Jonah's bookshelf: all en-US Sat, 20 Feb 2010 19:00:32 -0800 60 Jonah's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg The Things They Carried 133518
The Things They Carried depicts the men of Alpha Company: Jimmy Cross, Henry Dobbins, Rat Kiley, Mitchell Sanders, Norman Bowker, Kiowa, and the character Tim O’Brien, who has survived his tour in Vietnam to become a father and writer at the age of forty-three.

Taught everywhere—from high school classrooms to graduate seminars in creative writing—it has become required reading for any American and continues to challenge readers in their perceptions of fact and fiction, war and peace, courage and fear and longing. The Things They Carried won France's prestigious Prix du Meilleur Livre Etranger and the Chicago Tribune Heartland Prize; it was also a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award.]]> 246 Tim O'Brien 0767902890 Jonah 4
After reading some reviews, I feel that I have a distinctive difference in the perspective I have towards this book.The things they carried although a fictional war book was succecful in keeping its plausibility intact through out the story, creating a story which readers can reflect upon. The story signifies the individuality amongst each soldier, each story and each memoir as the numerous flashbacks create the framing of the story its self.
A lot of reviews mention the rapid change in the pace of the novel. A emotional rollercoaster if you will. I comprehend the perspective that the various emotions were a imperative part to this rapidly evolving story and I also see the obvious metaphorical magnitude that the emotional descriptions carries,( that these emotions were the thing that all the soliders had in common carrying), but, the impression I received from this novel appears to be somewhat unethical and unique.
What I though was the paramount factor that put this story around the top of my favorite books list was the unique distinction between what many refer to as � the body and soul� of the story. The polatriy bewteen the two reminded me of the works of the artist Bernard buffet, famous for his monotonios, disconsolate paintings of clowns, contrarie to their well-known role as an icon for humor and laughter. Similar to that of Buffets drawings, Obrien depicted the atrocious occurings in the flashbacks of the war with a somewhat aristocratic tone. No trace of emotional overflow nor the disparity of the understanding of others. He simply presented a story with “intense� explosions, deaths, shitfields, forbidden lovers, guilt, remourse,confusion and hatred in a almost tranquil form, creating the contadiction which for me, open my eyes towards the main essence of this story. I might stand alone on this but, this novel truly informed me of the true Authenticity in a war. The concept of a war as a teen who has been protected by the walls of society so far in life can only and has been only built based purely on movies and novels that often glamourize and concentrate strictly on the dramatic aspects of war. This novel presented a new perspective towards the war, the perspective that war is not beyond a open portal between another demension. War is real. We do not enter a different dimension which is war but instead, war enters our dimension, polluting our sence of morality, humanity and logical sence.
Obrien actually makes reference to the real philosphy behind a war. How the rest of the world should be skeptical towards a war story, and also gives reccomendations on how to tell apart a fable from the truth.”ACTUAL QUOTES ADD SHITOIEEEEEEEE�
Tim OBrien, although a ethical element in war stories, really captivated the individuality amongst each individual solidier, taking the readers beyond the widleyknown label as a � soldier�. Through out history, it is a indisputable fact that the value of an idividuals life and well-being dramatically deteriorates during the time of war. Where inhumane units such as thousands and millions are used to described the possibly fatality of men. I felt the urgency and importance of keeping in mind that a thousand soliders is not “a “thousand but iactually is “a thousand ones�. Radther than generalizing all soldiers as a goup of unified type of men with common background, dreams, and perspectives, O brien presents a background and flash back for each of the men in Lt. Jimmy crosses plattoon, informing the readers of the individual lives that each soldier had before and for the survivors, after the war.
Obrien has done a magnificent job , preaching the uncertanty of war. How no body ever really plans on being in it, but radther it just happens as if it is a invitable, routine part of your life. That when asked about one can only say, It just happens. In the novel, Obrien suggests that this is due to society, (although there were a lot of hippies and anti-establishmentarians during the war in vietam) that elimintates all escape routes of avoiding being in a war. Not necessarily by force, but by physcological manipulation. As the agony of shame and dishonor appears to be much more dreadful and war becomes a preferable option. Other than Obrien, characters such as jimmy cross,
Other than its moral advocacy, I was personally fascinated with all the unkown war terms including numerous weapons and infantry merchandise which I later looked up on wikipidia with a raging flow of adrelanine running though my body. From M16 to Mp5s, Bouncing betties to C4 bombs. Weaponry has been considered a interest, an almost natural fascination amongst men through out history from rocks and spears to plutonium and hydrogen bombs. It certainly sparked my interest.
I would recommend this novel to anybody interested in war, weaponry and human phsycology. But, there is no one more who I wish would read this book than those who have never been in a war in their lives, my genertaion of teens in developed countries to see the reality of war and the lives of the soliders.
]]> 4.14 1990 The Things They Carried
author: Tim O'Brien
name: Jonah
average rating: 4.14
book published: 1990
rating: 4
read at: 2010/02/19
date added: 2010/02/20
shelves:
review:


