Two Sided

Freaks and Revelations

Davida Wills Hurwin

Jeff Vega

There are two sides to every story, as there is with every coin or every wall. You benefit from the different perspective that each side offers. In Freaks and Revelations by Davida Wills Hurwin, we are given two sides of the same story, by two very different boys who each have to face their own problems. First, there is Doug. He is a punk kid with a nasty attitude and a racist outlook on people who does drugs for fun without thinking about the consequences. His parents have a toxic marriage, with a father that lives his life drunk, and a mother that puts up with his abusive ways. The other perspective is told by Jason, a younger child who seems to have the perfect life, but has a secret he can’t tell anyone, he’s gay. His parents seem to be happy together, and he has a close relationship with his father.

Now, I haven’t finished the book yet, but each perspective is building up to the grand scheme of it all. Where I have left off, Doug is moving on to some hardcore drugs. It’s seems that he doesn’t plan on stopping anytime soon. At this point, it’s more of a drug addiction instead of something to do just for fun. Doug meets with a dealer and tries a new drug. He starts to trip out and says “ Not a white face in sight and I can’t run. I’m on NEB , PCP, animal tranquilizer” (60). The sad part about it all is that Doug is about 17 years old at this point of the book. He went out looking for something crazier to do, and that disgusts me. Meanwhile, Jason realizes that he is gay, and starts to experiment by kissing boys. He meets a boy that is much older than him, and starts a relationship with him. After a date, Jason “ [sneaks] one last kiss. My luck-it’s just as [my bully] walks by” (66). This is a red flag for Jason because now he has to worry if his bully will be telling everyone. But we see Jason's’ pride take off when he stops caring what people think. He even takes it a step higher and decides to tell his family. But what Jason doesn’t realize is that his mother is STRICTLY religious and will not approve. He tells his family, and the first thing his mother says is an angry “No son of mine is going to hell” (73). 

I would recommend this book to anyone who likes different perspectives on the same story, or if the reader likes a mix of a serious yet funny read. It has all the elements within the book: surprise, comedy, and tragedy. It brings out all the emotions in the reader, and will definitely have you picking sides, whether you like Doug or Jason more. It’s very different from other reads, in the sense of the plot of the story and how it is set up. I strongly recommend it.

Get Caught in The Trap

Iraklis Pagounes

The Trap


By : John Smelcer


As Americans, we are extremely used to the extremely high standard of living which we enjoy daily. Whether that be hot water or cars, we rely on many luxuries that are not available to people in other parts of the country. In the depths of the Alaskan frontier, one does not depend on their iPhone to help them survive; they depend on their own survival instincts, and their determination to live. The main character, Johnny, has lived on the Alaskan frontier his entire life, surviving the long nights, where “His body [..] burns all of its fuel trying to stay warm”(124); but he has also enjoyed the “Beautiful clear nights”(94), where the suffering that he endures seems worth it. Johnny grew up with his grandparents, where his grandfather, Albert, had been living and conquering the Alaskan wilderness for as long as he can remember. Albert has much experience in hunting and decides one day to go and check his trap lines. To Johnny's surprise, his grandfather does not return. It starts to get dark and the temperature starts to drop so Johnny begins to worry.

This survival tale, where Johnny sacrifices his mind and body for his family, is an extremely engaging read. Although not every part of the book is a suspenseful moment Smelcer does an amazing job of allowing the reader to take in the Alaskan scenery through Johnny's eyes. Through his extremely strong diction and descriptive adjectives, the reader feels as if they too are experiencing the “[total silence, were] the only noise is the creaking trees in the wind”(94).

The main character, although the story is a bit outlandish, feels extremely grounded, and relatable to the reader. All of us, in one way or another, can relate to the sacrifice that he makes. I connect to Johnny because I too grew up with my grandparents. All throughout my childhood, I was always with my grandparents helping them out or just staying over because my parents were too busy with their own schedule. Growing up with my grandparents made a big impact on my life as I'm sure it did for Johnny.

Throughout this book, I felt that I was extremely engaged, with not only the overarching plot-line of a survival story but also with the progression of the main character. Smelcer dos an excellent job of describing the location and immersing the reader of the Alaskan experience using an overwhelming amount of details.

I would most definitely recommend this book to anyone who enjoyed The Hatchet by Gary Paulsen or Call of the Wild by Jack London. It was an immersive read where I felt the weight of every decision that Johnny made keeping me interested all throughout.

Her Secret Will Electrify You...

