Lord of the flies, William Golding

Hi everyone!

As you probably noticed (thanks to the title of the article), I’m going to speak about a classic book of English literature written by William Golding and entitled Lord of the flies. It was published in the 20th century (more precisely in 1954).

The story is set on an uninhabited island and the leading characters are all young boys. In fact they are schoolboys but they are far from the civilization because of a plane crash. The pilot is dead so they have to learn how to leave together without any adult, any help from the outside.

At the beginning, all of them have a normal reaction for children: they are happy to be alone without their parents. They enjoy having no rules. But very fast there are a lot of tensions between some of the boys. Moreover these teenagers begin to be afraid. They think there is a monster in the jungle. Little by little life on the island become very hard and there is a violent atmosphere. The survivors of the crash don’t realize that they become savages. And they will not stay all alive …

I cannot say that I loved this book because it’s not a book you are joyful to read … I liked the author’s writing and the intrigue. It is definitively a striking book and it shows dark parts of humans. Indeed the main characters are only children but their acts are not innocent. Some of them will die and that will not still be accidents …

I know there is also a movie adapted from the book but I haven’t watched it yet. I don’t know if the movie shows well the beginning of the tensions and the savagery of the children but I hope so. If you saw the movie you can tell me if you liked it!

See you!

Shanghai Girls, Lisa See

book picture

? I actually chose this book because I didn’t know much about China and the past of this out of the way country. Shanghai Girls is a 2009 novel written by an American novelist, Lisa See, who also has Chinese origins. She is interested in Chinese history, since her ancestors came from this faraway country. The story takes place in Shanghai, in 1937. Pearl and May Chin are two modern young women who are working as models, especially for calendars, to sell baby milk or cigarettes as well…
calendars

? Both of them have a life full of privilege, until their father looses the whole family’s wealth while gambling. To repay his debts, he decides to « sell » his daughters to two « GoldMountain » men, which means two Chinese Americans. As the city is invaded by Japanese soldiers, they have to travel across the country, avoiding the brutal soldiers. However, their mother will be raped and killed as they try to escape, Pearl will also be severly injured. The sisters finally succeed in taking a boat to America, but land in an immigration station called Angel Island. It was basically like another version of Ellis Island in New York, at the only difference that if the second one was kind of welcoming, the other one was  « designed to keep the Chinese out » as See said. The author also said that in this place, « immigrants had to answer between 200 and 1,000 standard questions »! It gives you an idea of the long amount of time they will spend in Angel Island, where Pearl will hear shocking news: May is pregnant, which is going to have unsuspected consequences in their lives…After many twists and turns, they will finally begin their new lives of married women in a foreign family, who is definitely not as rich in America as they were in China. Pearl and May have to adapt in an unknown country where racism is in every street’s corner, and where Asian people don’t mix up with native Americans. They have to work in Chinatown and the situation becomes even harder when the World War II begins. How could Americans make a difference between their Japanese enemies and the Chinese refugees? Secrets that they would hope buried forever threaten to come back, always bringing new problems… I really enjoyed reading this historical story about the lives of these two sisters who share a complex relationship.

? I only had one thought after closing this book: let’s read the sequel! Have you ever heard of it? Do you know a bit about China? Do you find this topic interesting?

The Lovely Bones

I’m going to talk about the novel « The Lovely Bones », it was written by Alice Sebold and was published in 2002. It’s one of my favorite books, I love so much the story, it’s…wow !
So I want to share with all of you the story of Susie Salmon !
She was a 14-year-old teenager, who lived very well and was fascinated by photography, she had a sister, a brother and parents who loved her very much.
But one winter evening, while she returned of the high school, she walked by fields to join her house, and a paper that was in her pocket fell down of her pocket, the wind took the paper to a man, his neighbor Mr Harvey, he took it from the floor and gave to her. She thanked him, but he began to speak to her about the hut that he built in the ground,  » I don’t have time, I have to be at home » she said, but he insisted, so she went into the hut, she felt anxious. He looked at her and told « It’s warm here, you don’t find? »
Susie didn’t feel good and she was afraid… so she ran to the ladder to run away but she felt the hand of Mr Harvey on her ankle and…nothing more.