After reading some reviews, I feel that I have a distinctive difference in the perspective I have towards this book.The things they carried although a fictional war book was succecful in keeping its plausibility intact through out the story, creating a story which readers can reflect upon. The story signifies the individuality amongst each soldier, each story and each memoir as the numerous flashbacks create the framing of the story its self.
A lot of reviews mention the rapid change in the pace of the novel. A emotional rollercoaster if you will. I comprehend the perspective that the various emotions were a imperative part to this rapidly evolving story and I also see the obvious metaphorical magnitude that the emotional descriptions carries,( that these emotions were the thing that all the soliders had in common carrying), but, the impression I received from this novel appears to be somewhat unethical and unique.
What I though was the paramount factor that put this story around the top of my favorite books list was the unique distinction between what many refer to as � the body and soul� of the story. The polatriy bewteen the two reminded me of the works of the artist Bernard buffet, famous for his monotonios, disconsolate paintings of clowns, contrarie to their well-known role as an icon for humor and laughter. Similar to that of Buffets drawings, Obrien depicted the atrocious occurings in the flashbacks of the war with a somewhat aristocratic tone. No trace of emotional overflow nor the disparity of the understanding of others. He simply presented a story with “intense� explosions, deaths, shitfields, forbidden lovers, guilt, remourse,confusion and hatred in a almost tranquil form, creating the contadiction which for me, open my eyes towards the main essence of this story. I might stand alone on this but, this novel truly informed me of the true Authenticity in a war. The concept of a war as a teen who has been protected by the walls of society so far in life can only and has been only built based purely on movies and novels that often glamourize and concentrate strictly on the dramatic aspects of war. This novel presented a new perspective towards the war, the perspective that war is not beyond a open portal between another demension. War is real. We do not enter a different dimension which is war but instead, war enters our dimension, polluting our sence of morality, humanity and logical sence.
Obrien actually makes reference to the real philosphy behind a war. How the rest of the world should be skeptical towards a war story, and also gives reccomendations on how to tell apart a fable from the truth.”ACTUAL QUOTES ADD SHITOIEEEEEEEE�
Tim OBrien, although a ethical element in war stories, really captivated the individuality amongst each individual solidier, taking the readers beyond the widleyknown label as a � soldier�. Through out history, it is a indisputable fact that the value of an idividuals life and well-being dramatically deteriorates during the time of war. Where inhumane units such as thousands and millions are used to described the possibly fatality of men. I felt the urgency and importance of keeping in mind that a thousand soliders is not “a “thousand but iactually is “a thousand ones�. Radther than generalizing all soldiers as a goup of unified type of men with common background, dreams, and perspectives, O brien presents a background and flash back for each of the men in Lt. Jimmy crosses plattoon, informing the readers of the individual lives that each soldier had before and for the survivors, after the war.
Obrien has done a magnificent job , preaching the uncertanty of war. How no body ever really plans on being in it, but radther it just happens as if it is a invitable, routine part of your life. That when asked about one can only say, It just happens. In the novel, Obrien suggests that this is due to society, (although there were a lot of hippies and anti-establishmentarians during the war in vietam) that elimintates all escape routes of avoiding being in a war. Not necessarily by force, but by physcological manipulation. As the agony of shame and dishonor appears to be much more dreadful and war becomes a preferable option. Other than Obrien, characters such as jimmy cross,
Other than its moral advocacy, I was personally fascinated with all the unkown war terms including numerous weapons and infantry merchandise which I later looked up on wikipidia with a raging flow of adrelanine running though my body. From M16 to Mp5s, Bouncing betties to C4 bombs. Weaponry has been considered a interest, an almost natural fascination amongst men through out history from rocks and spears to plutonium and hydrogen bombs. It certainly sparked my interest.
I would recommend this novel to anybody interested in war, weaponry and human phsycology. But, there is no one more who I wish would read this book than those who have never been in a war in their lives, my genertaion of teens in developed countries to see the reality of war and the lives of the soliders.

