The Kite Runner

Finished the book!!!!
Setting:
In the beginning the novel takes place in Afghanistan in the 1970’s, when the main character, Amir, is a child. He lives in the town of Kabul, He lives in Afghanistan until he is 18, and he and his father flee to America, in the 80’s, where they start a new life. He stays in America until 2001, when his friend falls in, and he goes back to Afghanistan, and finds it in none of its former glory. Afghanistan is in the middle of a war, and it hurts Amir to see his country in such a bad state. The setting of the book switches back and forth from Afghanistan to America throughout the span of about thirty years. The setting of the novel affects the plot of the book because the two main places are very different, Afghanistan and America. Also Afghanistan was in teh middle of a war at the end of the book, which affected the characters alot, especially Amir, as it was hard to see his country in such a state.
Important Part:
The most surprising part in the novel is when Rahim Khan reveals to Amir one of his father’s well kept secrets, that Amir and Hassan share the same father. When he learns this, Amir is shocked, but he understands why his father treated Hassan different than one would treat a servant, and always gave Hassan the equal to what Amir had. He was deeply hurt when Amir suggested they get new servants because, after all, Hassan was his son. Hassan’s death caused Amir a lot of pain, but he managed to overcome it and accept Hassan’s son into his family, no matter how hard it was, or how long it took.
Summary:
After a visit to the hospital, Amir and his father discover that his father has cancer. His father decides not to get any sort of treatment, despite how Amir tries to convince him to do something about it. But his father’s pride won’t waver, and so they return home. As Amir’s father is getting worse and worse, Amir makes an important decision. He decides to get his father to ask General Sahib for his daughter, Soraya’s, hand in marriage. His father agrees, and the wedding is set. The wedding goes through smoothly, and Soraya moves in with Amir and his father, so she can help take care of him in his weakening condition. They take good care over him, but the cancer quickly consumes him, and he dies. After his Funeral, Amir and Soraya move into their own house. They get some bad news from the hospital, telling them Soraya can’t have any kids, and if they want any children they should adopt. But the idea of adoption isn’t appealing for them, so they decide against it. 15 years later, Amir receives a phone call from Rahim Khan, who has fallen ill. He makes a quick decision, and hops on a plane to Afghanistan. He meets up with his old friend to find him in poor conditions. They chat for a while, before Rahim brings up an interesting subject. Hassan. So Rahim begins to tell Amir how Hassan married ad went to live with Rahim, where his wife had their second child (the first was stillborn), who delivered by an old woman who turned out to be Hassan’s mother, who he never met. They named their son Sohrab. Rahim tells him they left, and returned to their town, and hands Amir a letter from Hassan, and a picture. Rahim also tells him two more things. That Hassan’s father was sterile and that Hassan and his wife were slaughtered a little while ago by the Taliban. Amir figures out that Hassan’s shared the same father as him, which was the reason for his dad treating Hassan like he did Amir. He has a friend of Rahim, Farid, take him to find Hassan’s son and transport him to a couple of people who can look after him. They arrive at the orphanage, and meet the person running it. They learn that Sohrab isn’t there, that the person running the orphanage gave him away. Farid is enraged when he hears this and attacks the man, because he has children of his own. After the two men break apart, Amir gets the address of the place where he can find Sohrab, and they leave the orphanage. They finally find Sohrab, and to Amir’s great shock, they meet up with Assef, the bully from Amir’s childhood. He tells them his story, and his past. When Amir tells him all he wants is the boy, Assef tells him he can take Sohrab, but after he settles the score between him. Amir awakes in the hospital a few days later with a punctured lung, fractured ribs and other severe injuries. He asks to leave, even though he isn’t healed. News that Rahim Khan has gone missing hits them, and Amir receives a letter entitling him to a sum of money in the bank. He retrieves the money, and tries to get hold of the couple who are two look after Sohrab. However, in the end they can’t reach them. Farid departs them, and Amir gives him a large amount of money for him and his family. He wishes them luck and leaves. Amir is faced with the decision in what to do with Sohrab. He knows a choice but is afraid to voice it. Finally, he asks Sohrab if he wants to stay with them. Sohrab, however, doesn’t say anything. A few days later, Amir brings the subject up again and Sohrab agrees. Amir calls his wife and tells her everything, and she is quite happy to hear it. So they try to get a lawyer to help Amir take Sohrab back to America with him. But all the lawyers say is that Sohrab is not technically an orphan because his parents don’t have death certificates. Amir tells them it isn’t fair, and they tell him to give up hope, so the two of them go back to a hotel. He and his wife talk it over, and she tells him a way to bring Sohrab into the country. Elated, Amir goes to find Sohrab to tell him the good news. But when he goes into the bathroom he finds a horrible site. Sohrab in the bathtub, blood everywhere He calls the hospital, and prays that Sohrab is alright. When the doctor comes to speak with his he fears he brings bad news, but he is wrong. The doctor informs him Sohrab is okay. Amir finds out that Sohrab slit his writs with Amir’s razor. When Sohrab tells him he wishes that Amir hadn’t saved him, Amir is very upset. Amir asks him if he wishes to live with him still, but the boy doesn’t respond, even when Amir tells him that he can get in to America. He never accepts or declines, however, Amir takes him back anyway. Soraya is delighted to see her husband and her new son. However, Sohrab is silent. He refuses to speak or interact, which worries his faster parents. Finally, during a kite flying event, Amir gets him to respond. He and Sohrab run a kite, and Amir remembers doing the same with Sohrabs father. The book ends with Amir running after a kite.

