In this reading section the style of writing changes substantially. As Mary Lou continues writing she gets better and better at expressing herself. Mary Lou starts to read the Odyssey, because it was on her summer reading list. She takes notes on it in the journal for us to read. Because she's reading the odyssey, she starts to relate her own life to it and compare. This stile of expressing herself is very intriguing.
Also, because she is reading the odyssey she sometimes starts off by saying something like" Ready O muse" (a muse is someone who inspires writers).
The dialogue in this entire book is very interesting. The author (Sharon Creech) has written it so that you read/hear the conversation from Mary Lou's point of view. For example: Maggie: And what is that supposed to mean? (pause)You invited Ellen in case? In case? In case os what? This snippet is from page 35 of Absolutely Normal Chaos, which is in reading section one. However it is a delectable example of the authors style of writing dialogue. The quality of writing is pretty high. But its not too wordy I like that about it. It uses bigger words only when they convey the point better (unlike some people I know). It sounds pretty intelligent but it gets the point across to the reader.
Mary Lou, because this is her own journal, feels free to make jokes and use satire. She often rights something sarcastic or something that would only be appealing to a very slim audience. The author creates an illusion where it seems that Mary Lou is not putting any effort or thought into her harmony and rhythm of writing. However I think that the actual author of the book pays quite close attention to things like that. Sentences flow well together and are organized nicely into the correct paragraphs.
In this novel, I think the charaters that are three dimensional are: Mary Lou, her family (not including Carl Rae) and Beth Ann. We know a lot about Beth Ann. For example: she is a person who is obsessed with her bf (trying to be) who she thinks is really a jerk. She is a very talkative person as ML (Mary Lou) discribes her. "The girl who tells you every little detail, when you couldnt care less!" In this book, Carl Rae and Alex are similar flat charaters. You cant quite get them to talk. Alex has been meeting ML at the pool so we are seeing something developing here. Carl Rae is in for a suprise...I read ahead, so i think we are seeing development there aswell.
I think the author (Sharon Creech)approch to writing this book is very good. She is showing us ML's personaly from the start. The author must have felt very peppy while writing this book cause some of the pep has been expressed in the novel. Wehn Mr.Furtz died, I felt the author was sad because all of a sudden, he has a heart attack and dies. Where did that come from? Allthough, ML was handeling that quite well.
The author is definatley a good author and the only problems I felt were the oddysee thing. I scimmed it over, I thought it was boring. Other than that she is a good author.
I agree with sami about the auther making you feel what the character in the book is feeling. For example when Mr. Furtz died and Mary lou was sad seeing Carl Ray cry, but yet i also felt sad about hi crying about someone he didn;t even know. It was sort of supiciois. Great review sami!
Also when talia said that the auther made Mary lou not very concious of what shes writing and not really thinking of what happening but yet the auther tryed to make it that way. Making her a more interesting character that way. Great job Talia
I think the setting of Mary lou and Beth Ann right now is very tense. Mary lou is mad at beth ann for trying to make her jelous. Beth ann is mad because she doesn;t seem to think Mary lou gets whats going on with her and is mad at Mary lou for saying her boyfriend is a jerk. Most people in the family are getting really anyoid and more supicious of Carl ray with getting free $5000.00. Carl ray is starting to show emotion with this.
The atmosphere was defenitlly set when Carl ray first arived and then cried at the funeral. Lately Alex and Mary lou have been hanging out so it seems that they both like each other. Mary lou and Beth Ann atmosphere isn;t getting any better then before but it has gotten worse.
I dont think the setting has anything to do with the way the characters think. They all are just trying to be normal during. Not because it summer so they should be normal.
I agree with you, Alexis when you say Carl Ray is starting to show emotion when he gets the five grand. Its not very clear, though what he is feeling. I have a hunch that the 5 grand is from Mr. Furtz. The reason I have formulated this hypothasis is because a)When Carl Ray first saw Mr. Furtz he had an interst in him b) Carl Ray cried at the funeral and c) Carl ray worked for Mr. Furtz, I think very dilegently.
In response to Sami's post... What was the big problem with the notes on the Odyssey??? I thought they were quite well written and I really liked how Mary Lou sometimes wrote as if she was in the book. For instance some times she would wonder if the gods on Mt. Olympus were deciding her fate. Even though I have not read the Odyssey I think her opinions on them were stable and well thought out. Also, maybe if you actually read them instead of skimming them over they may have been more interesting.
