Cukoo's nest

For the holiday reading I chose to read One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey. I enjoyed this book very much and would highly recommend it. I was hooked right from the beginning and it waas easy for me to stay interested, which rarely happens. Set in an Organ mental hospital, Kesey, pits the rebellious McMurphy against the sadistic, authoritarian Nurse Ratched. It is prime example of rising above conformity. It is narrated by a crazy indian chief and half of the time what he is saying are not even happening, yet, the story is very easy to follow unlike Mrs. Dalloway, the transitions were hard to keep track of. There is always something happening so you don't lose interest and the descriptions make the setting and characters exciting to read more about.

At Stanford in 1959, Kesey volunteered to take part in a CIA-financed study named Project MKULTRA at the Menlo Park Veterans' Hospital, the setting of One FLew Over The Cuckoo's Nest. The project studied the effects of psychoactive drugs, particularly LSD, psilocybin, mescaline, cocaine, AMT, and DMT on people. Kesey wrote many detailed accounts of his experiences with these drugs, both during the Project MKULTRA study and in the years of private experimentation that followed. The inspiration for One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest came while working on the night shift at the Veteran's Hospital, there, Kesey often spent time talking to the patients, sometimes under the influence of the hallucinogenic drugs with which he volunteered to experiment. This made for a great book and I'm stoked I chose this one to read and would definitely recommend it!

Recommendation & Review of Fight Club

Brief background of the author: Chuck Palahniuk is an American transgressional fiction novelist and freelance journalist. As a child, Palahniuk lived with his poor family in a motor home in Burbank, Washington, his parents eventually divorced, forcing Palahniuk and his three siblings to live with their grandparents. In his writing Palahniuk focuses on short powerful sentences that can be related to by the most common of readers because of their simplicity yet resonate a powerful, almost bitter tone.

In Palahniuk’s 1996 novel, Fight Club, an anonymous protagonist suffering from insomnia develops an alternate personality in the character of Tyler Durden. Tyler serves as an escape for the protagonist, he creates the idea of “Fight Club” in which men of varying sizes and ages fight each other as a form of radical psychotherapy. Throughout the novel Durden expresses a devout disgust of materialism, capitalism, popular culture, and social order. Eventually this hatred turns into violent destruction when Tyler creates, “Project Mayhem”, a terrorist group that attacks consumerism through destructive acts. The striking differences between the mysterious protagonist and his alternate personality, Tyler Durden, leads readers to think of the two characters as different people when in reality Durden is our protagonist’s alternate personality, the protagonist expressing his true feelings, his escape.

The protagonist’s struggle to balance his two lives eventually leads to a chaotic, epic conclusion. If you’re interested in what you’ve heard so far (even if you’ve seen the movie Fight Club) I would highly recommend you hop on Palahniuk’s tumultuous ride and find out what happens (it’s much better than the movie’s ending).

