May 8th, 2012

Legend by Marie Lu; Review

by Madeleine Rex

Title: Legend

Author: Marie Lu

Published: November 29th, 2011

Number of Pages: 336

Rating: 4/5

Synopsis:

What was once the western United States is now home to the Republic, a nation perpetually at war with its neighbors. Born into an elite family in one of the Republic’s wealthiest districts, fifteen-year-old June is a prodigy being groomed for success in the Republic’s highest military circles. Born into the slums, fifteen-year-old Day is the country’s most wanted criminal. But his motives may not be as malicious as they seem.

From very different worlds, June and Day have no reason to cross paths – until the day June’s brother, Metias, is murdered and Day becomes the prime suspect. Caught in the ultimate game of cat and mouse, Day is in a race for his family’s survival, while June seeks to avenge Metias’ death. But in a shocking turn of events, the two uncover the truth of what has really brought them together, and the sinister lengths their country will go to keep its secrets.

Full of nonstop action, suspense, and romance, this novel is sure to move readers as much as it thrills. [From Goodreads]

Quote:

You should have taken me with you,” I whisper to him. Then I lean my head against his and begin to cry. In my mind, I make a silent promise to my brother’s killer.

I will hunt you down. I will scour the streets of Los Angeles for you. Search every street in the Republic if I have to. I will trick you and deceive you, lie, cheat and steal to find you, tempt you out of your hiding place, and chase you until you have nowhere else to run. I make you this promise: your life is mine.

Review:

Legend is the sort of book that grips you from the first chapters. Unfortunately, it also is the sort of book that feels as though it is simply background for books to come.

I found that I sympathized with both characters, but Day was the one who truly hooked me. Every action he took was one I could understand, whether it was the right one or not, and I approved of his motivations a bit more than I did June’s. It was June’s development as a character that drew me to her. It’s evident from the beginning that she has to go through enormous changes, and I am particularly happy with the outcome.

The world created in Legend does not vary much from a classic dystopian society. You are constantly aware of the class differences, especially between the two main characters, and that, to me, was the most prevalent thing that set this world apart from others. I’ll admit that classes are an issue in most dystopian books, but I have never noticed them so clearly. I enjoyed this aspect now that I’ve taken more history classes and can relate their experiences to those I’ve read about in my textbooks. The issue of class separation is an ongoing one for mankind, and this book illustrates that.

Obviously, it’s been a while since I’ve read this, but I’m trying to remember all that I can in order to write a review. One thing I’ve never forgotten is the relationship between June and Day. It’s destined to be a disaster from the start, considering how and why they meet, but you can’t help but hope that it will evolve into something stronger and better. This is one of the primary reasons I’ll be reading the sequels. I want them to work together without tension, distrust, and suspicion.

There’s a secondary character I absolutely cannot ignore: Tate. She’s a darling, strong girl that first Day, and then June, find themselves attached to. She’s a beautiful young thing with a very old soul, and the book would not be the same without her.

The plot moves along at a steady, though not very fast, pace. Naturally, the most exciting bits were toward the end, when things seemed so dark and a terrible end so inevitable that my heart started pounding. Lu did a fantastic job of making me excited to read the rest of the books, particularly because I have a feeling that they will continue to become darker, more action-packed, and suspenseful. Not to mention the fact that June and Day still have a lot of developing to do.

Lu manages to surprise you with a handful of lines that are intriguing and poignant. I love being taken by surprise in the middle of the page by a thought that strikes me. Both June and Day have thoughts of that sort, and those were by far the best parts of the book.

I’d recommend it to people who are die-hard dystopian fans, like myself, but not to those who don’t enjoy dystopian in general. You need to have a taste for it in order to really enjoy Legend. The alternative to not reading it is going out and finding other dystopians and learning to love them, because I can assure you that, however average some of them may be, they have a way of inspiring you to consider the world and people around you, and they also tend to have heart-wrenching romances and incredible action scenes (a few perks). Give the genre a shot before tackling Legend.

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May 7th, 2012

The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde; A sort-of review

by Madeleine Rex

Title: The Importance of Being Earnest

Author: Oscar Wilde

(First) Published: 1895

Number of Pages: 76

Rating: 5/5

Synopsis:

Oscar Wilde’s madcap farce about mistaken identities, secret engagements, and lovers entanglements still delights readers more than a century after its 1895 publication and premiere performance. The rapid-fire wit and eccentric characters of The Importance of Being Earnest have made it a mainstay of the high school curriculum for decades.

Cecily Cardew and Gwendolen Fairfax are both in love with the same mythical suitor. Jack Worthing has wooed Gewndolen as Ernest while Algernon has also posed as Ernest to win the heart of Jack s ward, Cecily. When all four arrive at Jack s country home on the same weekend the “rivals” to fight for Ernest s undivided attention and the “Ernests” to claim their beloveds pandemonium breaks loose. Only a senile nursemaid and an old, discarded hand-bag can save the day!

