Tell-Tale Heart

Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allen Poe

Fiction
          In Edgar Allan Poe’s short story, The Tell-Tale Heart, the insane narrator blames a milky blind eye for driving him to murder. The narrator is the caretaker of an old man to whom the eye belongs. Night after night, the narrator watches the old man while he sleeps, waiting to kill the old man. One night, the old man stirs, the eye opens, and the narrator lashes out and kills him. After this, the narrator begins to hallucinate the beating of the dead man’s heart, which causes him to scream and rage.

Poe uses a lot of symbolism in the story. One symbol is the eye. The narrator refers to the eye as a “damned spot”. The phrase “damned spot” comes from the play Macbeth by Shakespeare. The phrase occurs when Lady Macbeth is overcome with guilt because of the part she played in King Duncan’s murder and she begins to imagine blood on her hands.  The narrator, too, feels guilty about his desire to murder the old man and the eye symbolizes his guilty conscience. The heart also represents the narrator’s conscience.  It beats to remind the narrator of what he did. The narrator’s conscience -- the heart and the eye -- remind the narrator of his responsibility to the old man. And it can be noted that the more the narrator tries to escape his responsibility to the old man by ignoring his conscience, the more obstinate it becomes. If the narrator had not denied his responsibility to the old man, the narrator wouldn’t have killed him, therefor avoiding his capture by the police and the consequences that would surely follow. Tell-Tale Heart is Poe’s way of saying that one should be responsible for one’s duties.

The Martian Chronicles

The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury

Science Fiction
Humans are the cause of destruction, as science constantly tells us. If all of humanity was wiped out, eventually the ecosystem would become balanced, pollution wouldn’t be a problem, and animals’ habitats would stop being destroyed. If humans hadn’t tried to expand, and then destroyed what was there before them in an attempt to become more powerful, the world wouldn’t be in such an awful state, as it is today. In The Martian Chronicles, Bradbury illustrates this in a collection of short stories giving an account of man’s colonization on Mars.  He points out the flaws in humanity and how they cause the destruction of humans and the world they live in.

One of my favorites is The Off Season.  In The Off Season, Sam Parkhill is overjoyed with the creation of his hot dog stand, he is positive that he will earn thousands of dollars, and all of Mars, and soon Earth, will be flocking to eat there. He is jubilant, euphoric, and giddy, almost to the point where the reader begins to hate Sam for his stupidity. For example he says, “Here’s the main highways, over there is the dead city and the mineral deposits. Those trucks from Earth Settlement 101 will have to pass here twenty-four hours a day! Do I know my locations, or don’t I?” That hatred grows when a Martian approaches Parkhill, and Sam promptly shoots him, convinced that he was going to attack, when the Martian really meant to tell him an important warning. More Martians come, and Sam’s hand doesn’t leave his gun. Bradbury uses Sam Parkhill as a symbol of the negative aspects of human beings, their self-centeredness, aggressiveness, and isolation.

The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake

The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender

Fantasy

Many chefs describe cooking as and emotional outlet.  But where do the emotions go?  Does it go into their cooking?  One fateful day while Rose Edelstein is consuming a slice of her mother’s chocolate lemon cake she comes across a revelation.  Her mother’s homemade dessert tastes of hunger and loneliness. Soon, eating becomes unbearable for Rose, every meal a struggle as she tries to ignore the growing suffering of her mother. As Rose realizes the increasing pain in her family she uncovers secrets that would otherwise be kept hidden under layers of sadness.

Aimee Bender tells the story so subtly, very much how her characters deal with their own struggles.

The Life of Pi

The Life of Pi  By Yann Martel

***** 5/5 stars  Fiction

On the back of this book, one of the critics says it is hilarious. Why does he call it hilarious? Being stuck in the middle of the ocean with a tiger in a tiny lifeboat is not even remotely funny to me. Pi Patel is the son of a zookeeper. When the zoo is in the process of being moved to North America on a cargo ship, the boat sinks and Pi ends up in a lifeboat with a 450 pound Bengal tiger, a wounded zebra, an orangutan, and a hyena. Soon it is just Pi and the tiger. If you think that is funny, you have a really bad sense of humor.

            On one level The Life of Pi is about a boy and a tiger. On another it is about adaptability. I've read other reviews about The Life of Pi and the reviewer said that The Life of Pi was about religion and how the tiger is God. That didn't really jump out at me. What jumped out at me was how Pi was able to survive on a lifeboat with a 450 pound tiger, how the meerkats were able to survive on the carnivorous island, and how the tiger adapted to live with Pi as a food supplier.

            The movie The Life of Pi is coming out tomorrow and I suggest that you read the book before you see the movie.

I'm not Esther

I'm not Esther by Fleur Beale

***** 5/5 stars  Non- Fiction

Kirby's mother, Ellen, has always told Kirby everything - except for one part of her life that she has kept buried for a very long time. Ellen has never told Kirby about her family and what happened before she ran away from them. However, Kirby finds out when her mother goes to help refugees in Africa, leaving Kirby with her uncle whom she has never met. Kirby's mom's side of the family are all part of a strict religion called The Children of the Faith. There are no televisions, radios, newspaper, storybooks, paintings, or mirrors. Even Kirby's name is changed. As time goes on, Kirby begins to question her own identity and seeks a way to be reunited with her mom.
What I really liked about this book was that Kirby didn't change throughout the whole book. She didn't end up liking to wear long skirts and sewing. She continued to act rebellious and continued to speak out when she didn't like a rule the Children of the Faith insisted that she had to follow. I could not put this book down until I had finished it. By New Zealand author, Fleur Beale, I'm not Esther is a must-read book.

Information is Beautiful

Information is Beautiful By David McCandless

***** 5/5 stars  Non-Fiction

How many of you have picked up an information book by accident and immediately put it back down thinking that it will definitely be dull? Books about information—pretty much any type—are almost always boring. Yes, you might say that you do come across the occasional interesting information book, but that’s one in a million.  This book must be one in a million then because it is one of the very few that is interesting.  What made this book much more entertaining then other information-books is that the information is presented in colorful graphs so the book isn’t boring black-and-white. What also made it interesting was the information itself. There were many subjects discussed in it. Among them are: what colors mean in different cultures, an internet viral video clips timeline, the predicted future, and theories for consciousness. This book of miscellany will appeal to nearly everyone.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time  By Mark Haddon

*****5/5 stars   Fiction

Christopher Boone can remember every moment of his life. He can’t understand other people, but he can do any type of math or science. Christopher lives with his dad and his mom is dead. When the neighbor’s dog is found killed, Christopher’s curiosity is stirred and he sets out to find the murderer. What will an autistic fifteen-year-old kid uncover?

          This book was unique because the author wrote it from Christopher’s point of view and it was interesting to see how he thought of things.  That was one of the reasons why I liked it. To have the book from Christopher’s view made dialogue seem a bit plain because he is autistic, but the writing was so good, you could still tell what a person was trying to convey through Christopher.