Juanita’s Comments (group member since Jan 30, 2016)

Juanita’s comments from the Lifetime Classics Challenge group.

Review: Burnt Offerings by Robert Marasco. 3.5★'s

The story was horror but not the gory, scary or bloody type. It’s a silent horror that grows on the reader. It was a good read but not what I expected. It’s hard to explain horror being silent. It’s more or less on the haunted house theme that surrounds the characters within the story. I also thought it was predictable before the pages started flowing. It is a work of subtlety and refinement. The character were well developed and held the story together.

The story is about a family who lives in the city of Brooklyn, New York. Marian Rolfe wants to find a summer place to rent but Ben Rolfe her husband isn’t to keen on the idea. His profession is teaching so he has the summer off and Marian wants to get away for a change. Marian went through the ads in the paper and circle a few places to check out. She finally motivates her husband into looking at a few places with no inner city noisy neighbors, traffic, and no city heat wave to put up with. She wants a place by the water where her eight-year-old son can enjoy a rural setting.

Ben struggled to find the first place on the list that Marian already set up ahead of time. It was located, as I would say, “out in the boonies”. When they finally found the place they were amazed of the size of the estate which was listed as a cottage for the summer. Already Ben has his doubts and figured they would never be able to afford a place like that even as run down as it looked. They could see the bay from the front of the house, a swimming pool, and the landscape that has been unintended for some time. They are met at the door by the owners Mrs. Allardyce and her brother. The Rolfe’s were taken on a tour of the place and the inside was just as bad as the outside but Marian was captivated by the eccentric feel of the house. There was no getting away from the house, Marian was already obsessed with the place. As the owners and the Rolfe family discuss the rent and weird arrangement that was offered, Ben wanted no part of the house.

After not going to look at any other place they went home with the intent of not renting the place. However, Ben was getting the brunt cold shoulder from Marian. After winning him over and planning to have Ben’s older aunt go with them for the summer they packed up and were on there way. With the cheap rental and one other condition they needed to put up with Marian was happy as can be. When they got there Mrs. Allardyce was not there and left them a not to enjoy their summer. Marian knew she had her work cut out for her to get the place clean, dusted and livable. Soon things started happening to the house and to the family. They started noticing small things at first and Ben felt something was going on with the house but Marian kept telling him that he was mistaken. As each day went on more unusual things were happening. Marian still didn’t notice or if she had she was not going back to the city. There were even changes in their physical appearance and attitude. Marian use the arrangement they made with the owners her excuse why she could not leave and go back to the city. As time passed the situation got worse to the point that the house was coming alive and was brighter. The Rolfe family was taking possession of the country house for the summer or was it the other way around, “has the house taken possession of the tenants”? And why was west wing of the estate forbidden to be entered by anyone but Marian?

Review: Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks. 4★'s

This was a great story based on a true story and the only flaw I found was it was a little wordy at times. It was well written, the characters were well developed and the historical setting of 1666 in a small village of Eyam, England was described with accuracy. Brooks, so well creative that “The Plague” itself generates the power of a character; it lives, breathes and swallows the story. It’s not just a book about disease and death; it’s about survival, passion, empathy and unbelievable heroes.

The story is narrated by Anne Frith, a woman who takes care of the minister, Michael Mompellion’s rectory home. From the beginning of the story the reader will notice that Anne is a wonderful person who survived childhood abuse, the death of her husband and left to raise two young children. She carries a mix of feminism and the Puritan values throughout the story. The minister’s character is compelling, captivating, and intriguing to follow and near then end his character’s behavior is surprisingly uncovered believable and relevant to the story, shocking the reader. His wife, Elinor who had a shady background before she married the minister becomes a mentor, teacher and most of all a friend to Anne.

What follows is a tale of tragedy that lasted about a year and two thirds of the village perished. They believe the plague seed spread through the village by bolts of cloth sent from London. As the people began to fall ill and die, one after another, those that remained alive made an oath to not go out of the village’s boundary until they were sure it was over. In order for the village to get supplies they left a list at the boundary line and someone took the list and brought back to the same spot what the village needed. There was suffering throughout the village and when a child died or an adult it was heartbreaking to read about.

