The Hunger Games final book review

Two weeks ago, I had finished reading the book, “The Hunger Games” by Suzanne Collins. It was a great book to read. I enjoyed the plot and even the setting of the book. I would recommend everyone to read this book. It shows what could happen in the future if democracy were to fail. It also discusses about the new technology. I would like to have that type of technology today except for the super weapons. One of the technologies allowed people to have food whenever they like. I would totally love that in my house. Besides this book, there is also a series and I hope to find the time to read that as well.
    The book was rather suspenseful. “The Hunger Games” takes place about 100 years after the United States had fallen apart. Instead of a democracy, it becomes more of a totalitarian government. The U.S. is separated into twelve districts. Every year, two children (ages 12-18 and of opposite sex) are chosen at random from each district to act as a tribute, where they have to kill each other in an arena until one stands. One year, the main character’s sister, Primrose is picked to be a tribute but the main character, Katniss volunteers to take her place. The other selected person in her district, Peeta also is selected to be a tribute as well. During the fights for survival, Peeta and Katniss acted as lovers but Peeta really liked her. In the end, this act helped them both survive.
    Although this was an amazing book, it had a dull birth. It turns out that Suzanne Collins had got this idea from different sources. The main spark of writing the book was when she was surfing the channels and she happened to cross by a reality show of two people competing and the Iraq War. She basically blended the ideas and created the idea of children fighting to death. The Greek myth of Theseus also inspired her book and that is what Katniss, the main character is currently similar to. She also learned to feel the fear the loss of a loved one from her father because he served in the Vietnam War. The author's life isn't really reflected in the story. It was more of an idea that came up. I guess this also answers my next question what was the purpose of his writing this book. The reason why Suzanne Collins wrote her book was because she wanted to get the idea out of her mind and express it in her book and also to entertain her readers. She did not really have a life story reflected upon this book. It was more of an idea that had come up and was configured into a book.
    The final question that I would like to answer is if there were any flaws in the book. Well, it was such an amazing book that I had barely saw any of them but I had found some in the end. The first flaw that I would like to point out is that it is rather slow. I understand that yes, not everyone dies all at once but its just too much. There are parts such as when she was running to her sister when she was picked. There was just too much detail. Yes, it was a major section in the book but it is just too emphasized. I think that everyone gets the point. The second point that I would like to point out is the cliches in the beginning of the book. In the beginning of the book, it states: "When I wake up, the other side of the bed is cold My fingers stretched out, seeking Prim's warmth... This is the day of the reaping." (Collins 9) I guess that this quote might be able to prove both my points. Within the quote, it shows that the introduction was slow and there was too much description. The story continues on for two pages in my book about how she got out of bed and soon left for the woods to hunt with a friend. It became rather boring when I had first read it. Now moving back to the point of cliches. I thought it was sort of a cliche because it started out in a fine moment, meaning like that they didn't really do anything. There was the reaping, but the reader does not know what it is. They should at least explain it somewhere close to that time. Maybe I thought that it was a cliche because I have read too many books or watched too many movies where they start off as the main character sleeping and waking up. Other than that, I find the book perfectly fine the way it is. This book is actually a great book but only if you continue to read on the series because the ending wants you to read the next book.

The Hunger Games final book review

Yay, I finally finished the book that I am reading for my English class called The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. I enjoyed reading the book and will continue reading the rest of the series over Spring Break next week. Although I enjoyed reading this book, there are still some flaws that I see in this book.

The first flaw that I would like to point out is that it is rather slow. I understand that yes, not everyone dies all at once but its just too much. There are parts such as when she was running to her sister when she was picked. There was just too much detail. Yes, it was a major section in the book but it is just too emphasized. I think that everyone gets the point.

The second point that I would like to point out is the cliches in the beginning of the book. In the beginning of the book, it states,

"When I wake up, the other side of the bed is cold My fingers stretched out, seeking Prim's warmth... This is the day of the reaping." (Collins 9)

I guess that this quote might be able to prove both my points. Within the quote, it shows that the introduction was slow and there was too much description. The story continues on for two pages in my book about how she got out of bed and soon left for the woods to hunt with a friend. It became rather boring when I had first read it. Now moving back to the point of cliches. I thought it was sort of a cliche because it started out in a fine moment, meaning like that they didn't really do anything. There was the reaping, but the reader does not know what it is. They should at least explain it somewhere close to that time. Maybe I thought that it was a cliche because I have read too many books or watched too many movies where they start off as the main character sleeping and waking up.