Other than that one thing, I more or less agree with you. Good post Sami
i agree with alexis because Carl Ray is coming out of his shell a little now. He is showing sign's of being more comfortable living with the finney's because he is talking more and he was showing emotion at the funeral. also how Carl Ray was trying to scare every one at the park.
i think Beth Ann is trying to make Mary Lou jealous because she has a boyfriend and Mary Lou doesn't. But soon i think alex and Mary Lou will start going out because of how he invited her to go to the pool with him on Saturday.
I think a major theme in this section is Beth and and derek. I think this is a major theme because Beth ann is one of the main characters and it is talked about a lot. Mary Lou thinks that Beth Ann is acting like she is Queen of the world and that she is way better than Mary Lou up until Mary Lou and Beth Ann have a big talk near the end of the section. Beth ann says that derek is "Divine" and things like that but Mary Lou knows he is a jerk because of what Maggie told her.
Another main theme is Alex. I think Mary Lou and Alex's relationship is getting more serious because he is hanging out at the pool in her area and saying "Lets" leave meaning the two of them together and alex asked Mary Lou if she wanted to go to the pool with him on Saturday. i think as the book progresses Mary Lou and Alex might end up dating.
Another main theme in this section is Mr. Furtz dyeing. Even though this is a bad thing t is a major theme. When Mr. Furtz dye's that is all Mary Lou writes about for a while. she is writing about what she thinks happened to him after he died and things like that. i guess she is curios because that is the first person that is close to her that died before.
These themes are developed because they are more talked about and more handled throughout the section. i think alex and Beth Ann themes are very original because they are about teenage love, and that is very common. But Mr. Furtz dyeing isn't a common theme because you don't hear about that much in books because it isn't a pleasant thing at all. i would say the theme is entertaining because it doesn't really teach us anything.
This post will proceed the same as your first; refer to the questions from post 1. For this section you will be posting on reading section page 40-80
In this reading section the style of writing changes substantially. As Mary Lou continues writing she gets better and better at expressing herself. Mary Lou starts to read the Odyssey, because it was on her summer reading list. She takes notes on it in the journal for us to read. Because she's reading the odyssey, she starts to relate her own life to it and compare. This stile of expressing herself is very intriguing.
ReplyDeleteAlso, because she is reading the odyssey she sometimes starts off by saying something like" Ready O muse" (a muse is someone who inspires writers).
ReplyDeleteThe dialogue in this entire book is very interesting. The author (Sharon Creech) has written it so that you read/hear the conversation from Mary Lou's point of view. For example:
Maggie: And what is that supposed to mean? (pause)You invited Ellen in case? In case? In case os what?
This snippet is from page 35 of Absolutely Normal Chaos, which is in reading section one. However it is a delectable example of the authors style of writing dialogue. The quality of writing is pretty high. But its not too wordy I like that about it. It uses bigger words only when they convey the point better (unlike some people I know). It sounds pretty intelligent but it gets the point across to the reader.
Mary Lou, because this is her own journal, feels free to make jokes and use satire. She often rights something sarcastic or something that would only be appealing to a very slim audience. The author creates an illusion where it seems that Mary Lou is not putting any effort or thought into her harmony and rhythm of writing. However I think that the actual author of the book pays quite close attention to things like that. Sentences flow well together and are organized nicely into the correct paragraphs.
Talia, nice work. I agree with what you have to say. Did you really read the Odyssey thing? I thought it was extremley boring!
ReplyDeleteIn this novel, I think the charaters that are three dimensional are: Mary Lou, her family (not including Carl Rae) and Beth Ann. We know a lot about Beth Ann. For example: she is a person who is obsessed with her bf (trying to be) who she thinks is really a jerk. She is a very talkative person as ML (Mary Lou) discribes her. "The girl who tells you every little detail, when you couldnt care less!" In this book, Carl Rae and Alex are similar flat charaters. You cant quite get them to talk. Alex has been meeting ML at the pool so we are seeing something developing here. Carl Rae is in for a suprise...I read ahead, so i think we are seeing development there aswell.