Brandon Zuniga

Gift
By Andrea J. Buchanan

    Daisy Jones is just a typical sophomore trying to fit into her new high school, after transferring schools way too many times for “behavioral accidents”. However both her, and her best friend Danielle, know the real reason behind her accidents; she has an uncontrolled ability to mess with electronics around her: “Everything...electric went on the fritz when I touched it... like I had a cloud of bad electricity all around me” (25). Throughout her childhood, Daisy and her mother have been able to partially control Daisy’s gift with yoga to keep her energy calm. Although questioning her abilities, she never delved too deep into it. However, after she catches Vivi, a studious but eerie girl, passed out from overdosing on medicine, everything starts to change.
People can talk to ghosts, ghosts are talking to people. You will think it's crazy, but Danielle thinks so too screaming, “You’re telling us that you talk to ghosts! Hello? Definition of crazy!” (48). However, that is not the end of it. Friends are also having shared dreams, but the dreams they share span over real events that have taken place over a hundred years ago. What is the significance, and what will unfold of it? You’re going to need to check the book out for yourself to find out.
This is my third time reading this book, since obtaining it in sixth grade and thus holds deeper meaning to me. With that aside, this book is definitely geared to a more younger audience around age 12-15, due to its comedic, fantastical, and young romance elements. While Daisy can be seen as the serious character when she brings up the idea of meeting in a class to talk about their ghostly encounters, Danielle takes a comedic approach to relieve tension and calls themselves, “The ‘Girl’s Guide to Ghosts’ Group” (76). This, also follows along with unlikely formation of the group as a whole, whom each seem to have their own reasons for seeming different than everyone else, is good for students who struggle with fitting in. The group’s ability to communicate with ghosts and its relation to Daisy’s powers also detail the fantastical side of the story, making it a good candidate for a younger audience. Although an awkward relationship also takes place, it is another tool used to engage the readers with the protagonists. Therefore, I recommend this to young adults who enjoy a bit of fantasy once in a while, and would like to be taken on a journey that will leave you more “shocked” than you think.

Who was Michael Jordan?

Facing Michael Jordan

 Edited by: Sean Deveney and Kent McDill

Sevag Aboyan

Michael Jordan. What comes to your mind when you think of this legendary man? Who has impacted and what name has he built for himself?

     Facing Michael Jordan edited by Sean Deveney with Kent McDill, is a book composed of multiple stories about Jordan. As the Young man began his basketball journey, almost every opponent or member of his career shares their own personal story of what Michael jordan was really composed of. In the early chapter of the book a ex-pro basketball player Walter Davis talks about Jordan and his freshman year at North Carolina University. Davis could not talk bad about Jordan all he said were positive things. Davis talked about how him and Phil Ford played against Jordan and explained “ Phil and I were playing on the same team, and we were both trying to guard Michael” (4). No one really knew how good Michael was going to end up. As more and more people go on to explain there story and perspective of Michael the more interesting it gets. David Henderson played at Duke University from 1983-86, and talked about the ACC tournament when Duke played North Carolina. He said it was an intense and very competitive game, but it came down to one thing… stopping Michael Jordan. Henderson did not know what to say accept “ it was tough. Michael Jordan was so good…” (11). Michael jordan was not an ordinary basketball player and not an average division 1 player either. As his time came to leave college and continue his career into the NBA, everyone world wide knew he was the real deal. Once Jordan had reached the top and became who he is known as today, he has always looked at the greatest player of all time. Dennis Rodman a big name ex-player that played with Jordan knew him in a different perspective. Majority of the people who talked about Jordan either played against him or helped him out along the way. Rodman knew Jordan was the best and so did the whole league. Rodman explained “ He was a professional; he just knew everything he needed to know out there. He know how to take you apart if you were trying to defend him” (133). As the story progress each person elaborates on Jordan's career and how much of an impact he left on the game.

This interesting story has kept on the edge of my seat. Being a basketball fanatic it is one of the greatest books I have read. It explains the journey of the greatest player to ever play and how he did it to get there. The editor of the story does a very good job in not only sharing a story from each person but showing statistics and logistics to backup the talk on Michael. The story to me emphasizes a point how hard work can pay off and it is possible to do things when you put your mind to it.

In my opinion the story is very well written and very fascinating. Sharing the reader a perspective from various people really emphasizes the point of how good Michael really was. I would really recommend this story to anyone who knows who michael really was and/or loves the sport of basketball like I do. If you are looking for a story that will make you keep turning the page and want to know more about Jordan this is the one. I know I have really enjoyed this book and I hope you do as well.

Abandoned

Aaron Lam

The Enemy
By Charlie Higson

What does life mean to you? Do you treasure it or would you cast it aside as if it is nothing. Would you treasure what you have left after losing everything? Charlie Higson expresses this feeling through the story of a group of small children. The children were young, were they didn't even reach past adolescence. The Enemy by Charlie Higson demonstrates life through a dystopian environment in the perspective of children. This shows the dependency that the children have at a young age and how incapable they could be in dire situations. Taking place in post-apocalyptic London, scattered groups of children are struggling to survive. The story introduces many groups of children, having only shown living adults once. The only pair of living adults turned out to be cannibals. The book ends with the perspective of a zombie, where it introduces a zombie that has some semblance of consciousness. The zombie thinks, “Car. Road. Shop. Kid. Blood. Eat.” (438). This creates a somewhat deeper meaning to the zombies purpose, as why would they be thinking of the kids.

