The Republic of East L.A.

What I enjoyed and what worked well:
I enjoyed the background information about the author because it also shows where the novel is from. This worked well because the background information about the author changing his life around from being a gang member is inspiring and interesting. This was a big factor of listening more about the novel.

What I learned from this presentation:
I learned about the themes of this novel which were alcoholism and family abandonment, and these themes were described well with explanations. I also learned a lot about the author, which I enjoyed and thought I worked well for the presentation.

Comments/Questions:
The audio of the author reading his pieces was a nice addition to the presentation. 

Winter's Bone

What I enjoyed and what worked well:
I enjoyed the long trailer of the film because it gave a preview of the novel. When I see a film and then read a book I have an image of how the characters should look like and what kind of surrounding they are living in. So the film worked well for me in that way so I can understand more about what the novel would be about instead of just speaking about it, and it will give me more imagination to if I ever decide to read the novel.

What I learned from this presentation:
I learned a little about the author, Daniel Woodrell and how he has eight novels. I also learned about a few of the themes of the book which were place and identity, poverty, corruption, drug abuse, and negligence. 

Comments/Questions:
I liked the ending with the extra information about the Sheriff and how he was distributing and addicted to meth.

Winter's Bone

The use of the trailer provide a good visual parallel to the story that we were able to visualize the situation and some of the characters and their environment. They all spoke loudly and despite obviously not completely enjoying the book, they knew their stuff and delivered a good presentation.

What I learned:
-Absent father makes main character (Ree) grow up faster than normal
- Law enforcement has no pity/ is corrupt
-Drug trade prevalent in Ozark mountain range

No comments

Buddha In the Attic /The Republic Of East LA/ Winters Bone

     The short book Buddha In the Attic was portrayed very nicely in the presentation. The book is about Japanese picture brides who come to America but are surprised to find that they have been deceived. The book focuses on segregation and racism. Important event that occur are the bombing of Pearl Harbor and then World War two is started. The novel is written in a novel like way and this make it beautiful in a way.
      The Republic OF East LA presentation was very well done. I especially enjoyed how the group played the recordings of some of the poems that the author has done. It is a book of short stories each one has a major theme. The major themes are abandonment of family, discrimination, struggle for work and money, search for culture and identity.
      The Winters Bone presentation was also very interesting. I enjoyed how the group showed the books comparison to the movie. The book is about Ree who goes on a quest to find her father in order to save her property. It was interesting to find out that in real life this place is so corrupt that the sheriff was convicted for distributing drugs. Major themes are poverty, corruption, drug abuse, negligence and the connection between place and identity. overall all presentations were done very well.

Book Presentation Response

The Budah In the Attic A very interesting presentation. Good job describing picture brides. I learned something new. Connecting the book to racism segregation and hostility worked well. Winter's Bone A very powerful and touching presentation. Connecting place and identity to the book worked just wonderful. Good job connecting your book to the Glass Castle. The Republic of East LA Nice presentation! Exceptional themes and connections. The presentation was very well prepared organized and smooth. I enjoyed it allot. Learning about the authors cultural background made the presentation much more meaningful and understanding.

Buddha in the Attic

The author of this book is from Palo Alto which I thought was neat. I enjoyed learning about picture brides and the Japanese internment camps during WW2 since I had no previous knowledge of that aspect before the presentation. The different aspects of the picture brides were very striking to me. It surprised me when the group mentioned that the husbands were often ten to twenty years older than the bride. I also thought it was interesting that they related this back to online dating since the meeting was not always what they expected out of each other. I liked this presentation because it was very clear about the time and setting of the book.

Republic of East LA

I thought it was interesting that the author was in a gang for 7 years of his life before becoming a writer. It is very charismatic of him to have started making whiting workshops for children to improve their writing skills. This presentation was developed nicely and had many examples of the poems the author wrote, which gave us a sense of how his personality is. His experience throughout his like has made him a credible author.

Tortilla Curtain

This book by TC Boyle included a lot of symbolism which is interesting because that helps the reader visualize the words they are reading. The coyote represents the illegal immigrants and the natural disaster captures the powerlessness aspect of the novel. This presentation was very well done. I am impressed by the author speaking 24 languages. It is an inspiration for me because I have always wanted to learn more languages. I liked the video because it gave us a sense of the author's humorist personality. I also liked the fact that the book is written from four different points of views because it gives us a realistic sense of what is going on.

Jennifer Government

Jennifer Government sounds like a very interesting book. I enjoy reading futuristic style books because it gives us an idea of what the world might look like in the future which is scary but also a little exciting. I like that the author, Max Berry has some background in networking which makes him experienced in the field of this future capitalistic society he is writing about. I thought that the way corporations go to war with the unions was interesting and outlined the issue of corruption which came up in several of the books we have read this quarter.

The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fist Fight in Heaven

I thought this presentation was well thought out. The youtube clips helped visualize the scenes the group talked about very nicely. This book touches a lot on different cultures such as basketball, the star people, and story telling which is interesting. I liked how they described Adrian as the hero because of how others in the book look up to him as a role model. I also liked that they connected it to a movie called Smoke Signals.

