Chapter 25 was really interesting for me to read because I call every single speech a speech. There isn’t a fancy word or title in my head to describe that speech like this chapter mentioned. Learning the ins and outs of what goes into each speech in order for it to be labeled that way was something I had never learned before.
I watch a lot of Comedy Central’s roast specials, so it was mind boggling for me to understand that a roast is a speech. My brain understands it, but doesn’t want to if that makes sense. The section that I found really intriguing was the one about eulogies. They had the quick tip section at the bottom labeled “Commemorate Life- Not Death.” I feel like when some people write eulogies they focus too much on the sadness of the present versus the happiness of the past life. I wasn’t expecting the book to point out something like that, which was shocking to say the least.
Since I can’t write about every single section, I will definitely take away the differences in each speech and always remember the pro tip if I ever have to write a eulogy too.
Jodi Picoult is an amazing author. She puts out numerous pieces on devastating topics or ones that are hard to digest. For me this book hit every note, but I wasn’t a big fan of the ending. I just think I cared too much about some of the characters. The one thing that always makes Jodi Picoult such a good author, is the way she can fluctuate between each character’s perspective and still make the storyline cohesive.
I have yet to meet someone who is not a fan of Jodi Picoult books. Her topics are everything I want to cover as an aspiring author and keep it as real and honest as she does at all.
Reviews:
Many people on GoodReads leave highly rated reviews. Here are what some people have said about this novel:
I haven’t read a book affected me so deeply, shook me to the core, made me scream! The high tension story telling of school shootings, the earth shattering, soul shaking events aftermath the tragedy, all those young people’s intense traumas, thought provoking perspectives, shocking revelations!
This was an incredible book! I was so engrossed in it and the ending..Oh my! I absolutely find this book devastating and fascinating. This is easily my new favorite Jodi Picoult book. It is sad and eye opening on the truth and expanse of bullying. Once again Picoult weaves in a story of more controversial topics and slays it.
Wow! This book really makes you think!! I suggest it to everyone!
Exceptionally written novel that shows us what’s in the mind of a fictional school shooter, what led him to commit the crime, and how his actions affect the lives of his family and friends. Picoult is a master at character development.
Although most of them are positive reviews, there are also some extremely ones:
This is what I have come to understand about Jodi Picoult. She takes a controversial or emotionally-charged topic. School shootings. Childhood leukemia. Amish people. Then she centers that topic around terribly cliched characters and cranks the schmaltz meter to 11.
Is there a shelf for a book I have to stop reading because I can’t stand something about it? In this case, that the writer is a machine that swallows magazines whole and spews out a topic of the month.
I’ve only read a couple of Picoult’s books, and quite frankly didn’t like them. I decided to read this one as I have a bit of a strange fascination with the incidences of school shootings, and although I wasn’t expecting anything great my lowered expectations still didn’t elevate my opinion of this novel.
You know what I HATE about Jodi Picoult? She always has a FANTASTIC plot idea, and then screws the whole thing up by tying everything up with a freaking pretty bow for the last 20 pages of the book.
It’s very obvious that the reviews for this novel are extremely mixed. There are some reviews that strictly bash Jodi Picoult instead of the novel itself, but each to their own.
Columbine:
Like previously mentioned, Picoult did a lot of information hunting before writing this novel. She investigated the Columbine shooting and reached out to parents as a means of understanding the problem as much as she could.
Columbine was one of the first school shooting massacres that devastated the world. There are still terrifying and shocking videos of the two kids in the cafeteria that circle the web from the day of the shooting. To read more about Columbine in depth, you can visit Columbine High School Shooting on the History webpage.
Here are some facts that I can give. It happened on April 20th, 1999 in Littleton, Colorado. Two kids, Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris, sadly murdered 13 children and wounded 20 other individuals. During the 10 year anniversary of the tragic event, several parents spoke out to honor the fallen and some parents even created TED talks to others who have faced similar events on how to cope.
School Shootings:
This country has a serious problem when it comes to school shootings, and mass shootings in general. Over quarantine in 2020, it was the only year where school shootings did not happen.
CNN created an amazing article about the cold hearted facts and numbers of school shootings over the years. Their headline was “10 Years, 180 School Shootings, 356 Victims.” Some people like to argue that over ten years, that really isn’t that big of a number, but it indeed is. CNN’s article provides detailed graphs and statistics to better read and understand what has truly happened in the last ten years. They report that, “More school shootings happen on Friday and during the afternoon.” Again this is an intelligently written article from CNN that provides easy to read information.
