Sherman Alexie’s “The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven” is a collection of short stories or vignettes about life on an Indian reservation. He uses his own experiences on the reservation and changes the names of the people or sometimes exaggerates the story. This book is a must read that I would highly recommend to anyone who likes realistic, satirical writing.

Sherman Alexie was born Wellpinit Washington on an Indian reservation. He was born with a condition called Hydrocephalus and was not expected to survive, he has several stories that mention this. Sherman Alexie was a good student and in eighth grade transferred to the local farm high school, Reardan High School, where the only other Indian was the schools mascot. He did very well in high school and graduated top of his class. He went to Gonzaga University in 1985, a Jesuit college in Spokane Washington. Sherman later transferred to Washington University where he started writing poetry and short stories.

All of the stories in The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven are loosely based on Sherman or people in his life. The book touches upon racism, poverty, and alcoholism that plague the Indian community. In the passage A Drug Called Tradition two Indian teens go and try a new drug. In this passage Sherman Alexie describes what it is like to be an Indian adolescent with conflicting aspects of your life. The old traditions of their ancestors conflicting with modern aspects of life. For example one of the boys is a storyteller who the other two ask to tell them stories, then after he tells a couple of stories that don’t make sense, about the past and how they are warriors on horses. They tell him to shut up and they go back to talking. This is describing how they want to know about the past and at the same time are scared about what it might be.

In the passages of, “The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven” Sherman Alexie’s use of satirical humor makes the various stories palatable. Without any the humor the stories would be sad without the humor. Sherman Alexie’s dry witted comedy goes a long way in making the book good. It is hard to put a label on the kind of book that, “The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven” is. It is some parts autobiography some parts fiction and some parts non-fiction. If it was written about events further in the past I think it might even be correct to call it historical fiction.

The book has many different characters that all help tell in the overarching story of the book. The different character almost meld together throughout the book so it’s hard to tell that there are different narrators in different stories. The different narrators all have the same feel to them and they have the same personality. But they give the book a lot more depth by creating different perspectives to look back on some of the other narrators, this style of writing lets you see a lot more of the story than just having one narrator would.

This is a very good book that I would recommend to anyone who is looking for a good slow-paced novel that is on the heavier side. It is not a light read but one that I would highly recommend reading, especially if you have previously read and enjoyed any other pieces of Sherman Alexie’s work and you want to read more. This book is a collection of fictional vignettes loosely based on the authors experiences. I would say that you should not read this book if you are under the age of sixteen, due to some of the graphic content. All in all this is an exceptional book that I would highly recommend to anyone to pick up.

Title: The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven

Author: Sherman Alexie

Number Of Pages: 242

Publisher: Grove Press

Published: January 1st 1993

John Carlin, a journalist, who specializes in politics and sports, co-authored Rafa with tennis great Rafael Nadal. Previous books that he has written include “Knowing Mandela” and “White Angles”. He is from London, England and graduated from Oxford University. Rafael Nadal is one of the greatest men’s tennis player’s in history but his journey to where he is today, was not an easy one.

Nadal’s journey begins in Mallorca, Spain, where his family still lives today. Mallorca is an island, located in the Mediterranean sea. Nadal was born and raised in Mallorca. Nadal still visits the island, to see friends and family, who still live there. He enjoys visiting Mallorca, because he can be himself and the grand scenery that is there.

This book has chapters but within those chapters they’re sub-chapters. The beginning of this book starts off with Nadal describing the feeling of being on Centre Court at Wimbledon. Throughout this book, Nadal speaks in first-person but as it goes on, he speaks in third person. Also, this book refers to Nadal’s biggest critic, who is also his biggest motivator. Their relationship and how it came to be, is displayed all through this book.

Many believe that Rafa’s biggest obstacle, in the game of tennis is his opponents. That would make sense, playing against tennis greats such as Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic but that is not the case. Not the heckling fans or the fans that do not say please when they ask for his signature. Rafa’s obstacle has been right beside him the entire time and has even helped him along the way.   

The critic, Rafa’s Uncle Toni, has been by Nadal’s side since he was a boy and has never stopped coaching him. Nadal attributes most of his mental toughness, on the tennis court, to his Uncle’s coaching. Their relationship is peculiar, because he is his Uncle, but they have a player/coach relationship as well. Toni treats Rafa just like any other coach would treat their player, with respect but with determination.       

Rafa gives the reader, an abundance of information about Nadal and his personal life, but one thing that is not done well in this book is, the consistency of one voice. The dialogue in this book is mostly done by Nadal, but the co-author’s voice is often heard through the dialogue within this book. Furthermore, the chapters in this book seem to be out of order and are not in chronological order. The beginning of the book starts abruptly and it takes the reader a while to understand the significance of the first chapter.   