Brooks explains how the plague attacks the body but she did it in a way to lesson the horrific disease as refined as she could. The ending scenario could have been different to be acceptable to some readers. However, I thought the story was amazing and notable.

Review: Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. 4★'s

This is a laid-back intriguing story. The book was written many years ago, it’s futuristic, and while reading it I could almost feel something like this can come true. I hope not, I love books and it would be a shame to even tear a page out let alone burn them. I know this has happened way in the past in one or more countries when a leader wanted control of people. It’s a fascinating story.

The story is about a man, Guy Montag who is a fireman by trade but not the usual kind of fireman that puts out fires. This is a time when freedom of speech, creativity, and the means of oneself is repressed by law. Political people think books can be controversial and the country does not want deputes. So they send out firemen to burn homes that have any kind of literature, magazines or books that are concealed within the walls of the residence. By law anyone caught with a book is punished by imprisonment. The Fire Chief has snitches throughout the city so the fire alarm goes off practically everyday. Ray Bradbury portrays a world where society’s only goal is to achieve bliss through the senses. He explains where petty facts are more valued than knowledge and ideas. Up to this point Guy Montag doesn’t ask questions and enjoys his job.

All goes well until his next door neighbor, Clarisse, a young seventeen -year-old teaches him to ponder what might be behind the books that he burns. This causes him to undergo a crisis about his job. Guy examines his life for the first time and sees how empty and meaningless it is. He realizes the terrible thing that society is doing and how corrupt it is. When his neighbor goes missing he gets motivated to make some changes in his life. Guy starts hiding books in his home so he can read and understand what is printed beyond the book cover without his wife knowing. He even wants to quit his job and tries to avoid his boss, Captain Beatty by claiming he can’t work because he is sick. However, Captain Beatty is sharper then Guy gives him credit for. Beatty knows about the books and tries to get Guy to confess about the books when he shows up at Guy’s house.

Guy is preoccupied with questions of his life and he searches for the truth behind the burning of the books when he meets Faber, a retired English professor. With the help of the professor Guy finds the road to justice and restoring the “past” where people are not afraid. It finally comes down to where Guy becomes a fugitive and battles with the society around him, and tries to make people realize books are not to be feared, but worshipped…... Bradbury paints a vivid picture of the future without books and makes the reader realize without books and creativity ideas and thoughts would be suffocating society.

Review: The Cat of Bubastes by G. A. Henty. 4.5★'s

This is a wonderful “Children’s Classic” written over a hundred years ago. There is no copyright date but the author was born in 1832 and died in 1902. I thought it was well written and I loved the characters. I really didn’t know at first that it was a children’s book until I read about the author. The story is written for any age with adventure, coming of age, culture, and people of various races as far back as Moses. The setting is in Egypt and described with as much authenticity to keep the reader captivated. Each chapter gives a great amount of details and interesting facts about Egypt woven into an exciting and suspenseful story that any reader would enjoy.

The story is about a teen-age Rebu Prince, Amuba who lost his Kingdom, his father, his family, and his home to the Egyptians in a battle to take over the kingdom. They took many of the Redu people back to Egypt to use as slaves. However, the Prince and one of his father’s best companions, Jethro both ended up being chosen by the High Priest of the Temple of the Gods as a companion for his teen-age son Chebron, and a protector for his daughter. One day Chebron and Amuba took their bows and arrows out to the area where the hens, geese, ducks and other animals were migrating and hid in the bushes to find out what has been scaring and killing some of the flock. They heard a loud screech and noticed a large black raven swooping down in attempt to catch his prey. Both boys stood at a stance with their weapons ready and shot their arrows toward the bird. Amuba’s arrow found its mark and the bird dropped to the ground.

Amuba was elated that he hit his mark until he looked over and saw Chebron in a state of panic pointing to the shed that housed some of his sister’s pets. Stuttering and crying Chebron managed to explain to Amuba that his arrow veered off a branch and struck his sister’s favorite and sacred cat. In Egypt a few animals are considered Gods of worship and this cat was highly sacred and was chosen as the one special blessed cat of Egypt. If it was known that he killed the cat he would be denounced and most likely be killed. Once this happens the decision was made by his father for Amuba, Jethro and Chebron to go away as far as they could. Before they even got out of the city the news had spread….The story moves on with plenty of adventure and chaos….

