The Virgin Suicides by Jeffery Eugenides

Recently I just finished reading the first chapter of the book "The Virgin Suicides" by Jeffery Eudenides. Basically this book is about the Lisbon girls who are 5 sisters that commit suicide one after the other after the other. The book is told from the perspectives of the boys who lived across the street from them, who try to piece together the reasons for their deaths. The boys observe from afar but they are transfixed with these girls who all live in one secret house with all these mystery's that no one has ever uncovered. 

The first chapter is mostly about the youngest Lisbon girl who cuts herself in the bathtub but then is found and saved. Then even after she survives she tries to kill herself again except this time it actually works. I really have so many questions about this girl. Why would she want to kill herself after all she is only 13. Also I wonder what is going through that girls head. The whole family seems really creepy especially all the girls. I wondering if like they all had a pact to kill themselves or it just happened. They seem like very sheltered children who aren't allowed to wear makeup or see boys. They all just live together in one house and it just seems really creepy.  I also wonder like what's going through the youngest girls head, she always wore the same exact white wedding dress she owned no matter what she did or where she went. Even when she was put into the hospital for attempting to kill herself the first time she refused to wear anything else besides that dress. I'm thinking there a lot of hidden messages about their deaths, but it's just too early yet to figure them out. 

It is still quite early in the book so it's hard to try to pull out some philosophical issues yet but I was thinking about some that could get bigger in the book. I was thinking about the act of suicide and if it should be considered like wrong to do. I think that like for some people it really feels like the only way out of the situation that they are in except it does really affect the people around you and that care about you most in the world. Now,  I don't know about this book because I have no idea why these girls are killing themselves because I don't really have that much information about the story yet, except from what I see so far I'm a little confused. Why would such a young girl feel the need to kill herself when she has such a life ahead of her. Also why then would all her sisters do it too. There's just something really weird and mysterious about the whole thing. 

Finally the book is told from the perspective of these boys and I can totally see why they would be transfixed with these girls. There is something about them that makes you want to know more even if it creeps you out a little. They live across the street from them and I would wonder about them myself. They are all also very very pretty and you always want to know more about them. These boys seem to know things and they plan to also find out more. 

I'm really curious to see what's going to happen in this book because it's really interesting and very intriguing. 

My Sisters Keeper Jodi Picoult part 2

Basically I am almost done with reading "My sisters keeper" by Jodi Picoult.  In my other post I gave a longer summary but right now the main character Anna has sued her parents for the right to her own body so she no longer has to donate things to her dying sister. It's a really hard situation to wrap your mind around. I feel for everyone in this family. I actually almost feel the most for the dying sister kate -who funnily enough we actually don't get to hear her perspective in this book. I wonder what must it feel like to know that you are going to die no matter what you do.  To me at least death is one of my bigger fears but in this book Kate doesn't seem to be all that scared. I'm guessing that maybe once you know that you are going to die and you come to terms with the idea of it it might not seem all that bad.

Kate seems like a very strong person. No matter what is happening to her she kind of powers through it all. If I knew that I was going to die and that my only sister was suing my parents I might have a little breakdown. I wonder how she deals with all of this. I know I wouldn't be able to. I think that even though it might sound crazy she is kind of the one holding the family together even though she's the one dying.

On the other hand I hate to say it but I wonder if life without Kate would also be relieving for her family. Obviously they don't want her to die but it has been such a struggle for this family that if she were to pass away then they could all just stand back and breath. Like I said though if Kate dies will this family fall apart even more than it already is? In a way I feel like everyone is just holding their breath and waiting for her to die even though it's the last thing they want to happen.

If I was Sara Kate's mother it would be so hard to live life. How would you feel if you knew that your child was going to die? I think that Sara is in a bit of denial sometimes because he husband tries to bring it up and face the truth that Kate is going to die but Sara really doesn't want to admit it or talk about it, because it must be just so hard.

I'm really curious to find out what's going to happen to Kate and if she is going to die. If she does die how will it affect her family? For the better or for the worse?

My sisters keeper by Jodi Picoult

Recently I have been reading the book "My sisters keeper" by Jodi Picoult. This book has a lot of interesting ideas that really make you think. Basically the overall plot is that Kate has a terrible form of leukemia and her parents had another baby basically so that child could give Kate all the blood and transplants she needed. Her parents made this kid a perfect match with the right genes to make sure that when she was born she would be a perfect match for Kate. Anna is that kid and all her life everything has been about the things Kate needs. It's extremely hard for her to have a sister who's always sick. Neither sister has really ever got to live a normal life. When Anna decides to file a law suit against her parents for the right to her own body things in her family get even more tense and crazy then they already were.

