Book Review For Change of Heart

After reading Janet Maslin's review on Change of Heart by Jodi Picoult, I find that her views on the book were ones that I had not thought of while reading the book. For example, Janet Maslin writes "at this late stage in her story Ms. Picoult has her own chance for redemption. Had “Change of Heart” culminated in revelations that were truly plausible or unexpected, its vapidity might have been transcended. But there is no substance to the story’s last surprises." Maslin mentioning that there was no substance added to the ending is something I don't really agree with. However, I can see the point she is trying to make though because the ending did seem predictable, yet I still found that there was meaning behind. I guess it was one of those endings to novels where it is left up to interpretation of the reader in order to see if the ending has a purpose or not. Maslin also mentioned that “Change of Heart is narrated by several characters, each with a different way of elbowing the reader’s ribs." I agree with Maslin's statement because I do feel that Jodi Picoult's way of trying to have different narrators for every chapter really does insight the reader to view different prespectives of the characters. I think that the blending of the different character traits that Picoult added to her novel demonstrates how well many people will be able to enjoy the book. In this review, Janet also mentioned how Claire's mother, June, was a very bland character that basically can be described an angry and depressed person. I agree with Maslin on this interpretation. However when she mentions that June is "lacking any distinguishing characteristics," this is where my opinion of June differs because I think that while June lacks any other characteristics besides being upset and angry, I feel that there is a reason why Picoult wanted June to be this type of character. June being this lifeless personality brings the message to the reader how agonizing this decision of taking Shane's heart is, and how empty and alone she feels, since she now has noone to turn to for answers.

Overall, I feel that Janet Maslin provided an accuarate snyopsis and analyis of this novel. While some of our opinions differ, I find that overall I agree with the preception of the novel that Maslin provided.

The Ending Of Middlesex

As I continued to read this novel, I begin to notice that the relationship between Desdemonia and her brother is closer then most brother sister relationships are. A possible explanation for this might be that Desdemonia and her brother, Lefty, both grew up most of their lives together alone due to the fact that thier parents died when they were young children. Even though I may not be able to grasp the reality of losing parents at an early age, I can sense that the close relationship that both of them share is something that both Desdemonia and her brother need in order to cope with the loss. Then, Calliope begins to tell her story about how her family ended up coming to America on a ship from Greece. As Calliope tells the story of her grandparents, I find that it is hard to really get into the minds of the characters because it is always in a third person sense which makes it feel very impersonal. However, the actual story that Calliope tells is remarkable....

Desdemonia and Lefty made the decision to come to America after riots and terror began occurring in their town. The reason alot of these attacks are occuring is because this is taking place during the time when the Turks were killing the Armenians. However, many of the Greeks were leaving because the Turks were coming to invade. As Desdemonia and Lefty were out on sea, their relationship began to change into one that is romantic. I am unsure if at this time, this was a common practice to marry a close family member, but evidently this is what happens. Desdemonia ends up in Detriot, where the Stephanides family lines begins. Here, it is where the reader will finally be able to understand Calliope's story....

While Calliope's story is one that is unqiue and rare, I find that there are elements to her story that the reader might be able to relate to. The concept of her being different from others and having to accept it is one theme that many teenagers are able to connect with. Jefferey Euglenides adds alot more emotion and detail into the story of Calliope, which allows for the reader to better connect and understand Callie's point of view. While I thought that Callie's story was well written, I was a little disappointed overall how the rest of the story was written because I found that it was a little confusing to follow and that it did not really hold my interest. The historical explanation of her family moving to Detroit was very descriptive. In my opinion, I think that the historical portion of the novel should have been kept to a minimum so that the reader could learn more about the main character.

Overall, I would say that my reading experience with Middlesex was okay. I did enjoy Euglenides concept and idea of having Calliope be the narrator for the novel, but, I think that this only caused the reader to have a disconnection with the characters in the book. I also found that this novel did contain some older English words, which made the meaning of sentences confusing at parts. However, eventually I was able to understand what was happening.

I would definitely recommend this book to reader who do not mind reading a novel that contains a lot of historical background and does not mind waiting until the middle of the book to finally understand the main character's story. I would also say that the readers of the book should be mature so that they would be able to understand the ramifications and problems that occur with Callie's condition.