This Prestwick House Literary Touchstone Edition includes a glossary and reader’s notes to help the modern reader appreciate Wilde’s wry wit and elaborate plot twists. [From Goodreads]

Review:

First of all: Long time, no… blog.

It seems I’ve disappeared for the past few months. Not simply from Wordbird, but from all of cyberspace, aside from the unnecessary amount of time I spent on facebook. Since January, I’ve been tackling homework in addition to extracurriculars, and I have been forced to put other parts of my life on hold – namely, reading, writing, and blogging. Unless it’s a textbook, it’s probably not going to be read. Unless it’s an assignment, it’s not going to be written. The same applies to blogging. Fortunately, my AP Language and Composition teacher has recently given us an assignment to blog, thereby granting me the time to return to the few readers who have stuck around. I am so grateful to be back, and even more grateful to find that not all of you are gone. Thank you.

And, finally, the actual post:

In January of this year, I had the privilege of becoming Black Swan Youth Theatre‘s assistant director of The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde, a play set in the 1890′s that is, as I wrote in a recent press release,

…a story of comical misunderstandings, strange coincidences, and ample mischief. The Importance of Being Earnest combines humor and satire with immaculate prose.

The language is the most fascinating aspect of the script. Every sentence is perfectly phrased and nearly poetic. I can recall so many lines because of the fluid way in which one sentence flows to the next. The fantastic thing about the beautiful language is that it manages to be beautiful and absolutely hilarious. My director, Susan Scott, and I paid close attention to every word and made every actor accountable for stating things perfectly because each sentence is such a gem.

Here is just one bunch of “gems”:

Lady Bracknell. Where did the charitable gentleman who had a first-class ticket for this seaside resort find you?
Jack. [Gravely.] In a hand-bag.
Lady Bracknell. A hand-bag?
Jack. [Very seriously.] Yes, Lady Bracknell. I was in a hand-bag – a somewhat large, black leather hand-bag, with handles to it an ordinary hand-bag in fact.
Lady Bracknell. In what locality did this Mr. James, or Thomas, Cardew come across this ordinary hand-bag?
Jack. In the cloak-room at Victoria Station. It was given to him in mistake for his own.
Lady Bracknell. The cloak-room at Victoria Station?
Jack. Yes. The Brighton line.
Lady Bracknell. The line is immaterial. Mr. Worthing, I confess I feel somewhat bewildered by what you have just told me. To be born, or at any rate bred, in a hand-bag, whether it had handles or not, seems to me to display a contempt for the ordinary decencies of family life that reminds one of the worst excesses of the French Revolution. And I presume you know what that unfortunate movement led to? As for the particular locality in which the hand-bag was found, a cloak-room at a railway station might serve to conceal a social indiscretion – has probably, indeed, been used for that purpose before now-but it could hardly be regarded as an assured basis for a recognized position in good society.
Jack. May I ask you then what you would advise me to do? I need hardly say I would do anything in the world to ensure Gwendolens happiness.
Lady Bracknell. I would strongly advise you, Mr. Worthing, to try and acquire some relations as soon as possible, and to make a definite effort to produce at any rate one parent, of either sex, before the season is quite over.

Of course, that excerpt is rather confusing out of context, but it gives you an idea of the cleverness I’m talking about. The satiric story that Oscar Wilde crafts is the sort that makes you savor every word and chuckle at every comment. I was thrilled to work with such a magnificent piece of literature.

Furthermore, The Importance of Being Earnest is the first play I’ve participated in. After the performances in early March (we had a mere month and a half to pull it together), no one wanted to let it go. Naturally, we were all ecstatic when Susan told us we’d be taking the play to the Hollywood Fringe Festival in June. If you’re interested in seeing it, take a look here. I would love to meet you!

But back to the play…

Perhaps the most remarkable thing about the story is the attachment a reader has to all the characters. This rascally, ridiculous bunch become irresistibly endearing, despite their less admirable qualities: pride, arrogance, ignorance, etc. Though Wilde intended to criticize (with a smile!) the upper classes of 19th Century England, he did so in a way that does not make them seem blatantly terrible. I appreciated this acknowledgment that, well, not everybody can be all that bad. Algernon Moncrieff, in particular, is a silly, cocky man, but anyone who sees or reads the play will absolutely adore him. Here’s a peak at Algy’s fantastic silliness:

