The Weight of a Human Heart: Stories

Simon Van Booy labeled this collection of short stories "Inventive, witty and profoundly human." I can absolutely attest to that. The Independent, a UK publication that I assume is a magazine, said of The Weight of a Human Heart, "O'Neill is... joyfully original with format... [in] this collection." Also very true. However, I do not agree entirely with Wiley Cash's comment on the book: "If someone asked me to name my ideal collection of contemporary short fiction, I'd point to The Weight of the Human Heart and say, 'This is it.'" While I certainly enjoyed Ryan O'Neill's stories, they got to be mildly irritating in their redundancy toward the last several pieces. 

How can I summarize twenty-one (somewhat) different stories in only a few sentences? That's a difficult task to carry out. But the summary given on the jacket gives one sentence on just a few of the stories, so I'll do the same here: In the one story that was more amusing than depressing, a gay man's wife confesses to loving his brother, a criminal, as she dies. A boy living in his comic books drives his mother to suicide by his choice to live with his cruel, emotionally abusive father rather than her. The wife of one of the multiple English teachers in the book has an affair with his top student. The neglected daughter of a drug addict and heartless writer of a mother cares for her dying parent in the story that gives the book its name. And now, an elaboration of my opinion.

In beginning this collection, I was amazed by the convincing humanity of O'Neill's characters, his brilliant feats of format and his touching plots. However, while each of the stories was a work of art in its own right, I was disappointed in the compilation as a whole as I continued to read and found that many of his main characters are roughly the same; fourteen of the twenty-one main characters are white, Australian men like their creator. Two of those teach English to foreign people as a profession (as does a female character in "The Saved"), three are aging, and five are writers of one genre or another, as are some of their wives. There are also three stories having to do with the genocide in Rwanda, and one member of nearly every couple whose relationship plays a significant role in its respective piece is unfaithful. Again, despite the fact that the individual stories are some of the best you'll ever read, the O'Neill's repetitiousness is... well, tiresome.

I should warn potential readers that several of the pieces in The Weight of a Human Heart include the following: highly offensive language (as in enough to make a movie rated R), affairs, references of the kind you probably want to avoid, substance abuse, and extremely dismal and distressing content. In O'Neill's defense, these kinds of things help a lot in writing something "profoundly human," but I'll admit that it does make for a rather uncomfortable read at times. On that happy note, allow me to close with a statement by Megan Mayhew Bergman: "The Weight of a Human Heart is refreshing, funny, devastating. Ryan O'Neill's stories break rules to great effect; they're adventurous, textured, full of heart. His prose is active and vivid; his characters are imperfectly real, out in the world and under pressure. ... [O'Neill's] stories are... deeply satisfying and offer glimpses into worlds readers need to see, worlds that are vile, beautiful, and utterly human." B

I Am Number Four

    Pittacus Lore was very creative in writing I Am Number Four. It is a book unlike any other I have read. It's science fiction with quite a bit of adventure and just a dash of romance. It's about aliens. So, if you like that kind of stuff, I would recommend this book. It focuses on love and hope, without being mushy. John is one of nine Garde children sent to Earth with their guardians, Cepan. Garde are basically the soldiers on John's home planet, Lorien, and have "Legacies," which are kinds of superpowers. Lorien was attacked by the Mogadorians and the Garde kids and Cepan were sent to Earth as Lorien's only hope of keeping their race alive. The nine kids can only be killed in order because of a charm. The Mogadorian have killed three and John is Number Four.

    John Smith is a new student in Paradise, Ohio. Henri, John's Cepan, decided to move there after Three died because it's a small town and the Mogadorians can't go unnoticed by John and Henri that way. John goes to school and quickly becomes friends with Sam, a kid obsessed with aliens and conspiracy theories, and Sarah, a beautiful and kind girl. Sarah's ex-boyfriend, Mark, didn't become friends with John immediately however. He enjoys picking on John and Sam, and doesn't know about John's superhuman strength, speed, or legacies. One night however, Mark goes too far and John uses his legacies to beat him and his friends up. Sam saw John use superpowers and starts to avoid him at school. John confronts him about it and Sam says he thought John was an alien. They laugh it off and continue being friends.