What happened to her ? Is she dead ? Is she in the coma ? Maybe she’s between the life and death…

There is also a movie, maybe the trailer will tell you more about the story…
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTZYYtUJpak[/youtube]

The Maze Runner, James Dashner

Today I’m going to talk about The Maze Runner wrote by James Dashner in 2009. The main character is Thomas, a teenager who wakes up in an unknown place, with unknown teenagers around him and without any memories. The others explain that they are stuck in a « block » with a door that is between the block and a maze. All night the door is closed and in the maze ther are Metal monsters who kille people in the maze. Everyday the plan of the maze is changing and the teenagers can’t escape. They are all amnesic and they don’t know why they are here.One day a girl arrives in the block with a letter that says « She is the last. » so no more food or people will be sent in the block. During the story Thomas and his friends Mino, Newt, Chuck and Theresa, they try to found an exit to run away and be free.

I read this book few years ago by chance because a friend gave it to me and I like it. Last year this book became very famous because a movie adaptation was made with Dylan O’Brien ( who is became famous with the TV show Teen Wolf ) in the role of Thomas.

The Maze Runner is the first of a serie of books The Test with four books : The Maze Runner, The Scorche Trial, The Death Cure and The Kill Order. The first two were adapted in cinema and the third is planned for 2017.

I love this book because it is very interesting, there is suspens, we want to know why there are in this maze? Why they and not someone else ? Thomas is an appealing character and it is also a reason to love the book.

And now I will read the other books of the serie because I watched the film and I am very curious to know the end of the story !

The Nightmare Before Christmas by Tim Burton.

The Nightmare Before Christmas is a Disney and Touchstone movie directed by Henry Selick, produced and co-written by Tim Burton in 1993. In this film, we find the love of black story, the fascination for the myths, and the defense of a lonely and misunderstood character. The movie is in first a musical comedy.It is from the ten songs composed by Danny Elfman as the architecture of the scenario is established. Although, some musics from the film was covered by popular singers, such exemble “This is Halloween” which had a great success for the famous Marilyn Manson (If you want listen the music, you can here ? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jU6iP0WLsU8).

The movie tell the story of Jack Skellington (the Pumpkin King in the Halloween town). He was preparing the next Halloween party. But the terrible Jack is tired of this repetitive and monotonous life, decides to leave. Then he discovers the Christmas Town. After this adventure, he returns in his home with an original idea : and if, this year, the Halloween residents would celebrate the strange celebration of Christmas ? I think, the Halloween town is the dark figure of the hidden face of American society is the central context of the film.

The Nightmare Before Christmas show an opposition between two worlds. This film summons two worlds, like Halloween that represents the “city of the excluded”, deprived, with ugly characters. But also the city of “good citizens” who represents all that is clean, perfect, everything is smooth and waited. These two worlds are opposed. First on a symbolic level : these are two legendary symbols of contemporary American society. Secondly, visually because Halloween represents the gothicism who opposes the Christmas sentimentality. The architecture of the image in the Halloween world consists of broken lines, diagonals, architectures and corresponding to the physical aspect of the residents. In the world of Christmas, the architecture obeys the usual horizontal and vertical. Everything is calculated on very rigorous and scientific bases, as the “mathematics” contours of the physical residents. There is desire to show that the unexpected is not appropriate.

At the end, of this super and amazing movie, a question arises : “Who are the monsters ?” Because the character of Jack (a priori the villain) is looking for something positive and his friends too. The “good”people, in the Christmas town, don’t want them, and don’t want learn to know them. Finally, we have a trap but also a moral lesson. It’s not because you don’t look great in the exterior, you are bad in the interior. You can look a beauty people in the exterior but really bad in the interior. The Nightmare Before Christmas is the perfect exemple.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42loWXWMntU[/youtube]

The Chronicles of Narnia, C.S Lewis (article 2)

Hey eveyrone!

