The pact by Jodi Picoult

I just started reading "The Pact" by Jodi Picoult. This book is mainly about two families who have been best friends ever since their children were born. Chris and Emily basically grew up together, because their moms were best friends and therefor so were they. When they become 17 they started dating until one night that changes everything. Both parents get a call that Emily and Chris are hurt. It turns out Emily was shot to death and Chris was wounded but he's still alive. I just started reading the book so I don't know what's going to happen. Chris told a detective that he and Emily planned on killing themselves together but after she killed herself the police came and he couldn't do it too. Chris is now also a suspect for murdering her even though he claims it was a double suicide.

I can't imagine how either set of parents feels right now. I feel especially bad for Emily's parents. One minute your child is alive and then the next minute she isn't? It just seems crazy to me. I would feel so lost if I lost my child. Also what must it be like to feel like you knew your child all these years when  you really didn't know her at all? Emily's parents had no idea that she planned on killing herself so it must be like getting hit in the head with a brick to find out your own child killed herself.

I also feel extremely bad for Chris's parents. I mean I want to believe that he wasn't the one to have killed Emily because he loved her, but what if he was? Both sets of parents refuse to believe that's a possibility but what if he did? Would that end the friendship between Melaine and Gus(the two moms) forever? It's already bad enough that Chris is alive and Emily isn't but now the possibility of him actually killing her comes up? How hard must that be for everyone? I can't imagine what that must be like. One day getting the groceries and leading a normal life and then the next day your kid is dead?

If it actually was a double suicide, why I wonder? What would drive these two lucky happy teenagers to want to kill themselves? I don't know that much about either character yet because I just started reading the book but it's crazy to think about. I think that's what their parents are thinking too, like what more could these kids need besides the happy lives their parents thought they were living, and each other? Why would they want to kill themselves ? I'm going to continuing reading and find out and get some answers about these people.

House Rules By Jodi Picoult part 2 possible spoilers

I just finished reading "House Rules" by Jodi Picoult. I have to say that this is one of my favorite books of hers. This book in mainly about an autistic boy named Jacob who gets convicted for murder. It's told from the perspective of his mother, his lawyer, and his younger brother. This book is filled with emotion and hardship. It's really powerful and what makes it even more great is getting to  hear it from all the different perspectives and how they play off of each other. It's really cool to see how two different people interpret the same situation.

Jacob the main character has a mild form of autism. He is extremely smart and capable of many things. When his routine gets messed up he freaks out. If he sees or touches the color orange he freaks out. He has trouble making eye contact and gets obsessed with certain things for long amounts of time. Finally he is extremely organized and there is a certain color of food he must eat everyday otherwise he also freaks out. When Jacob gets convicted for murder (as it turns out later that he didn't actually kill her he just set it up to look that way) his world is turned upside down. His lawyer is trying his best to find a way that Jacob could win this case but it's really hard to do so. There is evidence and he looks guilty. The only way for  his lawyer Oliver to make the jury see that Jacob actually has some problems is to play the insanity card. I was thinking about this a lot. Half of me feels like it's wrong to use someone's disability and turn it into insanity. The other half of me feels like I do believe that Jacob is innocent and if showing the Jury there is something wrong with him besides his autism is going to help him, maybe it is the best thing to do. There is a fine line in this world with people who are different. If I were on the Jury it would be a really hard decision to make as to if this boy is innocent or guilty. I feel like murder is murder despite the fact if you have a disability or not, on the other hand as it turns out Jacob didn't actually kill the girl Jess he just set it up to look like he did because he is obsessed with forensic science and crime scenes. It's a tough call to make. I couldn't imagine being on that Jury. Obviously the jurors don't know Jacob like I the reader do, but they can still see that he does have some issues. In the real world today there are tons of shootings and killings and lots of them are blamed on the person being mentally ill or so called crazy. In this case Jacob really isn't crazy or mentally ill and he knows that killing someone is not okay, after all he knows tons of things about forensic science. Jacob is autistic though and he does have some weird ticks and problems. Jacob isn't a murderer but he is strange. Who sees that someone is dying/dead and decides to set up their body to look like a whole crime scene instead of calling for help. The thing about autism is they don't realize what they're doing isn't good until after the fact, after it's too late. I think that's what happened to Jacob in this situation.