White Oleander

I'm on about page 309.  Astrid, the main character, has struggled through her fair share of nightmarish foster homes after watching her mother's arrest for killing her boyfriend.  Her first home was with an ex-stripper who preaches the word of god.  Astrid falls in love with her new foster mother's boyfriend and they end up having an affair until the foster mother finds out and shoots Astrid in a drunken frenzy.  Astrid recovers from her wounds and goes to live with a typical suburban family, and her role there is a live-in babysitter for the couple's other children and all around maid.  Astrid becomes friends with the neighbor, an elegant high-class prostitute.  Once her foster family finds out about their relationship, Astrid is sent away.  Her next home is with a delicate and caring lady named Claire and her husband.  Astrid loves it there, and they live like a family.  Claire and Astrid love each other very much, but Claire's mental health deteriorates as she starts to suspect her husband of an affair.  After a long fight one night Claire commits suicide and Astrid is sent to a children's center where she meets one of her first friends, Paul Trout, an aspiring cartoonist.  They are quickly separated to go to separate homes, but plan to keep in touch.  Astrid's next home is with a small group of seemingly grungy Russian girls.  This is as far as I've gotten, but Astrid's future doesn't look promising.  The most surprising part of this section is when Claire dies.  She is the closest thing to a mother that Astrid has ever had, even though she isn't the most mentally stable woman.  The setting changes commonly throughout the book, but it always lends itself to setting the mood.  A trailer on the outskirts for the ex-stripper, a blacktop front and back yard for the family that uses her as a live-in nanny and a clean, comfortable home for the family that she becomes part of.

I've really enjoyed this book so far. 

The Namesake

I’m on page 100. Right now the setting of the story is in Boston by the University. And so far there are no surprising things happening in the story. They are just talking about Ashoke getting a job at the University. That’s the job he always wanted. When it was time for Gogol’s first day of kindergarten, they gave him a school name, Nikhil. But Golgol didn’t want to be called by his new name. He said, “Why do I have to have a new name?” He was pretty much saying that he could not find himself if he was going to be ‘someone else.’ The interesting part of the story was that Ashima had a second baby who they named Sonia, even though they still haven’t use to America and miss their family in Indian.

The Road setting

The setting for my book is very simple however the description is so detailed that it brings a basic setting obvious importance. "The blackness he woke to on those nights was sightless and impenetrable. A blackness to hurt your ears with listening." Page 15. This quote is a the beginning of the story describing the dark and dangerous world they now live in as the struggle traveling on a road of uncertainty. As the story progresses we see what is perhaps the most important part of the setting, we see nothing. He describes a broken and deserted land covered in a blanket of ash gray in the sunless world. The emptiness of the road is what truly makes the story showing in depth the relationship between the boy and his father as well as the desperation felt in a world of nothing.

