Saturday, January 18, 2014

Hate List by Jennifer Brown

Hate List 

This book..... I don't know where to begin. I really disliked this book while I was first reading it because I felt like the story just told the same things over and over again. The main protagonist, Valerie,  also annoyed me a lot. I felt like she didn't know if she wanted people to hate her or feel sorry for her. I also felt like she wanted people to feel sorry for Nick too. I mean common he shot up the school, and killed and injured so many people. HE SHOT HER FOR PETES SEACK!!!!!! I don't know why but it just bugged me so much. With this book I'm going to be jumping back and forth between topics because there's a lot of this emotionally that I did not like at all about this book. 

First off I don't realize how she didn't see the signs leading up to the shooting. Why in the world would she even think about the stuff that she talked about with him. For example, talking about the people you hate dying in a mall. I mean common at least if you wanna talk about someone you hate like that talk about face to face not online, that was one of the most stupidest things she could have ever done. UGHHHH!!!!!! She just makes me so mad at the choices she's made. 

The thing that made me the most mad in this novel was her dad. I just wanted him to die so badly so many different times god I hate that man. I feel that he wasn't a true father at all the didn't care about her at all. For example, when he kept telling her mom that she needed to go back to the physic war. I just wanted to punch him in the face. The other part about him that I hated was when I found out that he was having an affair with his assistant. First off I thought that was so cliche. I mean seriously the  dad that falls in love with the assistant. But anyhoo, the way that Val found out that her dad was having an affair was heart breaking. And the fact that he doesn't even say sorry for it. I mean are you kidding me what kid of father does that to their own flesh and blood. The final thing that drove me over the edge with him was when he came to pick her up from the party, and was talking about how bad of a person she is. Then threatened to kick her out of the house. I mean seriously man, you don't even live in that house anymore so how are you going to kick her out. I just would have rather not have her dad in her life at all. 

Moving on to the next person: Jessica Campbell. When I was first reading about her after the shooting I was pretty skeptical about her. I wasn't sure if she really wanted to be friends this Val or if she was just fooling around. But as the book moved on  I noticed how Jessica really liked Val and cared about her. Then at the ended of the novel the book just had me in tears but I just thought the whole thing was so thought full and caring and what Jessica did for Val it just melted my heart. 

There are so many other people that I can say that I liked them or didn't but that would take forever to to type. I originally gave this book a there stars when I first started reading it. I was giving it a 3 stars because I just felt like the first half of the book was so slow and that it was just her feeling sorry about herself. But I felt like the end of the book really got good and I thought it was a very sweet ending. I also enjoyed the end when Jessica had put Nick's name in the memorial.  So when I finally finished reading this book, I decided to give it 4 stars because of the ending.

Saturday, January 11, 2014

Divergent by Veronica Roth

Divergent

This book is what got me into reading again. I kid you not. I found Divergent at Walmart for only $6.99 and I just knew I had to get it. I started reading in the car and could not put it down. I dreaded very time I had to put the book down to go do something. I think that one of my favorite parts of the book would be learning about all the different factions: the candor (the honest), the abnegation (the selfless), the dauntless (the brave), the amity (the peaceful), and the erudite (the intelligent). We find out out at the beginning of the book that the protagonist (Beatrice) is apart of the abnegation. Once your 16 you must choose what faction you would like to be of for the rest of your life. You can choose to either stay in the faction that you were born in or choose a different one. The only major thing is if you decide to leave your faction you can not see your family again, because the motto is faction over blood. Before the choosing ceremony you take a test called the aptitude test. This test tells you what they think you should be. When Beatrice takes her test her results comes back as inconclusive, which means that the test has told her she could be apart of more than one faction. When this happens Beatrice becomes labeled as Divergent. Now she must keep it a secret because it is not safe, if people find out what she is.   During the choosing ceremony we find out that Beatrice and her brother Caleb both leave abnegation, I wasn't surprise when Beatrice decided that she wanted to become part of dauntless. However, I was extremely surprised that Caleb transferred over to the erudite. The way Beatrice described Caleb made it seem like he was going to grow up to be just like there father. 

          But moving forward into the book, we find out that when you enter your new faction you have to go through an initiation. I think that the initiation for dauntless is absolutely crazy. The first thing she has to do is jump of a moving train onto a roof (you've got to be kidding me), you would never be seeing me jump off of a moving train. Then we come to where Beatrice and all the other incoming dauntless must jump of the roof into darkness. But they do not know what is at the bottom of the darkness. Beatrice surprises everyone by being the first to jump off of the roof considering she's as stiff (abnegation). When she gets to the bottom thats where we meet Four. When she first meets him she decides to change her name to Trish, which I think is really good because it shows that she is ready to become dauntless. 

          Anyway I've been blabbing at lot but I think that Trish and Four's relationship was extremely cute but at the beginning I was getting really annoyed at Trish because Four obviously liked her but she kept saying how he did not like her, I mean come on no girl can be that clueless when a boy likes her. I also loved it when Trish's mom came to visit her on visiting day. I just thought it was the sweetest thing. Then we find out when her mom was a dauntless when she lead Trish somewhere else in the dauntless compound. One part that was heart breaking to me was when Trish was kidnapped and the fact that Al helped trying to kill her. I just wanted to burst into tears. I was sad when Al died, you guys might think that I'm crazy but before they did all of that, I thought he was a real friend. 

         Moving forward to the end of the novel, it was heartbreaking when Trish's mom died, I was 
in tears. Just the way it all happened and her being shot down it was just unbearable. Then when Trish shot Will, I just could not take it. I mean I would have done the same thing but Will was such a good friend in my opinion. I also just hate all these stupid simulations. They just make me so mad. I also think it's sad that these people are killing other people and they aren't even aware of it. I mean they should at least have the option: if they would like to kill, they can and if they don't, then they shouldn't have too.  But over all this is one of the best books I have ever read. I recommend this book to anyone. I also think that this book is a great book if you would like to start reading.