ReplyDeleteI think the author (Sharon Creech)approch to writing this book is very good. She is showing us ML's personaly from the start. The author must have felt very peppy while writing this book cause some of the pep has been expressed in the novel. Wehn Mr.Furtz died, I felt the author was sad because all of a sudden, he has a heart attack and dies. Where did that come from? Allthough, ML was handeling that quite well.
The author is definatley a good author and the only problems I felt were the oddysee thing. I scimmed it over, I thought it was boring. Other than that she is a good author.
I agree with sami about the auther making you feel what the character in the book is feeling. For example when Mr. Furtz died and Mary lou was sad seeing Carl Ray cry, but yet i also felt sad about hi crying about someone he didn;t even know. It was sort of supiciois.
ReplyDeleteGreat review sami!
Also when talia said that the auther made Mary lou not very concious of what shes writing and not really thinking of what happening but yet the auther tryed to make it that way. Making her a more interesting character that way.
Great job Talia
I think the setting of Mary lou and Beth Ann right now is very tense. Mary lou is mad at beth ann for trying to make her jelous. Beth ann is mad because she doesn;t seem to think Mary lou gets whats going on with her and is mad at Mary lou for saying her boyfriend is a jerk. Most people in the family are getting really anyoid and more supicious of Carl ray with getting free $5000.00. Carl ray is starting to show emotion with this.
ReplyDeleteThe atmosphere was defenitlly set when Carl ray first arived and then cried at the funeral. Lately Alex and Mary lou have been hanging out so it seems that they both like each other. Mary lou and Beth Ann atmosphere isn;t getting any better then before but it has gotten worse.
I dont think the setting has anything to do with the way the characters think. They all are just trying to be normal during. Not because it summer so they should be normal.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you, Alexis when you say Carl Ray is starting to show emotion when he gets the five grand. Its not very clear, though what he is feeling. I have a hunch that the 5 grand is from Mr. Furtz. The reason I have formulated this hypothasis is because a)When Carl Ray first saw Mr. Furtz he had an interst in him b) Carl Ray cried at the funeral and c) Carl ray worked for Mr. Furtz, I think very dilegently.
ReplyDeleteIn response to Sami's post...
ReplyDeleteWhat was the big problem with the notes on the Odyssey??? I thought they were quite well written and I really liked how Mary Lou sometimes wrote as if she was in the book. For instance some times she would wonder if the gods on Mt. Olympus were deciding her fate. Even though I have not read the Odyssey I think her opinions on them were stable and well thought out. Also, maybe if you actually read them instead of skimming them over they may have been more interesting.
Other than that one thing, I more or less agree with you.
Good post Sami
i agree with alexis because Carl Ray is coming out of his shell a little now. He is showing sign's of being more comfortable living with the finney's because he is talking more and he was showing emotion at the funeral. also how Carl Ray was trying to scare every one at the park.
ReplyDeletei think Beth Ann is trying to make Mary Lou jealous because she has a boyfriend and Mary Lou doesn't. But soon i think alex and Mary Lou will start going out because of how he invited her to go to the pool with him on Saturday.
I think a major theme in this section is Beth and and derek. I think this is a major theme because Beth ann is one of the main characters and it is talked about a lot. Mary Lou thinks that Beth Ann is acting like she is Queen of the world and that she is way better than Mary Lou up until Mary Lou and Beth Ann have a big talk near the end of the section. Beth ann says that derek is "Divine" and things like that but Mary Lou knows he is a jerk because of what Maggie told her.
ReplyDeleteAnother main theme is Alex. I think Mary Lou and Alex's relationship is getting more serious because he is hanging out at the pool in her area and saying "Lets" leave meaning the two of them together and alex asked Mary Lou if she wanted to go to the pool with him on Saturday. i think as the book progresses Mary Lou and Alex might end up dating.
Another main theme in this section is Mr. Furtz dyeing. Even though this is a bad thing t is a major theme. When Mr. Furtz dye's that is all Mary Lou writes about for a while. she is writing about what she thinks happened to him after he died and things like that. i guess she is curios because that is the first person that is close to her that died before.
These themes are developed because they are more talked about and more handled throughout the section. i think alex and Beth Ann themes are very original because they are about teenage love, and that is very common. But Mr. Furtz dyeing isn't a common theme because you don't hear about that much in books because it isn't a pleasant thing at all. i would say the theme is entertaining because it doesn't really teach us anything.