Tag: American Literature

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Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave

My Thoughts

What blows my mind about this book is how incredibly readable and accessible it is, considering the fact that it was written over a century ago. Frederick Douglass was a fugitive slave and a prominent leader of the abolitionist movement. While in captivity, Douglass worked hard to teach himself how to read and write, viewing literacy and education as his means to freedom.

“Power concedes nothing without demand. It never did and it never will… Men may not get all they pay for in this world, but they must certainly pay for all they get.”

The narrative discusses Douglass’s experiences as both a plantation slave and a personal family slave in the city, working skilled labor and paying his wages to his master. I never knew how drastically different the conditions were from plantation to city, and the book provides a lot of detail that is often lost in a general history of American slavery.

The appendix also contained an incredibly powerful criticism of how pervasive religion was among the Southern slaveholding populace, calling out slave owners on their hypocrisy. Everything about this narrative was just incredible, and it is a wonderful historical piece to study.

Frederick Douglass truly lives up to his reputation for having a gift for storytelling and his writing is powerful, I wish I could’ve heard him speak. He is one of the most admirable historical figures I’ve encountered and I regret not reading this book sooner. If there was one memoir I could ever recommend to anyone on the subject of slavery, it would be this one.

Warnings: violence, racism

five-stars
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Guns

My Thoughts

I thought that I couldn’t love Stephen King any more than I already do being a long time fan of his short stories, but damn do I love when he writes non-fiction. Guns is a no-nonsense essay about gun violence in America, focusing on mass shootings and the factors that contribute to them.

“Semi-automatics have only two purposes. One is so owners can take them to the shooting range once in awhile, yell yeehaw, and get all horny at the rapid fire and the burning vapor spurting from the end of the barrel. Their other use – their only other use – is to kill people.”

He doesn’t hold back and he talks pretty frankly on the topic. Specifically, he details the difficulties we have in America with political discourse (and the utter lack thereof) which prevents us from really enacting any kind of meaningful change. I wish that people both on the left and the right of the political spectrum could take a minute to settle down, put their differences and their personal pride aside to pull us all together, put on our thinking caps, and think about some reasonable action to make our every day lives safer.

King also takes some time aside to talk about his first story, which he has since taken out of print, a book about a high school shooting called Rage. He discusses where he was when he wrote it, why he took it out of print and makes a strong argument against the assumption that America is ruled by “a culture of violence.” This point in particular I find important as certain forms of media (most commonly video games) are often blamed for gun violence, despite numerous studies that dispel this myth. He also makes a pretty strong argument on the debate on where culpability lies: the person or the weapon.

“We’re like drunks in a barroom. No one’s listening because everyone is too busy thinking about what they’re going to say next, and absolutely prove that the current speaker is so full of shit he squeaks.”

While King is slightly leaning to the left, he takes a middle road approach to most of his stances and offers suggestions on what can be done, and I agree with him wholeheartedly. This essay was great; it’s a quick read and I would strongly recommend it to anyone with even the slightest interest in the gun issue, both those that are for and against gun control. Even if you don’t agree with him, I think it’s a good conversation starter, as opposed to both sides just yelling at each other without trying to consider compromise.

five-stars
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The Wood

My Thoughts

Winter hails from a line of guardians that protect the space between worlds, a guardian of time. She is raised to fulfill her destiny as another guardian of the mysterious wood, to lead travelers safely back to their own time periods and stop anyone that would use the power of the wood to alter time and space. However there are rules that every guardian must follow, because the wood was never a place meant for mortals. The idea behind the wood, the guardians, and the magic system in this novel is truly unique and I enjoyed the world building. The wood came alive as both this beautiful but also monstrous thing and it instills this feeling that it’s so much bigger than the guardians or the council that watches over it.

The book discusses several key themes that I thought were presented really well through the characters. The importance of fulfilling one’s duty even if their destiny is not something that they want. The desire for a sense of normalcy in any way that you can get it. Of dealing with grief and the strength of family and friends. How love can be this all-consuming passion that makes a person feel alive but can also obliterate the life that they have, how love can be just as selfish as it is fulfilling.

“It was more exciting back then, before I realized what this destiny really was. A prison sentence.”

Winter’s best friend Meredith was a little annoying and stereotypical, but I found her to be a necessary part of the story because she is a representation of “normal” teen life whereas Winter will always be an outsider. Now there is some romance in the novel, because there is always one when it comes to young adult fantasy, and initially I had gripes with it since it seemed to be a distraction next to everything else going on. I ended up giving in as the story progressed later on though because it was thankfully not a central aspect of the story and even served to support the discussion of love and duty explored in the book. It also helps that I adored Henry and appreciated that the romantic aspects were kept sweet, clean, and the characters really did feel like they were suited to each other.

I think the one mild downfall to this novel is that it is pretty darn predictable, you can guess the who immediately but then it also makes sense and, again, adds to the discussion mentioned previously. I think the reasoning is good too, since many books tend to fall back on the old, “Evil people are evil for the sake of being evil” and it never goes deeper than that. This book was ambitious in terms of the plot and the discussion that it tried to get across but I think it is executed exceptionally well.

I’m so happy that I stumbled on this book because it’s one that actually isn’t talked about all that often and seems to have gone under the radar in the book community. It is a relatively fast read that I devoured quickly and it was just such a perfect book for the fall season, this book is definitely an underappreciated gem.

five-stars
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The Quiet Boy

My Thoughts

After seeing the trailer for the movie Antlers, which is set to be released next year, I was excited to find out that there was an accompanying short story that was published for free online. I decided to give it a read and it made me both excited for and dread the new movie. A majority of the students that I work with are aspiring teachers, and this little story is every new teacher’s worst nightmare.

“She just wasn’t sure she loved being a teacher. Especially not here, in this town.”

Julia Grey is a new teacher that is participating in the Teach for America, a nonprofit program that places teachers in areas with high levels of inequality. Julia is assigned to a small town in West Virginia. She finds herself struggling with her new position in a depressed town, but her heart is opened to the poorest boy in her class, Lucas. Out of a desire to help him, and the seeming disinterest of the other educators to help him, she takes it upon herself to help him and meet his family.

The story spirals down from there as Julia finds herself in over her head. Even though some elements of the novel were predictable, it still managed to send chills up my spine. The atmosphere is extremely dark, and the allusions to the occult made me feel nervous while reading. It reminded me why I love and appreciate good horror, and prompted me to immediately pick up another book by the same author. For moviegoers looking to see the film next year, I definitely recommend giving this short story a read!

five-stars