White Oleander Setting

As of today, I am on page 230 in "White Oleander" by Janet Fitch. Up to this point, Astrid has made her way through three foster homes and seems to be quite happy in her fourth. This house belongs to Claire and Ron Richards, a couple looking to adopt in Hollywood. To Astrid, they were a very warming, gentle couple, and she quickly became use to the loving atmosphere of the home. She often painted the house's white walls and the poinsettias that grew right beside them. They were a great subject, contrasting so drastically in color. Inside, the walls were a very soft, white pink color, with a few paintings here and there. Astrid liked the fact that there was actual art in this house, people had painted them by hand. The kitchen was a classic red and white tile that Claire described as "the colors of love," with a red and white table accompanied by metal chairs. Through the room with the comfortable looking bed all in white, which was Claire and Ron's there was a set of French doors that opened up to let the afternoon light shine through. Astrid loved that too. The only room that was left free of much decoration was Astrid's. Claire wanted to make sure that Astrid was able to decorate it herself, and make it her own. Claire cared for Astrid in a way that she'd never experienced before, and she didn't want a thing to change.

Im on page 52 of "My sister's keeper".

The setting in the book right now is basically Anna's house contradicting with her lawyers office. She spends some big amount of time at the her lawyers office because she is looking to file a lawsuit against her parents for expecting her to give up a kidney for her sister who is in need of one. The book doesn't talk much about when this story takes place but I'm assuming from the ability to be able to file a lawsuit against parents, that its a more modern day based story.  I can also tell that Anna is 13, her sister is 16, and i believe her brother is a little older than her but I'm not sure if he is older than the oldest sister. The book hasn't really mentioned yet where they live but I'm sure it will sooner or later. 

I haven't really gotten to the intense parts yet(or so I'm told) but I have faith that it will get better.

Surprising part of The Kite Runner

I’m on page 242 so far. The most surprising part of this book for me is Hassan was a bastard. I thought Hassan was absolutely Ali’s son and Agha Sahib treated him so well was just because Ali and him grew up together and they were really good friends. But it seems there were a lot of details of the book showed that Hassan had a special relationship with Agha Sahib. This gave Amir a strongly shock and made him go to Kabul and get Sohrab, Hassan’s son. He finally realized that he’d been fighting his brother for his father’s love. He found out how ridiculous it was. He would absolutely not do those things to Hassan if he knew that. It’s like everything Amir did or thought before turned out to be like a hilarious joke. It totally changed Amir’s mind and shaked his soul. Although I didn’t read a lot after that, I can see his mind changed because he called Hassan his half-brother. I think Amir will be a lot different after this thing’s happening.

Provide a summary of your latest reading. What was the biggest surprise of this portion of reading. Explain the setting of the novel at this point. How does it affect the plot?

The Namesake

So far the book is very slow and a little difficult for me to read. I'm only on page 40, but i will take more time in the weekend and catch up. However I really like the story and it's getting more interesting every page. The main character of the story is this woman name Ashima. Before she had her baby, she was a happy woman who loved to cook and please her husband. But now, after she had her little baby boy, she is a very sensitive woman. For example, she crys when her husband doesn't anwer his cell phone or she cried when she didn't have any white rice, and when her neighbor offered her brown rice she didn't even bother to try it. She is also a very religious woman. She still wants to move back to Bengali, because she thinks she has to raise her son all by herself and she feels like she doesn't belong in America. In Ashima's family tradition which is Bengali, it's always the grandmother who names babies being born. When Ashima found out her grandmother had a stroke, she was very sad and thought her baby was not going to be lucky in the future. And she regretted giving her son a pet name in Bengali after she found out her grandmother was going to die. At the same time I also think she is a very nice and caring person. Everyday she takes care of her son by herself while her husband is at work. She welcoms their close friends and neighbors when they come to visit her baby boy and help out. And she loves her son so much that she want to start knitting sweaters, blankets, mittens, and caps.