Bel Canto

Anne Patchet’s Bel Canto utilizes an extreme hostage situation to explore newfound love, and evolving relationships. The novel revolves around the relationships between a group of South American terrorists and their international captives. The problem arises when the terrorists find their target, the president, to be missing from the party, leaving their mission unfulfilled. They raid a birthday celebration for Mr. Hosokawa, a Japanese business who holds an extreme passion for opera. His passion for opera was satisfied by the presence of Roxanne Coss, a renowned soprano from Chicago. Patchet showcases the ability of love to overcome obstacles in any circumstance, through the formation of relationships between star-crossed lovers. Bel Canto offers the reader both suspense and romance by revealing the power of love to exceed the fear of death.
I strongly recommend this novel to readers seeking both the excitement of a thriller and the compassion of romance. Patchet allows the reader to become involved in the development of various relationships and their significance. She reveals the resilience of the heart to provide love amidst extreme crisis. She turns a hostage situation into a dating scene without completely diminishing the presence of the terrorists.
One of the primary conflicts throughout Bel Canto is the inability of both the hostages and the terrorists to communicate since they share no common language. Patchet employs Gen Watanabe, Mr. Hosokawa’s translator, to overcome the language barrier and ease the tension between both parties. Gen becomes the hero of the novel by applying his talent for translation to restoring a sense of knowledge to involved persons. The reader comes to admire Gen for his outstanding performance as the mediator, and later how he uses his talent to benefit his love interest. Patchet does an amazing job of setting the stage for the emergence of protagonist, Gen, to stand out among the rest.
Not only does Bel Canto explore the relationships formed between hostages of different nationalities and no way of communicating, it delves deeper into relationships among opposing parties. Patchet creates an environment in which the secrecy of love can thrive. She forms a bond between two hostages of different nationalities to reveal that formal communication is unnecessary to fall in love. She also creates a love interest between a hostage and a terrorist to demonstrate the ability of love to see past reality, and focus on truth. The romantic style of Bel Canto provides a contrast to the terror of the hostage situation by accentuating the positive while concealing the negative. Patchet proves that love is not always safe, but it never fails to provide hope for the future.
I would definitely recommend reading Bel Canto if you enjoy being sucked in by passionate, heartfelt relationships, along with the thrill and uncertainty of suspense. This novel can reach out to anyone because it provides various types of bondage between to people, whether its love, friendship, common interest, or even mutual respect. Patchet allows the reader to make up his or her own mind regarding the morality of each character and his or her actions. I greatly enjoyed reading Bel Canto and it was definitely a page turner for me, so if romance and suspense are of any interest to you this is the perfect book to read!

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest was an extraordinary book that I would recommend to absolutely anyone. If you have ever thought of what it would be like to be a little crazy, this book can show you the way. The setting is in an Oregon psychiatric hospital where many patients, some crazy and some not, are striving to become sane again. The narrator of One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest is a half Indian named Bromden. He has been a patient at the psychiatric hospital for ten years and through out his stay he suffers from Paranoia. Some times he has some hallucinations and delusions that can be quite complicated. By complicated I mean that it was hard for me to distinguish if his interpretations of life were a reality or just a mere figment of the imagination. His foremost fear is some thing that He calls a Combine. He thinks that either some one or some thing is controlling society and all of the people in it. The “Combine”, according to Bromden, is trying to conform all people so that they are the same as each other. He also thinks that the people who do not conform, including him, are sent to psychiatric hospitals because they have realized the truth and they need to be conformed again. A new member of the hospital, Randle McMurphy, was sent to the hospital because he has been in a lot trouble in the past. He made his judge think that he was a psycho so he could go to the hospital instead of a jail. Randle becomes the books protagonist and soon one of the main characters. He is a very large con man, which knows a lot about street life and gambling. When he gets to the hospital he starts to Rebel against the head nurse, Nurse Ratched. Randle soon becomes the “god” to all of the other patients. He becomes their main leader and they would do any thing for him. Randle’s fun and games with the nurse soon turns into a full out rebellion with all of the patients. The patients love Randles leadership and strive for him to commit riskier and riskier protest. Randle also wants to heal the patients in his own way. One day he takes them out fishing to show them that they don’t have to be scarred of the “outside world.” The patients are blown away at how they can accomplish catching a fish all by themselves. They love the day out and Randle realizes that the only thing they need to be healed is love and fun. Randle also sets up one of the patients, Billy Bibbit, to lose his virginity with a prostitute. Nurse Ratched, the head of the hospital ward, is a former army nurse. She constantly torments the patients and encourages them to torture each other also. Instead of helping her patients she wakens them by a program that is designed to ruin their self esteem. This book is so amazing and I only scratched the surface of its amazing plot. Any one who has the slightest interest in One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest should stop what they are doing at this very moment, even stop reading this blog, go get the book at the library right now!