    John, Sam and Sarah all go to a Halloween festival where Sam tells John and Henri about an article in Sam's alien conspiracy magazine, They Walk among Us, that said the Mogadorians were on a quest of universal domination and had wiped out one planet. Earth was next and they were looking for human weakness. John and Henri are interested in it because of the accuracy of the story. Henri decides to research the publishers more and go to visit them in Athens, Ohio. Sarah and John's relationship progresses and soon John goes to her house for Thanksgiving dinner. When Henri doesn't show up, John starts to panic and goes to find Sam for help. They need to find Henri and keep the Mogadorians away from John.

    This book made me think about our planet and how amazing it really is. The book isn't really a "Save the trees!" kind of book, but if we destroy our planet, we have no other options. It's the one and only Earth we've been able to find. If we, like the Mogadorians, use all our natural resources too fast and fill our planet with waste, we will end up like the Mogadorians, planet-less and searching for a new way to survive. It might not necessarily include universe domination, but you catch my drift.

    Another thing I thought was well put by this book is that there are many kinds of love. John experiences love for Sarah, Henri, Sam, Lorien and Earth. They aren't the same kind of love at all though. His love for Henri is like the love I have for my father. He is devoted to his planet, even though it isn't really there anymore. I'm just glad there is a young adult book that expresses many loves and not just a boyfriend, girlfriend kind of love. After awhile of those books, I feel like I need to wash my brain. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy them every now and then, I Am Number Four just had a nice combination and I enjoyed reading it. 

    Overall, this book was pretty good. I enjoy reading, and I have read many books that I can't function or think about other things without finishing it. Kind of sadly, this was not one of those books. I mean, it was a good book, for sure. Maybe I had just heard so many great things about it that I had higher expectations for it. I thought it was just kind of "Meh." I would recommend this book to people, it's just not a top book in my list of favorites. I think I would give this book a B. But again, if you enjoy science fiction and adventure, I would read this book.

The Alchemyst by Michael Scott

     The Alchemyst by Michael Scott is an amazing story about two twins who are magicians and they do not know it yet. (Yes, just like Harry Potter.) These two twins, Sophie and Josh, are just two normal teenagers who have jobs at a coffee shop and a book store. Then, some weird, gray, dudes come into the book store (where Josh works) and is looking for Nicholas Flamel. ("Wait a minute, is he the immortal mention by Albus Dumbledore in the first Harry Potter book?" you may ask. Why, yes he is!) So, Nicholas Flamel comes about and starts to get terrorized by these big gray dudes. We later learn that they are Golems, not Gollum, and they are created by a evil Necromancer. (Person who can bring back the dead.) His name is Dr. John Dee. This specific individual sets off a huge turn of events that occur to Sophie and Josh that will not be mentioned in this review.
     For those who have read Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone, we may recall the Sorcerers Stone to be keeping Nicholas Flamel alive along with his wife Perenell Flamel. But in this book, it is referred to as the Philosophers Potion. (Get it, from the British copy?)
     I somewhat enjoyed this book because everything was really obvious to what will happen next. If you happen to be a big Rick Riordan fan, then this book for you. I suggest that you dip into a little bit of Greek and Egyptian Mythology before reading this. At some parts, the book can be quite lame due to poor choice of words. I would recommend reading this book to anyone who can't pick out the obvious.

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

(SPOILERS)I read this book and finished it about 5 minutes ago, and I have to say, I'm a little bit unimpressed. Though there still was a pretty cool arena fighting thing going on through the middle of the book, the fact that the whole book was based on the beginning of a revolution of Panem, it gave me the feeling of anxiousness, which made it pretty hard to focus on what was actually going on in the book, because I sort of figured that something really exciting was going to happen (like when Katniss exploded the force field) a lot sooner than it did. By the end of the book, the revolution was really only starting to happen, which bummed me out a little bit. I would give this book maybe a 6/10 or so, but the reason that I didn't enjoy it very much was, like I said, because I was having a hard time concentrating on what was actually going on. Obviously, don't let me and my negative book reviews stop you from reading it, because it was actually pretty good, and there is the third one which I am assuming is going to be a pretty good book. I'm actually kind of freaking out right now, because I was checking out some of the other book reviews, and they wrote a lot more than I have, but I guess that's because they gave summary's, which I don't feel is the purpose of a book review. Anyways, I suppose that I would recommend this book to anyone who read the first book, because, I mean, it's popular and is supposed to be a must-read.

