My Most Excellent Year--(please include it next time around!)

The group who chose to introduce My Most Excellent Year by Steve Kluger to the class made a smart choice. This group's presentation truly sparked an interest that made me want to read this novel. They proved that the novel has a lot to offer and that it would spark great conversation amongst class dicussions (and would make for great blog posts, as well). Call me a sucker for a good (or quirky) love story, but I really like the idea that the book follows the lives of 3 young men who are on the edge, then over the edge of falling in love. I think that the book would really get the class excited and feeling good rather than depresed as did some of the novels we read this semester. The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao for instance, is well-written (in my opinion) and while I liked the novel, I do believe that it was a bit of damper on the overall mood of the class. The story of the fat, dungeons and dragons loser made me feel bad for him and while he cannot seem to find love or acceptance, it made me feel depressed and reminded me that there are actually people out there like that. These thoughts made me sad and did not exactly make me want to continue on with the novel. An online review of My Most Excellent Year mentioned that the love and relationships portrayed in the novel create a warm and fuzzy feeling that can be compared to the classic film, It's a Wonderful Life. This is one of my all-time favorite films, (it always makes me teary--but in a joyful way!) and I think that any novel that brings forth such warm relationships and such a great storyline should be included in this class. The group mentioned that there are several themes to the novel, and while I do not remember everything they mentioned, I do know that I took note at the time that this was the novel I would vote for and the one I hope will win. :) I'm going to check this book out over Christmas break and read it! Thanks for the great presentation, to this group.

Favorite novels covered this semester

Out of all the novels we've covered in this class this semester, the majority of the class would say that Sara Gruen's Water for Elephants was their favorite. I enjoyed this novel a great deal as well, and wanted to comment on the structure of the class. If the FIRST book we read was Water for Elephants I think that most people in the class would have been pretty turned off by the novels that would follow. By starting with Will Ferguson's Happiness we were introduced to a different kind of novel from those that we would typically read in an English class. Even the cover of the book was enough to get me going "What the heck is this about?" The cover has fake teeth on it with rainbow letters that spell out the title. I think most people in the class liked Happiness enough that they were not turned off by the class...but didn't like it so much that any other novel would be difficult to follow after. After Happiness, we read My Year of Meats which I also think is an excellent novel. Ruth Ozeki wrote this novel in a very intelligent manner--it truly made me think through a completely different perspective and opened up my eyes to the harsh realities of the meat industry. This was sort of a depressing read, but by following up with Water for Elephants the class perked up again and the conversations were exciting. My recommendation for future 110 classes is to introduce the class in the same manner--begin with something that is good, but not "the best" so that the class won't be disappointed later.

Fight Club Critiques of masculinity

--Tyler refers to the current moment (note: 1999) as one without any distinction or great battles. "Our Great War is a spiritual war," he claims, "our Great Depression is our lives." What do you suppose Tyler meant by this assertion? How does it relate to Fight Club? What critiques of masculinity or Americanness does it make?

The infamous quote from Tyler in Fight Club that "our Great Depression is our lives" stirred up controversy. By saying "Our Great War is non-existent; our Great Depression is our lives" he was indicating that there was nothing to fight for--no war, no battles, that things needed to be shaken up a bit. In order to "shake things up" fighting had to be involved. Obviously, this quote is not true to our world today (especially after 9/11) so the movie became very controversial as did many forms of media after 9/11. People were paranoid and became uncomfortable with daily life after viewing the 9/11 attacks. Basically, a movie that persuaded fighting was NOT needed since it instead, made people further uncomfortable. Men in America feel a need to be masculine and one of the key things that a masculine man is involves a true fighter. Someone who takes a stand and fights for something, whether the fighting is necessary or completely irrelevent to anything as it is in Fight Club. Personally, I believe that a truly strong man (since we are on the topic of masculinity, not femininity) stands up for his beliefs and fights when necessary, but I do not believe that a man with strong character fights simply to stir up trouble to get a kick out of one's own boredom.

Sufjan Stevens intro

--Sufjan Stevens writes about his acquisition of literacy at a grocery store. What are the hidden meanings and metaphors of his education process? How does this relate to the concept of nonrequired reading? Sufjan Stevens introduction in The Best Nonrequired Reading 2007 Edition was truly fascinating, I am a fan of the artist's music, so I was curious as to what he was going to have to say. When I read that he was illiterate until he was in the third grade I was surprised. When I found out HOW he taught himself to read, I was fascinated. Who would have ever thought that someone would grow literate by reading lables at grocery stores or on billboards? When I first learned to read (it was in class) I became excited when I realized that I COULD read cereal box labels and such, yet I did not teach myself. I think that this relates to the concept of nonrequired reading because he basically taught himself to read by reading things that were not required for class or for educational purposes. Instead, he read what he wanted to read--and in the process, became extremely brilliant and metaphorical. If people only read what they were assigned to read, life would be boring and there would not be enough to talk about. Instead, people should branch out and explore things on their own--explore literature that is not considered "brilliant' or "classic" in order to truly gain an understanding of the broad range of literature that exists.