So, I wanted to write an article about a novel’s saga which I really enjoyed during my childhood (okay not as much as I loved, and I still do, Harry Potter..). So here I am, presenting you an article about The Chronicles of Narnia !

This saga is made of seven books, all written between 1949 and 1954 by the famous C.S Lewis. There is an interesting fact about the writing of the books. Indeed, no one were written in the right order. For example, The Magician’s Nephew is the first book of the serie, but he was written in 1955 whereas the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, which is the second tome, was written in 1950. To continue, I’ll give you the others novel’s name, in the right order : The Horse and his Boy, Prince Caspian : The return to Narnia, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, The Silver Chair and The Last Battle.

The story takes place in  Narnia : a fictional and magic world were fantasy reigns. That is to say there are many fantastic creatures such as centaurs, witches, nymphs, fauns, giants, dwarfs, unicorns… And last but not least : there is Aslan the Lion. He is this world’s creator. All along the first novel, he will fight against the white witch who is reigning since a hundred years on Narnia. Then he will appear in all the books. Finally in the last one, he will fight against Tash, who’s consider as god for the Calormens. To conclude about Aslan, I will tell you that « Aslan » actually means « Lion » in turkish.

To finish, I will talk about the four brothers and sisters from the Pevensie family, which are kind of the main characters (with a short quotation for each one)

First, there is Peter, the older one :

"It gave him a strange feeling to see Peter as its present appearance : his face was so pale and stern and he looked much older. "( The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe , p.188 ) 

Then there is Susan :

" Susan could not climb higher than the second big branch . One of his legs dangling , and his foot was only a few centimeters of chattering teeth , ready to devour her... "( The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe , p.139 )

Now there is Edmund, the former villain (you probably know why if you read the books or watched the movies) :

" Aslan and Edmund were walking together in the wet grass dew , away from the rest of the courtyard. It doesn't worth to report you Aslan 's words , but it was a conversation that will Edmund never forget . "( The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe , p.147 )

Finally, there is Lucy the younger and happier one :

"But Lucy was a small very frank girl, and she knew she was right and she really could not bring herself to say that. "( The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe , p.32)

I hope you liked it. See you for the next article ! 

The Maze Runner – Wes Ball

I’m going to speak about a very famous movie which all the teenagers know : of course, The Maze Runner by Wes Ball or more know in french with the title Le Labyrinthe. This movie is adapted by the first volume of the science fiction novel by James Dashner which was published in 2012. The movie was published in 2014.

When Thomas regains consciousness, he is trapped with a group of the other boys in a huge labyrinth where the plan is modified every night. He has no more memory of the outside world, except for of strange dreams about a mysterious organization called W.C.K.D. By connecting some elements of his past, with indications which he discovers within the labyrinth, Thomas hopes to find a way to escape it…

Every month, a new amnesic young man appears in « the glad » which is surrounded with the labyrinth. The doors of the labyrinth open every in the morning and close every in the evening. The labyrinth has 8 different sections which change every day : the exploraiton of the labyrinth is very complicated ! The difficulty of the labyrinth is also made with the mysterious creatures which are inside because they attack every people…

I found this movie very fascinating with many new developments, especially at the end… The continuation is also excellent ! And I recommend them ! If you like the science fiction and the adventure, this movie is made for you…

MARLEY-Documentary Film

MARLEY is an British and American film directed by Kevin MacDonald, he went out in 2012 and is a documentary film who traces the life of Robert Nesta Marley. It cumulates interview of the family and the friend of Bob Marley (The Wailers, Rita Marley, Ziggy Marley…) and archive image of the life of this great man who was Bob Marley. This film is stuffed of music of Bob Marley the more and the less famous. In my opinion this film can make you loved Bob Marley (for the little minority who don’t loved him). I advises this film for someone who want to know more about Bob Marley or just for something who loved this man. I will ending by say that this film is very spiritual and in my opinion that the best documentary and the more complete that I ever seen.