The book takes you in the mind of Nadal, his emotions on and off the court are revealed. It takes you onto Centre Court at Wimbledon, and explains what it’s like to play on that court and in front of the large crowd. Nadal’s match against Roger Federer, which was one of the biggest matches of his career, is highlighted in great detail, from before the match even starts to when he is celebrating his Wimbledon grand slam victory on Centre Court.          

Readers, who like sports and close family relationships, would enjoy reading this book. The background of this book is family, the importance of family is key in this story because it made a kid with a dream into a global tennis icon, who has had a tremendous amount of success. This book is not only about the game of tennis, but, what every athlete deal with on a daily basis. 

The physical and mental side of being an athlete is talked about in this book and it shows how one athlete in particular deals with it all. From the massage table to getting his foot taped before every practice and tennis match, Rafa shows the reader what happens before and after the lights and cameras are on and everyone is watching around the world.    

This book will push your thinking about what an athlete really is and what sacrifices they must make to get to their end goal. Losing is not the worst thing for an athlete, because it humbles you and makes you come back even stronger the next time. It’s going to happen but the thing that everyone will remember is how you respond to failure. Rafa leaves the reader wanting more, when the book has concluded. This is a motivational story, so, people who would like to read a book, that shows a person having to persevere through tough times, would enjoy reading this book.                  

RAFA, Rafael Nadal and John Carlin, Hyperion, August 23rd, 2011, 272 pages, Auto-biography

This book made the great horror writer Stephen King what he is today. The book Carrie written by Stephen King tells the tortured tale of a social outcast named Carrie White who has the ability of telekinesis. Throughout the story she is pestered by schoolmates while being abused by her unstable Christian mother. You can see throughout this try that all of the characters have realistic motives for example a character disliking the the concept of sex because she was raped. In fact one of my favorite characters in the story was Carrie’s Mother, she has the most backstory and does the most provoking in the plot, as shown through her increasing violence towards Carrie.  As you go through the story you find the different troubling backstories, they turn characters who appears purely evil to people who are suffering themselves. The build up is also amazing, as you move through the story you may hear about a character trait that may not seem important, but they lead to extremely plot centered.

Though Stephen King is known by many to be an amazing writer this book had almost not happened. King originally wrote for Men’s Magazines and barely got by with his earnings, for his family and eventually he thought of making an actual novel. He took inspiration from people from his high school and began writing about a shy girl with telekinetic powers. After many rewrite he threw this story away convince that he could not write from the female perspective while being a man. Only through the persuasion of his wife did he actually attempt to finish it. He then attempted to publish his book about a girl with telekinetic powers and was rejected 30 times, until finally he was published by Doubleday. King from then would publish about 200 books of varying genres including contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction, and fantasy.

The story itself is great, it tells a timeless tale that can still apply to things happening today. The story takes place in 1979, which is approximately five years after the date it was written. The story is told through notes, documents and even through the third person from the view of Carrie, which in King’s later books do not use with the exception of the third person view. The books varies in how scary yet intriguing it can be; you fear the character, but you want to know what happened to them to make them that way. The book’s main focus is on building character and not on gore not scare you. It does not make the horror monster into a villain, it more like a normal person is being pushed to do evil things. King also breaks the norm by keeping the book focused on what is happening and not what it looks like, but instead King kept it tame and clean and until the extreme ending. What is amazing though is that unlike many of King’s Novels Carrie got not just a theatrical release, but has had two remakes, a tv series, and even Broadway musical adaption.

Overall, this book is probably one of the most important in Stephen King’s Career, it has come so far and done so much. Carrie is a good book to introduce someone to horror and also a good start to the horror franchise. This book does not make the mistake of scaring you with surprising visual, but instead leading you in and making you feel uncomfortable as you move along. King’s works have helped him contribute to what horror is today, changing what the villain of the story can be. He has kept fans of his stories very happy, and even to this day he is still producing his books and changing genres.

Title: Carrie

Author: Stephen King

Published: April 5, 1957

Pages: 199 pages

Genre: Horror, Epistolary, and Tragedy

Explanation:

This depicts the main character Lucy, pregnant and holding a sword in determination to win against the Elfin Knight and to save her mother and set free all the women of her family that once were trapped by the curse. The boy is Zach Greenfield, the love interest who is shielding Lucy with his love for her and the is shown because he is looking down at her instead of at the evil being in front of him. At the very bottom you see that Lucy is standing on a book, her biological mother’s diary, which is being held up by two figures that represent her loving foster parents that will love and support her no matter what decision she makes. Her foster dad has the lyrics of of the Scarborough fair and he is singing the curse. This is because he is the one who first introduced the song to Lucy as a way to have a connection to her birth mother.