LOSER

Loser

By: Jerry Spinelli

Book reveiw by: Brendan Larsen

       This is a book is about a boy named Zinkoff. Donald Zinkoff. He is not quite your regular kid, but he is close enough. He is easy to make laugh. He is a gullible, but out going person. He is very kind. But he was also born with a birth defect. One of his stomach valves is up-side-down. This causes him to throw-up regularly, but other than that he is an ordinary kid. Another thing about Zinkoff is that he never wins. this causes him to lose a big event for his team in fourth grade. From then on, he will be forever branded as "Loser." And it will change him.

       I thought that this book was pretty good, but that it was kind of confusing in some parts. Eventually, you will come to understand it, but for a while, you get left in the dark. I didn't enjoy this book as much as I enjoyed other books, because it wasn't as upbeat as I usually like to feel. It still is a good book, and I suggest it to people that like half-sad, real life scenarios, but if you like all of your books to make you feel positive, then I advise against reading this book.

A River Runs through It

       A River Runs through It, is a novel about a family, the Macleans, and their adventures of fly fishing. Or rather, the adventures of the older of two brothers, Norman, and the younger of the two brothers, Paul. The story begins with a brief summary of the life of the boys at a young age. First,  their father was a Presbyterian minister, who tied his own flies, and taught others. So, obviously they attended church. Norman, also does not attend regular school like the other kids. He stays home where his father teaches him to read and write. Then, after all is done and over with for the day, Norman and his brother get to go fly fishing. Which is very important to them as a family. To them, "there was no clear line between religion and fly fishing." After the intro, most of the story is told by Norman, with his brother in their late 30's, in the Summer of 1937. Norman takes his rowdy and troubled brother on one last fly fishing trip, in order to set him in the right place, or set him on the right path. This was obviously the right choice for the job, as both brothers took to fly fishing as a sentimental cradle, for them both to bond and "be men" in.

       A River Runs through It, was definitely an interesting book for me, being that I am a fly-fisherman myself. However, I do think that if you enjoy a story that is heartfelt, filled with the characters saying beautiful moral values, that a human being most likely would not just say on their own, then you would very much enjoy this book. Also, if you are already reading a book and do not feel like starting a new one, you can see the movie, for I believe it is on Netflix.

      Spoiler Alert

            Mockingjay is the final book in Suzanne Collins Hunger Games Trilogy. The book begins right where Catching Fire left off where Katniss was taken away from the battle arena in an aircraft. When she finally gained conscience she learns that all this time she has been set up starting with Haymitch telling her allies to protect Katniss not matter what happens. She also learns that there is a District 13 and people living there.

            When Katniss arrives in District 13 she becomes the icon of the rebellion, a mockingjay. The population of District 13 consists of the people of its district and any other refugees that came from other districts. Their entire district is underground and no one is allowed to go outside. Other than hunting Katniss was required to attend training classes in order to learn battle skills and go into the field. She also has to participate in many videos acting as the mockingjay showing that she survived and is preparing to kill President Snow

            Throughout the book Katniss goes around to the different districts to convince the people to join the rebellion and fight against President Snow. After districts have been under attack, more and more are look to Katniss to help and lead them. Katniss later learns that Peeta had been rescued and was being monitored since he had been manipulated by Snow. When Katniss visited him she learned that all of their good memories had been changed into nightmares in Peeta’s mind. As Katniss tries to get past the old Peeta and accept the new one, she prepares to go the capitol and fulfill her goal.

            Surprisingly, Mockingjay wasn’t as terrible as I’ve heard it is. I know that the first two books were far better, but still this was a pretty good book. However, I didn’t really like how the first quarter of the book was where she was stuck underground in District 13. I understand that she was limited on the things she could do, I just wish that Collins would’ve made it a little more interesting to read. I am glad that she kept practically the same issues because I was able to see how some things are easier to change for the better than others. For example, it’s hard to change whether it is for the better or the worse. Also, I didn’t really like how the book ended, I know that there was really no other way that Collins could’ve ended the series. With that being said, I agree that what she did was a good decision and the whole series ended up great!