RASTAMAN LIVE UP

This is England!

Hi everybody

Yesterday, I watched very good movie, is named « This is England ». It is a Brtitish movie, written by Shane Meadows. The scene take place, in England in 1983, the story follows Shaun, a little boy without friends and affected by his father’s death, dead on Falklands War. One day, Shaun meets Milky, Pukey, Kez, Gadget et Woody and he get in skinhead current.

This movies centres skinhead cultures, musical, clothing, and the England in eighteen’s with Margaret Thatcher’s philosophy in opposition to the skinhead’s mentality.

I adviced this movie filled with history, accompanied by ska and punk-rock music !

Good Watching !

Eragon

Eragon is on of the books of the saga The inheritance cycle written by Christopher Paolini.

Of the genre of fantasy, This book tells the story about a young boy named Eragon. As he lost his mother, he was sent to his uncle. It takes place in a time considered near the middle ages, in a village where traders pass every year. Eragon loves hunting in the Shade, a huge forest full of danger. No matter what his uncle says, he is a stubborn boy and will always go and explore, further and further. On day in winter, he discovers in the woods a stone in a crater. It is glowing and intruigues Eragon so he decides to take it back home but will discover that it isn’t like any other stone. One night a horrible screeching woke him up and discovered his stone moving. It cracks and gives birth to a mighty dragon. From that day, the fifteen year old boy is bound to raise his dragon Saphira, to learn how to communicate with her and to realize that he is one of the last Riders apart from the king of the realm : Galbatorix. Discovered by the royal authorities that he was in posession of the egg, he is in great danger. He will have to learn magic and manage sword fighting by the help of his friend Brom and Murtagh. The journey is full of action, overwelming and the hero is on the quest of discovering how to be a rider, to gain courage and overcome the dark forces.

« Ellana » by Pierre Bottero

Today , I’m going to speak about a novel entitled « Ellana » (an trilogy) written by Pierre Bottero .

It’s a fantasy novel with a lot of suspens and talk about a youg girl Ellana .
Ellana is an orphan and was raised by little creature in a forest , Then she left to see the world and living her life , she lived few years in a poor city with other orphan and she learned to fight .

One day she met Sayanel lyyant he suggest Ellana to became a « Marchombre » , she accept and she became the apprentice of Jilano Alhuïn .
Is she going to follow her fate?
It is the beginning of a great adventure . It’s a sad story and the end is very touching .

I have loved read this Trilogie because there are a lot of suspens and if we start to read we can’t stop and we felt the need to continue .
I recommend it for all people who like fantasy novels .

Gangs of New York, Martin Scorsese, 2002.

Gangs of New York is a extraordinary movie, directed by Martin Scorsese in 2002. It’s a historical movie of the history of cinema, for me, because the story speaks about the birth of New york.

The film have a slogan « America was born in the streets », and I find that is a very beautiful sentence.

I saw this movie in original version with subtitles in french. And it’s better than french !

So, the movie tells the story about a young boy, Amsterdam Vallon (Leoonardo DiCaprio) who wants take a revenge against a gang leader, Bill Le Boucher.

Bill killed Amsterdam’s father, when he was a child. And years later, he wants to find him and take his revenge.

So there are lot of wars in the streets, and step by step Amsterdam finds his enemy.

In the story, Amsterdam falls in love to Jenny Everdeane, and it’s so cute !

In parallel, Amsterdam found step by step a very great team to beat Bill.

After the most War in the street that America has never seen, New york can’t be the same.

? Sweet Honey ? – Cathy Cassidy

Sweet Honey

Hello everybody ! I want to speak about one of my favourite book series? called “ Chocolate box girls” ,written by Cathy Cassidy, a English women author ! There are 6 books, but, no… I’m not going to tell you about the 6 books, because it could be very boring…

Ok, so I decided to speak about «Sweet Honey», the 5th book of the saga. It was written in 2014,. Every book’s titles are cute ! For an example : “Cherry crush” , “Marshmallow skye” “coco caramel” or “summer’s dream”!