One of the biggest reasons why some schools are targeted are because they are an EASY target. Teachers and other members within a school are not allowed to carry a concealed weapon, nor any weapon for that matter onto the premises. This allows some attackers to understand that a school is a weak spot. During my debate class, this topic was very heavy. Should a teacher be able to bring a concealed weapon to school if they have a license to carry? Now I’m not going to answer that for you, but otherwise think of it as food for thought.
Gun control is a prevalent concern throughout the past years. There have been several authors to write about it and it always seems to be thrown into some political debate. However, I think everyone needs to consider the damage that has happened over the last ten years according to CNN.
Final Thoughts:
For me personally, I enjoyed this book. I love that Jodi switches perspectives in her novels because it allows the reader to become more invested in each character. Even though some other readers may disagree, I thought it was a very powerful piece.
This book was brilliantly crafted, but one of the things that ranked it lower was the confusion in beginning. That confusion caused me to put the book down for a long time and not pick it back up. I hate doing that with books. This book actually peaked my interest because of the way it blew up on social media.
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Book Summary:
This novel follows four kids who all vacationed to a family house on the water each summer. They call themselves The Liars. It is never fully explained why, but you can tell that all the kids don’t really get along with their rich family members. They prefer to adventure on their own. The main character, Cadence, has a terrible accident resulting in a traumatic brain injury. She is diagnosed with retrograde amnesia and cannot remember the events of the injury without enduring a migraine. But what happened the night of her accident? And why is no one telling her?
Reviews:
The twist in this book is amazing, but it took awhile to build up into it. For me, I don’t think I would read again because I already know the “shocking” ending. However, even though the book is not my favorite, it touches on topics that I hold in my heart. On top of showing what it is like to have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), the author also teach valuable lessons about kindness and being in control of your future.
Here are some other people’s reviews on GoodReads:
This book has almost no plot. It is full of odd sentence structures and purple prose.
It’s true what they’re saying: you’re better off if I tell you nothing about this book.
This was, without a doubt, one of the most powerful and well-crafted books I have read in a really long time.
sobbing. sobbing. sobbing. so much love for this book, and its perfect, perfect ending.
This story left me defeated, but its tragedy was paired equally with an unconventional beauty. It gripped me instantly to the point where I couldn’t stop thinking about its mystery…
You can tell from the reviews that the book has some pretty mixed reviews. People either love it or hate it and there’s not much room in-between.
Issues Evident in the Novel:
The novel touches base on racism and classism with the Grandfather of Cadence. A man who really own cares about money and position of power. But for me personally, I think the book does an amazing job on touching bases on PTSD. Out of all the mental disorders, PTSD seems to be one of the most ignored in larger communities. It can be evident in anyone that has gone through a traumatic experience, and is especially heavy in military veterans.
PTSD effects everyone differently and the symptoms have a pretty varied range. According to the Recovery Village, PTSD effects approximately 3.5% of the population, which would equate to around 8 million people in the United States.
PTSD is one of the leading reasons as to why there are so many homeless veterans. Although PTSD can vary between people, treatment remains practically the same. It mostly focuses on cognitive behavioral therapy treatments to meet the best outcome. The scariest part about PTSD is sometimes you don’t always know you have it until one word or action send spiking triggers in your brain, resulting in sometimes erratic behavior.
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Final Thoughts:
People enjoy plot twists, in fact I think they live for them. This novel obviously struck a chord with the population, especially during quarantine, and that was one of the reasons why it took off so fast. Even though it was published in 2014, its fame didn’t arrive until covid came along with it. The one thing I can leave you with is; if you ask me about the ending… just know I’ll lie.
I think this week’s speech is better than last weeks. For me the one thing I can see obvious improvement on is the connection to the audience. I think I made better eye contact in this Speech compared to last weeks. I paid more attention to the camera and made a better connection through my body language and movement too.
I also did some serious rearranging and altercations to my speech because I felt like I wasn’t teaching anything in my first one, just describing Tahitian. So in the final I went more in depth in beginner moves and explained some important rules. I think that also adds another element of connection.
The only thing I didn’t like and think I can improve on is my movement. I was rocking back and forth a couple of times and it was really distracting for me, so I can’t imagine what it would feel like for the audience. When I start talking sometimes I subconsciously rock my body, which is something I need to be more aware of in the future.
