Going Bovine: Entry Four

Overall, this book is rather... interesting. And that is not necessarily a bad thing; in fact, that's the reason I first of all chose this to read. While most young adult novels strive to be one-hundred percent realistic and focus solely on conveying a broad relationship to all readers of age, this one steps out to something weird, over-the-top, and hilarious. Yet it still brings a strong, serious, and timeless theme of enjoying every millisecond of your life: you never know if it is your last. You can catch more flies with sweet honey than you can with bitter vinegar, and I was caught on the honey.

I still felt some connection with Cameron, struggling through life and acting awkward at each turn. I wondered - like we all - what is there in life to live for? What is the purpose of life? These questions have always plagued me, and by the end it gave me satisfaction that there is a goal to life: whatever you would like. Life is beautiful indeed; and you should not ever come to the point where that is not true.

This novel was a refreshing reminder of this, and it accomplishes it through a humorous and wacky way. It is for anyone who is tired of the same old same old and wants something new and fun to read. The end really caught me by surprise and definitely left me an impression never to forget. If any of this seems of interest to you; you can get Going Bovine right here.

Going Bovine: Entry Three

The very beginning of this story starts with Cameron stating, "The best day of my life happened when I was five and almost died at Disney World" (Bray, 1). This sets the stage of this entire book brilliantly by doing numerous things from the get go.

This is Cameron's sass at the beginning of it all.

One, characterization. It reveals Cameron's beginning attitude towards his life and communicating in general as rather pessimistic and to himself. Without even knowing his name we can tell he isn't one to brighten the mood or spark a casual conversation. You could even consider him a tad on the sassy side; which makes this book feel much more open and casual. I appreciate it Libba Bray.

Two, the anticipation. When I read that line for the first time, I knew this book was something special. Is that really the best day of your life? That's rough... What happened? Did you nearly choke on a Mickey Mouse ice cream bar? How do you even remember something when you are five? It rather hooked me; and I'm sure it has hooked others.

Three, the development of a theme. Bray was capable of crafting a nice before and after piece where Cameron is put into the same position twice, yet there are two completely different outcomes. In the beginning, he's helpless, reckless, and scarred as he nearly drowns in the river of the Small World ride and looks at everything as a threat to his well-being; resorting to dissing out at everything and never taking a risk. (Start of Spoiler) But by then end, he's optimistic, and sees everything a whole shade brighter and as a more mature being after living through the most insane yet spectacular two weeks of his life. It certainly is the about the journey not the destination. (End of Spoiler) A true turn-around in every sense of the word.

This quote contains so much in so little. It shows the potential power that once sentence can have, and it paved the way to a great novel.

Going Bovine: Entry Two

Let us take a closer look at our main characters; shall we?

Cameron: Kind of a jerk; very self-centered, and rather lazy. This is one of the few times that I truly disliked the protagonist as a character. He seems to just want to slide by life and do the bare minimum; and not a drop more. Over the course of the book however, I feel that he begins to see the importance of synergy and dynamically grows as a character: when he finds the love of his life. I cannot tell who because it is somewhat of a spoiler but I will say that you will be surprised.

Gonzo: Constantly anxious about the smallest of things and a mama's boy. Seriously, the guy calls his mother every second possible and thinks he is allergic to all foods: except grilled cheese, that's his safe haven. Crazy about video games, he finds any opportunity to make a reference to it and distracts him enough to neglect the one job he had to do: watch a massive, distinct, roaring, bus. Like Cameron, Gonzo becomes bolder by the end; after a forced situation of discomfort leading to a realization of comfort (again, spoilers).

Balder: Imagine a noble, courageous, and immortal viking yard gnome came to life; that's Balder. After being discovered in the backyard of some trailer by Cameron, Balder joins their adventure in search of his own vessel Ringhorn that shall lift the curse that turned him into a yard gnome in the first place and become a Norse god once more.