Being foreign in a new big city, has its perks and challenges. In the book, Girl In Translation a novel written by Jean Kwok, shows how a girl named Kimberly Chang along with her mother emigrate to the Chinatown area of Brooklyn, New York. The main character Kimberly is stuck between a double life, by day she is a preppy school girl and at night she works illegally at a sweatshop, along with her mother. This book will thrive and inspire the reader. Kimberly Chang wants to grow up and live the American dream.

Kimberly is only eleven years old when she and her mother, Ma, arrive from Hong Kong in search of a better life. Since moving to Brooklyn, New York from Hong Kong, Kimberly ends up in a world where she doesn’t understand anything at all. Her mother and herself struggle to survive as they are starting a new life. Ma, works at a local sweatshop owned by her sister. Living a double life Kimberly attends a preppy school. At this preppy school she meets white rich kids, who she develops really close relationships with. Although she is careful that she keeps the boundary of their friendship at school. “Going to the factory after school would become something so automatic that sometimes, even when I needed to go someplace else years later, I would find myself on the trains to the factory by accident, as if that were the place to which all roads led.” Kimberly feels embarrassed that she has to work in a sweatshop after school, she doesn’t want her friends at her preppy school to know that she is in poverty. However, at the sweatshop she does meet a boy named Matt, who is around the same age as Kimberly. Throughout the story they develop an interesting relationship with its ups and downs.

Jean Kwok the author of this book, Girl In Translation is an amazing author. She writes books that have to do with her real life past experiences, but she incorporates them into fiction. The use of words and descriptive language, allows the reader to go into depth with what they are reading. It allows them to imagine certain scenes and chapters of the book as if you were watching a movie or there experiencing it. I feel like the language that she uses makes the book feel so much more realistic. Sometimes I forget that this book is a novel and that it is fiction, even though some things are aspired from Jean Kwok’s life, there are times when I feel like I am reading her diary. I really appreciate Jean Kwok as an author because she loves writing about her experience and culture. In a way I feel like I can relate to her and her experiences. I feel like anyone can read her books and take along the message that she is trying to bring through when she write these books. Jean Kwok’s writing leaves me to inhale a lot about what happened in the last chapter. There are times when you say to yourself  “I want to watch this as a movie.” Also, there aren’t many novels or cultural inspired books out there, so it would be good for more people to find and read books similar to “Girl In Translation.”

Jean Kwok has recently written a second book, similar to Girl In Transition, called “Mambo In Chinatown”. I haven’t read the book myself, but I have read excerpts from the book. This book is very similar to the “Girl In Translation” because the setting of both books take place in Chinatown of New York. Both books share stories about Chinese Americans and the themes behind both books is love. Jean Kwok wants her readers to really know about the Chinese American culture. She wants the readers to know how it’s not always easy being at the bottom, but slowly you will find your way up. Through these two books she shows how love outshines all hardships.

There are many themes that are discussed in this novel, however, I believe that the main theme is the struggle of surviving and love. We can see this theme everyday in our daily lives. You can see how Kimberly struggles with survival. She doesn’t live or work at the best conditions. But at the time and situation that she is in, all she can do is try to make the most of it. At school, she disguises who she is at her home situation because she is ashamed and embarrassed by the staggering truth of how impoverished she is, compared to the other kids at school. Love is the main struggle for Kimberly and throughout this book. She has many different relationships with different people in her life. Some are harder than others and some work out and others don’t. Kimberly has to deal with what she can have or can not have. She finds the true meaning of love with her mother and Matt. Jean Kwok doesn’t leave the ending without one of the biggest plot twist. You’ll just have to read to find out!

Title: Girl In Translation

Author: Jean Kwok

Publisher: Riverhead Trade (May 3, 2011)

Number of Pages: 320 pages

Genre: Fiction

Creative piece: For my creative piece I decided to draw different images and pictures that are important, and very concentrated in the book. I also wrote some important quotes that connected with the main themes in the book.  

When you hear don’t judge a book by it’s cover, sometimes you can sometimes you can’t. The title it can tell you what you’re going to read about, other times it’s an important hint that will help you solve the puzzle in the book, in this case this book doesn’t do neither. The Sweet Dead Life by Joy Prebel will have you questioning if you can trust anyone, even the people who sell you shoes. You read the journal entries of 14 year old Jenna Samuels whose life isn’t the best. Her mom spends all day in bed, her father is missing and her her older brother tries to keep the family together but he is too high to focus on anything. To add to all of Jenna’s stress she becomes sick, to a point where she collapses and her brother tries to rush her to the hospital but instead ends up crashing the car. Jenna wakes up to her brother who doesn’t have any scars and he’s glowing, almost a heavenly glow. Jenna comes to realize that her brother did not survive the accident and that she’s not sick but poised. The sent her brother back to help Jenna find the person who has it out for her.