My sister's keeper

Basically the story is continuing on almost nuetral. As if its a day by day basis and not many interesting things happen. Some arguments here and there but nothing really exciting. The main character in the book is Anna. She is the sister of a leukemia patient that goes to her for all the transplants she needs. Anna is very bright and mature for her, which is probably a side effect from being in the hospital waiting for her sister all the time. She doesnt act like a you would think a thirteen year old would act. Her maturity level is far exceeding her age. She believes that she was only born to be a holding cell for her sisters needs, and i believe this affects her extremely. She doesnt have a "normal" life, or anything to it. In my opinion, it seems like Anna would be closer with her brother rather than her sister. This is because he doesnt constantly need watching and he is somewhat "normal" which i think makes her feel a little less singled out. I feel bad for her that she feels so transparent and only useful as a recourse. I think if i were in her position i would talk to my parents about how i feel. Maybe she does after a while but i havent quite gotten there yet.

Astrid of White Oleander

I'm currently on page 145 of White Oleander, and I have already learned quite a bit of what kind of person Astrid is and is becoming. Astrid is an easily impressionable fourteen year old, but the person that makes the biggest impression on her is her mother. Astrid practically worships the ground that her mother walks on, admiring how beautiful and strong she is. She wishes she could be more like, at least in my opinion. She also starts to follow the ways of her first foster home, with being baptized and all. Things happen that normally wouldn't, I believe, because she is surrounded by that kind of behavior. Since her mother's conviction, Astrid becomes more lonely and upset just looking for a way to "survive", as she puts it. So far Starr, her first foster mother, finds out about the affair between Astrid and Ray, her boyfriend, and shoots Astrid in a drunken rage. Astrid is in the hospital for a few weeks until she is well enough to go to another foster house. This next house belongs to a bossy housewife, her two children, and her husband. She finishes out her ninth grade year at the local junior high and is still trying to get herself together to be able to deal with it all. That's as far as I've gotten, but hope to see her progression as the story evolves.

Agha Sahib of The Kite Runner

I'm on page 142 right now and I chose Agha Sahib as the most important character in the whole book. Personally, I think he changed the entire track of his son, Amir. He changed everything that was naturally inside Amir's mind. He didn't treat Amir well when Amir was young and that cause Amir wanting to draw his father's attention. Or else he wouldn't try that hard in the kite fighting and left Hassan alone. He wanted his Baba to be his own Baba. He saw his Baba taking Hassan and Ali highly in his mind and then he decided to make a trick and kicked Hassan away. He would be very good friend with Hassan if Sahib'd not treat him that way. He always sacrificed for his father, such as Hassan's behavior to him, but his Baba always wanted him to change his mind and give up his writting thing. I don't think it's a good way for parents to do that. That's a torture to the kids. And in my opinion, Sahib controlled his son's life and Amir was like a toy playing what his father let him do.

White Oleander by Janet Fitch

Published 1999
I am on page thirteen, and haven't really gotten to know any of the characters. The book opens and we meet Ingrid and her daughter Astrid. They don't have a very normal mother-daughter relationship and Astrid constantly feels guilty for tying her mother down. Ingrid is a beautiful poet, and somewhat of a free spirit. Astrid obviously looks up to her mother, but feels like an obligation to her mother. One of the many quotes that portray Astrids love for her mother is, "I thought of my mother as Queen Christina, cool and sad, eyes trained on some distant horizon. That was where she belonged, in furs and palaces of rare treasures..." (p11, Fitch).

The plot hasn't really extended beyond developing a setting yet.