One moral concept I got from the story was that no matter what religion, race, sex or god many people gave a helping hand and were considerate of each other to the very end….but most stories has a villain….

Review: The Taming Of The Shrew by W. Shakespeare. 5★'s

The play is full of action, comedy, and many mistaken and hidden identities to keep the reader captivated by Shakespeare style of writing. The Folger edition I read was very helpful in explaining and understanding the context with ease. There detailed side notes and definitions of unfamiliar words was very helpful. It’s a story of love, family, money, greed, loyalty written as a play. I believe Shakespeare was an absolute genius in terms of understanding human psychology and expressing manner that justifies the existence of the English language. Some readers may feel offended with “The Taming of the Shrew” but I thought it was brilliant for the era it was created and set as a comedy.

Shakespeare exhibited the submissive role of women as well as the poor treatment of servants, always from a comical view, which is a useful way to understand the era and its habits and customs. The characters are real and enchanting. It starts off with Baptista Minola having two daughters, sweet Bianca and all her suitors and stubborn Katherine who wants to do what she wants, but their father is only concerned in selling them to rich husbands and not their happiness.

Since Bianca is not allowed to marry before Katherine she comes up with a plan to move Katherine in the path of one of her own suitors but the plan takes a twist in another direction. An impoverished nobleman named Petruchio with a sharp wit as Katherine is the only suitor who would marry her and their father gladly jumps at the chance. Petruchio claims he can tame Katherine, “the Shrew” like an animal in no time by starving her and keeping her in old clothing and shaming her in public. …

Katherine soon appears to be “Tamed” by Petruchuo’s cruelties, learns the art of subtlety and diplomacy that will enable her to survive in a society ruled by men. Katherine surprised all in the last scene when she gave a humble affirmation speech of the superiority of men while ridiculing Petruchio, Lucentio, and Hortensio for their efforts of taming there women in a few days by incompetent control method. This speech comes from a woman who, after years of intimidating the men around her, has been browbeaten, emotionally abused and humiliated but still survived….

Review: Island of The Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell. 5★'s

It is a very touching story of loss, learning, and self-recreation. It’s about a young Indian girl who gets separated from her family and is stranded on an island off the coast of California. I enjoyed the story and felt sad for Karana but her survival is what captivated me.

The story starts out with a Young girl, Karana living with her tribe on the island of the Blue Dolphins. One day a crew of men came to slaughter the otters on the island for the skins and the leader of the tribe who was Karana’s father, argued about what the men would pay for trapping there. Tragic results came from the argument and most of the tribe’s men were killed and the crew with many otter skins left with no concern about payment.

There was no use for the tribe to try and survive on the island, with very few people left so when the next boat sailed into the cove the tribe evacuated the island. After every one was on board the young girl Karena couldn’t find her little brother Ramo. He was only six years old and could not survive alone without her. She spotted Ramo on the beach but the boat would not send someone to get him. Karana jumped off the boat and swam to shore for her brother as the boat left the cove.

Karana was now alone on the island with her young brother and needed to learn how to survive with many angry wild dogs barking and howling throughout the night ready at any time to pounce on her and her brother. Within a short time on the island another tragedy struck Karana….She was now alone on the island with no hunting or living skills. It was against her culture that women never hunted or touch any kind of weapon. How was she going to survive…? She struggled for some time with her thoughts about making weapons and finally gave in and started making weapons to get food and to keep the wild dogs at bay.

Karana spent years on the island but she did manage to befriend a few animals to keep her company. As the story goes on she attempts only once to make it to another island but the old canoe she tried using started coming apart and she had to turn around and go back to the island. She made a home for herself and her animals and accepted her future was going to be one of loneness until death became upon her. The ending to her story was like many endings, being found on the island many years later….(a spoiler but so much more to the story…)

Review: The Witness For The Prosecution by Agatha Christie.

It 19s always enjoyable reading one of Agatha Christie 19s books. This is one of her books that have short mystery stories. Christie relates her stories in a taut, fast paced and satisfying manner and more than once brings her stories to quite an unexpected climax. Most short story books have one or two that don 19t meet the reader 19s high expectations. I appreciated the great unique writing style and the development of the characters.