The Sweet Dead Life is Prebel’s 4th book out of 6, the first three were part of the 3 book Anastasia series, and her newest one coming in 2015 Finding Paris. Prebel’s preference for writing is fantasy and mistery following stories of strong female characters. Mystery is her favorite genre because it’s fun to write but it brought life to her simple Texas life. Many of her favorite authors were mystery writters which encourage her to write her own stories. Her writing like most authors isn’t the ordinary stuff that talks about girl meets boy and falls in love or vampires, fairies and monsters, she tells stories using myths and legends that go back to the 1900’s. In this book Prebel talks about angles and normally angles are more a religious belief that when you die and you were forgiven for your sins you got to heaven. Some people believe in this others don’t and instead of Prebel trying to push that angels are real and we should believe in them she puts a fun twist on them that has you saying, “I would have never thought of that”

The first time I read this book the second one was not out yet, but it now out and I am looking forward to reading the second book. Like many mystery series if the writer doesn’t catch your attention you get bored and you want to skip to the end of the book. This book has it’s moments where you want to skip ahead but I advice not to do this beascue you will miss important parts that if you don’t know it you will be confused, and the ending will confuse you more, it’s one of those endings if you don’t know what happened you won’t understand it. Not like many books I have read in the past the ending of this book actually does the book justice. It answers all the questions brought up in the book about Jenna’s dad and where he has disappeared to, Jenna’s poising and why it happened to her and the truth behind the car accident. It’s like watching a crime show, the writer gives you clues to solve the crime you get to know the bad guys of the show and you guess who the killer was, but with this book there’s more than one culprit and you won’t know until you keep reading. The Book keeps you engaged and gets you thinking if the crime is a lot more complicated than your simple poisoning.

The author of the Kite Runner is named Khaled Hosseini. Khaled Hosseini is an Afghan-born American novelist and physician. Khaled Hosseini wrote Kite Runner and had it published in 2003 . Some other books he has written are And the Mountains Echoed , and A Thousand Splendid Suns. Kite Runner was nominated for an Academy Award. Kite runner was made into a film , and put into theaters in 2007 . The film was also awarded the Satellite Award for Best Original Score. Along with the  award BFCA Critics' Choice Award for Best Young Actor.

Khaled Hosseini Worked as a doctor in California directly after college. Khaled Hosseini was born in Kabul, Afghanistan. When Khaled was 11 his family and him moved to france. At age 15 Khaled moved to the United States with his family. Khaled Hosseini worked in medicine for ten years until the release of his novel Kite Runner. Khaled has been providing humanitarian assistance in Afghanistan through his foundation. He is living in California with his wife Roya and his two children, daughter Farah , and son Haris.

The Kite Runner is a novel about a young Afghani boy named Amir. Amir betrays his close friend named Hassan, when he is only twelve years old. Throughout the book Amir deals with weight of the guilt left behind from betraying his close friend Hassan. Amir was born into a wealthy family living with servants, and his father Kabul. Hassan , and his father live with Amir , and Kabul. Although the families are very close , their difference are not unknown. These differences create problems, and barriers for the friends. The book takes place during the rule of Zahir Shah. Zahir Shah ruled from 1933 till 1973 when he was ousted. Zahir Shah became king at age 19 after his father Mohammed Nadir Shah was assassinated. Zahir Shah was the last king of Afghanistan.

In the midst of this book Khaled Hosseini finds a way to make such an intense plot beautiful. Amir’s life is filled with pain, regret , guilt, and uncertainty. The plot is so believable, it is almost disturbing to read for recreation in a way. During the intense scenes of the book Amir recalls memories of his childhood flying kites with his best friend Hassan. Some of the richest parts of the novel are when Amir talks about flying kites. Although the memory of flying kites is happy , it is very extreme.  Khaled Hosseini describes what Amir feels when he flies these kites , along with what they look like. The kites shimmer with glass on the string, this is to cut other kites strings. Khaled Hosseini describes the glass cutting into Amir’s skin. Amir continues to fly his kite has the shards of glass slit his hands , he grasps tighter . The memories about kites are not only stories in one whole story , but they are written as a lesson, describing the intense alluring art of kite flying.

