Let's get off to an Evil start by posting your Summer Reading Vents to our EVIL BLOG, as well as to TURNITIN.COM. You may simply cut/paste the same post for both, or in your BLOG, you may expand your comments to follow up on a fellow EVIL STUDENT'S comment. There is no wrong way to do this. Just don't DISAPPOINTMENT me with not giving good effort or being on time or being insightful.
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Caroline Wilkinson
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My favorite summer reading book was definitely The Picture of Dorian Gray. I think the reason why I liked it so much was because, even though it was very descriptive and boring at points, it had more of an interesting plot than The Screwtape Letters or Grendel. The Picture of Dorian Gray always kept me on my toes and wanting to know more about what was going to happen. I was always intrigued to find out what the effect on the portrait was going to be after Dorian committed an evil act. My favorite character in the book was Lord Henry. The reason he was my favorite character was because, even though he corrupted Dorian, he lives life so carefree and I really admire that. I also think that Lord Henry did not mean to purposefully corrupt Dorian. I think that Lord Henry had good intentions when he was telling Dorian how he should live his life, but Dorian just took the advice in the wrong way. I enjoyed The Screwtape Letters as well! I found it to be a very intriguing book because it was very interesting to see how evil and corrupt Screwtape’s mind was when he was writing to Wormwood. It was a very eye opening to see that someone can in fact be THAT evil. I also found that all the work that Screwtape and Wormwood put into this man they are trying to corrupt was very interesting; It seems to occupy their lives. The novel, Grendel, on the other hand, did not appeal to me. While I was reading Grendel, as hard as I tried, I just did not understand what was going on at most points in the story. I think the main thing that confused me was all of the names in the book because they were very unusual, and it made it hard for me to keep up with each character. For the most part I really enjoyed summer reading, there were just a few rough spots!
My favorite book would have to be The Screwtape Letters. I enjoyed this book the most because I found every short chapter of the novel to be interesting. Every time that I ended a chapter, I was wanting to start the next one in order to find out about Wormwood’s success. Also, I loved that the book was written from the demon’s point of view and telling the reader the opposite of what one would normally hear. When I first started reading the book I remember being a little confused because Screwtape referred to God as the “Enemy”, which you usually don’t here. I loved how he called the devil “Our Father Below.” At times I found the book to be ironic because it was based on such an oddity being written from one of the demon’s stand point. I also found this book interesting because I knew that C.S. Lewis generally writes Christian novels, so this book took a different approach to that. While Screwtape was telling Wormwood what to do in order to get his victim away from Christianity, C.S. Lewis was simultaneously telling the reader what is “moral” in the Christian views.
ReplyDeleteI also really enjoyed The Picture of Dorian Gray very much. What I enjoyed the most about it would probably be the dramatic personality change that is most apparent in Dorian Gray. The corruption of Dorian Gray into the man that Lord Henry ultimately dictates was very entertaining. Although his character changes very dramatically, this influence that Lord Henry had over Dorian is sometimes apparent in real life. Lord Henry had a way with words, which made him so appealing to Dorian. It is also interesting how Basil knows and sees the original, perfect Dorian Gray and is murdered trying to tell Dorian that he should repent for all of the horrific sins he has committed. However, the ending would have to be the most interesting part. The irony of the ugly painting showing Dorian’s ugly soul is now portrayed on his dead body, which is now ugly and decrepit.
Grendel was also an interesting novel because it showed the point of view of the monster that we all know and have read about in Beowulf. Throughout the whole novel, I have some sympathy for Grendel, which probably comes from seeing his mother and their relationship. Also, Grendel seems to have some pretty solid thoughts when he sees the corruption and disorder of man kind. From the beginning of the novel, we see how Grendel is constantly being mistreated my other animals as well as humans, which forces the reader to pity him. The ending of the book, although kind of expected, is still sad because Grendel’s convincing story has, after all, persuaded the reader to side with him against the humans.
I think my favorite summer reading book was The Screwtape Letters. I thought it was a really interesting take on religion from the point of view of what people consider “evil”. The book really made me think about how the little things you do during your daily routine could start to lead you down a path of sin and “turn your soul over to the devil”. Uncle Screwtape would tell his nephew to have him think about not being friends with his neighbors, or change something simple about his prayers, which I found very interesting. I also enjoyed how Screwtape downplayed the church and all affiliations with it. He made it seem like a trivial part of the “war” they were fighting.
ReplyDeleteI also like The Picture of Dorian Grey because of the gradual corruption of Dorian, and how he literally watched his soul become corrupt. I thought the book was slow at the beginning and middle, but I really enjoyed the book after the notorious chapter 11. After 11 the character of Dorian Grey just became more interesting because his sins were much more extreme than they had been before. I think it particularly showed his downfall when he murdered his friend, Basil, and black mailed someone to help him cover up his crime. I think what made me really like the book was the ending when he destroyed the portrait. By destroying his portrait, I think it finally showed that he realized the corrupt monster he had become and while the portrait showed the physical toll, he felt the emotional toll.
My least favorite book was Grendel. I didn’t like that he was at first just a helpless creature protected by his mother, but then his mother turned helpless that there was literally nothing he could do to help her. I never really understood the purpose of his mother after he learned to fend for himself and she just would lie in the cave all day. I did like that Grendel seemed to be at war with himself about who he wanted to be. He was not fully content with being a monster sometimes, but other times he found joy in killing and tormenting people for fun.
ReplyDeleteFrom the four summer reading books I read this summer, my favorite was The Picture of Dorian Gray because of the unique storyline. I thought the characters were very well developed and had a lot of depth to them so I was actually interested in reading more. Although it was slow at the beginning for me, once the plot got more intense, I found myself really liking book. I thought there were some confusing parts but other then that I loved the way Dorian went from someone so completely flawless to the polar opposite just by talking to one person (Lord Henry). I enjoyed the way Wilde built the story around something as simple as a painting, keeping it a consistent part of the story while not overusing it. Besides the few confusing chapters that were too descriptive in my opinion, I really liked the book and the way it transformed into a story of the fascination of Dorian to the crazy way it went downhill. I didn't enjoy Grendel or Screwtape Letters as much but Grendel did have some lighter parts to it and turned out to have a good plot. I was skeptical about the book because I didn’t like Beowulf and I was afraid it would be really similar, but hearing things from Grendel’s point of view was much more fun. The monster's character was my favorite, however, because I have never read about a character like him and I liked the way he challenged Grendel’s ideas and gave Grendel a different way of thinking. The best chapters of the book were probably the ones about Unferth and his quest to be heroic. I thought Grendel's way of proving a point to Unferth by killing everyone but him was a clever idea and a strong display of Grendel's power. Screwtape Letters was my least favorite book because I thought it was boring only hearing one side of the story. Even though Screwtape did mention some of the things Wormwood said in reply to each previous letter, I wish we could hear more from Wormwood's perspective and his own personal struggle as a tempter. Nonetheless, I thought that Screwtape's statements about faith were unusual and different than I have ever heard while still making sense, which was intriguing. My choice book this summer was Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris and I was pretty disappointed. My dad had previously read it and always talked about how hilarious the book was so I was excited to read it. After the first few chapters, I was still waiting to read a funny essay or one that I could not stop reading. There were a few memorable one's that made me laugh, but not at all as funny as I was expecting. Most chapters were very slow and I concluded that the humor was more mature humor, which was why my dad must have loved it. The book wasn't terrible in any way, but it definitely didn't really live up to the hype I hear about David Sedaris.