Esther Greenwood (a thinly veiled Sylvia) is bright and appears to have it all, but why and where did her life go wrong? It seemingly begins when she is rejected for [...]]]> This autobiographical novel by Sylvia Plath certainly gives insight about her mental illness. It’s a fascinating peek into the author’s troubled mind.

Esther Greenwood (a thinly veiled Sylvia) is bright and appears to have it all, but why and where did her life go wrong? It seemingly begins when she is rejected for a writing class at the same time she is having relationship problems. Her downward spiral is swift. Esther demands much of herself and of others, and when perfection is not attainable, she cannot accept it. Although she is then admitted to a mental hospital, the book (unlike the author’s real life) eventually has a hopeful ending.

This book was a quick read, and I know I will be reading it again at some point as it is very compelling. I’ve twice seen the movie Sylvia starring Gwyneth Paltrow, and I definitely believe it added to my appreciation of the book.

A quote from the book:

The one thing I was good at was winning scholarships and prizes, and that era was coming to an end.

I felt like a racehorse in a world without racetracks or a champion college footballer suddenly confronted by Wall Street and a business suit, his days of glory shrunk to a little gold cup on his mantel with a date engraved on it like the date on a tombstone.

I saw my life branching out before me like the green fig tree in the story.

From the tip of every branch, like a fat purple fig, a wonderful future beckoned and winked. One fig was a husband and a happy home and children, and another fig was a famous poet and another fig was a brilliant professor, and another fig was EeGee, the amazing editor, and another fig was Europe and Africa and South America, and another fig was Constantin and Socrates and Attila and a pack of other lovers with queer names and offbeat professions, and another fig was an Olympic lady crew champion, and beyond and above these figs were many more figs I couldn’t quite make out.

I saw myself sitting in the crotch of this fig tree, starving to death, just because I couldn’t make up my mind which of the figs I would choose. I wanted each and every one of them, but choosing one meant losing all the rest, and, as I sat there, unable to decide, the figs began to wrinkle and go black, and, one by one, they plopped to the ground at my feet.

1963, 244 pp
Rating:

1966, 192 pp.

Rating: 4 3.5

The Wide Sargasso Sea is listed in the top 100 novels by the Modern Library. I wouldn’t go that far, but I did enjoy it. A warning though–some fans of Jane Eyre may hate it. Most members of my face to face book group felt like it [...]]]> Wide Sargasso Sea
by Jean Rhys

1966, 192 pp.

Rating: 4 3.5

The Wide Sargasso Sea is listed in the top 100 novels by the Modern Library. I wouldn’t go that far, but I did enjoy it. A warning though–some fans of Jane Eyre may hate it. Most members of my face to face book group felt like it ruined their idea of Mr. Rochester’s character. I felt the same way when I read March by Geraldine Brooks earlier this year. Little Women is a favorite book of mine, and I didn’t like how Mr. and Mrs. March were portrayed in Brooks’ story at all.

However, in this book, we learn how Mr. Rochester became the dark, brooding figure in Jane Eyre. We not only feel sorry for him, though, we also feel sorry for Bertha as well. At least I did. We learn how and why she had a mental breakdown. We learn that both she and Mr. Rochester are victims. While I won’t go so far as to integrate this story into my feelings about and fondness for Jane Eyre, I am able to take this as a separate story altogether and appreciate it.

1. Nyssaneala – June 20, 2007

I’m glad you enjoyed it. I quite liked the story, as well.

2. Bookfool – June 21, 2007

I’m glad you enjoyed this one; it’s been on my TBRs for a while, but I don’t want to read it without rereading Jane Eyre, first.March was on my wish list till I read a few reviews and then I removed it. I didn’t like the idea of how Mr. March was portrayed; I thought it would have completely spoiled my image of him from Little Women.

3. Rhinoa – June 23, 2007

I keep meaning to get a copy of this as it looks really interesting. Like Bookfool I think I will re-read Jane Eyre before getting into it though.

1962, 224 pp.

Rating: 4

Newbery Medal

I listened to this book on CD with my sons on a short road trip. All three of us enjoyed it very much. Meg Murry is a girl whose parents are both scientists. Consequently her family is a little different than others. She and Charles Wallace, [...]]]> A Wrinkle in Time
by Madeleine L’Engle

1962, 224 pp.