Summary Analysis The Road

The Road so far is written exactly like the title it follows a slow steady trail into the story. As things unfold the boy and his father continue on their treacherous journey though the snow and lack of food make it difficult. The boy is obviously very young though through the trauma and hardship in his life he has developed a sense of maturity. While walking they come to a town destroyed and decrepit as the father searches for food the young boy sees what he believes is a child his immediate reaction is to race after searching desperately for the figure. His impulsiveness though childlike, stems from the connection he feels with someone in the same situation whom he feels compassion for. The boy is upset though he lets it go and the journey continues rather uneventful for a time. They travel cold and hungry until an event which for me was extremely disturbing occurs. The so called "bad guys" are spotted and as the two hide a disturbing picture is shown. A description of a band of people in what could be described as a primitive society is given. Men marching in a line with slaves in chains and women pregnant and dirty, then what is a sex slave walks behind them. This description was the first time since I began reading that I truly saw the intensity of the writing.

The man:
The story is often told through the mans eyes describing his thoughts and actions. He is the caretaker and fills the role of protagonist though foreshadowing shows this will change dramatically later on. He struggles to take care of the boy and sees this as his only purpose his dedication to the boy stems from a fear of losing what little he has left. After his wife left him stating she did not want to live in this world he developed a determination to survive and keep his son alive. The man is strong he pushes himself to keep them going and often sacrifices himself for the boy. His persistent cough and the boys insistence on him giving to himself shows what could be a death later on. Mention of death is often shown typically in questions asked by the boy as his fear grows with their journey. "Do you think I lie to you? No. But you think I might lie to you about dying. Yes. Okay I might. But were not dying. Okay." This conversation between the boy and the man takes place after several days without food and a run in with the "bad guys". In my opinion the man does not think he is lying he so desperately needs for them to live that he sees this as the only option.

For your second blog entry, I would like for you to write a summary of events since your last update. After you have finished, choose a character to describe in detail. Make sure to include the elements this character brings to the plot of the novel. Choose a quote from the book that best describes or displays the character's personality and explain why it is significant to him or her.

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen, Published 2006

When the book opens, we are first introduced to Jacob Jankowski. He is an angry, 90 or 93 year old man who has been living in an assisted-living center for a short time due to a broken hip. Jacob has found little joy in living at this center because he feels as though he is treated like a child. Jacob is strongly independent and does not like having all his decisions made for him. He hates the monotony of bingo and the sense of ancient bones. The only joy Jacob gets inside the center is the attentions of the elderly women and the red and white canvas going up across the street.

The reader then becomes enveloped in a flashback, turning back the clock to when Jacob was a 23 year old college student at Cornell. He is devastated by the death of his parents in a car accident, causing him to run away as far as his feet could take him. He soon becomes tired and hungry and decides to jump aboard a moving train. This train happens to be the Benzini Bros Most Spectacular Show on Earth. Jacob’s sudden arrival is not entirely welcomed by the habitants of the train car, but soon Jacob befriends most of cast and crew of this traveling circus. He manages to move up in the rankings from poop shmucker to vet, and develops closer relationships with August, the equestrian director, and Marlena, a performer.

The Namesake

"The Namesake" is a novel that published in 2003. The author was Jhumpa Lahiri. I really like it so far. So far is about this couple that moved to America from Calcutta. This woman's name is Ashima and she calls her hushand Ashoke. She loves to cook more than anything. But one day it was time for her to have her baby. When she was at the hospital, while she was in labor, she was thinking about what time is it at the country she was from. and she was telling us about how she met her husband Ashoke. Atthe same time she was realizing that she was at an American hosptail and she was feeling left out or different because she was the only Indian person in that hospital. After the birth, she was chatting away with her nurse Patty. patty asked her if she wanted to go for a walk so she would fellbetter. At first she wasn't really into it, but then she took a chance. While they were walking through the hallway, Patty was listening to her stories. At one point her, hushand met a guy who told him that he was to young to be married and he just need to forget everything for once and go travel everywhere. Because of Ashima and Ashoke had an arranged marriage, he was thinking about it, but not until he found out that his wife was pregnant with his child.