Some of the stories in this collection include straightforward deception, murder, spiritualism, and a classic wise mystery featuring Hercule Poirot. Some of the stories are certainly old, but the sheer enjoyment of uncovering the truths behind Christie 19s mysteries is worth the read.

Review: The End Of The Affair by Graham Greene.

This story was about exploring the darker and metaphysical side of love, hate and religion. I did enjoy the author’s skill in conveying the deepest of human emotions and obsessive behavior in a prose style. There was a number of interesting themes within the story. Greene also examines the fine line between love and hate, and makes comments of the importance of observations about the nature of jealously and human love. Greene’s covers his main character‘s view on the job of writing, interwoven with the larger themes of adultery and spirituality. It was a good story but sometimes confusing because of the origination of events and some points of view were unsettled for my reading.

The story is about a triangle relationship between Maurice Bendrix, whose profession is a writer, Sarah Miles, as a housewife, and Henry Miles a business man. Bendrix is the protagonist who is narrating the story in first person which increases the intensity of the emotions that are felt when reading the novel. Plus, Greene portrayed Sarah as somewhat of a saint because of her goodness and elite traits but also showing the sinful adulteress as her flaw. Henry Miles is portrayed as naïve, gullible, and not that sensitive when it came to his wife. Bendrix’s love for Sarah, a married woman, is described with honesty and frankness, as he is unashamed to state the selfishness that is his worst fault and enemy. Bendrix’s has no trouble describing his distaste, disregard and pity for others who surround him.

Sarah has many secrets and does not convey any of her thought or issues with her husband or Mr. Bendrix. Her conscious turmoil was religion. She was at a place in her life where she was revolving around her religious beliefs with help from a clergy of sorts who hid his scared face for years behind a veil which later on in the story his face becomes pure and smooth. This is one of the times where Greene influences the story towards Sarah having a God like power. The other time is when she believes Bendrix’s is dead and she makes a statement to God and say‘s, “if you allow Bendrix to live I will stop my sinful adultery ways. Bendrix did live and Sarah gave up the person she loved. Bendrix was beside himself not knowing why Sarah broke off their relationship. As the story goes on Bendrix and Henry become friends and go on living their lives as they wanted.

The story made sense once I got done the book but I felt like it was coming together like a puzzle as an effect of what came first, the love, the hate or was it the religion aspect of the story. I will say they were complicated characters….

Review: All Quiet On The Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque.

A sad intense story told by one German soldier, Paul Baumer about what he went through in World War I leaving no event or thought untold. The book was well written and the author did justice explaining clearly the men in Paul’s troop and how friendships were there one day and taken away one after the other. This novel flawlessly captures the confusion, bitterness, hopelessness and injustice loss of human life on the battlefield. To an American reader, Baumer is the enemy but that does not matter because I believe any soldier on either side went through the same emotions and turmoil.

The images Paul describes are intense and painful, the choking on gas, trembling with fear of being shot, watching a friend get blown apart, being in a trench for over twenty-four hours with a dead soldier from the other side and crawling over ground in the dark looking for another safe hole to rest before moving on to another hole for cover. This review was hard to write but I did my best and those readers who can possibly try to read Paul’s Baumer’s story I highly recommend the book.

This book I believe was written with Remarque’s intent of censuring the effects of war. The book does show a great perspective of one mans view, relying on the well written words of the author to brand its context into the mind of the reader. Remarque also emphasizes the belief and merit of friendship and the unimportance of traditional values. After reading this book, it severed its purpose to me very well. It made me wonder why we still tolerate the atrocity of war. I know its reality of life and I highly respect those who serve but it frustrates me when a country does not follow through helping the military when they come home…IF they do come home…

Lifetime Classics Challenge 2016
Goal #10
1.---All Quiet On The Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque 5★'s
2.---The End Of The Affair by Graham Greene 3★'s
3.---The Witness For The Prosecution (Collection of Stories) by Agatha Christie 3★'s
4.---Island Of The Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell 5★'s
5.---The Taming Of the Shrew by W. Shakespeare 5★'s
6.---Year Of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks 4★'s
7.---The Cat of Bubastes by G.A. Henty (A Children's Classic) 4.5★'s
8.---Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury 4★
9.---Burnt Offerings by Robert Marasco 3.5★'s
10.