]]> The Catcher in the Rye 7178 The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield has been synonymous with "cynical adolescent." Holden narrates the story of a couple of days in his sixteen-year-old life, just after he's been expelled from prep school, in a slang that sounds edgy even today and keeps this novel on banned book lists. It begins,

"If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth. In the first place, that stuff bores me, and in the second place, my parents would have about two hemorrhages apiece if I told anything pretty personal about them."

His constant wry observations about what he encounters, from teachers to phonies (the two of course are not mutually exclusive) capture the essence of the eternal teenage experience of alienation.

]]> 234 J.D. Salinger 0316769487 Jonah 1 The catcher in the rye ever since its first publication has been referred to as one of the “best novels� in american literature. REALLY? I honestly think that the federal judge should have kept it behind the bars if it was goin too steal this much of a hype when it obviously does not deserve it.
When I was reading this book, I didn’t feel like I was actually reading the story of a teen, but more like reading a story that a middle aged man wrote through the eyes of a white teenager kid. All the “godddams�, “hells� and “shits� in the world couldn’t cover it up. In fact , all the awkwardly used profanity was one of the factors that made me wish that this book was made in the world of farenheight 451.
It might be because Holden existed in a different time and place and society as me, but , the way Holden Caufield talks seems to me like a japanese man trying to sing Elvis. Its just not the same. J.D Sallingers attempts to add frositng to the deal with all the immature profanity, but it seems to me that its all a sich too much. And if you ask me, teenagers don’t talk like that. Perhaps one of the editors should have pre-exposed the story to a teenager so that Salinger could have altered the way Holden talks.
I understand why so many proposes this book to teenagers though. Holden Caulfields reputation lives up to his title as a national symbol for rebellios, premature teens. Perhaps this book has given great influence to the lifes of some teens. BUT, in my oppinion he is hypocritical whiny emo kid unlike the . The pasimistic punk turns down sex even though he claims that’s all he ever thinks about. His emotion overruns his logic, causing him to get nowhere in life and once he gets the oppurtunity, He turns into a female cat. All of these features are presicley the kind of person that pisses me off. He complains about EVERY LITTLE thing, failing to appreciating all the magnificent things taking place in his life. This book may have influened millions of people to refelct and better them selves �.. and some to kill the beatles but nonethe less!, I didn’t learn nor feel anything after reading this book.

But the annoyance caused by a single character dosent make this a bad book.
In my oppinion, it seems that Sallinger concentrated too much on making this book “teenage like � through out the whole storyline that it became stale after awhile. The scene where Holden mimmicks a broadway star and starts tapping in the showerroom, the man wearing womens clothing Holden saw through his hotel windows, All these scenes seems to be fairly korny to me and again it seems that Sallinger tried a bit too hard to add a senec of innocense and youth to the story that it seemed plastic.
This might be because of my lousy reading skills but it seemed to me that radther than having a meaningful plot, all this book was was 300 pages of a shallow white kid complaining about things I don’t care about. Some may call this type of plot simple yet insight, I call it boring. The story dosent have any ups and downs withing the plot causing the whole story to become flat and predictable, failing to make readers, or atleast me, to sit on the edge of the seats while reading this book. Through out reading this book, I was hoping that at somepoint there was going to be a changing point in the flow, something that would make the rest of the story worth reading, but the book failed me and made me say”that’s it?� when I completed the book.

First of all let me say that I Love Humor. Whether it is in a movie, novel or everyday life. And I can honestly say, that I could have read this whole book with a stragiht face. As mentioned before all the jokes, sarcasm and occurings became stale almost right from the beggining. Perhaps this was because all the jokes were of similar taste and had no ups nor downs. Regarding the supposedly funny things that are presented in the story, It seems as if it could be funny if it was presented in a different context. A lot of the jokes actually has the potential of being quite comical but the form Sallinger presents ruins the joke, giving me the sensation that the joke is my enemy.
Overall, Maybe I would recommend this book to extremley naiive teenagers but noone else. Pehaps I would have if Sallinger has changed the tempo in the story once in a while, I would have given it a better rating.
]]> 3.76 1951 The Catcher in the Rye
author: J.D. Salinger
name: Jonah
average rating: 3.76
book published: 1951
rating: 1
read at: 2010/02/02
date added: 2010/02/20
shelves:
review:

The catcher in the rye ever since its first publication has been referred to as one of the “best novels� in american literature. REALLY? I honestly think that the federal judge should have kept it behind the bars if it was goin too steal this much of a hype when it obviously does not deserve it.
When I was reading this book, I didn’t feel like I was actually reading the story of a teen, but more like reading a story that a middle aged man wrote through the eyes of a white teenager kid. All the “godddams�, “hells� and “shits� in the world couldn’t cover it up. In fact , all the awkwardly used profanity was one of the factors that made me wish that this book was made in the world of farenheight 451.
It might be because Holden existed in a different time and place and society as me, but , the way Holden Caufield talks seems to me like a japanese man trying to sing Elvis. Its just not the same. J.D Sallingers attempts to add frositng to the deal with all the immature profanity, but it seems to me that its all a sich too much. And if you ask me, teenagers don’t talk like that. Perhaps one of the editors should have pre-exposed the story to a teenager so that Salinger could have altered the way Holden talks.
I understand why so many proposes this book to teenagers though. Holden Caulfields reputation lives up to his title as a national symbol for rebellios, premature teens. Perhaps this book has given great influence to the lifes of some teens. BUT, in my oppinion he is hypocritical whiny emo kid unlike the . The pasimistic punk turns down sex even though he claims that’s all he ever thinks about. His emotion overruns his logic, causing him to get nowhere in life and once he gets the oppurtunity, He turns into a female cat. All of these features are presicley the kind of person that pisses me off. He complains about EVERY LITTLE thing, failing to appreciating all the magnificent things taking place in his life. This book may have influened millions of people to refelct and better them selves �.. and some to kill the beatles but nonethe less!, I didn’t learn nor feel anything after reading this book.

But the annoyance caused by a single character dosent make this a bad book.
In my oppinion, it seems that Sallinger concentrated too much on making this book “teenage like � through out the whole storyline that it became stale after awhile. The scene where Holden mimmicks a broadway star and starts tapping in the showerroom, the man wearing womens clothing Holden saw through his hotel windows, All these scenes seems to be fairly korny to me and again it seems that Sallinger tried a bit too hard to add a senec of innocense and youth to the story that it seemed plastic.
This might be because of my lousy reading skills but it seemed to me that radther than having a meaningful plot, all this book was was 300 pages of a shallow white kid complaining about things I don’t care about. Some may call this type of plot simple yet insight, I call it boring. The story dosent have any ups and downs withing the plot causing the whole story to become flat and predictable, failing to make readers, or atleast me, to sit on the edge of the seats while reading this book. Through out reading this book, I was hoping that at somepoint there was going to be a changing point in the flow, something that would make the rest of the story worth reading, but the book failed me and made me say”that’s it?� when I completed the book.

First of all let me say that I Love Humor. Whether it is in a movie, novel or everyday life. And I can honestly say, that I could have read this whole book with a stragiht face. As mentioned before all the jokes, sarcasm and occurings became stale almost right from the beggining. Perhaps this was because all the jokes were of similar taste and had no ups nor downs. Regarding the supposedly funny things that are presented in the story, It seems as if it could be funny if it was presented in a different context. A lot of the jokes actually has the potential of being quite comical but the form Sallinger presents ruins the joke, giving me the sensation that the joke is my enemy.
Overall, Maybe I would recommend this book to extremley naiive teenagers but noone else. Pehaps I would have if Sallinger has changed the tempo in the story once in a while, I would have given it a better rating.

]]> <![CDATA[One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest]]> 332613 9780451163967

Tyrannical Nurse Ratched rules her ward in an Oregon State mental hospital with a strict and unbending routine, unopposed by her patients, who remain cowed by mind-numbing medication and the threat of electric shock therapy. But her regime is disrupted by the arrival of McMurphy � the swaggering, fun-loving trickster with a devilish grin who resolves to oppose her rules on behalf of his fellow inmates. His struggle is seen through the eyes of Chief Bromden, a seemingly mute half-Indian patient who understands McMurphy's heroic attempt to do battle with the powers that keep them imprisoned. Ken Kesey's extraordinary first novel is an exuberant, ribald and devastatingly honest portrayal of the boundaries between sanity and madness.]]> 325 Ken Kesey Jonah 4 4.20 1962 One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
author: Ken Kesey
name: Jonah
average rating: 4.20
book published: 1962
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2010/01/24
shelves:
review:

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