--Also in Kite Runner, Sohrab saves Amir from Assef's brutality by using a slingshot. This scene mirrors the actions of Hassan earlier in the film. Is Amir's defense of Sohrab to General Taheri Amir's attempt to take a stand he didn't take earlier in the film? Or rather, does Amir redeem himself in the process of accepting Sohrab into his home? As I had stated in my post below, I do not believe that Amir ever fully redeems himself. I do not think it is possible to redeem onself after doing something as awful as what Amir did. Instead, I believe that Amir is able to begin to feel more at peace by doing what he CAN presently to try to correct his past mistakes. Amir does not fully redeem himself in the process of accepting Sohrab into his home, but he does feel better about himself and in my opinion, becomes a much stronger person/character. I initially thought of Amir as a big baby. He wimped out at saving the life of Hassan, and so by going back to dangerous land, (Kabul) he must experience the harsh, negative reality of the conditions there. He has to suffer a bit to capture Sohrab, so he does not simply breeze through an easy experience in order to accept him into his home. This is good because it forces Amir to grow a thicker skin. As he does this, I think that he begins to feel at peace of mind and slightly redeemed, yet since he will never forget the past, not fully redeemed.

The Kite Runner: Why does Amir travel to Kabul?

The Kite Runner is one of my all-time favorite novels. I read it in a multicultural literature class that I took this past summer and was hooked. While the film is also great, it is extremely difficult to watch. There are extremely graphic parts that make even the thick-skinned feel uncomfortable. I am going to discuss why it is I think that Amir travels to Kabul. As a young boy, Amir betrays Hassan and actually watches him get raped by bullies in an ally. Rather than trying to stop the violence, he runs away--pretending to never have witnessed a thing. This incident instills guilt that Amir would then carry with him for years. Amir wanted redemption and to feel free of guilt--free of the pain of his past. The thing is, he did not know how he would actually achieve redemption and be at peace again. What he did could not be fixed---he could not travel back in time and change what happened--impossible! Instead, he does in his eyes, the next best thing he could--which was to travel to Kabul to find Hassan's son at the orphanage, where he would then take the boy home with him and raise him as his own with his wife. This is Amir's attempt to seek redemption--and to correct the past mistakes he had made. I do not believe that Amir would have ever felt fully redeemed, since he could not erase history, yet I feel as though that by doing the things he could then help out the remains of Hassan's family (his son) he felt peace in knowing that he was truly saving a life--rather than running away and neglecting one, as he did as a boy to Hassan. In short, I believe that Amir traveled to Kabul to save Hassan's boy--in order to seek redemption and finally do what was right.

Oscar Wao

Junot Diaz's novel The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao is hard to read at first due to the Spanglish that is used. Oscar in my opinion, is immediately likeable. We find out that he was once a little Dominican stud and popular with the ladies when he was a boy--but that puberty hit and he turned into an overweight, nerdy, dungeons and dragons sci-fi loser. The thing is, the novel made me feel for Oscar. I actually felt sad and bad for him as I read about his unfortunate experiences, his getting teased for various reasons, and his complete lack of sexual experience. The guy gets to high school and has never had any experience, never had a girlfriend, and all he wants is to "get some." (ultimately though, all he wants is acceptance and to be loved.) He is a nice guy but is just so unmotivated to implement change to his life. In a way, Oscar reminds me of Edwin from Happiness. Edwin suffers through his daily life unhappy (and is sort of a nerd) and Oscar does the same. Lola, (Oscar's sister) reminds me of Jane from My Year of Meats because she is tough and goes against the norms/way she is "supposed" to be. She is a submissive female character, but more of a fighter. I cannot say that I can really relate to either Oscar or Lola but I suppose we all have the potential to at certain points in our lives. We all have times where we feel down or like a "loser" when things don't go our way. (unfortunately things NEVER go Oscar's way) Hopefully most of us stand up for what we believe in and don't take crap from people (like Lola) so in these ways, I think that anyone can relate to the characters. There are extremely prevalent cultural barriers that are erected in this novel--one being the Spanglish. Perhaps we are supposed to feel uncomfortable due to this though because we are not part of the Dominican culture. If we were, we would read the book entierely differently. If we knew what people were saying at certain points, we would look at it and go "oh, that's sad" and read on--not perplexed by thoughts of "what the heck is going on here?" I think that Diaz writes in a way that purposefully confuses us--because we should be since the book essentially is a model of a cultural barrier. This might seem initially uncomfortable, but is easier to understand as we read on.