I've read 100 pages of this book so far. It's published in 2003. The author is Khaled Hosseini. It was in Afghanistan during 1970s. The main character is the son of a reach person in their town. His name is Amir Agha and he has a friend and also his servant, Hassan. Hassan was a harelipped boy. They always played together and Hassan was really interested in listening to stories written by Amir.But because Hassan was a Hazara boy so Amir didn't paly with him when some other people are there. Amir didn't like to play around with other kids and just liked to write some stories but his father, Agha Sahib didn't like to read his son's stories. And because Amir's mom died to give her son life, Agha Sahib was kind of hate Amir. He thought that his boy should play around with other kids and he didn't even look at Amir's writting for a long time. But one of his friends, Rahim Khan enjoyed Amir's stories a lot and encouraged him a lot to keep going.
One day Amir and Hassan went out and met a bad kid called Assef who usually torture other kids by his knuckle. Hassan made that boy run away with his hands shaking. He was a really good kid and didn't do that to somebody else. Soon came Hassan's birthday and Agha Sahib called a surger and fixed Hassan's lip so Hassan and his father Ali were so grateful to Sahib.
During the winter time there was a kite fighting event. Amir wanted to improve the relationship between his father and him. With Hassan's help, Amir won the event finally. But Hassan was blocked by Assef and two other kids. They hit him and raped him. Amir was right there but he hid and didn't come out and help Hassan just because Hassan was a Hazara. Hassan sacrified for the relationship between Amir and Sahib. And Amir eventually drew his father's attention and his father was really treating him well at that time. On Amir's birthday party, there are a lot of people went there and Assef went there as well. Amir felt so embarrased to see Assef and receive Assef's gift.
In my opinion, this book is really perfect and I love to read a book to tell the truth of the history. I don't think Hassan's terrible fade was caused by Amir or Assef. Sahib had to take a lot of responsibility for that. He treated his son bad so his son wanted to darg his attention a lot and then came the tragedy for Hassan. And the second reason I think is the racial discrimination. It's still a huge problem now and it must be even huger at that time. It gave everybody the concept that Pashtuns are nobler than Hazaras. It's not really Assef's fault to have that kind of mind. It's all the bad of racial discrimination.

My Sister's Keeper

So far in the book "My sister's keeper," by Jodi Picoult, published February 2005, the main character talks about how she lives with her family which consists of her sister, her brother, her mother, and father. She shares a bedroom with her older sister who has been diagnosed with luekemia. In these few chapters, she explains how her parents had her perfectly genetically created to match every gene of her older sister. The purpose of this was for her to basically be a host for materials that her sister will need in the future. She is expected to donate anything her sister might need a transplant of. I think that it would be sad to feel like you were only created to be a source of materials for a dying person. That would be really hard to deal with and i think it would also be hard to be able to love your sister if you were only originally created to keep her alive.

The Road page 43 Summary

The book is slow to start and abrupt in it's beginning however the writing is extremly descriptive. It starts off with the man wakinjg early in the morning in what is an empty and destroyed world he waits for his sone to wake quietly watching him sleep. The story continues as they travel on and the relationship between the man and his son unfolds showing the codependence between the two charecters. As it goes on they follow the road going south for warmer weather. A critical part of the story is revealed in a flashback of the man and his wife arguing before she leaves. This helps to create a background for the story showing a previous life and the history behind their journey. As they travel they come across a groupd of men traveling in a truck when they are discovered the man shoots and kills the offender. At this point in the story forshadowing seems to hint at devastation in their lives but this early on it is hard to tell.

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

I actually finished the entire book this week, due to the fact that I couldn't seem to put it down. It details the past of Jacob Jankowski, a circus veterinarian. He is telling the story as memories, haunting him as he wastes away in a nursing home. His story begins as he loses his parents in a car accident and walks out of his final exams at Cornell Veterinary School. He spirals into emotional turmoil and hops the next train he sees. This train happens to be the traveling Benzini Bros. circus, and they hire him as a vet. While working for the circus he falls in love with his boss's wife, Marlena. They're affair eventually causes the death of two of Jacob's friends and the end of the circus. I absolutely loved this book, its written at a quick pace and doesn't leave space to be boring.

When writing your first summary of your reading, include the name of the novel, author and year published.