Rating: 4

Newbery Medal

I listened to this book on CD with my sons on a short road trip. All three of us enjoyed it very much. Meg Murry is a girl whose parents are both scientists. Consequently her family is a little different than others. She and Charles Wallace, her littlest brother, get made fun of at school because everyone thinks they’re either stupid or not living up to their potential. Of course, nothing could be further from the truth. Her twin brothers are more normal so they fit in.

Their father works for the government and has been missing for a few years. The search for Mr. Murry, with a little help from Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who, and Mrs. Which, takes them on a journey too incredible to imagine. Three sequels follow that each of us plan on reading this year or next.

Lisa – June 18, 2007

This is on one of my lists- Newbery? Decades? I thought I owned a copy but it looks like I’ll be PBS’ing it. I remember it fondly from my childhood.

I just saw your review of Number the Stars. I read it this weekend and don’t want to influence my review by reading yours, but find it cool that someone else read it at the same time.

Scout and her family live [...]]]> Wow! What a fantastic book. I don’t know why I’ve never read this before. I really thought I already knew what it was about–a girl’s father defending a black man for r*ping a white woman. It is about so much more than that, although of course that plays an important part.

Scout and her family live in Maycomb, Alabama. In the beginning of the book, Scout is going into the 1st grade and her brother Jem is going into 5th. Her father is an attorney, her mother died when she was 2, and her caregiver is a sweet, smart black woman named Calpurnia. The family relationship among all members is strong–very strong. Scout and Jem play together at home (but not in school–Jem insists). Scout and her father always read together in the evenings. This is a point of contention with Scout’s teacher Miss Caroline. Some of my favorite passages come from this section and they are hilarious to me as a former teacher who now homeschools.

The teacher asks if anyone knows what the alphabet is, and then. . .

…as I read the alphabet a faint line appeared between her eyebrows, and after making me read most of My First Reader and the stock-market quotations from the Mobile Register aloud, she discovered that I was literate and looked at me with more than faint distaste. Miss Caroline told me to tell my father not to teach me any more, it would interfere with my reading. [...] “Now you tell your father not to teach you any more. It’s best to begin reading with a fresh mind. You tell him I’ll take over from here and try to undo the damage–”

The Dewey Decimal System consisted, in part, of Miss Caroline waving cards at us on which were printed “the,” “cat,” “rat,” “man,” and “you.” No comment seemed to be expected of us, and the class received these impressionistic revelations in silence. I was bored, so I began a letter to Dill. Miss Caroline caught me writing and told me to tell my father to stop teaching me. “Besides, she said. “We don’t write in the first grade, we print. You won’t learn to write until you’re in the third grade.”

…as I inched sluggishly along the treadmill of the Maycomb County school system, I could not help receiving the impression that I was being cheated out of something. Out of what I knew not, yet I did not believe that twelve years of unrelieved boredom was exactly what the state had in mind for me.

I don’t want to give away too much of the story, so from here I’ll be brief. Scout, Jem, and their friend Dill (said to have been inspired by Lee’s childhood friend Truman Capote) spend a lot of time together in the summer trying to see Boo Radley, a neighbor who is a recluse. In fact, they are obsessed with this endeavor. Atticus Finch, Scout’s father, takes on the r*pe case. The fallout from the case is felt by the Finches from the community as well as from their extended family. The book ends well, though, with a very satisfying conclusion.

To Kill a Mockingbird won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1961 and was made into an Academy Award winning film starring Gregory Peck. It is the only novel Harper Lee ever published.

I listened to parts of this book on Audio CD read by Sissy Spacek. Highly recommended.

Caution: There are a few curse words and adult themes in the book. I would recommend this book for high school level and up.

1960, 281 pp.
Pulitzer Prize 1961

Rating: 5

Also reviewed by:

• Teddy Rose 

This [...]]]> Ramon Salazar is 16 years old and lives off Baja, California. His father is in the pearl diving business, and Ramon is eager to help him by being a diver. He finds a very expensive pearl that ends up bringing a lot of trouble to his family and community. Or does it?

This was a Newbery Honor book in 1968. I enjoyed the story very much, but it is hard to write a review on a book so short without giving too many details away. It is a brief, but very enjoyable read. Scott O’Dell also wrote Island of the Blue Dolphins, a Newbery Award winner.

1967, 96 pp.

Rating: 4.5