This conclusion to Suzanne Collin's epic Hunger games saga keeps readers constantly on the edges of their seats. Collins concludes this epic series with Katniss and the rebels rallying to defeat the Capital. The cast is very colorful, bringing back characters like Finnick, Johanna, Peeta, Gale, and Prim. The book starts out with Katniss in a state of mental breakdown, living underground in District 13 with her family. Peeta is in the Capital, not known to be dead or alive. The rebels of District 13 are desperately trying to make Katniss choose to be their leader. When she finally decides to become the Mockingjay, the symbol of the rebellion, so many crazy events unfold and readers are kept on the edge of their seats for the entire book.
This book takes place all over Panem, the country in which Katniss and her family lives. Panem is Divided into 13 districts, including the Capital. Each district is responsible for a different item of production that the Capital uses. In the book, District 13, the district that produced all the weapons for the Capital, rebelled, and was destroyed long ago, but the live underground in somewhat of a bomb shelter. The rest of the districts are relatively impoverished, and don't hardly actually get to use the things they make. They are all enclosed in chain link fences which "protect" them from the outside world. The Capital, however, has everything. More than everything. They live the lives that even the rich of America would kill to live.
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Gordon, Peter. Murdered to Death. London: Josef Weinberger Plays, 2003. Print.
Gordon's hilarious murder mystery, Murdered to Death takes place in an historic old mansion. The start of the play has Mildred, the owner of the house, Dorthy, her niece, and Bunting, their butler preparing for a large gathering of a bunch of Mildred's friends. As they arrive, we find out that Mildred and the Colonel have had an affair for years. Things change when Mildred is murdered, then later when Dorothy is murdered we think we know who did it, because Dorthy is screaming "he tried to kill me!" I can't say what happens in the end of course, no spoilers, but this play is definitely worth the time to read.
The style of this book is obviously in play format, and it is basically a murder humor mystery. Gordon uses a lot of puns and sarcastic humor in this play. It is set up almost ironically as a comedy. When you see a play where people are murdered, and nobody knows who did it, you expect a who-done-it play. But as seen from the title Murdered to Death this is not normal. The name in itself is a play on words. It indicates that the play is going to be funny, although still serious at the same time. (100)
Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World. New York: Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2006. Print.
Adolus Huxley's Brave New World is a page turning version of an interesting future of society. In the society of Brave New World, babies aren't born, there isn't sex for the purpose of procreation. The main plot of the story is centered around a few characters, John the Savage, Bernard, Lenina, and Hemholtz. Bernard and Lenina go to visit the "savage" reservation, a place where people live in a way closer to that of the old societies before them. In regular society, there is no God, people worship Henry Ford, and sex is completely ubiquitous in the society. Babies are made in the laboratory, and cloned again and again to produce people perfect for their job and nothing else. The basic plot of the story is that John the Savage comes back to live in the new and advanced world, from the savage reservation, and it goes through him trying to adjust to the new life, and his struggles with accepting the new and different things that go on in this society.
The character development of John throughout the book was very intriguing to me. Huxley did an amazing job presenting a thought provoking and deep character like John and developing his persona and personality. John was definitely a dynamic character. John starts out as a "savage" living in the reservation, outside of the new and developed world. But then, when he finds out that his mother was originally from the world outside of the reservation, he is permitted to move back to the advanced society. However, his move and adjustment does not go as smoothly as planned. He sees all of the new "advancements" as horrible and wrong, and the way everyone in the society has sex with everyone, he sees that as completely morally repugnant. He tries to start a revolution, but you'll have to read the book to find out what happens. Overall, we see in John such basic human emotions of anger, happiness, confusion, and sadness yet Huxley puts him in the ever complex position of trying to figure out those emotions in an emotionless world.
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Lynch, Chris. Inexcusable. New York: Atheneum for Young Readers, 2005. Print. The character development of John throughout the book was very intriguing to me. Huxley did an amazing job presenting a thought provoking and deep character like John and developing his persona and personality. John was definitely a dynamic character. John starts out as a "savage" living in the reservation, outside of the new and developed world. But then, when he finds out that his mother was originally from the world outside of the reservation, he is permitted to move back to the advanced society. However, his move and adjustment does not go as smoothly as planned. He sees all of the new "advancements" as horrible and wrong, and the way everyone in the society has sex with everyone, he sees that as completely morally repugnant. He tries to start a revolution, but you'll have to read the book to find out what happens. Overall, we see in John such basic human emotions of anger, happiness, confusion, and sadness yet Huxley puts him in the ever complex position of trying to figure out those emotions in an emotionless world.
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Chris Lynch's work, Inexcusable takes a look at the life of an average high schooler, Keir, and his rise to fame in high school. However, one night Keir does something Inexcuable. I can't say much about it without giving away the entire story, but the book is basically Keir having flashbacks from the present, to the events leading up to the night where he does the "inexcusable" act. The book is him trying to figure out what he might have done wrong to end up in the place he is now.
The style Lynch used in writing this book is one that I normally don't like. He uses the style of flashback and flash-forward to tell the story, meaning that he gives us a chapter in the present, then a chapter in the past. I personally never really liked this style much because I always get too into one of the two parts of the story and loose interest in the other half. However, Lynch did a very good job with this book. I was never bored with this book. He used a lot of foreshadowing, and first person narration to tell this story. Overall this was an amazing book and very thought provoking. As the cover said this book will rock readers and haunt them. I am very glad to have read this book.
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