I can totally see why Anna would want to have the rights to her own body. Imagine living a life where you were constantly hooked up to machines or giving blood or transplants. It's a really tricky situation because all her life her parents have just been like you have to go to the hospital now Kate is having another episode. There was never any discussion she just had to. It would feel kind of awful to know that one of the only reasons you were alive was because of your sister. Anna does deserve the right to her own body especially since she's 13 years old. She can't go on her whole life being there at the drop of a pin just when her sister needs her. Anna needs to speak her mind and let her parents know how she feels.

On the other hand I can see why she might not want to do this. What does it mean for Kate? Without Anna there isn't much hope of Kate surviving. The problem is that they are still sisters and Anna doesn't know how to live without Kate so if she does this what does this mean for the future? Just like Kate needs Anna, Anna needs Kate. They are still sisters despite the bad situation they are in. Even though Kate is very sick they still fight and talk about cute boys and do sisterly things. I'm wondering what will happen. How would this affect their relationship.

Finally I think that Anna's mom is totally in denial about the whole trial thing. She seems to think that Anna will drop everything and tell her lawyer she doesn't want to do this anymore. Like if I were the mother I wouldn't know what to do at all. It just seems so hard. I think she needs to stop telling Anna what to do. The whole point of this is that Anna wants possession over her own body. Her mom needs to sit her down and actually talk about this instead of trying to sway Anna's decisions and forcing her to do things that she shouldn't have to.

I really want to find out what's going to happen in this book. I wonder if Anna will decide to go through with this and if she does how it will affect her relationship with Kate and her parents .

Romeo and Juliet Essay

Falling in love can be a wonderful thing, especially when you are young and have so much left to offer the world. It can be magical if it ever gets to a point where you feel you literally cannot live without that other person; but that isn’t necessarily a good thing. In Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, he wants us to see how much Romeo and Juliet can’t live without each other. Love is somewhat about dependence but if you start to rely on one person too much it can end badly for both people. Juliet’s love for Romeo frees her from the trapped life she has been living, but the force of her dependence on Romeo ties her too strongly to him and destroys any hope of real independence she has, which ultimately leads to her death.

         Juliet’s love for Romeo emotionally frees her from the trapped life she has been living. Before Juliet meets Romeo she is mostly alone. She sits on her balcony looking at the stars. She basically has no friends except the nurse, who is an old lady. Although Shakespeare shows the audience that Juliet is trapped I don’t think that she realizes she’s trapped until Romeo comes to “free” her. Juliet was actually a pretty obedient child before she fell in love. She didn’t really argue with her parents. She does what she is told for the most part, and she comes when she is called. Juliet is obviously still a teenager and has a lot to learn, but overall she knows what is expected of her. Juliet also never really thought of marriage until her mother brings it up to her. For example Lady Capulet asks Juliet what her disposition to be married is and Juliet answers “It is an honor that I dream not of.” (1.3.71) This shows Juliet really had no intention of marrying yet, but when she meets Romeo she wants to marry him as soon as she possibly can. Juliet also shows her obedience to her parents once again when her mother asks her if she can accept Paris’s love. Juliet then answers “I’ll look to like, if looking liking move./But no more deep will I endart mine eye,/ then your consent gives strength to make it fly.”(1.3.103-105) Here she is basically saying although I don’t think about Paris like that I’ll be polite and talk to him, but I won’t do anything more than you ask me to. Everything changes when Juliet meets Romeo. She goes from this quiet obedient girl who is living a trapped life, to a free rebellious open person who is willing to give up everything for one man. For instance Juliet says to herself during the balcony scene “Deny my father and refuse thy name,/or if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, and I’ll no longer be a Capulet.” (2.2 37-39) She is saying that she is willing to disobey her father and even give up her name for Romeo. The change you see in her after meeting Romeo is drastic. It seems like she was hiding all those feelings inside and now she has a reason to set all of them free. Juliet is suddenly changing her beliefs and ready to move on with her life, or so it seems.