My personal favorite part of this book is the fact that Khaled Hosseini can create such an intimate relationship with Amir and the reader. Amir pours out his anger, sadness, guilt , and betrayal, exposing his entire being  to the reader. Khaled makes us become a part of Amir’s life. The novel forces the consumer to think numerous times during the story.

The quote that stuck with me the most was “ It's wrong what they say about the past, I've learned, about how you can bury it. Because the past claws its way out .“ I cannot explain how powerful these two sentences are. I find the quote to be disturbingly true, and most real. Kite runner may have been an amazing book but I found it very hard for me to read. I found myself stopping to take time to really take in what I was reading . It is not a book for those who like to drift from reality when reading. For those reading this book I recommend reading it more than once to really understand every single detail of Khaled Hosseini’s words. I loved the Kite runner and intend to read it at least one more time. It is beautiful and thrilling story meant for engaged and thoughtful readers , not meant for faint hearted and carless.

Title: Kite Runner

Author: Khaled Hosseini

Publisher:  Riverhead Books

Date of publication: 2003

Number of pages: 400

Genre: Historical fiction

CharlieB. "The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini - Review." The Guardian. Children's Books, Wednesday July 2014. Web. <http%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fchildrens-books-site%2F2014%2Fjul%2F30%2Freview-khaled-hosseini-the-kite-runner>.

A Monster Calls Book Review

A monster calls a novel written by Patrick Ness,  a british american journalist who is best known for his young adult novels and was also inspired by the idea of Siobhan Dowd who was a British writer and activist, is a dark funny and very heartwarming story about a young british kid named Connor who is thirteen years old and lives with his very ill mother who is suffering from cancer over the time he’s meet by this yew tree monster and surprisingly he’s not scared when the story unfolds.

This amazing book is a horror and comedic story about a Kid named Connor who lives in Britain with his ill mother that is suffering from cancer, one day Connor wakes up at 12:07 a random night  and peeks out the window after realizing someone or something was calling his name several times, after looking out the window he knew a monster was calling his name but after seeing the monster face to face he was not scared in fact Connor was very disappointed, over time Connor keeps waking up every other night at 12:07 to the monster who has three stories to tell him and the last story needs to be told by Connor which needs to be the truth or the monster will eat him. over the time Connors mom keeps getting worse and worse and the monster tells each story until one day is Connor’s turn. The monster begins to pressure Connor to tell the truth about how he is scared of losing his mom and in the end Connor does so.

Certain things I enjoyed about this book was the language, because the characters had a very particular accent mainly because they were from britain but Patrick Ness showed us the difference between an American accent and a British accent  when Connor and his dad who is American were having a conversation. Some areas where the book exceeded expectations were the story structure because it was very linear and understandable which I really loved but in other parts during the story structure it falls short is at the very beginning when Connor meets the monster he randomly wakes up so it sometimes throws you of the course of the story making you think where the character is and what period of time is he. I loved how the book was well illustrated with the story to give it a better suspense effect by showing the reader what exactly is happening to the characters in the book, sort of a way that makes the reader feel what is happening to what each individual character is feeling during ceteain situations.One of my favorite part of the book was when the yew tree was telling the first story so the monster could teach Connor a life lesson. My least favorite part was when Connor at the beginning was eaten and the story lost a course for a few lines.

My favorite character to this very well structured book would be the pit monster or as we know it the yew tree, not because he’s very mysterious and terrifying besides the fact that he’s always waiting for connor outside his window but because he had some really important life lessons during the course of Connors moms death. “There is not always a good guy. Nor is there always a bad one. Most people are somewhere in between.”  this quote was told by the yew tree and it was really interesting because if this quote is implemented in life it can speak the truth by this I mean that in real life some people are accused of  doing this that they didn’t do and they suffer from it so that’s why I chose the yew tree because he’s very philosophical and deep inside he’s not a “monster”. A character that I very much disliked was Lily Connor’s former best friend. The reason why I dislike her is because she told everyone at school that Connor’s mom had cancer and this was a very meaningful secret that Connor told Lilly and he did not want anyone to know, besides that Lilly quiet did not understand what Connor was going through and basically Lilly was acting as if everything was perfect while Connor was digging himself in a deeper hole of depression and loneliness.

If I could relate to one of the characters  it would need to be Connor because in the end

Connor is like all of us, strong mentally and emotionally whenever life throws a curveball at us.

And if I felt some of the things that Connor did feel was definitely depression and loneliness for other reasons but after a while as a person you need to realize that things get better when you accept the fact of the situations you happened to be put in.

In conclusion I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys horror and fiction

and someone who is okay and willing to have a laugh and a cry all at the same time while reading this book. And an specific type of person who would like to read this book would be anyone who loves horror in general.