Other than that, I find the book perfectly fine the way it is. This book is actually a great book but only if you continue to read on the series because the ending wants you to read the next book.

The Hunger Games book review

Currently in class, I am reading The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. The book so far is rather interesting and I actually read ahead. I enjoy reading this book and would suggest this book to everyone of any age but those that really don't like reading violence should take this as a precaution. At the section where I last read, it was a tragic end to a sweet character in the book but a fierce beginning for the main character.

The book's setting is in a distant future in North America. The government seems to be a monarchy because they force 2 teenagers presumable aged 12-18 from each district each to fight to the death in the wilderness. They, by the way, are chosen at random but it has to be one boy and one girl. The tributes, as they are called, have to help themselves to hunt for game and find water with the limited amount of supplies that they have. At least they are able to get weapons to protect themselves. The tributes also could have sponsors (unlimited) that support them by sending them materials that they need. I feel bad for the children that have to go and risk their lives. The main reason that they do the fights every year is because the Capitol or the government wants to send a message to the public that they are in control even of children. This is so wrong. 

In the present, if the government were to do this, many people would rebel and take over as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, the people at that time were not able to do that. The Capitol have extremely advanced technology. They were able to blow up any district that they wanted in a matter of days. They had mockingjays, which were a mixture of jabberjays and mocking birds, that were able to mimick anything that comes from a person's mouth. They were the spies of the government. 

After looking at how the book came to be, I was amazed. It turns out that Suzanne Collins had got this idea from different sources. The main spark of writing the book was when she was surfing the channels and she happened to cross by a reality show of two people competing and the Iraq War. She basically blended the ideas and created the idea of children fighting to death. The Greek myth of Theseus also inspired her book and that is what Katniss, the main character is currently similar to. She also learned to feel the fear the loss of a loved one from her father because he served in the Vietnam War. The author's life isn't really reflected in the story. It was more of an idea that came up. 

A great man, always a great man

I know that this post is still late considering the fact that Mr. Daniel Sousa had died a week. So, I'm taking the time now to dedicate this post to him and sharing my story about him.

Mr. Daniel Sousa... What can I say about him? Starting a few weeks after my freshman year at ASTI had started, Mr. Sousa came to ASTI to be our Physical Education teacher. In the beginning, I was like, wow he seems like a rather old guy, he might not be able to keep up with us. He told us that he was 89 but I knew that couldn't be true because he didn't even have gray hair yet. From that first impression, I knew that he was going to be a nice person.

In fact, my first impression was rather correct. Mr. Sousa was not only a nice guy, he was AMAZING. He first came to ASTI from Santa Cruz. He had lived from such a far distance. Nevertheless, he was willing to come everyday. He never missed days unless it was really important.  He understood everyone and never gave up on us. Yes, occasionally he might say a few swear words but these days, it seems necessary to do so in order to get attention from young adults. Mr. Sousa always pushed us to do our best and keep us active. He believed that P.E. was a time for relaxation since our class was in the afternoon. Last year, he allowed students to study for tests because he wants his students to be at their best. He gave us "free Fridays" where students were able to do what had wanted to do.  He knows that its the end of the week and that we students want to rest and enjoy the upcoming weekend. He allows us to use P.E. as a transition to it.

I truly miss Mr. Sousa as a teacher and as a great person. I wish that he could have lived till what he would have thought would be a good age to end life in.

Family History connections

After reading the family history blog posts, I thought that many of them were rather interesting. I pattern that I commonly saw was the pattern of some parent suffering in a certain type of way.

In Kristine's blog post, she talks about her mother's life and how she had suffering in her family. Kristine quotes from her mother:

"[My Brother and sister] looked down on me and wouldn’t treat me as in equal. Even my younger brother and sister looked at me as a lower person despite the traditions of respecting your elders. Still, I think it was the influence my dad had on them. They saw how my parents treated me and came with the thoughts that it would be ok to treat me horribly as my parents did." - Kristine Chin

In this quote, Kristine's mother says that throughout her young life, she was being mistreated by her family; even her younger siblings. As a method of escaping such tragedy, she decided to move out and attend college. She continued to life happily away from her family.