Middlesex Entry Two

Eugenides writing style is very detailed and descriptive. I like how he really begins the story with Calliope not even born yet. However, Calliope is telling the story of what life was like before she was born. I find it interesting how throughout the novel, Calliope does not really mention anything about herself. She always goes into vivid description about her grandmother's life and how she feels. I wonder how Calliope developed such insight into her grandmother's life, but I imagine that Eugenides wanted Calliope to narrate the book and give information about each member of her family in detail.

Calliope has been born, and her parents are relieved that they gave birth to a baby girl instead of another boy. The book goes into detail about how the parents tried so many theories and methods just to have a baby girl, which definitly shows that during this time many women wanted daughters so that they may be able to help around the household. This book takes place in the 1970's, so it may be possible that the whole idea of women being the household leader and men going off to work astigmatism may exist, just not to the extent that it used to. Calliope immediately states as soon as she is born that "I was extracted, spanked, and hosted off, in that order. They wrapped me in a blanket and put me on display among six other infants, four boys, two girls, all of them, unlike me, correctly tagged." Thus, this proves that Eugenides did not want the main concept and idea of the novel to be lost within the shorter and side stories occurring in the novel as well. As soon as Calliope is born, she then informs the reader that she will "rewind the film, so that my pink blanket flies off, my crib scoots across the floor..." Clearly, it seems as if Calliope wants the reader to not find out certain pieces of information in the beginning chapters of her life...could it be because she is constanly describing herself as a hermaphrodite and will not really give the reader any other information on her personality?? Is the author's message that a hermaphroditic disorder, or any other genetic disorder, defines you right away as soon as you are diagnosed with it, but possibly as you continue to live with the disorder you begin to define yourself with other things?? All the concepts explored in this book are so complex and analytical, and it surely will allow the reader to form their own forms of analysis on certain characteristics of the book.

So far, this book has eagerly grabbed my attention but certain attributes to the novel still leave me pondering....what could the significance of having Calliope tell her story even before she is born to then telling the story of her grandmother? I think Euglenides wants the reader to have an in depth look at each of the characters so that when the family learns of the news that Calliope is a hermaphrodite, the reactions that each of the family members will have will go along with the description that Calliope provided.

I would definitely recommend this book to readers who enjoy novels that have a lot of complex meaning behind the story and one that forces the reader to look at all aspects of the novel in order to discover hidden meanings of the book Euglenides may have left the reader.

Middlesex by Jefferey Eugenides

When I had first read the back of this book, I was unsure if this was the type of book for me. The topics brought up in this novel seemed very mature, and I was hesitant to try it because I thought that the language and style of writing might be written in a similar style, thus causing me to have a difficult time reading the book. However, once I began reading I realized that this really was the book for me. The language in the novel is not difficult and the story is able to hold my interest. Even though I do not know a lot of information on the subject matter explored in this novel, I find that the book makes it easier for you to discover information on the main character's genetic condition that is entirely different from learning the condition in the textbook. The novel actually explores the life of someone with a rare condition, rather then simply stating facts about it. Details and explanations are crucial to engaging a reader into a novel, and this book seems to have it all.....

Calliope Stephanides is not like most girls. "I was born twice: first, as a baby girl, on a remarkably smogless Detroit day in January of 1960; and then again, as a teenage boy, in an emergency room near Petoskey, Michigan in August of 1974." In other words, Calliope was born a hermaphrodite. Calliope introduces herself into the novel by stating this fact first, and clearly the above statement is one that surely impacted her life in many ways which will probably be mentioned later on in the novel. By stating this fact about her first, it thus shows that Calliope is not afraid to mention and discuss with people about who she is. Calliope then narrates the story and takes the reader through the journey through her life. She begins by telling about the memory she rememered hearing about the involved her grandmother three months before Calliope was born. At a typical Sunday dinner, Grandma Desdemona decides to predict the gender of the baby of Calliope's mom. Desdemona had never been wrong about the prediction, and she tells Caliope's mom that she should be expecting a boy. Calliope's mom is upset by that news because she already had a son and desperately wanted a daughter.....could Desdemonda be foreshadowing Calliope being a hermaphrodite already??

Jefferey Eugenides writing style throughout the novel is very descriptive and insightful in describing the characters and I think that having Calliope narrate the story is a good thing because that way we get to see the life of the Stephanides through her eyes and see the stuggle and hardship through her eyes. However, possibly switching narrators in this book mightbe effective for the reader as well because then that way we can see how this predicament with Calliope effects the entire family and how they all are coping with a difficult situation. Hopefully, Calliope may give us insight into the struggle her family faces with this problem as well.....