         It may seem like Juliet’s love is a good thing, and it is in the beginning but then it goes down hill. The force of Juliet’s new found love makes her too dependent on Romeo, which ruins her changes of any actual independence. Even though Juliet is free on the inside she is still trapped by her parents, but even more importantly her heart is trapped in Romeo’s hands. Juliet suddenly becomes overly dependent on Romeo. She is constantly waiting for him on her balcony at night when he comes to her. She is always wanting him and needing him. At first you think it’s new love and she’s light and a carefree teenager, but something changes in her and it goes from sweet young love, to the kind of love where you are literally willing to give up everything for one person. Not just your name but even your life. After they meet for the first time Juliet is constantly saying how she would die for him. For example she says “Give me my Romeo and when I shall die,/ take him and cut him out in little stars,/and he will make the face of heaven so fine that all the world will be in love with night and pay no worship to the garish sun.” (3.2.23-27) She is basically saying that when she dies she wants him to die too because she can’t live without him. She’s also saying when they die she wants all the world to focus on night, which sort of represents Romeo throughout the play, and to pay no attention to the sun, which is associated with her. Juliet also says “For Romeo is exiled./He made you for a highway to my bed,/But, I a maid die maiden-widowed./Come chords-come nurse./ I’ll to my wedding bed, and death, not Romeo, take my maidenhead.” (3.2.146-150) The overall idea here is that she wants to die if he is not alive and we as readers know that this is what actually happens. Once you become too dependent on someone it ruins your chances if being free. At first Juliet feels emotionally freed, but after a while she is just putting herself in an equally bad situation as she was in before. If she truly cannot live without him then she cannot find herself and explore new aspects of the world that a normal young girl might be able to do.

         Juliet is so dependent on Romeo towards the end that she kills herself because of him. Juliet has a rollercoaster of emotions throughout the play. By the end, though, she has aged for all the wrong reasons. Instead of being the carefree girl we saw at the beginning, by the end everything goes wrong for her. Even before Juliet knows Romeo’s name she is tied to him. As the play progresses so does her love for him. By the end of the play Juliet is willing to do everything and anything just so she can be with him.  Juliet wants nothing more than to run away with Romeo so she can spend the rest of her life with him, even if that means never seeing her family again, or even taking a mysterious potion to trick her parents. When Juliet finds out that Romeo is dead and actually then kills herself after him, it just reinforces the idea that being tied to someone too strongly can prove destructive. Juliet will go to all lengths to ensure her love with him, even if that means stabbing herself. When Juliet decides to take the potion she says “Romeo, Romeo, Romeo!/Here’s drink/ I drink to thee!” (4.3.59-60) If you actually think about it, taking that potion was a little crazy. Honestly by the end Juliet goes a little insane. She forgets to think, all she can think about is him and dying for him. At the very end when she pulls out the dagger and says “Then I’ll be brief,/O’ happy dagger this is thy sheath./ There rust, and let me die.” (5.3.174-175) she is being extremely impulsive and after she kills herself it’s obviously too late. It’s really tragic to think about a 13 year old girl with such a life ahead of her killing herself. When you become overly obsessed with someone you can convince yourself you could die for them—with Romeo and Juliet it just happened to actually be the case.

         Romeo and Juliet is a depressing love story with a tragic ending. Although some parts show the sweetness of young love it also shows the terrible things that can happen when two people can become overly devoted. When you love someone so much at such a young age, that you believe you would die for them, it can turn out badly. I think that Juliet and Romeo had a special love that may have lasted forever if they had taken it a little slower. If you become too dependent on someone else then it can result in destruction. Romeo and Juliet has lots of hidden messages about love, fate, devotion, dependence, destruction, and so much more. These characters will go down in history and this story will always be known for its tragic ending but it’s also known for its messages about what love can do to you and how you even begin to handle it. Juliet is an interesting girl with tons of layers to her. Although she ruined her changes at independence she proved that true love never fails despite the consequences.   

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"Perfect Match" Jodi Picoult part 2

I am currently in the middle of reading the book "Perfect Match" by Jodi Picoult. To see the summary of the book read in the above post(part 1). Recently what has happened though is Nina Frost who is a prosecutor and who's son got molested by their priest was in the courtroom with the priest and while he was getting on the stand to testify she pulled out a gun walked right up to him and shot him in the head 4 times.