In Camal's blog post, he talks about the suffering of his father and some other person named Tom in the heavy rain. In his blog, he states that the rain was so heavy that they needed to get home as quickly as possible. On their way home, there were many obstacles. The final one that had blocked their way home was a four feet deep water that crossed between them and their home. So in the end they waited until the rain stopped and arrived home by crossing the river when the current was not as strong. Basically, in Camal's family story, it discusses about his father's suffering to get home.

In Shiyun's family history blog post, she talks about her mother's life. In her mother's life, Shiyun talks about how much work that her mother endured to continue to live on along with her family. In her blog post, she states:

"My mom would wake up at seven in the morning and head to school. When she comes back, she would be asked to do chores by her parents. Each of her siblings were assigned to do a different job. My mom had to take trips to the wells or to faucets to gather water for the family. For each bucket they got, they had to pay a cent. Back in the day, they had no access of water at homes. My mom took care of the water and took many trips back and forth from the well until she had eight buckets full of water. Water would be boiled up to take baths with, but most of the time they had to take cold water. When she comes comes back from school, she doesn’t have much time to do her homework. Most of the time, she just did whatever she was told to do...." - Shiyun

 Here, her mother is suffering because she stays home most of the time. She has rarely any freedom because she was being told what to do. She has to do chores around the home because her family members are working at jobs so she has to contribute to the family by doing so.

The connection reveals that we should appreciate what our parents are doing for us. In order to have a successful future. A person needs to be motivated into doing so and is willing to put in as much effort as possible.

Cycles in the Joy Luck Club

In "The Joy Luck Club" by Amy Tam, it includes interesting stories from four different families. Within the book, there are cycles. Some noticeable cycles are the changes where the mother and daughter tells the stories and how the stories connect with one another in some way. Well, I feel that one of the most important cycles in the book is about the connections between stories. The main example that I would be providing is the chess game story.

The chess game story first begins in Rules of the Game on page 89 and ends at page 101. In this section of the book, it first introduces Waverly Jong. It talks about her rise to fame. She begins first as a minor player in the streets. As time progresses, Waverly begins to study chess and began to beat others. She begins entering tournaments and began winning. Waverly began getting what she had wanted from her parents. As time progresses, her mother, Lindo Jong, begins to brag about her daughter in public. Soon, Waverly runs away but comes back when she was tired. In the end of that chapter, her family ignores her and she doesn't know what to do. Here, Waverly earns respect from her family by being a success but her family expresses it in a way that Waverly isn't comfortable with. As a result, she through her support away until there wasn't any left.

The chess story of Waverly Jong continues with Four Directions which comes later in the book. In this section, it continues the chess game story from the beginning in brief statements and focuses what happened after she quit. After quitting, she tried to scare her mother to beg her to come back to playing chess. Knowing that her plan failed, Waverly began to play chess again but the mother says that she could not just come play chess whenever she wanted to. While she continued playing chess, she began to lose and her confidence fell. When she was beat by a boy whom she had defeated a long time ago, Waverly quit. After knowing that her plan had failed, she wanted to gain back her mother's support. She didn't want to feel separated from her family furthermore. Nevertheless, after hearing her mother's statement about how she couldn't become who that she was before, she began to lose confidence and quit because she knew that playing chess couldn't change the past. The damage has been done and cannot be reversed.