Hopefully the pacing and amount of time it takes me to finish this book will be a proper length. Often times I find that it takes me a long time to finish a book, and I am hoping that this novel is a quick paced read that will allow me to finish this book in a reasonable amount of time.

I would definitely recommend this book to readers who are more mature and are interested in reading a story about a person's struggle with a life changing condition. This book may also be good for a reader who enjoys a story that is filled with a lot of description on the characters and not really a lot of plot action. The reader must also be able to want to read a book that deals with the complicated side of life and one that deals with a life long struggle. If the reader falls into any of these categories, I am certain that this will be a great book for you!

The Ending Of The Piano Teacher

Taking advantage of having an extra day for the weekend, I decided to sit down and finally finish the novel. To my surprise, Lee did an amazing job at exploring the characters and discussing a significant point in history when the Japanese were invading Hong Kong. Once the Japanese had entered China, many changes began to occur. For example, people were restricted to having only 500 calories a day. I also like how Lee made developed the type of society Hong Kong is as well. She always goes into detail about how the Chinese are unhappy that not everyone there is purely Chinese, which causes alot of uprising and chaos in the society. Although the author went into detail about the invasion, I felt that the emotion told about the characters was not as detailed. I would have liked to know more information about Melody and her sister, and what goes on. I have a feeling though that the reason why there was so much tention going on was that the sister was only tolerated in the society but was not fully respected since she was considered a non pure bredd. When reading this, I began to realize that many ethnic and racial groups today face the same problem, and learn more about the hardships that people must go through in order to survive within a society. The relationship between Melody and Claire to grow stronger as the novel progresses because in one part of the book, Claire decides to talk about Melody's weight loss and Melody responds to Claire by saying "fine, yes fine, not meeting Claire's eye. I must take better care of myself. Victor says I run around too much." Thus, it shows as if Melody does not want to deal with an issue that is bothering her, and she wants to keep her emotions to herself. Another aspect of their relationship that changed is that Melody is beginning to question whether or not Claire is enjoying her stay in Hong Kong. This complicated love triangle that Melody and Claire becomes more intense as the reader keeps reading on.....

This book was also confusing at parts, partly because it kept switching from the 1940's to the 1950's. The constant switching kept confusing me because it was hard to follow when certain events were happening. Also, I felt that the language was confusing because the sentences were very long and descriptive, causing me to become confused at parts. However, it was interesting that Lee gave us a perspective of World War II for Asia, instead of Europe, which is mainly what many historians focus on when discussing World War II.

If you are interested in a book that mainly deals with the events of World War I and learning about Asia during the 1940's and 50's then this is the book for you. You might also like this book if you don't mind reading a book that has slow beginning and middle but an exciting end to it!

The Piano Teacher by Janice Y.K. Lee

I was interested in historical fiction novels when I was younger, and began to lose interest as I became older. Thankfully, this novel has showed me that I have been missing out on novels that can really tell me a lot about significant times in our history! This book takes place during the World War II era, where a young woman named Claire moves to Hong Kong with her husband because the government transferred them there nine months ago. Claire's husband is working on a construction of the Tai Lam Cheung reservoir. Claire then decides to look for a job by posting an advertisement in the paper that states that she is available to be a piano teacher. The Chen family, an upperclass family that controls many aspects of the town, decides to ask Claire to come and teach their daughter piano. Claire at first is very hesitant to teach the girl piano because she is nervous that it will not go well because she might not understand english well. However, she decides to take the job and meets Locket, Melody and Victor Chen's daughter. Melody immediatly asks what type of education Claire had taking the piano, and Claire begins to notice that the questions she had about their lives were not answered. It seems as if there is a secret that the Chen's are hiding.....why is it that they know English so well?? Is there more to the story that Mrs. Chen did not tell Claire??

So far, I find the book interesting and I like how Janice Y.K. Lee describes the emotions of Claire, even though it is in a very indirect way. The book is in the third person, which I find that it becomes harder to then relate to the characters. The language of the book is a little hard to get into as well because it is written in very descriptive wording, which causes the reader to reread the sentences a few times. However, I find that the relationship between the Chen's and Claire is very strange and awkward because it seems as if it is truly forced and that they might not get along in the future. For example, when Claire mentions that Locket needs to practice the piano more frequently, her mom uses the excuse that she is not there enough to oversee her practicing. Claire then thinks to herself "parents were all the same. When she had children she would be sure not to indulge them." Clearly, it seems as if Claire is bothered by the fact that Locket's parents believe she is the best child in the world. I predict that this implication will then hinder the relationship between Claire and Locket's parents. I truly think that Lee is clever in revealing the character traits through thoughts becuase this technique then makes character traits revealed in a subtle way, which makes the reading experience more enjoyable for the reader as supposed to making the main character very predictable.

