Girl Who Played With Fire Book Review

Larsson, Stieg. The Girl Who Played With Fire (Sweden: Norstedts Forlag 2006) 631 pp. Reviewed by Onyx Linton, Los Osos High School, Rancho Cucamonga, CA. The setting is current day Sweden and takes place in multiple cities and one country town.

The novel is formally divided into a prologue followed by four parts. The prologue of the book opens with a girl captured and restrained inside a dark room by an unidentified male. To cope with being captured, she mentally replays a past episode when she threw a milk carton filled with gasoline onto another man inside a car and tossed an ignited match onto him.

The Narrator was reliable and omniscient so the readers we able to get the point of view from every character which made the book extremely dynamic.  

The setting play a major role in the plot because the story would not be possible in a completely rural area, nor in the woods and ultimately reflects the plot. Even though it did not add to the character development it does add to the works theme's.

Lisbeth Salander is the main character. Lisbeth Salander has red hair, which she dyes black. Upon her first appearance in the series, she is described as "a pale, skinny young woman who had hair as short as a fuse, and a pierced nose and eyebrows. She had a wasp tattoo about two centimeters on her neck, a tattooed loop around the bicep of her left arm, another loop around her left ankle, a chinese symbol on her hip and a rose on her left calf. On those occasions when she had been wearing a tank top, a dragon tattoo can be seen on her left shoulder blade.
Salander is a world class computer hacker. Under the name "Wasp", she becomes a prominent figure in the international hacker community, known as the Hacker Republic. She uses her computer skills as a means to earn a living, doing investigative work for Milton Security. She has a photographic memory, and is skillful at concealing her identity, possessing passports in different names and physical disguises that she uses to travel undetected around Sweden and worldwide.
The survivor of a traumatic childhood, Salander is highly introverted, asocial and has difficulty connecting to people and making friends. She is particularly hostile to men who abuse women, and takes special pleasure in exposing and punishing them. This is representative of Larsson's personal views and a major theme throughout the entire trilogy.
She has a complicated relationship with investigative journalist Mikael Blomkvist, which veers back and forth between romance and hostility throughout the trilogy. She also has an on-again off-again romantic relationship with a beautiful lesbian, Miriam "Mimmi" Wu.

Lisbeth is framed for the murders of the individuals and goes on a hunt to not only clear her name but find the murders. While she battles the authorities she also has to deal with her complicated relationships and keep her past a secret.

Two of the more prominent themes are identity and friendship. In the process of trying to clear her name, Lisbeth struggles with revealing her past and showing affect.

Most of the story was relatively believable, however, there are some extremes that are not plausible or possible. As for inventiveness, I believe that this book is apart of one of the best trilogies and is ahead of its time. After all, all the best trilogies come in three.  

~Onyx l.

Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1967. Print.

 

Reviewed by Kenny Jeong, Los Osos High School, Rancho Cucamonga, CA.

 

Fahrenheit 451 is set in a dystopian society, sometime after the 21st century, which is a false utopia where books are symbols of dissent and threat. In this society there is a present irony which is firemen burning books and creating fires rather than putting them out. The setting serves to contrast with the main character Guy Montag who will later on go on to revolt against the standards and ethics of his society. Also, the dystopian society adds to the main themes and motifs of the novel which is the identification and analysis of a false utopia.

The Novel is set in a utopian society and we are taken throughout the whole story through the perspective of Guy. The whole theme of the story is similar to that of George Orwell's 1984  or the Giver. Guy, a fireman in the society that destroys books, starts to find the truth about novels and has a spark of doubt and rebellion in him. As a result Guy starts to collect books secretly and attempts to convert his wife and her friends to his side. Ultimately he goes on to find those with a similar view and goes on a dangerous journey to find the truth out of the false utopian society. As we are taken throughout the novel, we are introduced to many new characters, especially a girl named Clarisse who is the ignition of Guy Montag's change in character and emotions. Rad Bardbury relies on logic and realistic examples to play the story out. Unlike a fantasy or a complete fictional novel, Fahrenheit 451 seems plausible. Considering the era I live in and the technology present in my era. The story of Fahrenheit 451 does not seem too far off from what reality could be. However, the story, I believe may be plausible in a society such as North Korea where dictatorship is the prime rule and anything that questions it is eliminated. 

Overall, the novel was an experience for a reader to go through a dissenting minority's perspective to understand and see the transformation that takes place. The author's intention which was to demonstrate the effects of a dystopian society on human character and societal behavior as a whole was successful due to his harmonization of plot, character, and setting

Kenny Jeong

Period 3

The Hunger Game Book Review

Collins,Suzanne. The Hunger Games. New York: Scholastic, 2008. Print.


