Summer Reading Vent

            I liked Picture of Dorian Gray, but it was my least favorite out of the three summer reading books and my book of choice.  The plot of was exciting and original.  I really like how dark the story gets, and how it probes questions about people and human nature.  As the story progresses it made me think about how immoral people can be.  Watching Lord Henry easily mold Dorian into a hedonist made me wonder whether or not people really want to “yield to their mind’s temptations.”  I also liked a lot of the dialog in the book, especially Lord Henry’s.  It is nice to hear such uncensored justification of selfishness, adultery, prejudice, and pleasure.  His rants were extremely engaging and sometimes they even sounded reasonable.  My main complaint about the book was the characters. I really did not like any of the characters.  Lord Henry was interesting at the beginning, but that was it.  Dorian should have been smart enough not to listen to Lord Henry’s nonsense about giving in to himself.  Then he drives Sybil to suicide, then ruins a bunch of peoples’ lives, and then kills Basil. Then there is Basil who should have stayed far away from the Dorian because he was clearly going to kill him in his house. 

            I was confused by some parts of the book.  The part where Henry convinces Dorian that Sybil’s Death was artistic did not make any sense to me.   I really do not understand how Dorian is comforted by the fact that her death was artistic. I also did not really understand Lord Henry’s rant about influence and why it is bad. 

            The Screw tape Letters was really interesting and thought provoking.  I like how hell is portrayed as a business or a bureaucracy of some sort.  I got a picture of the Screwtape sitting in his office and plotting the depravity of humans.  I like Screwtape as a character because he is sarcastic and has a funny view of the world.  I also like the Screwtape’s relationship with his nephew because it makes the story funnier and more relatable. 

            I thought that telling the story through letters between demons was fantastic.  The letters show a different view of the theological and moral points that C. S. Lewis.  Every time Screwtape writes a letter, he includes how the “Enemy” wants people to act in order to join him and then he describes how the demons  get humans to ignore his rules, break his rules, or make them think that they are following God’s rule while in reality they are sinning, bringing them closer to Hell.  It is hard to describe why, but for some reason the morality that Lewis and many other religious writers try to convey is much more influential coming from a demon.  Maybe it is because we are thinking about Screwtape’s goals while reading his letters to Wormwood and while I or read religious texts, I feel like I am reading a rule book.   

            Throughout the whole book, I felt really bad for The Patient because he was constantly tempted by Wormwood.  The thing that really stuck with me is how easy it is for humans to sin.  The Patient was a normal guy, and at the end of the book it almost felt as if he went to heaven because of a lucky chain of events.  I think the fact that he is normal and he does normal things helps get the message across because it makes explain the sin in everyday life.  Things like murder and theft do not really need to be explained.

            Grendel was my favorite book because I really like fantasy books like The Lord of the Ring and the Inheritance Cycle.  When we read Beowulf in ninth grade, I did not really feel good or bad about it.  It was interesting and fun to discuss in class but I had forgot about the story after I read it.  Grendel made was great because it gave Beowulf so much more depth.

            One of the things that I like about this book is the fact that it gave Grendel a personality.  The complex villains and their twisted incentives are the best part about comic book.  I think that is what was missing from Beowulf.  Old Grendel was basically an animal.  New Grendel has a fascinating past that explains why he goes to the Danish mead hall to terrorize them.  In some ways he is even a relatable character.  He is just trying to find a sense of purpose in the world.  I think he sees the animals in the wild and gets mad because he does not want to be like them; a brainless being that does the same thing every year.  The only person who gives him advice is the crazy dragon who tells him his only role in the world is to give the Danes value to their life.  I love the way he observes the humans before marauding and listening to his justifications and philosophy.  It reminded me of reading a super villain origin comic.

            There were two other things that I wanted to bring up with this book.  One was Hrothulf who was talking about overthrowing Hrothgar to Red Horse.  It just seemed out of place in the book.  Another is the way that Beowulf takes a back seat to Grendel in the story. In this book, Beowulf is only included in about ten pages and has a very small role in the whole book.