Another thing is that I feel so terrible for Jacob's mother Emma. I was talking about her in my first post about this book and how hard it must be for her to have to go through this all. Now not only has her husband left her and she has to take care of 2 boys one of them being autistic, but the autistic one is on trial for murder. I don't know how Emma keeps it together. Maybe in a way she doesn't because she is holding all those feelings inside but she doesn't have anyone to explode to about them. I would feel like a trapped animal if I were her. She loves Jacob more than life but I wonder if she ever thought about what life without him would be like? Is that like a sin of motherhood? I don't know but I do know it was extremely hard for Emma to deal with all this.

This was a really intense and powerful book that I highly recommend to people. It's scary and interesting and really thought provoking. This book delves into tons of emotion and you really feel like you know the characters after the book is over

Blog Review -Sofia

Throughout this week I have been reading lots of blogs posted by people and most of them were pretty good, but Sofia's really stood out to me. http://skkeaveny.blogspot.com/2013/02/just-listen.html

The post that she wrote was about the book "Justin Listen" by Sarah Dessen.  One reason that this post stood out to me was because I have read this book twice and it's one of my favorite books. I think her post was really interesting and she really connected her own life with the book which is one of the main reasons I liked the post so much. I really liked when she said "Reading this book has taught me a lot about opening up to other people in your life, there are so many people worth getting to know around you that you wouldn't be exposed to otherwise." I think that's so true and have had reading the book I totally understand what she's talking about. In the book at first Annabel has to learn to open up and she has to learn to be brave and honest and I think that goes for a lot of us in this world. You don't just suddenly open up to people you have to ease into it just like everything else in life. I think it was brave of Sofia to actually admit that reading this book got her thinking about opening up to other people in her own life. It was really good how throughout this blog post she talked about the book then connected back to her life and then back to the book again. 

Another thing I really liked about Sofia's post was how she gave her input on the characters and then connected it to the characters in the book and in the outside world. For example in her post she talks about how Annabel is a very good listener, she listens to everyone about their problems, but she has a hard time listening to herself. I think that is a really smart point because sometimes people get so caught up in helping others that they forget about themselves. I think that sometimes that might be a way for people to avoid admitting to themselves that they too actually have a problem. Sofia then goes on to talk about how she thinks that Annabel isn't listening to herself and her needs. Then she connects it back to the book by saying that one of the other characters named Owen helps Annabel listen to herself. It's really good the way Sofia is constantly connecting her own thoughts back to the book. It really gives the reader a balance of her own ideas and then what's actually happening. 

Sofia just makes a lot of good points in this post. Another thing that she says is that she thinks that there is a point in everyone's life where they put other people before themselves. She says how that's ok but you still need to listen to herself. I totally agree with this point. I think that people in this world sometimes think that it's somehow their responsibility to help others and do things for others but they just forget about themselves. It's actually really important not to do that because once in a while it's really crucial that you take some time for yourself. Caring people are always looking out and listening to what others think and other peoples problems, but when time comes when they need someone to lean on where are they supposed to go ? 

Another thing Sofia's post made me think about that I never actually thought about while reading the book was how much the title has to do with the book. "Just Listen" kind of says everything that Annabel the main character learns to do in the end. 

I think Sofia did a great job on this post. She really made me think about the book and my life and her life. It was really cool that I had read it before because I was really able to understand what she was talking about. She did a great job of connecting the book to the real world.  I had never read one of her posts before so it was good to read something that was unexpected and new! She also had lots of good points that got me thinking a lot. Great job sof! 

House Rules by Jodi Picoult

I just started reading "House Rules" by Jodi Picoult. This book is about a woman Emma who's husband left her. After her husband fled, she was left all alone to take care of her sons. One of her sons has a form of autism. Her other son named Theo has totally cut himself off from the rest of the world. Jacob the one with autism has problems connecting with people. He can never get off his routine or else he completely freaks out. He can't stand the sound of paper crumpling or the color orange. Life is almost equally hard for Theo because he is trying to be a normal teenage boy, but it's kind of hard to be.    Jacob is supposed to be his older brother but instead it's kind of the other way around.