Overall I see an improvement personally from last week, but I also understand I have a long way to go still. However, feeling like you improved helps you notice other weaknesses in the future.
Chapter 13 was obviously really informational when it came to outlines. I never knew that making two outlines would be more helpful then one, well at least I didn’t think about it like that anyway. I used this method for the Speech assigned this week to switch some things around and try it out. I don’t think I used a speaking outline in the same manner that they talk about in this chapter. They even want the outline broken apart to pauses which I find strange because for me I do that naturally after getting a read of the crowd.
I know that no matter what type of outline I make, I usually make a phrase outline. That way I can adapt my words naturally but still have the main idea written down so I don’t get lost. To me writing every sentence out is too much of a hassle and is overwhelming, while only writing a keyword can sometimes throw me off or mess me up.
You’re not dead, but you’re not alive. You’re a wintergirl…
Laurie Halse Anderson
Once again, Laurie Halse Anderson did not let this reader down. Truly another poetic, diary entry style novel that invokes emotions from every aspect. I think it would be safe for me to say that Laurie Halse Anderson is my favorite author, so perhaps my rating is biased.
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The main character, Lia, describes herself as a wintergirl as she struggles with anorexia. Her best friend Cassie died and now she feels irrelevant as her mom is flooded with work, her father is away on work, and her stepmom could care less. Lia not only struggles with anorexia, but her identity too as she feels like a ghost stuck in someone else’s shadow.
Several people have left very similar reviews to mine. Some of them said:
The writing in this book was incredible. Everything flowed together perfectly and it was more like reading a masterpiece than just reading a book. I’m extremely impressed with the way the author was able to capture all of Lia’s experiences with the perfect words, words that fit together so flawlessly it’s impossible for them to be described any other way.
They are Lia and Cassie. Cassie is a pretty girl who started battling bulimia at a very young age, and at the beginning of our story was found dead in a motel room. Lia is her former best friend who is still battling anorexia, and has to deal with getting weighed weekly by her well-meaning step mother, and also has the guilt constantly in her mind knowing that Cassie had called her. 35 times. Right before she died. Can’t get more powerful than that.
I have no clue how to begin. I don’t think I ever read a book that left me so lost, for lack of a better word. I’m numb and astonished and a heap of other feelings I can’t even try to begin to explain. I felt physically uncomfortable while reading it and I felt so so sad throughout it. Just, simply put, an overwhelming feeling of sadness and helplessness was always with me.
In a world riddled with made-for-tv, paint-by-numbers eating disorder cliche, Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson separates itself from the pack
Of course there are several more reviews and some disagreeing with the previously listed one, but Anderson’s style is not for everyone. To read more information, visit this blog. It’s set up nicely and easy to navigate. This story touches base on a serious topic that can make some people too uncomfortable to continue reading. However, it’s important to notice how serious eating disorders are in today’s world.
Eating Disorders are a psychological abnormality located on the DSM-5 diagnosis chart. They are a serious disorder that seems to be taking over the population rather quickly, especially because of the pressure on women through social media today. There are six different eating disorders located on the chart: anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating, pica, rumination disorder, avoidant/restrictive eating disorders. They all effect the body differently, but eventually they can all lead to death if it’s that serious.
To learn more about eating disorders, click here. It’s important to educate yourself on such a serious topic and learn ways on how you can help.
This is by far one of the best books I have ever read. I very quickly accumulated a liking for this book when it was removed from the high school curriculum in my hometown. This story is a beautifully written piece based on a true story. Laurie Halse Anderson, the author of “speak,” actually grew up near where I lived. I feel like that added to the connection I felt with this novel.
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This novel follows the life of Melinda Sordino, a high school freshman, chronicling her life in a diary format. As the story unfolds, so does Melinda’s depression. Melinda spends a majority of her time hanging out in a janitor’s closet as she avoids the eyes of a specific senior. This senior, Andy Evans, is Melinda’s sexual assaulter. At a party before school, Andy rapes a rather drunk Melinda and in the midst of sheer panic, she runs and calls the cops, leaving with guilt feeling like it is all her own fault.
This novel excellently portrays the mental struggle that victims face everyday. The writing style is jumbled and spazzy just like Melinda’s thoughts. That is what makes it feel so real.
Many people left similar reviews to my own. Here are some examples:
“I’m happy I did because this was one of the best books that I have read lately. Speak was very well paced and I never found the story to be dragging or boring. I loved the character development and Melinda’s voice throughout the story.”
