Park and Eleanor (entry 4)

 

             Out of all of the options on this list I am satisfied with my choice Park and Eleanor. What drew my attention to this book was I heard about it and noticed it on Goodreads. I was also impressed that it received 4 out of 5 stars. WOW! Other people’s opinions are very valuable to me.  After reading the back cover I was also completely intrigued that the book took place in 1986. I like reading novels that take place in this time period because it was the time that my parents grew up in. Reading words such as brave, desperate and, complete really set the tone before I event opened the cover. Some connections I noticed in my everyday life were that Park had to be strong for his good friend Eleanor and be her main support system. She had a very disturbing home life because her dad was an abuser. I have a friend as well that always needs someone to talk to about their struggles to keep strong at home.  I think I am a lot like Park the way I confront my friend during hard times. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes romance and wants or likes inspiration to push through the hard times in life. I am looking forward to telling my friends about this book and how it has inspired me. I loved how the ending was heart wrenching but unpredictable.

Park and Eleanor (entry 3)

“I don't like you, Park," she said, sounding for a second like she actually meant it. "I..." - her voice nearly disappeared - "think I live for you."
He closed his eyes and pressed his head back into his pillow.
"I don't think I even breathe when we're not together," she whispered. "Which means, when I see you on Monday morning, it's been like sixty hours since I've taken a breath. That's probably why I'm so crabby, and why I snap at you. All I do when we're apart is think about you, and all I do when we're together is panic. Because every second feels so important. And because I'm so out of control, I can't help myself. I'm not even mine anymore, I'm yours, and what if you decide that you don't want me? How could you want me like I want you?"
He was quiet. He wanted everything she'd just said to be the last thing he heard. He wanted to fall asleep with 'I want you' in his ears.”

This quote really hooks the reader, just like a hook with a fish.  It would draw them in because it shows the strong connection between Park and Eleanor and how they are nearly inseparable. It also shows how they are overcoming their emotions struggles and differences in their relationship. A reader would be drawn to this quote because of descriptive emotional and physical detail such as, panic and disappearance. The intimate detail presented would draw in the audience as well.

Park and Eleanor (entry 2)

                I have noticed throughout my novel that Park and Eleanor are both very complex characters and reach depths that I have not seen in other books. I have seen this especially throughout Eleanor’s personality. Because she has such a troubled home life Eleanor is very emotional and a deep thinker about practically everything she does. I am seeing that she looks up to Park and wants to be like him because through her eyes he is perfect, wealthy, kind, and warm hearted. She wants to be like Park and have everything he has. She wants to live in a big house, have fancy clothes and lots of friends. This is probably why she craves to be around him so much. In the novel it always describes that the moments on the bus that she is around him are the best moments of her life, this shows how bad her life really is. On the switch side I am seeing that Park has the same feelings about Eleanor always wanting to be with her. He likes her because she is different and isn’t afraid to show her true colors to people. I like the way the book is structured because every chapter it changes back and forth from Park and Eleanor’s point of view. I like this because I know what each of the characters are thinking about one another. I am noticing some themes that are starting to develop. One of which is if you are around positive people you will have a positive outlook. Parks joyful attitude is clearly feeding off to Eleanor and she is now not worrying so much about her messed up family and focusing on more of the positives of life and trying to be happy.   

Park and Eleanor (entry 1)

