Rebels Read

     Arundhati Roy offers a unique look into the fall of an Indian family in her novel The God of Small Things. With descriptive and insightful details, Roy reveals the trials of the lives of Rahel and Estha, two twins who grew up in a wrecked household. The twins realize that life is an ever-changing thing through the experiences as members of the troubled family.

     The arrival of the twin’s cousin, Sophie, leads to a life changing experience for the members of the family. Arundhati Roy reveals her plot with brilliant details and an apprehensive tone that sets the mood for the events to come. The conclusion of the novel is greatly unexpected and disturbing despite the foreshadowing notion throughout the story. 

B : Perla A., Alexandra R., Cassandra S., Jackson T., Jyoti K.

     Yashar Kemal’s Memed, My Hawk is the retelling of a Turkish fable about a young boy who overcame adversity in his farming village. It captures the experience of oppression by a corrupt leader and the struggle to topple the crooked feudal system. With vivid sensory details depicting the Turkish countryside, Memed’s quest for revenge as a brigand is tracked throughout the desert and mountains.

     The main failing of Memed is the English translation, which takes some poetry out of the original text and leaves the dialogue dry and lacking personality. It’s easy to sympathize with the characters, who suffer great hardships in his travels, but it’s hard to relate to them with such undeveloped, dull personalities. However, there is plenty of action to keep the casual reader entertained, despite the lack of style. 

By: Solia J., Felice F., Bernardo B., Omar K.

*please note: the SLzHS library does not own a copy of this book at this time

     The Poisonwood Bible, by Barbara Kingsolver, is an innovative and provocative novel that questions the value of mainstream beliefs vs. personal beliefs. The tale weaves in and out of internal conflicts as a missionary family moves into the Congo, an African village. The father, Nathan Price derives his children, as well as his wife, to lead a life of perfection in order to spread Christianity throughout their new home. As the native people steer further and further away from the idea of Christianity and their new white neighbors, the reverend pushes harder and harder for them to accept his way of life and what he wants them to believe. Character by character, his family breaks down due to hard times and become the very independent beings he has up until then controlled. Kingsolver uses the imagery of light vs. darkness as well as situational irony to emphasize the revolution of the Price family as well as those present in the Congo. In the end, Adah, Rachael, Leah, and Orleanna bond together (as a result of the death of the youngest, Ruth May) and embrace their own beliefs and desires to live their own lives.

     As a group, we loved the novel and as the pages of the book turn, each character comes more and more to life. This book is recommended to all young adults who are looking to be independent and live outside of their parents’ beliefs and strict rules.

By: Clairese H., Eileen F., Monique H., DeAndrea G.

     When Dr. Urbino, the cities long time medical and social reformer, dies he leaves behind a widow named Fermina, but she is not alone. Her past lover, Florentino, comes back to rekindle their lost romance after half a century. Florentino has been waiting for this moment since the last time they were together and has only thought about winning back the woman he has always loved. Now his chance has finally arrived.

     The book captures the essence of love and all the pain and commitment that comes with it. The love scenes are vividly described and the romance fills your heart with sympathy for all of the lovers within the story.

By: Erica G., Miguel S., Joseph E.

*please note: the SLzHS library does not own a copy of this book at this time

     Artemio Cruz, an old man with declining health, reflects about his life and all of the missed opportunities he had. He married a woman, Catalina Bernal, whom he doesn’t love and who doesn’t love him. He goes back and reflects the many women who he’s actually loved, as well as the dramatic war scenes he experienced.

     If you like a long, narrative novel detailing the encounters of someone’s long life through the Mexican Revolution, this book is for you. For us this book was confusing in how it flashbacks 12 times to previous moments in time, and how he changes points of views from, 1^st person, (I), 2^nd person, (You), and 3^rd Person (He/She).  It was hard to keep up with the flow of the book.

By: Mark M., Yesenia A., Jose S.

*please note: the SLzHS library does not own a copy of this book at this time

     “Waiting To Be Heard” is a bunch of stories written by students at Thurgood Marshall Academic High School. They are writing about living in a violent community and a violent world. In one of the stories called “Dark Secrets of America,” the author talks about why the U.S. Government punishes people for stealing when the U.S. Government is going to different countries and killing innocent people. One example from the story is, “Calley as well as many other U.S. officials involved in this brutal massacre, was put on trial. In the end only Calley was found guilty.” She also tells us that Calley was sentenced to lifetime in prison but after he served two years President Nixon bailed him out. This book was really great and I would recommend it to anyone.

By: Amanda C.

*please note: the SLzHS library does not own a copy of this book at this time

     This book is about Luis J. Rodriguez’s life in Los Angeles street gangs. Growing up in Watts and East L.A., Luis joined his first gang at 11 years old and was drawn into “la Vida Loca” or the crazy life. Luis and his brother were always getting beat up by other kids and they were always running away from the police. Luis wrote about his crazy life after his son Ramiro joined a gang in Chicago where they are now living. The reason I liked this book is because there was suspense in this book. If you really like suspense,  you will really get into the book.

By: Elizabeth G.  

Darius Jones is a multi-millionaire basketball player who was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. He gets a lot of attention from women and can often use his wit and charm to get what he wants from them. Darius soon finds himself attracted to his half-sister, Ashlee, who begins an affair with, excusing the fact that they’re only half siblings. Everything goes as planned in his relationship in the beginning until he starts going back to his cheating, manly ways.  Leaving Ashlee pregnant, Darius divorces her and remarries to his new found love. From there, his life goes downhill. Ashlee begins to give him the nightmare he’d thought he’d never have.

I really liked this book because it kept me excited. The incidents that occurred were real and relatable even though the book was fiction. I enjoyed the variety of conflict that came up which also kept me interested. I learned the life lesson of the severity of honesty. Even though you may lie and not think twice about it, lies catch up to you.

By: Tashonda C.

*please note: the SLzHS library does not own a copy of this book at this time

In Cheaters, there are two main characters and the book is written from different perspectives. There is Stephan and Chantey. The book is about Stephan and Chantey who get into a love circle with their lovers. They both are cheaters. As the book goes on, each character goes through love problems and through difficult relationships.

Stephan is a kind California gentleman, but he is also a playa, playa. He lives as a bachelor but he is not. Chantey is mixed, she has Indian descent and she is also an African-American. She is strong-minded, and beautiful. I really enjoyed the book because I liked the character Stephan. He is someone that really makes me think. I learned I have to find the right person and hope they are faithful.

By: Evian W.