By Elizabeth Grace ’15, Perspectives Co-Section Editor
From Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist to Mark Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, summer reading can be either a diversion or a bore to the students at Country Day. While some novels receive near-universal (well, maybe only school-wide) derision, hatred, and muttered profanities, the majority not only capture our attention but alter our view of the world and everything within.
Below are eight students’ opinions on the pages we have both the pleasure and pain of reading in the summer months:
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
By Anna Beyette ’17, Contributor
In John Green’s heartwarming novel, The Fault in Our Stars, Hazel, a sixteen-year-old cancer patient, has found a medicine that will buy her a little more time to live. One day while attending a Cancer Kids support group she meets Augustus Waters and falls head-over-heels in love with him. There is something for everyone in this book: comedy, romance, meaning, and a realistic look at the life of a teen with cancer. John Green’s writing is simple and elegant. This book is not necessarily a hard read in and of itself, but if read with an eye for the deeper thoughts and intentions that are craftily woven into the plot, it can be meaningful to any reader. John Green pulled me into his story with characters that seem like real people. He helped me live their stories with them through the very last chapter. If you enjoyed reading A Fault in Our Stars, John Green has written several other books including Looking for Alaska, Paper Towns, and Michael L. Printz award winning An Abundance of Katherines.
Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones
Nathan Grant ’16, News Editor
Mister Pip, written by Lloyd Jones, is an inspirational story about using one’s imagination and making the best of what one has despite the events happening at the time. This excellent book teaches its readers many valuable lessons. The most important lesson is that our imaginations are powerful and can take us to new worlds when the one we live in isn’t exactly “perfect.” Matilda Laimo, the main character, lives on an island during the time of a rebellion between two sides: the rebels and the “redskins”. This revolt causes fear, anticipation, and anger in many of the villagers on Matilda’s island. To avoid these feelings, Matilda uses her imagination to transfer herself to the world of Pip from Great Expectations. Now I know what you’re thinking—this book is just a continuation of our ninth grade book. Well, think again. Although Mister Pip does include talk about characters from Great Expectations, it is still a unique story that offers entertainment, suspense, information, and advice that will definitely keep you at the edge of your seat. If you want to read something that is exciting and eye-opening, then Mister Pip is the book for you!
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
Maggie Bernish ’16, Contributor
Written by Carlos Ruiz Zafón and translated by Lucia Graves, The Shadow of the Wind wastes no time plunging the reader into an enthralling mystery laced with tragic love stories, intertwining the main and supporting characters in ways I previously thought impossible. Set in the war-torn Barcelona of the 1940s and 50s, this book uses a multitude of deep and telling characters to help a boy on his quest for information on the ever-mysterious Julian Carax and his missing novels. This story and the stories within tell of the fated mistakes, the downward spirals, and the tragic endings that occur as a result of misunderstandings. Even if not in the original language, Zafón’s beautiful descriptions lace the pages and make this Gothic novel even more of an intriguing read. I would highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a dark yet romantic read.
Little Bee by Chris Cleave
Marissa Beyette ’15, Contributor
“Sad words are just another beauty. Sad words mean the story teller is alive.”
– Little Bee (pg. 1)
Reading the story of a sixteen year old Nigerian refugee, you would think that happiness would be out of place in Chris Cleave’s eponymously named novel Little Bee. You would be wrong. While the plot of Little Bee accurately shows the horror of refugee life, Cleave includes moments of joy in the story which, being bittersweet, become all the more poignant. Little Bee drew me into her story with her beautiful language and kept me there with her realism. She does not directly try to guilt the reader, nor does she hide the truth about life as a refugee. Focusing on Little Bee’s story after she reaches London, this is
more than a book about violence in Africa; it deals with the themes of globalization, greed, personal accountability, and the authenticity of ‘civilized’ society through the eyes of a recently widowed mother and a refugee who has learned to “speak the queen’s English” in order to become part of a society that doesn’t want her. Little Bee left me smiling and crying and, most importantly, thinking. I have seldom read a better book.