Moby Dick

Imagine the sea, if only for a moment. Living the life of a "true man": you live by the light of the stars among your fellow men, hunting the most feared of all creatures - possibly the reincarnation of Lucifer himself! The great Leviathan! A sight to be seen that sends chills down the spines of the bravest men: such sights of the beast known as the whale can be found in Herman Melville's Moby Dick.
The story centers on Ishmael, a young man wishing to learn the ways of the world. Whaling, in the early time period, is the only way of the man. He and his cannibal companion embark on a jurney with Captian Ahab, a half crazed man with a missing limb. It isn't until they are already out to sea that Ahab reveals the true nature of his hunt: the White Whale, also known as Moby Dick. Astonishment fills the hearts of the crew: Moby Dick, the great white Sperm whale, is said to be uncatchable, immortal, and deadly. Every man who has ever encountered the monster has either fled in fear...or died a horbile, undignified death. But crazy Ahab will not stand fear: he must have the White Whale.
Herman Melville was an American writer. He wrote not only novels, but also poetry and essays. None of his works were greatly renowned until he passed away, when Moby Dick was recognized as a literary masterpiece. He was not a bestselling author, and only tow of his novels were recognized as possible successes when he was alive.
Herman Melville wrote this book in old Quaker. It is very interesting in this context, but can become tedious and stressful with all of the thees, thous, and such. I myself had to read passages over to correctly understand their meaning. Therefore, it would be prudent, I believe, to read with a pen in hand to take notes on the meanings of phrases. His writing is also poetica nd phiosophical, giving the book a whimsical quality to it. Ishmael does an excellent job of delving into the minds of his fellow characters, and explaining the basic happenings on a wahling ship. There are tedious passages involving the science of whaling (an awful thing to read given how off they are in their science) but still interesting. The metaphors used to describe the whales they encounter, along with Ishmael's own musing, make one want to sit and think.
In my opinion, Moby Dick, while tedious in many parts and slow going, is worth reading. It gives the reader a new look into the mind of man, even going so far as to dive into the mind of someone insane with the need for vengeance. I definitely recommend it.

The Three Musketeers

To begin, I feel that a brief synopsis of the Three Musketeers is appropriate.  The story details the experience of young d’Artagnan as he moves to Paris to seek his fortune.  Through an odd series of events, he joins the King’s Musketeers in a duel against the Cardinal’s minions, and, after their victory, subsequently befriends the three Musketeers.  Ensuing this scene, d’Artagnan, Athos, Porthos, and Aramis engage in myriad escapades in and around Paris, often dueling the Cardinal’s followers.  Although the Cardinal and the King are actually good friends, their armies often battle, which has created a huge rift throughout France.  After obtaining an abode, d’Artagnan falls in love with his corrupt landlord’s hot young wife, Bonacieux.  Madame Bonacieux is a close friend to the queen, Anne of Austria, who is despondent with her marriage to the King.  Therefore, the queen cheats with the English Prime Minister, the Duke of Buckingham.  Upon his visit to Paris, the queen presents her lover with diamond earrings, which he brings with him back to London.  However, the Cardinal, informed by his emissaries, persuades the King to host a ball for the Queen where she is expected to wear the earrings.  Frantic, the queen confides in Madame Bonacieux that she desperately needs the earrings back.  Bonacieux subsequently discloses the situation to d’Artagnan, who voyages to London to retrieve the diamond earrings just in time for the ball.  This act results in Bonacieux’s reciprocation of d’Artagnan’s love.  Just before Bonacieux and d’Artagnan are arranged to meet, the Cardinal’s army kidnaps Bonacieux.  Readers are then introduced to another prominent character, the malevolent, malicious, and ruthless Milady.  Despite his love for Bonacieux, d’Artagnan falls for this, unbeknownst to him, criminal and Cardinal agent.  After a series of affairs between d’Artagnan and Milady, she mercilessly seeks revenge upon him.  The remainder of the novel documents the three musketeers and d’Artagnan’s endeavors as they try to rescue Bonacieux and as they battle the Cardinal’s minions, in La Rochelle where a siege is taking place. 

            This novel was penned in 1844 by French novelist, Alexander Dumas.  This novel is significant because it is considered a historical novel, seeing as how it was published some 219 years after the story was set.  However, Dumas’ novel was incongruent with the previous historical novels, because The Three Musketeers was, well, simply fun and fast paced.  This revolutionized the way historical novels were written and pioneered an enduring precedent.  This novel was actually serialized in a French magazine, with each new publication containing a new segment of the story.  The way that hoards of people were lined up to purchase the magazine and read the new developments is truly indicative of the success of this novel. 

