Heart of Darkness

      Right now I am reading Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. This novel is very difficult in that it uses a very advanced level of grammar, which makes it complicated to follow at times. What I like about this novel, despite my difficulty in decoding some parts, is that it uses such rich and flowing language as to almost imitate poetry. The subject of the novel is a European man's descent into the heart of Africa as a steamboat captain, and his discovery of the harsh and dark condition of the land. The African natives are being abused and forced into work for the European companies. The conditions for the European workers are crude too, with a lack of supplies and danger always being present. The story focuses on the images of the land and what the narrator sees when he is there. Little to no focus is put on details of events or everyday activities like eating meals. I get to experience the land from the narrator's point of view. I feel his uneasiness, and his disgust at times. I feel the dreariness of the land settling into me, I feel the need to get out, to fix my steamboat as the narrator needs to do. The general plot, if looked at without reading the actual story, is rather boring and uneventful so far. The feeling and the tone are what have kept me interested. I feel as if there will be a change soon, some sort of climax to steer the storyline elsewhere. I'll keep you updated.

Ballistics Poems by Billy Collins

In Ballistics poems, the collection of poems by Billy Collins, readers are able to witness a poetic portrayal of love, death, solitude, and life in general. The great thing about Collins' poems is that they are easier to digest in both meaning and diction. He uses a more contemporary style to express complex ideas which give the readers some thing to ponder about.

One of my favorite poems in the collection is " Old man eating alone in a Chinese restaurant". In this particular poem Collins distinguishes between the natural instinct of humans to judge and the understanding which comes with the experience obtained by age and time alone.  The general idea behind this poem is that one may have a different outlook or opinion on something before and after he or she has actually been through what they are judging.

I would recommend this fantastic collection of poems to everyone. For those with a phobia for poetry, this collection is not a hard read so they do not need to fear and for those who worry that these poems may be too simple, these poems are definitely not simple. It is a great way for both the youth and aged to taste a different style of writing that is more acquainted with our time.

Kenny J.

The Old Man and the Sea

The Old Man and the Sea

The Old man and the sea is by Ernest Hemingway. The story is about an old man trying to catch a swordfish. His dream for all his life was to catch a swordfish. To fulfill this dream, he set out on a voyage to catch this fish. After reading the book, i was really bummed out because there was no happy ending to the story. After all the rigorous work, he finally caught the fish but it was really sad because the sharks ate the swordfish the old man caught. After reading the book, I wondered what could have been the moral of the story, then I realized that Hemingway was from the era of realism. Realists believed society was bad and there would be happy ending. Hemingway portrayed that life is not all about happy ending. He showed that there won't always be a satisfying result but he also showed that people have to be persistent and try again. I learned that being pessimistic won't solve anything and moving forward will lead to some other opportunities.

Alex Han

Words of Paradise

Words of Paradise

Words of Paradise is by Rumi and is a collection of poems. The poems at first and throughout the whole book is hard to understand and each poem needs much concentration because you can lose concentration due to the translation and time period in which they were written in. Overall it was an interesting read because it was a different taste compared to the contemporary poems that I have read. The only thing that I would say that people should be aware of if reading his poems is the time period in which they were written in.  I found myself having to change my though process to fit the thoughts of Rumi.

Although I made it seem as though this collection of poems is very difficult to read, it may not be so for many others. For me personally I am not really good at understanding poetry so I may be at a disadvantage when it comes to poems. So I encourage others to try this book out, it may not be so bad for people who are looking for a challenge to their normal poetic life.

Kenny J.

The Handmaid's Tale

The Handmaid's Tale is a 20th Century dystopian novel that focuses on a Handmaid named Offred whose only job in life is to reproduce. This is a very interesting book that uses flashbacks to juxtapose the old imperfect society to the new utopian society. Through out the book, the process of changing the society is given to the reader sporadically and reveals deeper insight to their world and ours. I felt that this book was fairly slow, however, the end is completely worth reading the book for.



~Onyx L.  

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

The novel Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro is written from a first person point of view of the main character, Kathy. With an almost detached and neutral tone, Kathy recounts her memories at the boarding school, Hailsham, and her life as a carer later on.

The story is split into three parts and from hints and details provided by Kath, the readers realize that Hailsham is not an ordinary school and its students are different too. Much later in the story it is revealed that the students, including Kathy, are human clones that are raised to become organ donors. These clones are secluded from the outside world and spend their entire childhood at Hailsham, where they are trained to become donors one day.

The novel is constructed in a way that shows Ishiguro’s thoughts on the idea of imperialism. Like Kathy and her friends, most people live a life that is dictated by a small group of people in power. Through the story of these clones, Ishiguro criticizes those arrogant authorities present in the society today.

In the novel, each Hailsham student is created as lonely individuals controlled by the society. Their emotions are suppressed and their ability to dream has been taken away from them. In the last section, we see Kathy and Tommy, also a student from Hailsham, regain the courage to love and request for a deferral. Although it was too late to change anything, their action showed Ishiguro’s belief that love is powerful enough to overcome the darkness of humanity.