For my 21st Century book, I chose to read "The Hunger Games." My classmates chose to read this book as a dystopian novel but I decided to read this book as my 21st century book to show the features of this book that makes it not only dystopian but also contemporary 21st century book. I actually saw the movie first before I started to read this book. The reason I chose to read the book was that I really enjoyed watching the movie. Another reason I decided to read this book was because I found that this book is a trilogy. Since I enjoyed watching the first one, I decided to read the 2nd and 3rd book before the movies came out.
This book is about a girl named Katniss Everdeen from District 12. The story takes place in a nation called Panem. Every year, the capitol picks one boy and one girl from 12 districts for them to participate in a cruel, brutal competition called the hunger game. The hunger game is a competition that challenges the 24 participants to fight to death leaving only one survivor. From District 12, Peeta and Primrose were picked to represent the district but katniss, Primrose's sister, decided to volunteer in place for Primrose. So the two candidates from District 12, katniss and Peeta moved to the capitol to participate in the hunger game. Basically, Katniss wins the game together with Peeta becoming a new figure to the Capitol, which is illegal. She becomes a threat for swaying the 12 Districts.  The first book ends giving the suspense to the readers that there will be more challenges for Katniss in the 2nd and 3rd book.

Reviewed by Alex Han Period 3 Los Osos High School, Rancho Cucamonga, CA.

The setting of this book in taken in Panem's capitol where the Hunger Game is taken place. The setting reflects very well with the character, Katniss. Katniss lives in the wild area of District 12 making her fight in a comfortable atmosphere. Setting is a great support to the theme because I feel like the theme is that when we are put to a test of life and death, we will struggle to live even if we have to get our hands dirty. The wild forest  arena portrays our oldest setting we ever lived in, bringing out our bestiality and brutality.

I think the author's intention with this book was to show that our natural behavior towards survival is brutal and cruel. Even though the book takes place in the future after North America gets demolished, there still is no advance in human greed and human behaviors.


Alex Han
Period 3

The Giving Tree

The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein is one of my favorite books of all times. This was shared by Mrs. Elliott a while ago. Basically the story revolves around a boy and an apple tree. Year after year, the little boy comes to the tree and asks for something from it. The tree, without any complaints, selflessly sacrfices itself in order to make the boy happy.

I don't necessarily agree with the "devoted"love of the apple tree. The most important message I got out of this books is this: when we face our loved ones who are ungrateful, like the boy in the story, do we need to dedicate so much of ourselves to them to a point that we have sacrificed everything we have for them.  I feel like at times love like this can be harmful to the person providing it (the tree) and the person receiving it (the boy). In our society, if one loves oneself more than others, then that person is often labeled as being selfish.

In the final scene of the book, we see the little boy, now an old man, sit on the trunk of the dying tree. We don't know if the boy is thankful or regretful. The heartfelt writing and illustrations allow the readers to reexamine what the "right" kind of love may be. Although the book can be read in 5 minutes, it is worth rereading over and over again.

Senior Memoir

I have always enjoyed reminiscing on old times and past memories.  One of my favorite assignments to do in English this year was my Senior Memoir book.  When putting this together,  I realized how much I have learned in High School.  I did not only learn in class, but I learned life lessons about people and the kind of person I want to be.  Others may not know this, but they have inspired me to be the person I am today.  I have enjoyed meeting new people throughout High School and learning about their lives and their views on life.  This Senior Memoir was fun to put together because it reminded me of all the amazing experiences I had throughout my four years at Los Osos.  I love Class of 2012 and my fellow grizzlies, I will never forget.  

-Daniella B. Period 3

Poem: When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer

In this poem, one can understand the wonder of the universe by viewing it through personal experience.  The author feels as though you can only learn so much from text books and technology, but there is nothing like actually experiencing nature and the universe in person.  I agree to an extent with the author.   We do learn a lot from the internet and through reading texts, but I feel that you can never truly capture the feeling of something until you  experience  it in person.  You can read about how beautiful the sunset is and be descriptive with the colors and what not, but there is nothing like actually seeing the beauty with your own eyes.

-Daniella B. Period 3

Favorite Poem

"You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself in any direction you choose.
You're on your own.
And you know what you know.
You are the guy who'll decide where to go."
-Dr. Seuss

This is my favorite poem because it basically tells us we have control over our life and the decision to be successful is your own.  I like how his poems are relatable to kids and adults.  It is very simple yet very meaningful at the same time.

-Daniella B. Period 3