1001. First 101 stages of the Journey

The refusal of the call...

In the book "Zach's lie" that I previously read (I'm sick of blogging about my current book) his call to adventure is more of a force to adventure (making his refusal of call pointless). Jack's (the main character, also Zach) dad was a drug smuggler and is in jail. Jack doesn't know this and gets forced into the witness protection program. Jack's ordinary world is in absorbed  in his social awkwardness "I have never really been good at making friends" (Smith,p.20). Zach can be described as an introvert. He's good at talking to large groups of people but he's awkward in small groups. It's completely understandable why he doesn't WANT to. In the journey archetypes we've been reading the hero usually has the option. However, in the archetypal journey's we've been reading if the hero doesn't go on said journey than there is going to be severe consequences (e.g. Minotaur's continued reign over Athens). So he doesn't have a choice. It shouldn't be called a "refusal of call" but a "reluctance of call" because he really has no choice.

9. Ordinary World

I am currently reading "The Boxes" and "The Ordinary World" is pretty unique...

The actual ordinary world is sustained throughout the book (somewhat). The boxes are the "key" to the fantastical world. In fact the character has a very stressful family life... REALLY STRESSFUL http://www.ciprianginghina.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/stress-relief-2.jpg

So the main character's life isn't exactly exciting, far from it. But these boxes are an element of excitement in her life. She doesn't actually leave or "go" anywhere. All that happens is the boxes get opened and all hell breaks loose, but the main character doesn't leave what was previously her "Ordinary World". This is a surprisingly different spin on the journey that . Most "Journey" motifs involve the character going somewhere (even if it's just a dimension that exists within their world). It could be looked at in the way that her ordinary goes away from her. Her ordinary world is changed by these creatures. A very drastic change from the motif and yet it follows the motif so beautifully  that there is no question on whether or not it is, in fact, a journey.

8. The Boxes

     What is inside the boxes? It's a somewhat predictable question but a good one. The whole book so far is based around these boxes. These [unopened] boxes have something inside them that aren't very friendly. The main character's uncle is adamant that these boxes are not opened. The boxes look like they're made of seamless adamantium, but by instructing not to open them he implies that there is some way to get them open. This question strikes people's curiosity. If you can't know what's inside said box than your curiosity will drive you to things unimaginable to see what's in said box. It made Pandora open her box and it made Spongebob sneak into Patrick's house to see what was in his box. Curiosity is what drove me to pick this book out. It looked interesting and I wanted to know what was in those boxes. Once you start thinking about something, it can drive you mad until you find the answer.

2312421812

2312421812

This is my password to the wiki. It's encrypted so I'll pay 10$ to the first person that figures it out.

6. Charater Archetype in Mah Book

     How to Be a Hero on Earth 5

(By Eric Walters)

"I'm not hear to be friendly, I'm here because I want to get home" (Eric Walters, How to Be a Hero on Earth 5, p.43)

  

     This excerpt from my book is one of the main characters that comes into the story as a shape shifter. The reason I think this quote is appropriate for a shape shifter is because this is in one of the first conversations that is had between the main characters. I thinks it's not what is said directly in the quote that matters, I think it's the context. The two main characters just met and there job is to find a third person that needs to get back to their dimension. The problem is there are people who want to kill them so they need to be careful in who they tell they're a "non-dimensional". As they are trying to figure out who the third one is a girl dressed mostly in black comes over and says that she's from the same dimension as they are. She doesn't give any explanation about how she got there so you're "unsure of her intentions". Looking at the quote alone one would never come to this conclusion but in the context of the story it makes perfect sense.

5.Classic?????

A classic book isn't decided by a single person or even a group of people. Something is considered a "classic" when it is appreciated the way it's was originally intended to. What I mean by "intended to" is that something can't be classic if it endures purely because people thought it was funny because of how bad it is. Beethoven made music that's considered classic (not to be confused with the genre which is classical). People laugh at snl and skits like the schweddy balls skit because it's supposed to be laughed at and is called a "classic" because of it. People don't laugh at Mozart's music because it's not supposed to be laughed at, but it's considered classic.

4.This Reminds Me of...

"I wonder why I can't open the boxes? What is my uncle hiding from me?" (MLA Citation)
     This story is about a girl who is given two boxes and is told she can't open them. Her uncle doesn't tell her why but just says that she can't. This is almost a parallel to the story Pandora's Box. Of course in Pandora's box the box gets opened. This happens in this book too. They open the box and these bug-like robots get out and reak havoc on humans. The only significant difference is that there is nothing in the box that can help them (In Pandora's Box it was hope that got trap inside the box).

2. Mind "Shattering" Book Review!

I recently read a book by Eric Walters named 'Shattered' hence the title for this blog. post. I asked the librarian for an action book that got right into the main plot of the book. I haven't read any of the other books in this series but after this I plan to. It starts with this guy who needs 40 hours of community service to pass his civics class. His teacher sets him up this job at a soup kitchen that isn't exactly in a good neighborhood. I found this book to be very quick paced and exciting. I'm used to reading books that take a lot of focus and a lot of patience to read. So as you can imagine this was a nice break. Although the content was somewhat predictable it had enough twists in it to keep you interesting. Eric Walters does a great job at keeping the balance between concrete answers and blanks that you have to fill in for yourself.

3. Zach/Jack, Granger/Osbourne

"I have always been awkward around girls and just strangers in general." (Zach's Lie, 38)

This quote from my book reveals that the main character (Zach/Jack) is socially awkward around people he doesn't know. The protaganist in the story is not good at adjusting to new things. This is unfortunate because he is in the witness protection program. Some people would say this contradiction is classic, but I say it's lazy writing.
Because of the "lazy" nature of the writing I am going to assume that the plot will be very predictable. He'll end up getting the girl, but he will have to stop seeing her because of the witness protection program.

This was my prediction at the begining of the book and as I kept reading my prediction just became more and more likely.

1. Norman Cousin's Book Ecolibrium

"The way a book is read, which is to say, the qualities a reader brings to a book can have as much to do with its worth as anything the author puts into it."
- Norman Cousins

I found this quote on Brainyquote.com and I think it is very relevant to books and people reading them. This quote says a lot to me because I've known people in the past who have read a book off of my recommendation that ended up abandoning it because they don't find it very interesting. I think a lot of it has to do with a readers pre-conceived notion on what the book is going to be like. I believe that if you don't constantly keep an open mind towards different writing styles and genres then you can never really get into books. If you think "This probably won't be good but I'll read it anyway" than you will never enjoy it. Rather, you should keep an open mind towards it and constantly expect the book to start to get interesting because most of the time, it will.