What connections to other books/movies/television shows/real life can be made?
Cyrano has been adapted many times and in many different mediums, mainly because the play itself is just an adaptation on the true story of a man with a large nose, large brain and a large heart. The most recent adaptation was the Steve Martin movie Roxane, which set the story in modern times.
Pygmalion, George Bernard Shaw
1. How and when did you come across this book and what were your initial reactions to reading it?
I came across this book in Mr. Garfinkel’s sophomore English class. My first reaction to it was to link it to the musical My Fair Lady, which is based on the play. I was also struck by how fresh its take was on class relations, even though the play is so old. This led to the further realization that if such insight into the issue had been made such a long time ago and public perception hadn’t budged a bit, this constituted a pretty dire social problem.
2. How did the characters’ approach/attitudes towards life and their situations compare to yours at the time? To yours now?
Eliza Doolittle is the very model of a free spirit. She acts however she wants and says whatever she wants and refuses to bend for anyone. That is, until a man comes into her life and makes her change. I relate more to the Eliza at the beginning of the book than to the one at the end. In some ways I also find similarities between my own personal philosophy and that of Mr. Doolittle, Eliza’s father. He is a differently-scrupled man, who believes in trying to look out for himself and make a little money from rich people whenever he can. I certainly have that streak in me.
3. What memorable moments were there in the reading of the book, discussing it, or interacting with it/with others in any way?
After reading the play I had the good fortune of watching it performed on Broadway by Claire Danes and Kevin Kline. It was interesting to watch something so inherently British performed by American actors with accents, especially considering that the true, authentically classy British accent is what so much of the play is devoted to imparting onto Eliza. It was also a memorable moment for me when I came across the Greek story that gives the play its name. I hadn’t made the connection, and it gave the work a whole new meaning once I did.
4. What connections to other books/movies/television shows/real life can be made?
Obviously, My Fair Lady is a direct adaptation of Pygmalion, which in turn is a very sophisticated and modernized adaptation of the Greek myth of the same name, in which a sculptor falls in love with his own creation. A connection can also be drawn to any of the myriad other works of literature that have tackled the sensitive issue of class in Britain, all the way back from Jane Austen to Zadie Smith.
Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare
1. How and when did you come across this book and what were your initial reactions to reading it?
I came across this book in Ms. Rober’s freshman composition class. Obviously, I had heard of it, but before reading it had never actually cracked open anything by Shakespeare. I have to say that I was very pleasantly surprised when, instead of containing the expectedly stuffy and archaic Shakespearian language style that is almost mythicized in the minds of young people in this country, I found a very beautifully written account of a compelling love story. Comedy, romance, action, thrills…this play really has it all, and it is all very well done.
2. How did the characters’ approach/attitudes towards life and their situations compare to yours at the time? To yours now?
The type of specific rivalry between the Montagues and Capulets that exists in Romeo and Juliet doesn’t really manifest itself in modern society, and kids no longer get married at fourteen. Many parts of Romeo and Juliet stand preserved as peculiarities of the time that it was written about. Some things do carry, however. For instance, I am currently in an interracial relationship. In some ways, the types of tensions that existed between the two major families of Verona can still find themselves into a romantic liaison through the issue of race.
3. What memorable moments were there in the reading of the book, discussing it, or interacting with it/with others in any way?
I remember reading through the play and all of a sudden recognizing that one of the passages on the page was a perfect sonnet. This was not something I had ever seen before—I was aware that William Shakespeare used iambic pentameter throughout all of his playwriting, but it takes superior effort, attention and skill to conform to the additional parameters of a sonnet. To do so, and incorporate it into the body of a play, seemed to me when I read it a truly genius move.
4. What connections to other books/movies/television shows/real life can be made?
Tales of young love, and of forbidden love, did not stop after Romeo and Juliet. In Love in The Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, for example, two teenagers in South America are prevented from seeing each other because the boy is of a lower class than the girl. This has become a very standard theme in western literature throughout the ages, and though class discrepancies are not necessarily the same as family rivalries, the difficulties and passions are often the same.
