Book Review #10

Eclipse

By: Stephenie Meyer

Summary: As Seattle is ravaged by a string of mysterious killings and a malicious vampire continues her quest for revenge, Bella once again finds herself surrounded by danger.

In the midst of it all, she is forced to choose between her love for Edward and her friendship with Jacob -- knowing that her decision has the potential to ignite the ageless struggle between vampire and werewolf. With her graduation quickly approaching, Bella has one more decision to make: life or death. But which is which?

Review: Once again Stephenie Meyer, has a hit. Eclipse, though not my favorite of the saga, was still captivating. I loved every minute of reading it and it kept me captured in the story, turning page after page, wanting to know what would happen next. Bella and Edward's love is a story unlike any other in the sense that, there love seems to just keep going no matter the obstacles being thrown at them. 

Eclipse is a great addition, however I felt a little let down by it's ending. I think I just expected so much more, I mean with how New Moon, and Twilight end, I think that Eclipse's ending is the weakest out of all of them. This one just doesn't stand out to me as much as the others, but if you like the series you'll more than likely like this one as well. Lots of Bella, Edward, and Jacob so no matter which fan-base you are, there's something for everyone! I give it a 7/10 Stars.

Movie Review #3

Taking Woodstock


Taking Woodstock is about just that, the Woodstock Music and Arts Festival. Elliot is a local boy in the town of White Lake, NY and he brings the festival to this small town and disrupts the lives of everyone in it.
I had wanted to see Taking Woodstock because I thought it was interesting and the way people lived in the 60's has always interested me. I had also just seen the Broadway Play Hair so I was in that frame of mind.
The story of Taking Woodstock was interesting. It felt more like a documentary than anything. There weren't big name actors in it, the three biggest names were Paul Dano who had maybe 10 minutes of screen time, Eugene Levy who only had about 20 minutes, and Liev Schreiber  who I won't give away but he had an amazing role! The main character Elliot, was played by Demetri Martin, and he was ok but honestly nothing special, I just wasn't very impressed with him.
Something that really disappointed me was the lack of "footage" from the music festival. I was hoping to see some people in the crowd singing along or even a glimpse of the stage up  close, but for a movie about a music festival, there was a serious lack of music.
On a better note one thing that I liked about the film was some of the camera work. They incorporated a few clips (about 15 seconds long) that were shot with an old camera that helped give it a more personal feel, but because of some of the issues I had with the movie, I'm only giving it a 6/10 Stars.

Movie Review #2

UP


Up is a cute animaged film about an older man, and a younger child. The older gentleman, Carl Frederickson, has promised his late wife that they would move to a secluded area next to a waterfall, and after she dies he decides to make her dream a reality.
Mr. Frederickson is a cranky, old man, who just wants to be left alone. He decides to blow up a whole bunch of balloons and begins and adventure of a lifetime. In mid-air he hears a knock on the door, and Russell, one of the neighborhood kids is also taking the journey with him.
Up contains touching elements that could bring anyone to tears. We see Mr. Frederickson and his late wife grow up and grow old together, and we see how much they love one another, and when she dies you can tell just how much it hurts him. I can only imagine what would happen if the love of my life was ripped away from me. I would be a mess too.
The story of Up is cute, and wonderful in the sense that it was new, however it did seem to loose it's essence when they brought in the robotic dog pack. One was ok because it was interesting, but a whole bunch of them was a little odd, and made me roll my eyes.
The animation was incredible, but Pixar's animation never fails to impress me. All in all I believe taht Up will be enjoyed by people of all ages. I'm not going to say it's a perfect date movie, but it's got a little romance in it, but be warned it is a bit sad. I give this a 7/10 stars.

Book Review #9

Tricks
By Ellen Hopkins

Review: Tricks is a story of 5 teenagers, Eden, Cody, Seth, Ginger, and Whitney,  whose lives have caused them to start working some sort of prostitution setting. Each individual has their own story to tell, and sometimes their paths cross which I thought was really interesting. Something I noticed was a common spelling mistake throughout the book. When they would spell shirt, it would come out shift. I don’t know if it was supposed to be meant to say shift and it’s just another word for shirt, but it was odd and in places made no sense. I noticed a few small errors here and there but for the most part it wasn’t too bad.

We see their lives go from not so perfect, to complete and utter disaster. Hopkins Knows how to tell a story and keep people entertained. The book had me constantly wanting to read it. I would read for short bursts and have to put it down because of class, and I wouldn’t want to put it down, just keep reading to find out what’s going to happen next.

This book is a fast read, and it does leave me wanting more to find out how their lives all turned out after and what happened, but with any book I’m always left to wonder. I love when that happens that way I can just make it up in my head, sometimes it’s better to not know and leave things alone. That way the story will remain the same no matter what and it won’t loose its luster.

Tricks is a great story, however a bit graphic in it’s sexual description to be a young adult novel. That was something I noticed in especially Cody’s story. Not that I’m saying sex in a young adult novel is bad, I just think it could have been a little more subtle than what it was. Regardless of that, Tricks was still fantastic, and I can’t wait for the next Ellen Hopkins novel!

Book Review #8

Cut

By: Patricia McCormick

            Cut is a story about a young girl that was recently sent to an institution to deal with just that, her self-harm issues. For much of the story, Callie doesn’t speak very much. It’s not that she’s mute, more that she doesn’t want to make friends, because she knows that she won’t be there long; however the doctor’s won’t let her go until she makes progress and speaks up in group and admitting she has a problem.

            In a society where self-harm is such a common thing, reading a story about it makes you realize just how harmful it is. It does make me wonder, because she self-harms why the put her in an instituition and not just in therapy. It if were me in that situation I would have much rather done one-on-one therapy than stay with a bunch of strangers, and have to confess my deepest darkest secrets to them. But of course it wouldn’t be my decision to make, now would it?

            I would have liked a little more back story as to why she started cutting, not just the first time, and a few scattered times after that. It’s a short book, but it doesn’t need to be long to get the message across. Kids are cutting, somre for attention, some just to do it, and some because they don’t know any other way to cope, and they like to have some sort of control over the pain they feel. Some stop after a while, somce can’t stop at all, then there are those that can easily be triggered to do it after not doing it for so long.

            Self harm is an issue amoung our generation. Many people around us are cutters, reading a book that shows us that you can cope brings hope to many people. I rate this a 7/10 Stars.

           

**I don’t encourage cutting in any way, but if you or someone you know is cutting get them help. Go to this website for more information http://self-injury.net/.