Winter's Bone and Republic of East L.A Review

Winter's Bone
I enjoyed the story line of this book about Ree finding her father to save the house and just the involvement of the police and how they are corrupt. I never heard of this book and it is something I am interested in reading. The group did a good job explaining each character and the trailer seemed pretty interesting too.  The real story included at the end may the presentation even more interesting then it already was.

Republic of East L.A
I found this groups author to be the most intriguing because of his gang involvement and now he has many books and is running for governor, he really turned his life around.
The themes seemed interesting with ethnic identity because I think many people have this issue and are still looking for a way to identify themselves. 
My question was in any of the stories do any of the characters from other stories cross paths?
Overall good job!

Buddha / Winter's Bone / East L.A.

The Buddha in the Attic: The background of the novel was explained very well, and I now thoroughly understand the "picture bride" concept and the horrors of Japanese internment. The material seemed well-rehearsed and dense in information, and the excerpt was helpful in understanding the content. The presentation maintained a good balance of slides and speech.

Winter's Bone: The characters and plot were thoroughly covered, and the presentation connected insightfully to Detroit and the American Dream. I enjoyed the choice of handout.

The Republic of East L.A.: The symbolism and the background were clear from the beginning of the presentation. The author biography taught me quite a few things, and I liked the speakers' use of anecdote, personal opinions, and audience interaction. The choice of excerpts and audio samples was interesting, and the analysis was thought-provoking. I would like to know more about basic details of the book -- is it nonfiction or fiction? How is it structured? What is the tone?

The Republic of East LA

I learned in this presentation that since it involves Mexican Community in East LA, Every story in the book shows different aspect  of the community. And the major themes of the book revolves around struggle for work and money, family values and relationship and search for cultural/ ethnic identity. I also saw this theme in the few parts of the book that my group read so I was able to connect that. The poems in the end is what I really enjoy because I dot really know how to write poems so I have great respect for people who can make them.

Winter's Bone

This presentation was interesting because they mention how the main character's American Dream is to be able to keep her house but the law  enforcement is taking that away from her and her family if they don't find her dad. They also shown extra real life example about a corrupt law enforcer officer who got caught back in 2011. I really like how they connected their book to The Glass Castle by saying Ree and Jeannette were similar because they had to grow up in rough situation due to unreliable parents and poverty.

The Buddha in the Attic

This presentation was good and it caught my attention immediately in the beginning since I'm interested learning more about Japanese Culture. The pictures they posted while doing the PowerPoint was really good because it shows how it was connected to real life experience. I learned a lot of things especially with how the "picture brides" received a photo of heir husband however that picture was taken 10 years to 20 years before. So it was surprising to them. It was like online dating. It was also mention that they felt like they were being raped by their husband and making them work. which is complete opposite of what they expected.

The Buddha in the Attic

They did a great job including the history of picture brides and the subsequent Japanese internment. They connected the novel to its history in a way that was engaging and interesting,

What I learned:
- Picture brides were deceived by photos of handsome young men
- After being married, they are exploited
- Mass removal of Japanese Americans after Pearl Harbor bombing -- completely rejected by rest of population

Questions/Comments:
Good job!

Lone Ranger

The Lone Ranger is about a tribe of Native Americans called the Spokane, and also known as the "Star People". Basketball is more than a regular activity for the tribe as it constitutes for a lot of its culture and background.

Jennifer Goverment

Major themes of the book are corporate greed, consumerism, profit over people, freedom by force, corporate warfare and greed. the book is about corporations that kill competitors and customers who buy products from their competitors.  The setting is a dystopia. Main characters are Jennifer Government, John Nile, Billy NRA, Violet and Buy Mitsui.
The presentation was well done and clear. I liked how closely related the video was to the book.

Jennifers Goverment, The Tortilla Curtain and Lone Ranger Review

Jennifers Government
I learned mostly abu the profit ver people and how this governement obly cares about money and will do anything to make it go in favor of what they want even if it means killing people off and slowly transforming people to consumers.
I found the video at the end of the presentation very interesting, just seeing it in real ;ife situation was shocking.
You can see the hard work the group put into there presentation and they were well informed about their book.

Lone Ranger
In this presentation I enjoyed learning about the different themes seen throughout the book and then how you talked about it then showed a video for each one, that was cool to see a visual. I was surprised about how basketball was so important in that community and considered a gathering.
The recommendation at the end was a good point and I may actually read this book on my own.

The Tortilla Curtain
This was the hardest one for me to understand but it does seem like a powerful book because of the themes throughout- inequality, racism. exploitation and identity. Its interesting how the poverty and affluence are distinctively divided.
The way the group connected it to Detroit and The Glass Castle was great.

Lone Ranger and Tonto Fist Fight In Heaven

The book is about the Spokane tribe (Star people) and how some of it's inhabitants deal with new Indian traditions. There are two major traditions that the tribe has, drinking alcohol and playing basketball. These new ways help the people who consider themselves to be member, socialize. There are two main characters, Thomas and Victor. A major theme is story telling.