This was a complete surprise to me as the reader. I had no idea at all that it was coming. There is a lot to think about here, was it okay for her to do it or not? In a way if I were a mother and my child was molested by this creepy man I would want to kill him. The question is would I actually go through with it? Nina is a really well respected prosecutor so it's kind of weird that she's now about to have a murder trial. I can completely understand why she would want to do it in the moment but she really wasn't thinking about the consequences. All Nina wanted was for her son Nathaniel to go back to a normal life  and I know that what happened to their family was terrible but the thing is killing someone really isn't going to help get their family back on it's feet. Imagine what it would be like to be a 5 year old boy who just had to go through all this and then getting told mommy is in jail for murdering the man who molested you!? It's pretty crazy to think about. Is Nina really willing to sacrifice her relationships and her life just so this man would be dead. Also the other thing is that the readers know that the man did molest Nathaniel but Nina didn't know for sure. She trusts what Nathaniel said but she didn't even let the priest testify before killing him.

Another thing is I feel so bad for Nina's husband Caleb who still loves Nina but also hates her at the same time. He is put in the worst positions having to tell his poor son about everything thats happening while his wife is in jail for murdering someone.

I wonder how this family is going to get through this all. I think Nina should be allowed to go back to her "normal" life and try to re-build her family. I do think that that awful man deserved punishment but I don't think murdering him was necessarily the right solution. Although Nina killed the priest she caused tons of other problems for herself and her family.

"Perfect Match" Jodi Picoult

I just started reading "Perfect Match" by Jodi Picoult .....yes another Picoult book. Anyway this book is mainly about a woman named Nina who is a lawyer who works on cases involving sexual abuse towards children. She always tried her hardest on these cases but never really truly thought about what those kids were going through until it happened to her own child Nathaniel who's only 5. Nathaniel refuses to speak so he has to use hand motions to tell them what happened to him. He says that their priest did it. I have no idea what's going to happen next but I'll have to wait and see.

Nina must feel completely helpless right now. I think that until something actually happens to someone is really the only time they can truly relate. What I mean by that is Nina could have worked on hundreds of cases involving sexual abuse on children but she didn't know what was like for their parents or them. Now that she is going through this traumatic experience with her only family does she understand how it feels.

Nina has also always sort of felt in control. Now there is really nothing she personally can do to help Nathaniel's case. She needs to let go and leave it in the hands of others, although I understand why she wouldn't want to do that. Nina is having trouble grasping the fact that they can't just take the priest and lock him up forever they don't have a compelling enough case if Nathaniel refuses to talk. Just like any other mother of course Nina is going to react the way she does --like she needs special treatment for Nathaniel and if he doesn't want to get on the stand he doesn't have to, but she's wrong. I think it's scaring her that she isn't in control of the situation.

This book looks kind of creepy but also very good. I wonder what's going to happen and I really hope that the priest gets caught for doing what he did-- if he in fact did it.

The Pact Part 2 By Jodi Picoult

I recently finished reading "The Pact" by Jodi Picoult. Look to finda better summary in my last post. But it's mainly about a boy and a girl who are childhood friends who become lovers. One night she gets killed and he claims it's a double suicide but there is some evidence he might have killed her. In the end as I recently just found out was that she really wanted to kill herself and sort of forced him into helping her do it, and then they both ended up killing her his hand over hers on the gun. This book was really intense but it was amazing and one of my favorite books of hers.

Chris the main character boy, ends up actually being found innocent and gets let out of jail. After the jury hears the whole dramatic thing and even Chris gets up on the stand they conclude he's innocent. In a way I'm sort of glad he is. After hearing the real story from Chris's eyes I know( as the reader) that this was really Emily's fault. He did everything that he could to try to stop her and she made him swear he wouldn't tell anyone. How you could betray the person you loved most in the world by telling? In the end she ends up killing himself with his help. I think that Chris really really loved Emily more then anything more then life itself and would have done anything for her, and he proved that to us. In my opinion it's a good thing that he's innocent because he doesn't deserve to go to prison for the rest of his life.

On the other hand what must it look like to Emily's parents? Emily's mother already became cold and sad and furious and her best friend -Chris's mother. She didn't even know yet if Chris actually did it. Now knowing this new information I bet she will never talk to her friend ever again after this. I mean how could you blame her? As the reader I have seen it from both perspectives -Chris's parents and Emily's parents. It's hard to think what you would do if your best friends child killed yours? Although Emily's parents don't know the whole story and they are in denial about the fact that their daughter was suicidal.

This book was so intense and had so many layers to it. It was extremely powerful and sad. I couldn't put this book down you really should read it. It was amazing.