The post-apocalyptic story usually has someone type of twist in order to make it unique from others. In the case of The Enemy, Charlie Higson uses the perspective of children and only children in order to convey the story. With this perspective, the reader will experience more naive characters. The lack of experience or sense that the children have will make the story have more tension. In recent parts of the story, the characters are acting out of their own emotions rather than the benefit. According to the deuteragonist, Maxie, she says, “we’d all be a lot happier if we got out of this place.” (392). She states this after arriving to an area under strict supervision by a different group of kids. She does not appreciate another group in charge of hers, causing her to leave with her group. This puts her entire group in danger because they had just left one of the few safe areas in London. There are children as young as 6 in the group and it would put them in extreme danger if they were to travel around a zombie-infested area. The characters are difficult to relate to due to their brash actions as well as lack of sense in some situations. Maxie had demonstrated this behavior again, where she left the safe place in a state of discord. As Maxie and her group left, she shouted, “Come and get it, you sad losers!” (435). She had potentially left another group of kids in danger due to her own personal opinions. She had released a small group of zombies in order for her group to leave the area. The book creates an interesting set up, but fails to create likeable characters.

The book presents itself as a decent representation of a post-apocalyptic story. The characters provide no deep motive in their actions, however. A character would act on a whim or based on their emotions, which is not a good motivation to towards their actions. The concept of the story is interesting as well as how the characters accurately fit the concept. Children in this story tend to be arrogant and act according to what they think. The children themselves don’t appeal simply because they are just young kids.

Citations:

https://www.orderofbooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/The-Enemy-by-Charlie-Higson.jpg

Big Brother is Watching

Peter Nguyen
1984
George Orwell

Big Brother is Watching 

Big Brother is watching. That's a phrase you would hear a crazy hippy say while standing around in front of the White House and shoving a sign in your face. However, this isn’t the case in 1984 by George Orwell, in which Big Brother is real and the citizens of the government are brainwashed. The story takes place in 1984 in London, which is a part of Oceania, one of 3 totalitarian titans in the world. The protagonist is Winston Smith, who is one of the very few that realize how oppressive and controlling the government is. The totalitarian government is led by Big Brother, which controls people actions, desires, and thoughts with branches that carry out the controlling such as the Thought Police and Ministry of Truth. With Winston being aware of the oppressive government, he joins The Brotherhood, an underground organization that seeks to overthrow the government. Orwell provides the perfect example of a dystopian future that includes a controlling government. In his novel, we follow Winton’s struggle to fight against the oppression of human rights


The concept of a totalitarian government is present in endless books, movies, and songs. 1984 captures the concept and possible outcomes perfectly. Clearly, Orwell is not only writing a story but a theoretical situation that could happen in real life. While speaking to a coworker, “Don’t you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? In the end, we shall make thoughtcrime literally impossible because there will be no words in which to express it.” (Orwell 53) With the huge influence of social media and news channels falsifying stories to fit agendas, this aspect of the book has somewhat translated into reality. It’s interesting to see how Orwell weaves in his ideas and philosophy by incorporating subtle parallels such as this one. According to his ideas, the events in 1984 could one day become reality so, in a way, the book is also a warning about the dangers of society.


The overall mood of the book is suppressed and leaves the reader feeling terrified of the world Winston lives in. He describes everything in great detail but at the same time, keeps it simple. The sentences are almost all direct and blunt. This gets the point across without any fluff yet also reveals a deeper angle into the story giving it an element of creepiness. During the description of how the Party works, Winston states “This last was for the disposal of waste paper. Similar slits existed in thousands or tens of thousands throughout the building, not only in every room but at short intervals in every corridor. For some reason, they were nicknamed memory holes.” (Orwell 42) The sentences are blunt and matter-of-fact. Orwell himself stated that if there were any long or unnecessary words, they should be taken out or replaced, which is the reason behind the simplicity of his writing.


As stated before, this book is also a hypothetical situation that seems to get more real daily. It was written in 1949; more than 50 years ago. It’s interesting to see how many of the events in the novel have slowly become true. For instance, Google and Facebook taking user data, the NSA spying on people, and so many more. There are eyes everywhere and channel news seems to be submitting to one agenda and reporting biased news. When I read about Winston, I thought about Edward Snowden, who released top-secret NSA info and was wanted by the US Government. The first few pages of the book include “In the far distance a helicopter skimmed down between the roofs, hovered for an instant like a bluebottle, and darted away again with a curving flight. It was the police patrol, snooping into people's windows.”(Orwell 9) For a book that was written so long ago, there are many things that are locking into place in today’s society. At this point, I may sound like one of those hippies I made fun of earlier, but the facts are there and Orwell was right in warning about the dangers and influence of society and government.