I would recommend this book to people who enjoy historical fiction novels and readers who enjoy books that reveal character traits in subtle and unique ways through a third person perspective.

The Ending Of The Last Song

Ronnie and Will's relationship definitely becomes stronger throughout the ending of the novel. Ronnie finally is beginning to reveal more personal information to Will, and even tells him about the shop lifting incident that occurred with Blaze. This then indicates to the reader that Ronnie is becoming more confident in herself, and she demonstrates this by telling Will that she does not want him to come to the court trial where they would decide what her punishment for shoplifting will be. Will even invites Ronnie to come to his sister, Megan's. wedding. Ronnie becomes very nervous around Will's family because she knows that Will comes from a wealthy family. Will's father owns a business called Blakelees Brakes." The first moment that Ronnie walks into the house she automatically thinks "I feel out of place here, and the fact that everyone probably felt out of place the first time they came here was no consolation." Ronnie is now able to fully understand the type of person she is and the one that she wants to become. In the beginning of the novel, it seemed as if Ronnie was uncertain of herself, and she expresses this by mentioning to the reader that she doesn't know what she wants in her life.

Marcus is another character that becomes more developed as the novel progresses as well. Marcus in the beginning of the book was a mystery to the reader. I found that it was very confusing and hard to fully comphrend Marcus' character because he always was very suferficial when narrating certain chapters in the novel. In the beginning seen as a teenager who was a troublemaker, it now becomes evident Marcus truly sees that he is not as tough as he appears when he thinks to himself that he "doesn't want to go to prison, no matter how short the sentence. He couldn't go to prison. He didn't belong there. He was better than that. He was smarter than that....the buildings he burned and the people he'd hurt mean absolutley nothing to him, but the thought of prison made him....sick. And never once had the fear felt closer that it had since last night. " Clearly, Marcus has no remorse for any of the damage that he is done, but it shows that he does want to make changes into his life so that he does not end up in jail. What made Marcus get into trouble in the first place??

Nicholas Sparks writes a terrific novel that could be enjoyed by readers who enjoy romantic fiction novels along with a story that has many emotions and turmoils. I found it interesting though that Nicholas Sparks made Will's mother disapprove of Ronnie. I think that by making Ronnie unliked by another parent, it almost allows Ronnie to say how her dad was feeling when he was not liked by her. One particular passage that truly highlights the connection between Will's mother, Susan and Ronnie and Ronnie and her own father is when Megan is talking to Ronnie and says "that's because you don't know her. Oh, she's tough, don't get me wrong, And protective. But once you get to know her, there's no one better in the world. She'll do anything for anyone she cares about." In other words, Megan is telling Ronnie that she needs to take the time to get to know her mom so that her mom could trust her better. This relates to Ronnie and her dad's relationship because in the beginning of the book Ronnie did not want anything to do with her father throught the summer vacation but slowly she realized that he really was a good father that did love her and care for her. Sparks possibly wanted the main character to learn the same lesson but through two different people so that he can emphasize to readers that Ronnie truly had a complication with getting to know people before making assumptions, and that Ronnie had to learn to express herself more in order for her to open up to her father and learn to have a bette relationship with him.

Overall, I found that the reading process for this novel was longer than I expected. I was engaged and interested into the plot of the story, but I found that sometimes the narration would cause me to lose interest in the novel. The entire novel was done in third person, which I found made the novel less powerful and meaningful because I found that I could not truly get into the characters and their emotions. It was also challenging to realte to the characters as well because they seemed so impersonal. Despite this fact, I still find that the plot was very throughly explained and was very engaging overall. The language and writing style was also easy to understand as well. For this reason, I would recommend this book to readers who are more plot oriented when reading a book and are not bothered by the lack of character description. I also find that Sparks also did a wonderful job at showing the hardship of divorce, which is something many people may be able to relate to.

This book was a powerful read and I highly recommend it to readers who enjoy an engaging plot and are okay with waiting for understanding of the characters later on in the novel.