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
Sissi Fei ’15, Lifestyle Editor
“Father, mother, I love you.” This is what I was taught when I first learned about the word “family”:a symbol of love, caring and warmth. However, in Khaled Hosseini’s A Thousand Splendid Suns, the author depicts another kind of family life on the other side of the planet: a cruel, cold and abusive relationship.
Mariam, a girl abandoned by her irresponsible father, is thrown into a life full of disasters and nightmares. A man called Rasheed, marrying for a second time, needs his wife only for sexual satisfactions, treating her like livestock and subjecting her to cruelty. The life of the other heroine, Laila, takes a sudden turn in her sweet childhood. Death, neglect, and desertion leave her and Mariam
alone in the world with no hope. Influenced by her father’s idea of women’s independence, Laila defies expectations frequently as she stands up for her own dignity and self-esteem.
Mariam and Laila, two women with harsh destinies, are miniatures of victims of Afghanistan society. With instinctive storytelling skills, Mr. Hosseini makes Mariam and Laila’s internal twists tangible to us.
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
Pratiti Ghosh-Dastidar ’15, Contributor
There is only one word that describes A Thousand Splendid Suns: depressing. Yet whenever I hear the book’s name, I can’t help but gush about how much I loved it, not because I loved the tragedy of its tale, but because the story moved me from beginning to end. For those who have read this book, we all know that the story is long, so it becomes a tedious task to put the book down.
Considering the age difference of the two protagonists, Mariam and Laila, the reader can easily see how they develop a mother-daughter relationship. This relationship fills the gap in both their lives. For Mariam, the idea of having her own family sadly never becomes a reality, but through Laila, she eventually finds a new one to call her own. She protects and watches over her. And for Laila, whose life threatens to crumble, Mariam fills a parental role. This intimate relationship between Laila and Mariam is not only what tied the story together but also Khaled Hosseini’s way of keeping a ray of hope through this story.
Saturday by Ian McEwan
Julian Braxton ’14, Contributor
Saturday, by Ian McEwan, is undoubtedly one of the most creative and intriguing books I’ve read in a long time. As the title suggests, the entire book takes place on one Saturday, which may lead to the question “How can an author possibly write an ENTIRE book about one measly day?” The answer certainly surprised me. Instead of superficially describing the day of the protagonist, neurosurgeon Henry Perowne, McEwan frequently delves deeper into Perowne’s character and reveals a very interesting, complex, and relatable man. In this sense, it is Perowne’s character, not the plot, that drives the story forward. That being said, the plot is still very interesting, with a psychotic street thug, an attempted shakedown, and a violent home invasion gracing Saturday’s pages. (Not your average Saturday, huh?) All in all, Saturday is an interesting look at the life of a man who, at first glance, you, I, and everybody else would consider “normal.” As I wrote above, Perowne, and his Saturday, are far from normal, which makes the story as interesting as it is. For those who are interested in the nuances of everyday life, I highly recommend this book.
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Brian McSwiggen ’14, Perspectives Co-Section Editor
When Mr. Carey walked into our Honors English 12 classed and posed the question “Is The Road fundamentally pessimistic or optimistic?”, I was initially thrust into a state of disbelief. I thought he was joking—that book, optimistic? Though after a brief period of consideration I recognized his point—the book is, centrally, about carrying on hope through the worst of disasters—the fact remains that The Road is one of the most depressing books I have read in a long while. It is not sad so much as soul-crushing, painfully monotonous, and brazenly bleak. I don’t think boring would be apt, and it without doubt has deep symbolism and literary significance. Nonetheless, reading this book was a difficult exercise in keeping my sanity and not declaring the human race doomed as a whole. The Road is a deep book, and it is a good book, but it is not a book you want to read if you want to be happy sometime in the next year.
