The End of Digging to America

The book, as you can probably guess from the title, is about immigration. Two extremely different families, the Yazdans and the Donaldsons, adopt two little baby girls from Korea. The girls names are Jin-Ho and Sooki. Yet the Yazdans change Sooki's name to Susan. They meet at the airport and you can see the difference of the families just from the first page describing the arrival at the airport of the two girls. The Donaldsons are loud, big, and very... American. And the Yazdans are an exotic Iranian family, which had only a few people come to the airport to meet the baby girl. Friendly Mrs. Donaldson says they must come over to their house and have the girls be friends, what with all the things the girls have in common. Eventually the two families bond after many, many awkward dinner parties. But the book isn't just about the girls being adopted from Korea, it is more about the Yazdans struggle to look American and how the Donaldsons try so hard to be accepting of other's cultures. For example, only the Yazdans change Susan's Korean name because maybe they don't want her to experience what they had to. They also dress Susan in jeans and overalls at a young age. They even bought her an American Girl Doll. Yet the Donaldsons buy traditional Korean outfits to dress Jin-Ho in and remind Jin-Ho of maybe going to Korea one day. I find it funny though that despite trying to Americanize and de-Americanize the girls, Susan sings traditional Korean songs, speaks Farsi, and completely ignores her doll. And Jin-Ho loves to wear jeans, begs for an American-Girl doll, and doesn't know why she would ever want to go to Korea. Another story of immigration is inside the book. Susan's grandmother, Maryan Yazdan, constantly says how hard she tried to be modern and American. And complains about being treated so differently despite her efforts. I agree with this, but I don't like the fact that Maryam is always saying things like this. The author was born in Minneapolis and grew up in North Carolina. What does she know about immigrants issues with fitting in? One thing I find interesting is that Maryam discusses her first days in American saying how she tried to push away her Iranian roots. But as she became older, she discusses wishing to have kept some things reminding her of home. Like she realizes the mistake she made trying to fit in. Because here we don't need to all be the same, that's why America is called the salad bowl!

The End of the Glass Castle

The book as I said in my last entry is extremely interesting, but so depressing. All three children leave their parents early to look for a better life in New York City. Yet their parents follow them to New York City, living as homeless. I think the end is a great example of forgiveness. The youngest, Maureen, tries to stab her mother after finally hitting rock bottom, yet her mother does not press charges or is in anyway angry. The children forgive their parents for making their childhoods so hard. Parts of the father's personality come out too. Such as his helpfulness in the scene where Jeannette needs money for college donations and her father gives her some, even while he and his wife are homeless. And you can tell by the end that he is feeling remorse for not supporting their family. There was an interesting scene where the father is sober for many weeks and moves upstate to stay that way. But because of the absence of his wife he comes back to New York City and soon he is drinking again. So the question is whose fault is it that the Walls lived so poorly for so long? I think it is both the father and mother combined. Jeannette's mother did not act like an adult throughout the book. And her father had his drinking problem which wasted so much money. Yet he tried to stop, but the mother did not encourage him to continue to be sober. She is almost afraid of loosing the drunk Rex Walls, because then her life would not be "an adventure" as she says many times in the book.

The Glass Castle

I don't exactly like memoirs and non-fiction books, but I decided to try this because so many people praised it. And I agree with them, I can't put it down! But the strange thing is I can not really pinpoint why I like it so much. If I had to guess it would be because its unbelievable. Sometimes so much that I wonder if the stories are actually true. Maybe this book attracts so many people because the family is so unusual, it reminds me of the shows, Jon and Kate Plus Eight and the 18 Kids and Counting. The families are so different from the norm that we can't help but be interested. Sometimes reading the awful things these kids needed to do made me cringe. I do wonder, because this is a memoir, how do people treat Jeanette Walls's parents? If someone knew them then read the book, what would they tell them? And did the parents read the awful things they did and feel remorse?

The End of Girl with a Pearl Earring

I liked this book so much, I don't even know where to start...from the beginning I liked the main character, Griet, who is the girl who will be in Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring. Not actually of course. As the story progressed I started to dislike Griet's decisions though. I think Griet was losing her good traits, like her innocence and compassion, the longer she lived with the wealthy family. As soon as I read the first few pages, I knew that Vermeer had noticed Griet's artistic ability when she organized her vegetables in a perfect color wheel. This is probably why Griet was hired as the maid in the first place. Also as she stays with the Vermeers she evolves in her artistic abilities and becomes braver. After experiencing all these grand things at the house, she still sacrifices helping Vermeer with his paintings to help her family by marrying the butcher's son. At some points in the book it was really depressing, like when her sister dies and her brother runs away. Overall, I would recommend this book because it is a book you can't put down.

The End of the Da Vinci Code

The ending was a really big twist ending. The Teacher was unveiled to be someone I didn't even think about--Teabing! But it made a lot of sense really even though I, like Silas, thought the Teacher would be a very prominent religious figure. I think when Remy spoke so hatefully of Teabing, it threw me off because after I didn't think they would be working together. Having to kill and think of such a complicated plot shows really how twisted and obsessed Teabing became with seacrhing for the Holy Grail. Because he is the villain so many things make sense, like why he didn't turn Langdon and Sophie in, which also could have been his obsession though. I was also surprised that Sophie had remaining family, but I had guessed that Sophie was of the royal bloodline. I think Dan Brown made Sophie and Mary Magdalene both have red hair as a subtle hint of relationship, either that or I'm reading too much into it. This book definitely wasn't a let down, quite the opposite it might just be my favorite book.

The Da Vinci Code

I have been meaning to read this book for a long time. And everyone I question seems to have loved it. I do not think it would not be a great book because there has been a movie and numerous documentaries about the book. Everyone was definitely right. I started reading the book and couldn't put it down. I also realize what a cliche line that is, but it's the truth. After the first chapter I had an idea of what Robert Langdon's personality is. He is humble because he is easily embarrassed when an article about him is being read. His profession of being a professor shows his sociable, witty personality. My favorite part is not the character thought but the plot and riddles. This book keeps you thinking and after guessing a correct answer, it is very satisfying. And while I read I find it amazing how much Dan Brown must have researched to have the fiction and history match up so well.

The End of Emma!

Suprisingly my prediction about Emma and Mr. Knightley was correct, but first I would like to talk about how exciting the ending was. I know, it seems weird coming from the one complaining how the story just drags on and has no excitment. Another interesting thing about the end was that when I found out Mr. Frank Churchill and Jane Fairfax were secretly engaged the whole time, little hints from past chapters jumped out at me. I can't believe I didn't notice before! Well the ending was a happily ever after sort of thing. Harriet married Mr. Martin amd Emma and Mr. Knightley got together, it was sweet. I especially like how Harriet after thinking she was superior than Mr. Martin became her humble self again. And Emma changed very much, too. She became less spoiled and snobbish, but more mature. Emma definitely saw how hideous her bratty behavior was which made her even more likable by the end.