Cecily. I can’t understand how you are here at all. Uncle Jack won’t be back till Monday afternoon.
Algernon. That is a great disappointment. I am obliged to go up by the first train on Monday morning. I have a business appointment that I am anxious… to miss?
Cecily. Couldn’t you miss it anywhere but in London?
Algernon. No: the appointment is in London.
Cecily. Well, I know, of course, how important it is not to keep a business engagement, if one wants to retain any sense of the beauty of life, but still I think you had better wait till Uncle Jack arrives. I know he wants to speak to you about your emigrating.
Algernon. About my what?
Cecily. Your emigrating. He has gone up to buy your outfit.
Algernon. I certainly wouldn’t let Jack buy my outfit. He has no taste in neckties at all.
Cecily. I don’t think you will require neckties. Uncle Jack is sending you to Australia.
Algernon. Australia! I’d sooner die.
Cecily. Well, he said at dinner on Wednesday night, that you would have to choose between this world, the next world, and Australia.
Algernon. Oh, well! The accounts I have received of Australia and the next world, are not particularly encouraging. This world is good enough for me, cousin Cecily.
Cecily. Yes, but are you good enough for it?
Algernon. I’m afraid I’m not that.

Come to think of it, Cecily’s pretty cute in there, too. See what I mean? You just can’t get enough of them!

I earnestly (lame joke) recommend reading The Importance of Being Earnest, whether you come to the show or not, because of its immense literary value. I can assure you that you will laugh on every page. However, seeing it performed (by Black Swan or in the movie) is a priceless experience. Wilde wrote the story for the stage, and it is only there that the characters truly become real. Participating in theatre has made me realize the potential stories have to come as close to reality as they can, and working with Black Swan has been the highlight of my last few months. We’re now working on Disney’s Mulan, a shocking change from Oscar Wilde, but still exciting and fun. Performances for Mulan will be June 1st, 2nd, 8th, and 9th.

I must reiterate: take the time to read this play. It takes less than a day, but it will amuse you for much longer.

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January 19th, 2012

Guest Post: In Praise of Writers’ Groups by Charlie Heathcote

by Madeleine Rex

Imagine yourself sitting in a room with six large tables wedged together, surrounded by chairs. You’re huddled up, your face hidden by as much as your collar as humanly possible without dying from asphyxiation. Your sleeves are pulled down over your hands and you’re twiddling your thumbs through the fabric. Your legs are crossed because you don’t want to take up too much room.

On the table in front of you, you’ve crafted yourself a small square, upon which sits your notebook, a plastic wallet of the first few chapters of that novel, and an assortment of pens and pencils because you don’t want to seem ill-prepared. Your eyes dart back and forth across and around the table as you take in the other folk around you, all with their piles. You can tell who the more writerly writers are because they take up as much room as they possibly can, with their words written in a large font on thick paper that you can’t help but be in awe of.

Yes, you’re at a writers’ group; one of the places writers go to realise that they’re not the only writers in the world. And that first meeting is always the worst. At least, it was for me. I suppose I better give some backstory here. I’m Charlie and I’m a writer, or, to be more specific, I write urban fantasy set in my home town; a boring, non-descript place that I actually quite like. However, as this was the first writer’s group I was attending, I worried that there wouldn’t be that many fantasy writers.

There is a big stigma against fantasy writers, and I thought that the other writers there would be writing mainstream fiction with big ideas and a narratorial voice that bounced off the page like soup off a spoon. (Does soup bounce? … It does now.)

I’ve always wanted to attend a writers’ group. Ever since I found out they existed I’ve wanted to share my experiences with other writers and not feel so much of a failure. I suppose I filled the gap a bit by going to university to study Creative Writing, but there’s a different feel to a writers’ group.

Some writers’ groups are for writers who have been writing for years, others are for those who just want to see what it’s like, and others have a kind of catharsis for the writer. All right, so you could say that they all fulfill this purpose: They don’t throw people out for being illiterate – they’re prepared to hear what anyone has to say as long as it’s not offensive. Writers’ groups are there for writers to talk about writing.

Writers’ groups are for poets, prosers, script-writers and lyricists. We even accept non-fiction writers. There’s so much you can learn from one another. One of the questions we’re often asked about our writing is, ‘Is it true?’ And lately, I’ve begun to wonder whether it means ‘is the work autobiographical’ or ‘is it true to the writer’. As writers, we all share our own truths, we have recurring themes and motifs because things run around in our head. Look at the Harry Potter Series, it constantly deals with the idea of deceptive appearances.

You may think I’ve gone off on a tangent, but I do have a point. Writers’ groups help us discover what our truth is. I’ve never looked at my work the way other writers see my work. I’ve never noticed my truths, but the group realises my strengths and weaknesses and helps me to progress as a writer.

We discuss our writing habits, and how we go about the writing process. We realise that we’re not alone as writers, and I think that as writers this is one of the best things we need.

So this is something of a short post, but it’s all I have. Writers’ groups will help you as a writer, and they’ll also give you a enough time to read your work.

Until next time, that is all.

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Thanks to Charlie Heathcote, my friend from Various Altitudes. Charlie is a great and enthusiastic writer. You can find him on his blog and Twitter.

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If you’re interested in volunteering for a guest post, click the page “Help Needed.” Thank you!

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