I feel terrible for Emma it's one thing for your husband to leave you and start a whole new family, but on top of that to be left to take care of these two boys. They also don't have all the money in the world so it's hard. I wonder what Emma is secretly thinking some of the time. She always seems to have to put on this happy face for her sons but what's really behind all that? I wonder where she's storing all that pain. If you think about it you have to have a lot of patience to raise someone who has autism. Everything must always stay the same for Jacob. If they are going to the grocery store and Emma sees a perfectly good parking place, she can't take it because it's next to an orange car and Jacob hates the color orange.  At this point though she must be some what used to it because what other choice does she have? She loves Jacob with every ounce in her except it isn't easy. If I were her some days I would just want to sit down and crumble and cry. It's crazy that she has to deal with this at all, let alone having to do it all by herself.

Another interesting thing about this book is that it's told from everyone's perspective. Jacob, Theo, and Emma. When you hear Theo's side of the story it sounds equally hard. He comes off as this teenage boy who wants to totally cut himself off from the rest of the world but I can tell there is more to him then that. I mean think about it, it must be so hard to have a sibling with autism. Theo is just trying to be "normal" but once people find out about Jacob they back away from Theo. Theo also talks about how Jacob is supposed to be his older brother but he never really is or was. Jacob is kind of like having to deal with a young child even though he's 18 years old. Maybe the reason that Theo holds so much resentment towards Jacob is because he knows Jacob will never be the older brother that Theo always wanted.

Finally Jacob also talks. Jacob is extremely smart and I think smarter then people give him credit for. He knows that his brother wants nothing to do with him and he knows he can be a real handful sometimes. It's really interesting to see what Emma and Theo say about Jacob and how they plant this idea in your mind about who he is, but then when he gets a chance to talk about himself you realize actually how smart and real he is.

I really want to know what's going to happen next and how relationships in this story progresses.

Mercy part 3 Jodi Picoult

I just finished the book Mercy by Jodi Picoult. It was really good but also intense. One of the main characters Cam cheats on his wife Allie and she finds out.

In a way I think that even though the fact he cheated on her was really upsetting and hurtful to her it made her a stronger person overall. Before he did this she didn't have a voice. She never picked fights with Cam and always did things for him and was the perfect ideal wife. Allie thought Cam was this perfect angel person when really he's a big old cheater. I think the fact that he did this allowed Allie to loosen up a bit. It made her realize that she is her own person and maybe Cam isn't everything she thought he was.

I think Allie is now stronger because she realized that she can he happy knowing that he did this to her, and what I mean by that is she is realizing that he isn't the only thing in life that can make her happy. I don't know if she is going to stay with him or not but really if she did I think it could help their relationship because knowing she is stronger could make him realize that he shouldn't mess things up again.

This book was really interesting and good. The characters had lot's of feelings and emotions that I thought really help move the book along. No matter what Allie decides I know she will come out of it a better stronger more independent person.

Mercy by Jodi Picoult Part 2

I am recently in the middle of reading “Mercy” by Jodi Picoult. Right now in the book we found out that the reason Jamie one of the main characters, killed his wife was because she was dying of breast cancer and she actually asked him to kill her. Because he loved her so much he did it. After killing her, he went into the police station where his cousin Cam works and turned himself in. Cam and him were never close and Cam totally thinks he’s guilty. On the other hand Cam’s wife Allie is trying to help Jamie. When a new mysterious woman named Mia comes to help Allie with her florist business Cam falls in love with her and they have an affair. Allie has no idea that anything is going on between Cam and Mia.

Allie and Cam have an interesting relationship. In high school Cam was the jock, he was popular and handsome. Allie on the other hand was quite and unnoticed by most people. In their relationship Allie seems to be more in love with Cam than he loves her. She is constantly doing things for him like setting out his breakfast, doing his laundry, tending to his every need. Whenever he gets mad at her she never ever puts up a fight. I think that inside maybe Allie is scared of losing him and that’s why she does all these things. I think that because Allie isn’t the most beautiful woman in the world and she knows that Cam is basically her life so if she were to mess things up everything would be messed up.