These three seemingly contrasting beings come together to discover the answer to a question we have always asked: what is the purpose of life? Every so often Dulcie checks in with Cameron on his travels, but not necessarily to make sure he is on the right path. She seems to only come to joke around, and about the random amazing things about our world; such as the power of hope and microwave popcorn: those little yet special things in life. Perhaps this journey is more than just saving the world? Perhaps, "'Time is what you make of it...'" (Bray, 334)

***One of the small yet special things in my life are certain videos on YouTube. This one in particular never gets old: a turtle dances under a stream of water to Shake it Off by Taylor Swift, it always makes my day, and you can watch it here.

One last note, I feel this book is structured perfectly. It is all sequential - like most stories - making it rather simple to follow and you don't have to connect the dots. Each chapter is titled through Cameron's point of view, and briefly summarizes the chapter, albeit rather humorously. For example, there's "Chapter Eleven: In Which I Recount the Untold Joys of MRIs and Open-Backed Hospital Gowns" (Bray, 77) and "Chapter Twenty-Four: Of What Happens When I Bowl a Perfect Strike and Learn Not to Hurt My Happiness" (Bray, 199); they get me every time.

Going Bovine: Entry One

Life. What a beautiful thing. We exist through one of the most complicated processes known to man and sometimes we take that for granted. For our main character Cameron Smith; that sometimes is all the time.

The cover

He - like others his age - is an awkward, misunderstood, and drug-addicted teenager in Texas struggling through both high school and a social life. And just when he (and myself) thought it couldn't get any worse; Cameron is diagnosed with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease: a disease that affects the brain and slowly makes the victim go insane. In other words, Cameron has the human equivalent of mad cow disease. And, to top it all off, there is no cure. Unless...

Cameron gets a visit from a messenger angel named Dulcie. Along with showing off her spoon-balancing skills, Dulcie revels that there is indeed a cure for Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, yet it will require him to go on a cross-country journey through the United States to find a mysterious Dr. X and not only same himself, but the world from a wormhole that will arrive in two weeks. Cameron, with help from a short, video game loving, classmate who just so happened to have a hospital bed right next to Cameron, Gonzo, and later also with a Norse god viking yard gnome, Balder, go on a journey to save both himself and the world before he "goes bovine."

This book really reminds me of the timeless classic Don Quixote, in its over-the-top plot and presentation. In fact, Going Bovine even references Don Quixote by making it a school assignment for Cameron near the beginning. It truly is something special, and I could not wait to find out what trouble Cameron and Gonzo get in.

Blog Reflection

To be honest, I actually had a lot of fun with this. I opened myself up more socially in this sort of writing and thought deeply. Now let me discuss my best:

Enclosed will be my Fahrenheit 451 blog, which did a good discussing the theme of that book. The reason it was so great was that I added my own personal flair to it; making it mine. I included real-life personal stories to make the theme come to life. I shouted out to the reader every once in a while, keeping them awake. I also strived to keeping it funny and interesting, what we always want. This is the prime example of what I feel is a perfect blog, leave both entertained and informed.


Here is the blog: http://jacksreadingblogs.blogspot.com/2015/04/burning-books-fahrenheit-451.html

Burning Books?: Fahrenheit 451

Like most people are today, I constantly get distracted by the beauty of electronics. Sometimes I forget the better things in life, the amazing and wondrous world we live in and the spectacular world we make it. Books are a core center for exploring our world and other worlds; we can explore our mind and the mind of others. Sure, movies, songs, games, and more can do these things as well- in fact they can be superior in certain aspects- yet they miss a crucial piece of our society: you. You make a difference, you give society something it doesn't already have; and you the reader are what drives books to be that great that it is a requirement for you to master to graduate high school. ( Shout out to all the great English teachers out there; you know who you are...)

Not only is this a bad idea to burn a book a hazard for the safety of that person's arms; it destroys part of our world, and cannot be brought back. Remember, as Smoky the Bear always says, " Only YOU can prevent [book] fires."