            I absolutely loved this novel, and wholeheartedly suggest it to anyone and everyone.  However, as I imagine that you are all currently looking for novels that you can make use of on the AP exam, I suggest you wait until summer to read this book.  The reason being is that this novel simply isn’t as saturated with as many motifs and literary devices as some other books may be.  In brief, this book straight up owned, and you should all read it sometime or another.  

A Story not for the Faint of Heart; a Book Review on Under the Volcano

Prepare to be wowed by Malcom Lowry’s perhaps grandest achievement, Under the Volcano; a story of a former British consul, Geoffrey Firmin, drinking himself to death in Guauhnahuac, Mexico. Yes, initially one tends to think of a bland, easily forgotten novel written by an obscure author. However, under more careful review, one can see that Lowry produces a work of genius.
Lowry was born in England in 1909 and went to Cambridge University. Although Lowry wrote multiple works throughout his life, Under the Volcano is said to be his greatest achievement. Unfortunately, Lowry followed the life of the Consul to closely and drank himself to death, finally dying in 1957. Throughout his life he traveled to many places, living in several of them, including Mexico, the setting of this novel.
The work starts with Dr. Arturo Diaz Vigil and M. Jacques Laruelle drinking and reminiscing about the past. Soon, however, the reader is transported back to a single day in 1938, the Day of the Dead. The book covers this entire day in 1938. The Consul has come to Quauhnahuac, Mexico and is slowly killing himself with mescal and other alcoholic drinks. Misery has overcome the Consul’s life ever since his wife, Yvonne left him. However, Yvonne returns, wishing to save her husband from a dreary, melancholy death. Not only is the Consul visited by Yvonne, his half-brother, Hugh and Jacques Laruelle, a childhood friend, also come to intervene. All four struggle with each other as Yvonne tries desperately to save her husband from his disease, while the other two simply stand-by and somewhat accompany the Consul in procuring alcohol and whatnot.
One will admit, the plot-line is less than intriguing, it is fruitless and seems, at first glance, excruciatingly boring. However, Lowry is able to take the simple story of a severe alcoholic and turn it into one of the most profound statements on mankind’s sufferings. He contrasts an overshadowing of misery and sadness with undertones of wit and humor. The reader is moved by lengthy passages describing the Consul’s suffering and inability to keep himself steady and comprehensive for more than twenty minutes without a drink. At the same time the reader sympathizes with Yvonne in her futile struggle to save the one she loves. She is ignored and hurt by the Consul, yet still tries voraciously to extract the Consul from his hole of death and misery. If one is looking for a prophetic story of despair and suffering, this is the perfect book.
Overall Lowry does an excellent job portraying the complications of alcoholism and the dangers of drinking in excess. He makes multiple, profound statements on the human condition and thinking through the interactions between his characters. Although the tone of the entire book is somber and melancholy, the reader is kept afloat by the hope that the Consul will rescue himself, that he will survive. It is a story of will, sorrow, and the human life that can be related to almost anyone’s life. An extremely good, yet slow, read, Lowry deserves much credit for this masterpiece.