Sometimes we as people don’t really something that we are doing but we really are doing it. I think that Allie thinks that her relationship with Cam is fine. They are married and she has no doubts about their relationship, or maybe that’s what she keeps telling herself. I feel like the reason she tends to all his needs at the drop of a pin and does everything she can to be a loving wife is because subconsciously she is afraid she is going to lose Cam. It makes me feel really bad for Allie because one minute Cam comes home and kisses her and everything but the next he is out lying and with Mia.

This whole situation is also making me wonder about Cam. How can he call himself the police chief when is kind of committing a crime himself. It just seems so hypocritical to me. He refuses to give Jamie, his own cousin a chance. Although murder and adultery are different things the idea of doing something bad for love is what’s similar. Cam seems to hate is cousin and is totally against him when it comes to this murder case. Even though Jamie did kill his wife there is so much more to it. Cam is refusing to see the under layers, even though he is committing a crime himself. It just seems totally messed up.

I don’t know what’s going to happen but in a way I hope Allie finds out. That way she can realize that Cam isn’t everything. There is more to life then just one person. If she realizes what Cam has been doing she’s going to be upset but also maybe relieved. She needs to know there are other men out there that can love her just as much as she loves Cam. 

Nonfiction blog post "Selling A New Generation On Guns" by Mike McINTIRE

The article “Selling New Generations On Guns” the main idea is about how the firearms industry has recently poured thousands of dollars into a campaign to ensure its future by getting guns into the hands of more, and younger children. In this article Mike McINTIRE talks about how the industry’s strategies include “giving firearms, ammunition and cash to youth groups; weakening state restrictions on hunting by young children; marketing an affordable military-style rifle for junior shooters and sponsoring semiautomatic-handgun competitions for youths; and developing a target shooting video game that promotes brand-name weapons, with links to the web sites of their makers.”  McINTIRE goes on to talk about how some people say that it is a good thing to introduce kids to guns. Some even said that teaching kids how to handle guns helps them learn some life skills like responsibility, ethics and citizenship. Finally he talks about how the NRA for decades has given grants for youth shooting programs, mostly to Boy Scout councils and 4-H groups.

In this article the I think that the author wants you to feel informed and a little shocked. I mean thinking about this situation logically makes me feel outraged. How dare these people be encouraging young children to use guns especially because of what recently happened in Newtown. The author does a good job of sort of expressing his own opinions secretly in the article. He is able to do this because throughout the whole article he is giving facts about this issue and how the firearms industry is trying to get young people to use guns, but then at the very last line of the article he puts in a quote from the director of undergraduate studies in child and adolescent mental health at New York University saying “There are lots of ways to teach responsibility to a kid, you don’t need a gun to do it.” Because this is the last line of the article, it allows you to really think about the information you were just given, and it gives you time to realize how incredibly ridiculous the whole idea of giving young kids guns is. 

After reading this article my opinions about guns and gun control have stayed the same but also gotten bigger and stronger. Every time I think about guns in this country and about what happened in Newtown I get so angry there are no words to describe. After what happened couldn’t these people have a little more decency??? It just infuriates me. I mean why in the world would you want to introduce guns to kids? It’s so dangerous and unnecessary. There is already too much violence in this world, do we really want or need young children knowing how to use a handgun? The NRA is so small minded. Although after what happened at Newtown they didn’t make a statement until a little after the fact, do you want to know why? It was probably so they wouldn’t look bad. The idea of children having guns seems crazy to me. It’s oh yeah my child doesn’t know how to ride a bike yet but he knows how to operate a gun. Children in this day in age are already growing up faster and faster do we really need to add guns to the mix? People think it will teach kids responsibility? How in the world would it do that? In my opinion teaching kids how to be good citizens is talking to them having them read things learn things, not handing them guns. People are acting like guns aren’t a big deal but they are a huge deal. The firearms industry is making it seem like guns are fun. They even hold competitions for it. In reality guns aren’t fun and games. They are dangerous weapons used to kill that should not be in the hands of a young child.