So, why would anyone burn these portions of society? They don't know any better. It became a domino effect, where just one of us were like,"pfff. Books? What's their deal?" they spread their ignorance to rest of us until books become obsolete. We try to find dry happiness in TV and such, but we never can get that same vibe like literature; it gives you wisdom and wisdom is power. Oh yeah there's a book called Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury about this, so try it, or if your stuck on your computer like most of us are, just keep this message in mind. Next time you try to torch Twilight because of its insane fan base, realize that it is something more to someone else. Also why do have a flamethrower?

The Scorch Trials: Thoughts I

For those that haven't read up to chapter 19, here's the just:

Thomas and the other surviving Gladers end up being stuck within the building they were taken to at the end of the previous book. They encounter some strange things, such as these zombie-like people that call themselves the Cranks, and the people who rescued them the other night were hung to death for them to see. They also seem to meet an unknown boy named Aris who apparently was in a similar maze to that of Thomas yet was with all girls, and was the only boy and had telepathic powers to speak with another girl; just like Thomas and Teresa. Speaking of which, Teresa is missing and will not reply to Thomas. Later this strange business man comes and tells everyone what is really happening.

Imagine this happening to us. Not a great day. Wouldn't it?

 

 

Here's what I believe is going on: the world is mostly in ruins due to dangerous solar flares penetrating the Earth's atmosphere. These "Flares" as they are referenced to, bring destruction and disease to the world. All hope there is lies in an organization to study and then solve this dilemma. And they do all this through teenage guinea pigs (there kids, not actual guinea pigs, alright, OK). So, the Gladers went through a Maze for the lead researchers to get an idea of how people would react to certain situations and now a new experiment lies before them: The Scorch Trials (Hey! That's the title of the book!) Now this is mostly inferring, but this is my best estimate. So now with the wide-spread disease called the Flare, the Gladers must travel north to a safe haven before the Flare makes them go insane; just like the Cranks. And I'm sure it won't be easy...

The Scorch Trials: Pre-Reading

After a long break of nothingness I'm itching to get back to this series: next, The Scorch Trials! At the end of the last book, Thomas and the rest of the escaped Gladers got into a pickle between the people that were the creators of this "experiment" and some sort of rebellion group that took the Gladers away to live with them and try to understand the situation. It was also hinted that even this pickle is an experiment itself, and who knows where that goes? Hopefully all will be revealed in The Scorch Trials!

My Favorite Satire

Now we're getting political... It seems that on

every road trip you get into at least one hassle
on finding which way to turn to reach the airport, and soon enough you so frustrated that
you think the government purposely made the
roads as confusing and thoughtless as possible.
The picture to the right might describe exactly
how you think they created each and every road.
It depicts several hermit crabs that are walking
with no purpose across a piece of paper with a
pen attached to their shell. The results are quite
random; and hilarious. This would be an example of Horatian Satire; which was made
simply to give the viewer a smile. More specifically, this would be an hyperbole; something that exaggerates the actual concept
and reality of an issue. In this case, we're assuming that the government doesn't actually turn to hermit crabs for designing our roads.
Key word:Assuming

A Columnist Worth Notice

  Around the Cincinnati area there was a writer that made columns worth reading; her name is Krista Ramsey. I recently read one of her articles on parents abandoning their child in various ways, both how and why they do such a thing and what can be done to stop it. Her use of both the right word to engage and get across the topic, as well as how everything is sequenced really takes her articles to the top.
  An excellent example of this comes as the very first sentence, "It was a story that's hard to forget." For how short and simple it is the sentence goes much farther to bring the reader in much deeper than first thought. Using the word "it" may seem lazy and broad yet it makes the reader think: What is she talking about? and goes onto One that's hard to forget? Oh, it must be good. The reader already feels hooked and urged to read on more; to learn the sad story of a mother leaving behind her baby in a carriage and leaves on a subway: on purpose. What just one simple sentence can do is more than enough to make the reader keep on reading.
  It is quite melancholy to known she is no longer is part of the Cincinnati Enquirer, but I do hope it was for the better. I have to ask though: Why did she leave? Where did you get all these diverse topics from? How do you keep the quality flow constant and Grade A?

  You can read the column, here.