The Bell Jar: Post 1

When I was received "The Bell Jar" as my next assigned reading book, I was so excited. From what I heard about it from previous readers, and even from reading the back of the book, I could tell I would enjoy the story. I am happy to say my expectations were completely reached. Even though I have not gotten to the part of the story where Esther actually becomes insane, I am hooked. I love the story behind her, and how she is so different then all of the other girls picked to live in the city. I am excited to see what else Esther will do with her life and how it will effect her in the long run. I am now at the point in the story where she just finished her first date with Constantin, which went better then she expected. I hope that sometime happens between them two because I believe it will make an interesting twist to the story. So, in conclusion I am very happy with The Bell Jar and excited to see what obstacles Esther will take on in her future.

The Bean Trees Post 2

As I said in my last post, I was everything but happy with The Bean Trees yet was starting to be more interested as the book went on. I am sad to say that the interest I held went away very quickly. It took me longer then necessary to finish this book due to the slow plot and lack of a climax.
There were certain parts of The Bean Trees that I enjoyed even though overall I was disappointed. I was very interested in Taylor's character. I admire the strength and courage she had to leave her old life and go some place completely different. She never failed to do the right thing and stand up for what she believed in. I never doubted that Taylor was not the perfect mother for Turtle. Another part that I enjoyed was the story behind Estevan and Esperanza. I liked learning about their past and seeing Esperanza slowly come out of her shell. The connection between Esperanza and Turtle was hard to miss, and as it grow I began to feel even more sorry for the couple and how they had to leave for good.
Many times through out the novel I expected a sort of climax to configure and for the story to take a new turn, but that never happened. I believe it went by very slow and consisted of many unimportant details. I understand that Turtle and Taylor were the main characters, and it was important for them to stay together. Yet, at the same time the many stories around them sometimes seemed irrelevant to me. As soon as something interesting happened in the story, such as finding out that Turtle was sexually abused.. nothing happened. You learned about it for just one chapter, and never heard about it again. This happened a plethora of times through out the novel, and soon it became very disappointing.
I am sorry to say that I personally do not agree with Mrs. McDonald in the statement that this novel will become a classic, or at least not a good one. Overall the book had it's ups and downs, but personally if I was not forced to read this for a grade.. I would have put it down after one chapter.

Blog 1: The Bean Trees

When I began to read "The Bean Trees" by Barbara Kingsolver, I was everything but captivated. The novel began slowly, emphasizing what seemed to be unimportant details. Yet, as I read on in hopes of finishing at least one chapter, I began to see where this book was headed. Even though parts confused me, and some parts seemed completely pointless, I slowly became interested in the story. The part that caught my interest the most, was the moment when the strange Indian women left a random in child in Taylor's car. At this point in the novel, I was dying to know how Taylor would react and what would happen to her and this new found child. The discovery of bruises on the baby's body shocked me, and I am now very excited to keep reading this book. I hope that it doesn't fail to reach Mrs. McDonald's expectations of being a "future classic"