I am about halfway through my novel Park and Eleanor. So far the book is very different than anything I have read and I am enjoying it.  The main characters are Park and Eleanor.  The book takes place in the 1980s in Ohama. I liked the way that the book drew me in because of its unique setting. This time period has always fascinated me. The novel had a slow start but I became more intrigued when I started reading about Eleanor’s troubled life.  I learned shortly after chapter 6 that no matter what, she was a strong individual. It seemed she had always been this way. Even if she wasn’t a new student; spending a year couch surfing followed by being thrown out by her odious drunkard of a stepfather, Richie. I’ve noticed that Eleanor’s troubled home life is the major conflict throughout the book so far. She has to reach through tough times and bullying at home and school and become her own person.  Luckily, Park helps her get through these hard times. On her first day of school he offered a seat on the bus next to him even though he knew she was “different.” The first few weeks they ignored each other but after a while Park started to admire Eleanor’s unique mannerisms. He started looking at her every day until she noticed. I made the connection to this particular part of the book to the Fault in our Stars by John Green. Augustus did the same thing to Hazel in a church support group. He admired her so he gave her attention by staring at her for a long period of time. After reading both parts of each novel I noticed that this was a good strategy and worked. I started to wonder if they are going to start to fall in love just like Hazel and Augustus did. I am now in a place in my book that Park and Eleanor are sharing recoding cassette tapes and reading comics together on the bus. This shows how their relationship is escalating just like it did in the other novel.

The Curriculum - The Syllabus Tuesdays with Morrie

      So far I am really enjoying my new book Tuesdays with Morrie. In the first part I have started picking up on the story line. In the first part the narrator, Mitch Albom, gives a brief explanation of his weekly meetings each Tuesday with Morrie, his former college professor. (he has ALS.) He described these meetings as a flashback of his studies with Morrie, each of them a separate class on the meaning of life. The class had been held in Morrie's home, in his study, where he had watched a pink hibiscus plant shed its leaves.
        I think this plant is showing a symbol of how he is going to shed his leaves (like the plant) and get weaker and weaker throughout the book.  Mitch reflects that no grades had been given, and that no books had been required for his final class with Morrie. A funeral, he says, had been held in place of a graduation, and his final thesis paper is the book that follows. I really like the book so far and I like how I am learning about what different people have to deal with (ALS.) so far it has showed me the quality of life which so far seems like Morries purpose for wanting this book written. So far I would recommend this book!


    

About the Authors Tuesdays with Morrie

       Before reading this book I did some research on the author. Mitch Albom was born in New Jersey in 1958, though he spent the greater part of his youth in Philadelphia. In 1979, he earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts, where met and studied under his professor, Morrie Schwartz, the title character of Tuesdays With Morrie. In 1982, Albom was awarded a Masters degree from Columbia University in New York. After failed stints as an amateur boxer and nightclub musician, Albom began his career as a sports journalist, writing articles for newspapers such as the The Phili. Inquirer.  He was employed from 1985 until his reunion with Morrie in 1995.
      Albom also has his own nationally syndicated radio show, Monday sports Albom. In 1995, Albom began gathering notes for his book, Tuesdays with Morrie, which documents his and Morrie's discussions on the meaning of life. He apparently held meetings with Morrie before he passed. Albom claims to have written the book to offset Morrie's severe medical expenses, and has said in interviews that the profits from the two-year bestseller are divided between himself and the Schwartz family. (Morrie died at 40.) After learning the story behind this book it just makes me want to read it even more.


    

New Book Tuesdays with Morrie

       I am so exited to start my new book, Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom. My mom and sister read this book and recommended it to me. They told me it was a sad book but also very good. I want to read this book because I heard it was from someone's point of view with (ALS). My moms friend was just digonosied with this disorder so I thought it would be nice to read this book.

From the back if the book I learned that Mitch Albom is the book's narrator and recalls his graduation from Brandeis University in the spring of 1979. After he has received his diploma, Mitch approaches his favorite professor, Morrie Schwartz, and presents him with a monogrammed briefcase. While at Brandeis, Mitch takes almost all of the sociology courses Morrie had teaches. He promises Morrie, , that he will keep in touch, though he does not fulfill his promise. Years after Mitch's graduation from Brandeis, Morrie is forced to forfeit dancing, his favorite hobby, because he has been diagnosed with ALS, a debilitating disease that leaves his "soul, perfectly awake, imprisoned inside a limp husk" of a body. Morrie's wife, Charlotte, cares for Morrie, though at his insistence, keeps her job as a professor at M.I.T.
     
     I think I would really like this story from what I read from the back because I can relate to the story (knowing someone with ALS.) I am ready to start reading the book and hope that it will be inspiring and open my eyes like past books have.