            In conclusion, Suzanne Collins’s trilogy has been amazing to read about. I have loved reading the series and I can’t wait to see what Collins will write about next. I look forward to seeing the movies and seeing how the book will come to life. For those who haven’t read this series yet have truly missed out and should read it soon. 

Animal farm

In the book Animal farm by George Orwell the animals of the barnyard are tired of their owners treating them horribly so they decide to run it themselves. As the orginal leader Major, a thoughtful old boar who introduces their new way of life animalism. While the animals try the new way of governing  one pig, Napoleon, works to achieve power by driving out the leaders. The pig who challenges him is snowball a caring less deviant counterpart. The leaders fight but to no avail, the farm falls under Napoleon's control with help of his nine loyal attack dogs. while he governs them by the terms that all animals are equal but some are more equal than others. With Napoleon as leader the farm plummets into a totalitarian government where their best horse boxer.
This book was a very thrilling play through of the early soviet union in WWII. It was very fun to learn about the soviet union in this book. Although i learned a lot I felt like it could have expanded more in detail on how it played out in the barnyard but instead it just ended. This is a very good read to learn about Russia back then but a little bit short. B.

Dreamland- Sarah Dessen

     This book 'DreamLand' is a hard book to really find a main theme behind, so if I, personally had to decided I would say its probably about family, and never giving up on trying to see them even if things tear you apart.
     This book shows you "around" through Caitlin's eyes, one of the main characters. The book starts out with Caitlin's older sister running away, and the whole family ( her mom, and dad ) go absolutely bonkers. But what her mom and dad don't realize is the day Cass left ( the older sister ) they forgot it was Caitlin's birthday. The book carries on and it turns out that Cass left a note on Caitlin's bed, which read, "Caitlin, I'll see you in Dreamland". So I don't ruin the book for you all I will tell you is that Dreamland is a place where, Cass, Caitlin, and their mom all meet up. Dreamland is a land that once you fall asleep you can be with whoever else traveled their in their sleep, but its only the people you want to see there that you see. Although you can't just plan on going to sleep and going to Dreamland, you're lucky if you can make it there, it's not technically hard you just have to really want it.
     I personally didn't enjoy this book, but that's just me. The reason why is because I feel almost as if it drags on with a little to much unimportant things throughout the book, it adds way to much detail and thoughts in my opinion.. Although I would recommend it to others. Dreamland, although does sound very interesting to me. I mean if I wanted to go to another place of my dreams, and see people I didn't get to see everyday I would absolutely try and go every single day. If there were an actual Dreamland, I would be in awe.
      I suggest that if you take a long time to get into a book that you don't read this one, it took me about to the middle of the book to really get hooked on it. But if you like stories with a lot of back story then this is the perfect book. Happy reading

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

"In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit." Bilbo starts out at his little house when Gandalf the wizard shows up and asks him to go on an adventure. Of course Bilbo refuses, because he's a hobbit! They like they're comfortable homes. The next day 13 dwarfs and the wizard show up, and Bilbo decides to go with them. The quest is to take help Thorin (the dwarf king) take back his home and his treasure in the Lonely Mountain which is guarded by a dragon named Smaug. 

On the way they run in to loads of obstacles. First, three trolls that want to eat them. Then they stop for advice from Elrond, an elf,  and after leaving, they are caught in a snow storm. The company seek shelter in a cave, but goblins live there! They get captured and Gandalf leads them all out... Except for Bilbo. He is in a dark cavern where he  stumbles across a ring and puts it in his pocket. However, the ring belongs to a hideous creature named Gollum. When the hobbit slips the ring on it turns him invisible and he escapes from the wrath of the creature. Gandalf then must leave the comrades to attend to some business. 

With his new ring, Bilbo helps the dwarfs escape giant spiders and elves that have captured them. Finally they make it to Lake Town, a human settlement below the lonely mountain that holds Thorin's treasure. Bilbo sneaks in and steals a golden cup from Smaug. The dragon burns Lake Town to the ground, but he is killed by an archer named Bard. Everyone heads to the mountain for treasure, which makes Thorin angry. Bilbo seeks to make peace with the humans and Thorin is even more furious. Gandalf appears and saves him from the king. Suddenly goblins and wargs come to the mountain, and the humans, wood elves, and dwarfs join to defeat the army. Bilbo returns to Hobbiton to be rejected by the home-loving hobbits, but has made great friends with dwarfs and The wizard on his journey.