Family Story

        During the past two weeks I have been asking my mother about whether there were any stories there were to share. Unfortunately, she told me more about her history and what her family in China was like. She told me that her family were farmers and how she had to struggle in her younger years of her life.
When she was still a child, my mother would be working on the farm to support her family while the rest of her older brothers and sisters would be attending school. She didn’t go to school yet because she thought that supporting the family would be more important than and education. At home, she would do chores around the house and cook for the family. At age 8, she had finally attended school. She was a clever student and was one of the first students in the family to attend college at China. She was ranked number eighth when she graduated from college. After graduation, she became a teacher at a school near home.
Nevertheless, my mother didn’t explain much to me. Then, just two days before the rough draft was due, I asked my father whether there were any stories about previous generations. Within a few seconds, he began talking about my great grandfather. Turns out, he was an important member of the family. All this time, I was asking my mother when I should have been asking my father. I never knew that he would tell me something that I was curious about.
My great grandfather was an important person, but not so important that he made it in the history books or in a museum. Throughout his lifetime, he had a wealthy lifestyle. He owned a share of a large vessel that transported people from Hong Kong to Canton. He started two Chinese herbal drug stores, one in Hong Kong and one in Oregon that are still in existence today. The drug store in Oregon is currently owned by my father’s second cousin. My great grandfather was a businessman at some times of his life. He had a job in Hong Kong where he had collected money from other people sent from foreign countries to pass out to the people that the people originally wanted send them to. The family received a minor share of the money given but there was a lot coming in daily so that it began to build up daily. Much of this delivering was done by horseback riding since there weren’t any cars back them except when my great grandfather had to cross the body of water between mainland China and Hong Kong. This was the reason to why my great grandfather owned a share of the boat because he had to constantly travel back and forth between mainland China and Hong Kong. My great grandfather had also owned a lot of farmable land. A lot of that land was rented to farmers so my dad’s family profited greatly from the monthly payments.
In this section, I thought that this  was the most interesting part of my great grandfather’s life. My great grandfather, while he was alive, owned a four story building with 5,000 square ft. on each floor. A person could just imagine that as a huge mansion. My father told me that back in the 1930s (when my great grandfather was alive), there were a lot of thieves since that police didn’t do much back then because the government didn‘t really support them. As a result, a lot of the thieves would come every night to our home to steal the belongings. Nevertheless, my great grandfather established a system to eliminate the sneaky thieves. The house contained a room storage filled with guns, mostly rifles. At night when the thieves came, a watchdog would sound an alarm alerting the family that there were thieves approaching in the distance. Within minutes, the family and possibly some servants would camp somewhere and aim and shoot at the thieves even if it meant killing them. If the thieves had common sense, the gun fire would drive them away and prevent them from coming back.
During World War II, Japan was in a great war with China. My great grandfather moved back to his family in Taishan province in Canton, China. The Japanese army was moving closer and closer to the South with everyday that passed by so he wanted to spend his moments with family rather than serve in the war. My father explained to me that many people including my great grandfather had done this as well. No one really wanted to separate from their family to go to war.
In 1951, about six years after World War II, my great grandfather passed away but not because of natural causes. After the world war, Communism was on the rise in China and Mao Zedong became the first chairman of the communist party of China. During his rule, one of his terrible actions is that he ordered the imperial army to arrest all of the wealthy people, in which one of them was my great grandfather, and placed them in jail to rot. The jails had horrible living conditions and eventually, my great grandfather died of starvation because the food there was unbearable. The family wealth was never returned and the family had basically dropped from the elite class to the poor class within a few years.
I think that this story has survived in my family because it was a tragic point of time within my father’s side of the family. This was the first time that I have heard any stories from my father. I thought that it would have only survived because it was not so many generations ago. My father knew about it even though he wasn’t born yet. If I had not asked, this story might have been forgotten and never to be told again unless there was some important event that came up or some tragedy. Before ever hearing of this story, I had always thought that my family were always farmers because of my mother’s stories. As mentioned before, I had never heard of any of my father’s stories. Finally on Monday, March 15 of 2011, my father has told me his first story about the legacy of my great grandfather. From this story, I basically learned that a part of me came from a family that was robbed by the Communist government and that all of my families‘ suffering were because of that government.  My family had basically turned poor because of it.
Although my great grandfather’s story had been tragic, there were also some upsides. This is why I am here today; in America. If my family had never known that Communism was such a horrible sight, my family would most likely to not have immigrated here. As a result, I would be born in China and the family may still not have immigrated here. To think further, if my family had not been robbed, my family may have not been together. In other words, my father may have never met my current mother because of the class difference. My father may have married a woman that was in the wealthy class. I would have been born but I would be a different person.