“I didn’t think I’d be so gripped by this book but the author captures the pains and troubles of everyday high school life with such honesty and raw emotion that I couldn’t help recognizing half the characters from my own high school days. “
“Speak, to me, is taken more as a lesson than just a book. A lesson worth reading and worth analyzing every little detail, no matter how the writing is and no matter how repetitive it can get.”
“This is such an important book for the content and message it presents. The writing was fantastic and Melinda was such an interesting character to read.”
“I did really enjoy this book, even though the writing style was pretty simple… the plot more than made up for it. It’s such an important topic and I love that the reader only gradually grows to understand what has happened (mirroring Melinda’s memory).”
Now let’s rewind to my earlier statement: this novel was removed from the high school English curriculum because it was inappropriate. Is learning not one of the main reasons behind going to school? Why not focus on a beautifully written honest piece of work that will educate everyone about such an important topic? Perhaps if this remained in the core curriculum and students were exposed to the real world with the help of this novel, then rape cases may not be as high as they are today.
According to statista, in 2019 there were 98,213 forcible rape cases recorded in the United States. The year 2019 actually saw a drop as rape cases were on the rise for the last five years prior. Yet, no matter how much the students at my school retaliated, the answer was always the same: NO. It was always profound and they would sometimes cut us off before completing. If I’m being honest I don’t think they found the content inappropriate, but I think it is so honest that it made them uncomfortable.
Sexual assault, including the incidents above, can have a devastating impact on its victims. Although it can take years or decades for victims to begin to address the trauma and come forward to report the incidents (as we are currently witnessing), the rumors and whispers may begin the following day at school, in the hallways, and over lunch—even when some of the participants were too drunk to remember anything. The underreporting of sexual violence has been documented by researchers extensively. According to a 2017 report from the Justice Department, only 23 percent of all sexual assaults are reported to the police.
NAN D. STEIN & BRUCE TAYLOR
To read more about the above quote click here. This website takes a psychological and a criminological viewpoint on sexual assaults within school environments. The researchers from CDC from Youth Risk Behavior Survey say that “10% of high school students were sexually assaulted in 2017.” Out of that 10%, “females, 15%, experienced higher rates than males, 4.3%.”
With the use of social media, several movements have been made so victims can be heard. One of the biggest movements is the #MeToo movement that took off around the world. It allowed women from all over to feel like they were not alone and that people could finally understand them. To learn more in depth about why some victims stay silent, click here to further educate yourself on how toxic rape culture has become in today’s society.
This novel is a culture shock that exposes the world to how serious sexual assault has become in today’s world. The best part about this book is that, like previously mentioned, it is based on true events. These events belonged to the author. After seeing her novel take off and receive the support it did, Laurie Halse Anderson published a book a couple years ago about her own story. My hope is that as support grows for this book, that it can one day be used in high school education again, to ensure that this topic is not being hidden.
I think for my first speech, I had the actual speech memorized better than the second run through. I cannot tell you how many times I recorded the second run through because I kept mixing the two speeches up in my head. The first run of Speech 2 I don’t think was very organized and I worked hard on that for the second run through, especially because of the reading chapters this week. The comments also brought up my organization problem in my speech and repeating myself, which I think I improved with the final submission. I think I need to slow down when speaking because I noticed that in my submission. I don’t know if it was nerves or excitement with my object, but that was obvious to me.
I also think I was more serious in the final submission, which is something that you made a comment on. I felt like I was trying to hard to not be so serious, but it didn’t work in my favor and made it worse. Sometimes when I have a critique stuck in my head I overthink it and then it ends up being worse than the first time I was told about it. That’s one of my biggest struggles in general for me. In my opinion, the speech was good and it wasn’t weak, but I do need to improve on things still.
For me personally, this book is not very memorable. I am not a huge fan of poetry, but I thought it I would try it out anyway. With the poetry mixed in with changing point of views, it felt like a Walmart version of Jodi Picoult and Laurie Halse Anderson.
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This story is told from seven different perspectives: Violence, Cami, Rand, Ashlyn, Silas, Daniel, and Noelle. Don’t get me wrong, it is an intricately written novel with a huge message. But the way the author hypes up her own ending really threw me off once I read the last page.
The novel starts with a man accidentally shooting his wife, thinking she was an intruder. So the man sells the gun without a second thought, not caring about who bought it. The question posed throughout the whole novel is “The gun will fall into who’s hand?”
