Reading Response on "The Pact"

          The suspenseful book The Pact by Jodi Picoult the main characters are Emily Gold and Christopher Harte. Both of them grew up together because they were neighbors and both of their parents were really good friends. Christopher was only a few months older that Emily. When Emily was thirteen, Christopher and her relationship evolved into something more that just friends. Right before both of them were going to apply to college Emily got pregnant but she didn't tell Christopher. She thought that this baby would get in the way of her dreams and Emily was the kind of person who wanted to have everything perfect. When she figured out that the baby would not let her be perfect and make her not go to college, she started to have suicidal thoughts. She knew that if she told Christopher he would want to marry her but she still wanted to go to college. Then she told Christopher that she didn’t want to live and he didn’t take it seriously at first but then he kept on trying to convince her to change her mind. At the end he left her to kill herself but he never heard the gunshot and then to keep her happy she told him to help her do it. Christopher gets charged of murdering Emily and most people think that that’s the truth but it’s not. Prior to this blame Emily’s and Christopher’s parents’ friendship breaks.  The author tells this whole story by telling one part from the present and then one part from the past. The way she does this makes the story even more fascinating.

            Jodi Picoult starts from the time that Emily dies than starts from their. After one chapter she includes a chapter from when Emily and Christopher were born. She went on like that throughout the entire book. Some of the chapters from the past were relevant to what was happening in the present. Along with that she kept on changing the perspective. This let you guess what was going to happen at the end and made the story even more suspenseful. All of this suspense was only because of the way Jodi Picoult wrote the book.

            That’s why this book was so interesting. The way the author wrote the book made you not want to stop reading. I wonder what path the author would’ve taken if she made Emily not die? Would she write the book in a whole different way?

            

Response on "House Rules"

         The astonishing novel House Rules by Jodi Picoult is about how one autistic boy, Jacob, goes through his life and how the people around him do too.  At age 18 Jacob gets convicted of murdering his tutor Jess Ogilvy. He doesn’t tell the truth to anyone because he thinks it could lead someone close to him to get into trouble and he probably doesn’t want that. He copes with everything but he doesn’t tell the truth but he avoids the truth. The way the author crafts the novel the story has a greater meaning and plot.

           The author separates the chapters into people with different perspectives of the whole stories. Those characters tell the story from their perspective and their emotions. Some secrets about the case are revealed throughout the story throughout the perspectives of many people. At the end the truth comes out to be nothing to do with murder and Jacob isn’t convicted guilty and neither is anyone close to him.

            The story tells you about the experiences of the people around Jacob throughout the whole novel. The author crafts it in such a way that the truth won’t be revealed through the same person who is trying to hide the false truth. It comes out of the person who is trying to hide evidence of being involved in the case.

Reading Response on Am I Blue?

People rush to figure out who they are in life. Are they straight or are they gay? Most of them are pressured by society who thinks they are gay. Inside the person is perturbed and doesn’t even know what they are themselves. They rush to make decisions and most of the time they try to avow to  themselves they are straight so that they won’t get pressured but sometimes the truth is that they are gay. They preclude the thought that they might be gay. Later on in life they know they made the wrong decision and they struggle inside themselves when people who are gay are taking the right path of their lives. In Bruce Coville’s short story Am I Blue?, the reader learns that you can and should take your time to figure out who you are even under all the societal pressure.

            The main character in Am I Blue?, Vince is the main character who is perturbed whether he is gay or straight. One day he gets bullied by Butch Carrigan and then he meets his fairy godfather who is Melvin. Melvin shows Vince how there are other people in this world who are gay. Through all of this, Vince’s status comes up a couple of times. At one part in the beginning it says, “ ‘Me being your first case. Does that mean I’m gay?’ I didn’t mention that I had been trying to figure out the same thing myself for about a year now.” This quote means that Vince is confused if he is gay or not. Later on in the story towards the middle it says, “ ‘Gaydar,’ said Melvin, stirring his coffee. ‘Automatic sensing system that lets you spot people of similar persuasion. A lot of gay guys have it to some degree or other. If it was more reliable, it would make life easier on us—’ I interrupted. ‘Speak for yourself.’ ” This means that Vince doesn’t want to accept that he’s gay because he doesn’t even know himself yet.

            So finally everyone should take time to figure out who they are before they make conclusions like Vince learned not to do. Vince went from rushing to figure out what he was to learning to accept whatever and whenever it comes to him. The reader learned to mainly take your time to figure out who you are and accept what comes to you. Like at the end of the story Vince’s thought was, “I’ve decided to save it when I really need it— m­­­aybe when I meet the girl of my dreams or Prince Charming. Whichever.”