I've never read any other book by Tolkien, but I am a huge fan of the Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit movies. So I decided to read the Hobbit because, well the movie was amazing.

Now, I think Tolkein is a genius! His ability to create these vivid characters and worlds is just amazing. I felt connected to Bilbo, Gandalf, and even the 13 dwarfs. He described them so well, just in their actions, that I feel like I know them. I'm ready to move in to a hobbit hole because he describes middle earth as such a cool place!

I don't exactly know why the plot bored me, but it did. I was into it until about when Gandalf left and then it dragged on and on. I was slightly more interested when they got inside the mountain and Smaug was introduced, but that was a long time to be bored. Maybe it's because there are tons of fairy tales and other stories kind of like The Hobbit, and I've heard the old take-back-our-treasure type of thing, so when I got bored of this plot I read slowly and it made this 256 page book seem like it dragged on for-ev-er! Or it could just be that the language was hard to understand, seeing as The Hobbit has been around for 75 years.

So to sum up, The Hobbit has cool characters and takes place in a nice setting, but the plot is really long and boring for me. B

Dreamland

Dreamland is a young adult romance written by Sarah Dessen. The book starts with Caitlin O'Koren waking up on her 16th birthday. Upon waking up, she discovers that her older sister, Cass, has run away with her boyfriend. Everyone completely forgets her birthday as everyone is in a panic about Cass. Later, Caitlin is at a car wash where she meets Rogerson Biscoe, a seemingly attractive drug dealer who is abused by his father. They meet up at a party and quickly become a couple. Because of Rogerson, Caitlin is introduced to drugs and soon becomes a careless teenager. She skips and fails almost all of her classes and befriends a woman in her mid twenties named Corinna. After some time, Caitlin starts to be abused by Rogerson. She is physically abused when she fails to inform him where she is or is seen talking to other boys. She loves him and cannot leave him.
Dreamland is well written and it keeps you wanting more. However, it also has many issues. First of all, there are countless scenes in the book where she is smoking pot or doing drugs which can become uncomfortable and annoying after a while. Secondly, there is a lot of language in this book. A LOT. Also, in the abuse scenes are very explicit. Lastly, there are a few sexual scenes. It is not said in the moment, but Caitlin talks about it saying that it, "was the only time I could count on being safe."
All in all, I feel that this book deserves a B. It was very interesting and entertaining. I liked the way how it kind of related to real life situations and the people around us. I did not want to stop reading! However, this book had so many moral issues that it was almost uncomfortable to read at times. I would be reading the story all happy and everything and then suddenly it would be a scene where she was smoking or drinking. This book can also put you in a depressing mood. She talks about her feelings a lot and just reading some of this is depressing. So if you get depressed easily, I would not recomend this book. However, if you don't get sad easily and you are comfortable reading the things I have talked about, I would definatley recomend it. It is VERY interesting and you get hooked on the story and the characters.

The Wizard of Oz

 
The first thing you need to know about the Wizard of Oz book is that it is much different than the movie. Instead of a cheesy, classic with musical numbers. The book is more a fairytale like adventure. The story begins with Dorothy and her trusty dog Toto living a dull life on a Kansas farm. When a cyclone takes her and Toto away, they arrive in a strange land known as Oz. When her house accidentally kills the Wicked Witch of the East she meets the Munchkins, the good witch of the North, and takes the dead witch's silver shoes. She is directly by the Munchkins to go to see the Great Oz in the emerald city. On her journey she meets a scarecrow, a tin man, and a cowardly lion who come with her on her journey. When they reach they Emerald City, they plead the Great Oz for their desires. He says that if they slay the Wicked Witch of The West they may have their wishes granted. The companions go to the West and are taking prisoners by the witch. Dorothy manages to destroy her and free the land of the West. They travel back to the Emerald City have their wishes granted (somewhat). Only Dorothy's wish is not granted. So she travels to the South to find the good witch that lives there. With the witch's help, Dorothy returns to Kansas.

I thought that this book was great! Its a lot different from the movie and some of the characters are brilliant. It is a classic book and the author himself said that he wanted this book to be a modern fantasy like the Grimm fairy tales. Also the details in this book are incredible my personal favorite is when the dreary landscape of Kansas is being described.