Cathy Cassidy is one of my favourite author, with John Green, and also J.K Rowling (Yes , the author of Harry Potter ! I read all of the book , and saw all the movies, I can say that I AM A POTTERHEAD!! < a fan of Harry Potter ) But, here, don’t care of Harry Potter !! (Although, It’s a really good saga !)

 

First, I’m going to  explain the situation ( which is written in first novel..)

Charlotte Tanberry and Greg have 4 daughters : Summer and Skye are twins, coco and Honey. But, one day, Greg and Charlotte divorce and currently, the girls are living with their mom. After, she met Paddy Costello, a young men, who has a girl too, named “Cherry”. They move in Somerset, always In England to live with the Tamberry Family. After, they created an Chocolate industry, called “Chocolate box”, and they make their chocolate themselves. It is a real success !

In every book we have the side of each character. For an example, in the first “cherry Crush”, it’s the point of view of Cherry, “summer’s dream”, it’s summer and it’s the same for every book !

 

But, now I’m going to speak about Sweet Honey, the 5th book of the saga.

In this book, it’s the point of view of Honey, the oldest girl (14years old). Honey is one of the least nice sister, because she is really nasty with Cherry, and other people… Since, Greg, her father is gone, she became an another person.  And, she is bad at school and disrupt the class. And now, she is out of school because she hacked the school’s website (thanks to her friend who is very good in hack) and changed her marks. So, his father, Greg, invite her in Australia, where he lives, in this way, she could be far away of her problems. She is accepted in a Australian school, and met Tara and Bennie, and she will become friend with her. Honey decided to create an account Spider Web, a social networks: it enables to talk with her sisters far away from her, in England. But, quickly, Honey become friend, in the social Network, with “surfie 16”. She doesn’t know who it can be, and little by little, this person begin to harass Honey, hack her account , post many things horrible in the page of her sisters, and make a bad reputation of her. Honey is desperate and she  looks who it can be…

Will Manages she to discover, who is hidden behind the pseudonym “Surfie 16” ?

 

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Yes yes, I KNOW it was pretty long… SORRY !

As I said, IT’S ONE OF MY FAVOURITE SAGA  !!

There is a lot of suspense, love, humour… Exactly what I love! I love read Cathy’s books ! Even if Honey, is a nasty person, at the beginning, we are understanding, because Greg, his father and Charlotte, his mother, are separated, and it must have been very difficult for her… In this novel, we learned a little more of her, because in the others, we don’t know a lot of things on her…

Honey is in fact, a desperate girl who want some love… Moreover, Greg, isn’t that good…

 

It’s pretty different of the others books, except “Summer’s dream”, because it’s talk about Summer(the twins of skye) who is passionate of Classic dance and want to be an famous dancer. (principal dancer) But she became really sick, and skinny, and can’t achieve her goal..

Summer is also a desperate girl..

 

I want to try to read the English books.. yes I know it’s really ambitious, but it could be very interesting !

At the beginning, i wasn’t not very enthusiast to read the first novel.. maybe because of the front cover…(which is not very… beautiful! Especially in English ! ) And the blurb is not very complete !  But, I read 1 page, and I found this really good !

I advise you these books ! 🙂

Did you read it ? Did you know it ?

English cover :

French cover :

Joyland by Stephen King

Hi !

I have chosen to talk about Joyland, a best seller signed Stephen King. He is an american born on 21 September 1947. Stephen King write again nowadays. This book was published on 4 June 2013 in the United States of America and on 30 April 2014 in Paris.

On the front cover, there is this sentence:

« Who dares enter the FUNHOUSE OF FEAR? »

PS : If you are sacred of clowns, just one word : Flee !!!