I would highly recommend 1984 to anyone that enjoys reading dystopian novels such as The Hunger Games. It would be a waste not to read, as there are many interesting ideas and core philosophy that I haven’t even considered until I read it. If a book from 1949 can still have that type of impact on a person today, then it is definitely a must-read for anyone in general. The writing, the story, the characters, everything is well executed.

Sources

George Orwell, "Politics and the English Language," The Complete Works of George Orwell, http://www.george-orwell.org/Politics_and_the_English_Language/0.html, Accessed 4 March 2009.

Orwell, George. 1984. New York: Penguin, 1949. Print

Open Culture. “Hear the Very First Adaptation of George Orwell's 1984 in a Radio Play Starring David Niven (1949).” Open Culture, 10 Aug. 2015, www.openculture.com/2015/08/hear-the-very-first-adaptation-of-george-orwells-1984-in-a-radio-play-starring-david-niven-1949.html.

"What is a friend? A single soul dwelling in two bodies." - Aristotle

Discovering the Secrets of the Universe
Nora Haggerty

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
By Benjamin Alire Saenz

Eclectic names and one’s inability to swim are what bring Aristotle and Dante together. In the blink of an eye, they become the best of friends, each learning more about themselves by talking with the other. Dante is an artistic, creative, thoughtful boy who loves his parents deeply. He is sensitive and caring, and funnily enough, considering his name, thoroughly enjoys poetry. In contrast, Aristotle is a tougher character who feels angry and distant from his own family. He often has nightmares and feels confused about a lot of the unknowns in his life. Told from Aristotle’s point of view, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe follows the relationship between these two boys as they grow closer and closer after meeting at their local pool. Together they learn what they care most about, what burning questions they want answered, and how to deal with the difficulties they are each faced with.

So far I really enjoy this book and the topics it discusses. It is written in language that is very easy to read and understand while still covering complex themes such as family troubles, car accidents, and withheld emotions. Reading it made me really feel like it was a teenager telling the story in fragmented parts with emotions and opinions throughout.

While Aristotle and Dante are both very different characters, I found both of them likable and relatable. I think their friendship works because they are so different. One stark difference between the two is their family dynamics. Aristotle is amazed when he visits Dante’s home for the first time and Dante kisses his father on the cheek because he “would never have done that. Not ever” (24). He wonders what it would be like to have that type of connection with his dad. Instead, he feels as though he is searching for the man his father truly is, always feeling far away. Because his family never brings it up, Aristotle finds himself constantly thinking about his brother who is in jail, and wants to know more. He writes in his journal “It’s worse than being dead. At least the dead get talked about and you get to hear stories about them...My brother doesn’t get any stories...It doesn’t seem right” (96). On the other hand, from Aristotle’s perspective, Dante’s family is easygoing and patient with one another. Dante’s father is an English professor who “seemed like a man who was in live with being alive (24) and “didn’t care if the whole world knew he was kind” (102). From the respect and admiration he has for Dante’s father, it is clear that Aristotle desires an individual like that in his life.

What makes the characters most relatable is the emotions they find themselves coming to accept and deal with. It is evident to the reader that what the pair discusses often doesn’t get brought up in conversations with other people. Almost immediately, the two boys share a mutual understanding of each other and trust each other with their deepest feelings. For instance, after an accident that lands Aristotle in the hospital, Dante offers Aristotle his sketchbook, a possession he does not let anyone else see because of how personal his drawings are. Sometimes it seems that Aristotle is afraid of his own feelings, so he is more closed off than Dante. After the accident he does not want to see a counselor because he thinks “talking doesn’t help everybody” (142), even though he doesn’t often open up to anyone. He has a hard time coming to terms with how everyone around him feels and tends to bottle up his emotions, letting them out in a journal he keeps. He would rather “close [his] eyes and let the silence swallow [him] whole” (138). Dante is clearly an important addition to Aristotle’s life because he shows Aristotle a different way of looking at the world, and gives a shoulder to lean on -- something he didn’t have before. They truly are written like real people; people who go through personal hardships, learn from mistakes, and understand that it is more than okay to open up to the people around them. I think the book was written with the target audience to be teenagers who may be confused about their feelings or having trouble with understanding who they really are.

Just as one of my friends enthusiastically introduced me to this book, I would highly recommend reading Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe. Even though I have not yet finished it, what I have read makes me want to continue reading, and when I was reading it, I didn’t want to put it down. I don’t think I’ve read a book quite similar to this one, but it did remind me a little of John Green’s writing because of how casual it seemed while discussing deeper feelings, as well as the infusion of comedy here and there.

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