Everything is Illuminated suicide

When the grandfather in Everything is Illuminated commits suicide in the bathtub, I was not surprised. When people try to forget painful pasts, and never really deal with bottled up pain and emotions, it ultimately hurts them more. The same is true when people bottle up pain rather than talking about it with a friend or loved one. When people bottle things in or hide things, it is really just creating a highly explosive bomb. Once the person's pain or secret is revealed, the person explodes. In this case, once the Grandfather had gone back and been reminded of his past (and also reintroduced to a person that was a part of his past) the bomb went off. It was as though he had no reason to stay alive anymore--he had been numb for so long that enduring so much pain was too much to take. This was very sad, yet it made sense.

Everything is Illuminated

In Everything is Illuminated, Jonathon Safran has a strange obsession with collecting momentos related to events and people. This is made evident at the beginning of the film when he takes a necklace (from what I remember it was a pendant or gem) and stows it away in a plastic bag. Soon enough, we see a wall full of strange items. (The used condom on the wall was the most disturbing.) This wall of strange items had to have had some sort of signifiance to the film, so what was it? At this point, the function of his souvenires represents people forgetting about their pasts--whether painful or joyful. When asked why he collects things, he answers "I don't want to forget". Jonathon most definitely does not forget about the random times he has because he has tiny pieces to remind him. Perhaps this is hinting at something. Some people try to let go of their pasts when painful, because trying to forget them and running away from pain seems easier than confronting it. The truth is that the past is the past and no one can ever run away from what happened in it. Being true, Jonathon's collection of trinkets might actually be suggesting that we hold onto our pasts--yet not let them dictate our futures--because they are a part of what one will become.

Alternate Ending to Ferguson's Happiness

I know I'm not the only one who was diappointed by the ending of Happiness, so to contribute my thoughts on how it should have ended I have to say that I would have loved to see May and Edwin end up together. I couldn't stand Edwin's annoying wife Jenni, so in my eyes, Jenni would have caught Edwin and May having an awkwardly passionate affair at their house amidst Jenni's infamous post-it-notes. This would completely go against whatever the post-it notes read and would bring Jenni down. It would take a stab at the type-A types who try to be "perfect" and hint at the notion that perhaps perfection is not what a man is looking for or truly wants in a woman. Flaws are what make us unique and in my opinion, flaws and quirks are adorable. Maybe the image we have of May and her red lips and Edwin's scrawny body aren't "adorable" but the thought of them finding happiness through each other's company is. I would have loved to see Jenni cry and run out of the room--yet at the same time, see Edwin and May end up happily together.

Happiness: Happy or Not?

Will Ferguson's novel Happiness is not a representation of the fulfillment of genuine happiness. The way the novel takes a stab at the self-help industry is humorous (in my opinion) because it essentially hints at the idea that the self-help industry is not needed/necessary. If this is true though, then why do people spend such long periods of time obsessing over losing those measley 5 extra lbs by trying absoulutely absurd diets? It's ridiculous. Tupac Soiree's book "What I Learned on the Mountain" actually takes the color and originality out of the characters in the novel--leaving them "blah" and lifeless. May for instance, loses her color--(her red lips are no longer the same!) So the question I want to ask remains: do self-help novels really suck the "life" out of people? I think they can. An old roommate of mine became obsessed with a series of novels entitled "Skinny Bitch." (sick title, already!) One day she was cooking dinner out of a new cookbook from the series called "Skinny Bitch in the Kitch." (really?) I glanced at the title and in small font it read: "Kick Ass Recipes for Hungry Girls Who Want to Stop Cooking Crap (and Start Looking Hot!)" Yikes. The book outrules all meat and dairy and supports a 100% vegan lifestyle. Call me traditional, but people have been consuming meat since the beginning of time. People were made to eat meat--not merely beans and vegetables. The bottom line is that this old friend of mine became colorless and dull. I could never go out to eat with her, cook dinner with her, or go to get ice cream. (Which I love too much). So, this so-called "self-help" book might have made her lose 15 pounds (which looks scary skinny) but it has also made her lose friends and the old lifestyle that she used to enjoy. I think that we can all get a little something out of Ferguson's novel. If nothing, at least consider that he is trying to say that self-help books are actually just self-destroying.