Posts

Showing posts from September, 2015

The Five Towns

Image
The Five Towns  by Leslie Tonner The Five Towns is a very descriptive look at suburban life from 1950 to 1980. Three decades of family drama, prejudice, bigotry, rumors, gossip and community standards. Tonner has a strong narrative and point of view with the ability to tell more than one side to a complicated story with beautiful style. I was immediately fascinated by the everyday life of people within The Five Towns . There were so many different stories to tell from the Jewish family moving from the city looking a for a new start, to the gentiles who felt as if their way of life was being infringed on, to the pregnant maid who was struggling to survive while supporting her mother and daughter. The stories were there. The execution was there. But the stories diverged midway through the novel and never quite found their way again. It honestly felt like Tonner was trying to hone in on one family and in doing so felt the need to eradicate the other families from the story e

The Martian by Andy Weir

Image
The Martian by Andy Weir                  Do you like action packed, suspenseful, science fiction novels? If so then The Martian will be your dream come true. This novel follows Mark Watney, the only man currently on Mars. He was part of the United States Ares 3 mission. When the crew of six was forced to evacuate Mars, Watney was hit by an antennae and pushed off course. The rest of the crew was forced to leave him on Mars assumed dead, which makes sense because he had an antennae poking out of his side, so they could survive. What follows is his fight to survive. And he does put up a fight against insane odds to make it back home to Earth.                 Mark Watney is such an easy character to root for. He was very well developed and had a great sense of humor throughout the novel. He was imaginative and yet a realist. Watney always kept in mind how slim his chance of survival was and yet he fought against it. The question throughout the novel was whether or not he wou

Every Day I Fight by Stuart Scott with Larry Platt

Image
Every Day I Fight by Stuart Scott with Larry Platt                 There is a commercial for SportsCenter that always plays in my mind when I think of Stuart Scott. It’s him and Scott Van Pelt, they’re in suits hyping each other up, acting like they are about to run out on the field instead of on to a set. Right before their segment starts they rip off their suits, that breakaway like basketball warm-ups, to reveal their real suits. They walk on to the set, have their seats and begin their segment. I loved it. It’s still one of my favorite commercials of all time and they are both hilarious. When I think back on Stuart Scott and the energy and fun he had doing his job I always remember that commercial. I don’t remember the first time I ever watched him on SportsCenter. He just always felt like a familiar face. He was always at the NBA playoffs and Monday Night Football. When I wasn’t constantly seeing his face, I realized that the worst may be coming. When I turned to ESPN