Journal Three - Nate Riddle

So far in my active reading between these two books, I feel like everything is going smooth. I have actively ready before but not an entire book. So, starting to get back into active reading wasn’t too hard. I still have a few times where I catch myself just reading through the pages and I haven’t marked anything down. This is because I feel as if some of the things aren’t important or that I might have missed a couple of plot points. But still all in all I am trying to get back into the habit of doing this and its actually very helpful. It helps me to understand the book even more. And it almost puts me into the shoes of the characters! What’s going well is that I know all the characters and the ways they act and all of the cities and places in both books.

In the book The House on Mango Street I would say that there are a few strengths in this book. One being that Cisneros keeps her stories or chapters relatively short and sweet and to the point. I also love that in this book her use of metaphors, both directly and indirectly. She always has one and most of them I have never even heard before. As Mr. Lohre would say, she keeps them “Fresh” and I like that. As for any weaknesses in this book, I would say that there are times when chapters are too short or small.  In the book A Long Way Gone there are some strengths as well. Beah is great at telling what he knows best and that would be his life story. He keeps us right there with him in this action-packed book always having to run and living on the edge. It keeps us as readers intrigued and wanting to know what happens next! As for weaknesses I’m not sure there are any that I can spot out! This is because I love this book and Beah’s story. The book that I prefer this far is A Long Way Gone. This book just has so much meaning and is very interesting to read about someone’s life during such a tough time.

The theme that stuck out most to me was Life and Hope. Beah lives this terrible life and has to hope and pray that one day it will get better and be reunited with the ones that he loves. He must keep his hope alive that this nightmare will soon be over. It’s important to understand this because we are luck to live the lives that we do and never experience anything like this. On page 43 Beah says “It was during that attack in the village of Kamator that my friends and I separated. It was the last time I saw Junior, my older brother.” Things like this are what Beah has to have hope for, he has to hope he will see his brother and family again and that sucks.