So, the Native Speaker. I think that I liked this bgook so much because it was finally about something I can relate to! I am going to be a Speech Pathologist and I finally can get something. The book as a whole, I found to be somewhat confusing. The time jumps and the story changes. The thing I really didn’t like was that the author jsut assumed that we knew what he was talking about. For example, the author starts the book by talking about his son Mitt and how he misses him blah blah. Well, the reader is thinking why does he miss him? Is he dead? How did he die? Not to mention this narrator takes his dear sweet time telling us stuff. In a way he reminds me of Benjy (remember that guy from TSATF?!?!?) He thinks of one thing and that reminds him of something else which brings him to another story all together and then that story takes him back to when he was five and when he was five he loved ice cream and ooo speaking of vanilla, my mom used to smell like that…. GRRRRRR!!! Get to the point already. I used to think that the longer the book the more complex it was and I would completly shy away from it. Do you know what this class has taught me?!?!? Not that the thicker the boko the more complex, it taught me that the thicker the book the more bull the author is using to fill up space!!!!! Now I am sure that this is not true for every book.. Believe me, I tried to get through A Tale of Two Cities in high school and that was confusing and complex, but for goodness sakes!!!! Why the hell are all these authors so completly out of their minds?!?!?!?!?!?! Lets kill everyone and make everyones life miserable. This is the first novel we have read in this class that has had somewhat of a happy ending. I suppose, that this was my most favorite book!!! Thanks everyone for listening to me rant and rave all semester… I can honestly say that I will miss this class and everyone in it!!!!! MUAHS!!!!!!!
April 26, 2007 at 1:02 am
I agree with you about the time jumps in the book especially in the beginning but I think that as the book goes on that the narrator tells us more information and that is how the author constructs his structure of the book. I was glad that we get a happy ending for Henry and Lelia.
April 26, 2007 at 8:58 pm
haha well i never really thought of comparing this book to the sound and the fury until i read your blog post..b/c your right the author does make times jumps and then thinks about one thing that brings him to the next and its just so frustrating!!! especially because the author does assume you know what the heck he is talking about. and i too did enjoy how different this book has been from the others that we have read
April 29, 2007 at 8:18 pm
Yay, you finally have a book you can relate to! I must agree with you when you said this book was confusing because of how it jumped around so much. The flashbacks were what really confused me. And yes, an author assuming that we know stuff is never an easy thing because well, we don’t know it! I have realized a lot about reading throughout this course as well, and I have found it all very interesting. With these books that we have read, I must agree with you in saying that longer books do not necessarily mean that it is more in depth. I’d much rather it be shorter and more straight to the point!
April 30, 2007 at 1:34 am
I think numerous people in the class enjoyed reading Native Speaker. It may have started off pretty confusing and jumped back and forth between the past and the present, but the book really became interesting half way through the novel. It was nice to finally read a book where there was a happy ending with the characters. Henry and Lelia seem to work out their differences and go on with life. Good points, Amanda Lea! I have to say that this is probably one of my favorite books that we have read in this class too.
April 30, 2007 at 4:07 am
I’d also have to go with the majority with the fact this book was confusing because of the jumps and the fact the author assumed we knew what he was talking about. I would also have to agree that most of the stuff in these books seem to be just fillings. It more to delay getting to the point then actually telling the story. I think maybe thats why I really don’t like these types of books.