Will it be:
Silas – the member of a teenage white supremacist group
Ashlyn – Silas’s girlfriend who helps hunt immigrants in the white supremacist group (yes you heard me, I said hunt)
Cami – who is a teenage mother married to Rand selling weed on the side to make extra money
Rand – Cami’s husband who works day and night to support his family but has a dark childhood secret
Daniel – who has a stepmother who hates him after his mom gets sent back to Honduras and constantly lives with resentment towards everyone
Noelle – who now suffers with epileptic seizures and depression after watching her best friend’s dad get shot in the head over a road rage incident
After learning about all their pasts, it adds a bit of suspense and was extremely intriguing. I felt like Hopkins wrote nicely, but there wasn’t enough of a punch to her viewpoint. She hyped up the ending to be bigger than it truly was in my opinion. I felt like there were way to many questions left unanswered and a lot of fluff that wasn’t needed in the middle. I would have scored it lower if I didn’t agree with the overall message.
Although my rating is low, some people disagree which is totally okay. Some reviews given were:
“Absolutely incredible. Hard to read at times because of the subject matter, but absolutely necessary.”
“I’m always so incredibly impressed with Ellen Hopkins’ ability to emotionally wreck me. She is seriously one of my favorite writers. She always writes about something relevant and hard to read, always writes for the education and betterment of people. And she does it so well.“
“This was a really interesting commentary on gun violence in the United States. I liked reading from the different perspectives (only because it provided somewhat of an insight into the minds of real people with similar beliefs) of the characters and I enjoyed how they were all distinct from each other but connected as well.”
“Wow. She never fails to astound me”
However, an abundant of people did agree with me. Pretty much all the “negative” reviews do say that it is written beautifully, but there is something missing. Here are some examples of the reviews:
“Wow, what a let-down. “
“Thanks, I hate it.”
“Ellen Hopkins always writes beautifully. This was no exception, an interesting combination of both story and verse about race and violence. I’ve read almost all of her novels, but this one didn’t impress me, nor grab me like her other ones.”
“Before I got sick I finished People Kill People by one of my favorite authors ever (Ellen Hopkins) and I am just going to get this out of the way right now I was really upset and disappointed with this book and that is a totally new feeling for me with one of her books.”
I think the main reason why so many people picked this book up was because it focused on such a controversial topic. I congratulate Ellen Hopkins on taking a risk that some others would much rather avoid.
To read further on the statistics of Americans viewpoints on gun control, click here.
The controversy of gun control is something that has been argued about for years in the United States. This books demonstrates just how easy it can be to attain gun today, but tries to portray that the gun isn’t always the problem. I’m not entirely sure how I feel about this aspect, but I can’t say I can blame the author. Pew Research says, “Similarly, a majority (70%) says that most or some types of guns should be legally available for sale in the U.S.; just 20% say almost all types of guns should be legally available, while only 10% say almost no types should be available.”
The other aspect of gun control is mental illness. I think that’s what makes this story so uncomfortable because some of the characters viewpoints are extremely crazy to me.
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Although this may not be my favorite novel, it was interesting to read. It was easy to get through word wise, but really makes the other think throughout the whole thing. However for me personally, it will not be a book that I pick up again.
The first thing with chapter 11 that I immediately noticed was that I should go back and fix my outline for my speech. I think in my outline it was missing the correct form for the sub-points and main points. The one quote that I will take with me not only through this class, but also in life is, “In essence, the introduction of a speech tells listeners where they are going, the body takes them there, and the conclusion lets them know the journey has ended” (78). Speeches are similar to essays, but they are also completely different as well.
After reading this chapter, I also realized that I need to work on my transitions. This is also something that I tend to struggle with in my school essays, but is a whole new level when just talking to people in general. Sometimes in my speeches I tend to “squirrel” and start going off track. This chapter was really helpful especially when it gave a list of possible transitions to use for our speeches in the future.
Chapter 12:
First off, I really enjoy the checklists in this book because they are more helpful then I thought they would be. Also this chapter has made me realize that there is a lot more that goes into speeches than what I have been putting in. I didn’t know that there were so many different types of organizational rules for various speech genres. The one quote in this chapter that stuck out to me was, “Whatever the structure, simply telling a story is no guarantee of giving a good speech” (95). Sometimes if I am unsure of my organization, I solely rely on my presentation. But I have learned through this chapter that that doesn’t ensure that the audience will take away what I am trying to voice. Organization is much more important to speeches than I thought and I will definitely be looking back at this chapter for guidance in the future for more speeches.
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