Angela’s Ashes, Frank McCourt
1. How and when did you come across this book and what were your initial reactions to reading it?
I read Angela’s Ashes in my freshman composition class with Ms. Rober, and I loved it. It is truly remarkable to read such a convincing and immersive account of youth and coming of age in any form, but even more so as a work of nonfiction. Angela’s Ashes was the first memoir I ever read, and I was very impressed by the format. I was also struck by the difficulty of growing up in poverty, in a semi-rural environment. Before cell phones and television and all of the distractions and conveniences of modern life, kids were freer to discover the world on their own. If their parent’s didn’t have money, and if they didn’t live in a city, children had almost free reign in their journey to self-discovery.
2. How did the characters’ approach/attitudes towards life and their situations compare to yours at the time? To yours now?
Frank McCourt is exceptionally brave, and has been made hard by the environment in which he was raised. Had I had to put up with so much misery and squalor in my youth, I too might personify some of his qualities. As it is, the main connection point I had with the character/author while reading Angela’s Ashes was with his sense of curiosity and wonder. He is constantly exploring and trying to learn new things, go new places and meet new people.
3. What memorable moments were there in the reading of the book, discussing it, or interacting with it/with others in any way?
Frank McCourt came to Stuyvesant a few years ago (being, as everyone knows, a retired teacher from this institution). Being audience to an author describing not only his work but also his life truly shed a completely different light on the memoir. It grounded the story for me even more, and it also made me realize that we cannot ever possibly know very much about a person at first glance. We have so many stories inside of us—so many secrets and private sufferings—that even if you interact with someone every day there is always probably a huge part of themselves you’ll never be familiar with.
4. What connections to other books/movies/television shows/real life can be made?
Angela’s Ashes has a sequel called ‘Tis, and Frank McCourt wrote a third book called Teacher Man as well. Angela’s Ashes was also adapted into a movie. The true connections between it and other works of fiction are with stories of growing up poor, of which there are many both fiction and nonfiction—both Born Into Brothels and Slumdog Millionaire.
Frankenstein, Mary Shelley
1. How and when did you come across this book and what were your initial reactions to reading it?
I read Frankenstein in freshman composition class with Ms. Rober. My initial reaction to the book mostly had to do with having had a completely different understanding of the story and the characters of Frankenstein than the one portrayed in the book. In many ways, society having turned the eloquent and depressed “abomination” of Shelley’s Frankenstein into the violent green idiot of the movies is a real-world manifestation of the lack of understanding that anyone had for Dr. Frankenstein’s unfortunate creation. I loved the book, though, and it could still stand as my favorite among all of the novels I have read in class at Stuyvesant.
2. How did the characters’ approach/attitudes towards life and their situations compare to yours at the time? To yours now?
At some point in our lives everyone has felt the isolation and inability to connect that Frankenstein’s monster experiences in the book. I was born in Mexico and I relocated to California when I was ten years old. My family moved to a predominantly white neighborhood, and I remember the feeling of not-belonging, of being an “other,” similar to the way that Frankenstein’s monster complained about feeling. I was physically different from everyone else, but the same inside. Unfortunately, it took the people around me a while to realize that.
3. What memorable moments were there in the reading of the book, discussing it, or interacting with it/with others in any way?
The most memorable moment in the novel has to be the end. I don’t think I’ve ever read another work of fiction so pessimistic and depressing as Frankenstein. Especially since I had always been conditioned to believe that man would triumph over Frankenstein, the starkly contrasting original meant a lot.
4. What connections to other books/movies/television shows/real life can be made?
Frankenstein is sometimes considered the first work of science fiction, because it features man using technology to create something that could not exist otherwise. Because of this, every single writer of science fiction owes a debt of gratitude to Mary Shelley. Ties can also be made to the myriad of reinterpretations of the story of Dr. Frankenstein and his monster, however faithful they stayed to the source material.
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