Book Review

A Thousand Splendid Suns, written by Khaled Hosseini is a moving story about the lives of people living in Afghanistan during the Soviet invasion. The novel, which is divided into four parts, tells the heart wrenching story of two young girls, Mariam and Laila, and their journeys to finding happiness. Mariam, an ethnic Tajik was born in Heart in 1959. She is the illegitimate child of Jalil and Nana, and suffers shame throughout her childhood because of the circumstances of her birth. When Jalil refuses to deal with the consequences of his actions, Nana and Mariam are forced to live in a kolba in the outskirts of Herat in western Afghanistan. Not long after, Mariam is forced to marry a man twice her age, and move to an unfamiliar place in which so knows no one; consequently her life takes a turn for the worst. Mariam’s new husband, Rasheed is an ethnic Pashtun, a shoemaker, and the antagonist of the novel. Laila, an ethnic Tajik, born in 1978, is a beautiful and intelligent girl coming from a working class family when first introduced. Her life becomes tied to Mariam's when she marries Rasheed as his second wife after finding out that the love of her life Tariq is dead.
Khaled Hosseini author of A Thousnad Splendid Suns was born in Kabul, Afghanistan, in 1965. His father was tied to the Afghan Foreign Minister and his mother was a teacher in Kabul. After moving to Paris in 1976 Khaled’s family was ready to return to Kabul in 1980, but by then Afghanistan had already witnessed a bloody communist coup and the invasion of the Soviet army. His family eventually moved to California where Khaled proceeded to graduate from high school and attend Santa Clara University which he then graduated from in 1988. In 1993 Hosseini earned his medical degree. Hosseini began to write his first novel The Kite Runner which has since become a bestseller, published in more than 48 countries. He has since Written A Thousand Splendid Suns which has currently been published in 25 countries.
A Thousand Splendid Suns was written in such a style that it is able to capture a readers’ attention at first glance. Hosseini writes in straight-ahead, utilitarian prose and creates characters that have simplicity and straight forward emotions. The sympathy he creates for his characters comes less from their personalities than from the circumstances in which they find themselves in. He has a taste for melodramatic plot lines which consequently creates for an interesting and well written book. Hosseini’s style of writing is extremely effective in terms of capturing the reader’s attention and keeping you interested in the book.
A Thousnad Splendid Suns is a book worth reading. Not only are your eyes opened to the real story of the Afghanistan-Soviet war but you are able to better understand the different trials and tribulations that all the people of Afghanistan were forced to go through each and every day. Hosseini’s style of writing is very capturing and each characters story draws you closer in. The book itself was well written and has an attention-grabbing plot.

Catch 22

Not only is it a fascinating novel, Catch 22 has come to be a common psychological term. The continuing circular logic or seemingly “no win situation” concept turned out to be a perfect catalyst for the parodying and mocking of authority (especially in the military). This brilliant literary device, along with many other devices (such as irony, metaphors and complex dialogues), and a great story help tell the tale of the Fighting 256^th (also known as two to the fighting eighth power) Squadron of the U.S. military during the latter half of World War Two. The squadron is (for most of the novel) on an air base on the island of Pianosa, west of Italy. The pilots make bombing runs and carry out other various missions (including what the men call “milk runs”). Although all of the characters are prevalent and important in the novel, the most so is Yossarian, our anti-heroic hero, who no longer yearns to be a hero.

Wanting to be sent home, Yossarian speaks with a superior about how he can go about doing so and if he can ever fulfill the required the amount of flights. He is denied his wish and is told there is a certain rule preventing him from completing his missions or being able to return home. The easiest to follow (although still far from simple) is the catch 22 forcing all of the men in the flight squadron, including Yossarian, to fly out all of their required missions, no matter how many times their leaders upped the quota, or how badly they want to go home. Here is that Catch 22:

“There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one's safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions. Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn't, but if he was sane he had to fly them. If he flew them he was crazy and didn't have to; but if he didn't want to he was sane and had to. Yossarian was moved very deeply by the absolute simplicity of this clause of Catch-22 and let out a respectful

whistle.” This is the one of the first catch 22’s out of many in the novel.

Another catch 22 that seems to directly pertain to military authority is the case of Major Major. Major Major tells his sergeant (assistant) to never let anyone into his office to speak to him unless he is not there. If he is present, the sergeant must make the visitor wait until the Major has left; Major Major uses the window instead of the door. This obvious idiocy and non-sense clearly is poking fun at authoritative powers and law making in the American military. The author of the book, Joseph Heller was also a bombardier on an island near Italy during World War Two, so we can see that there is some legitimacy behind his statements.

I greatly enjoyed Catch 22, and I think it is most definitely a classic. It is fun, smart, and very witty. It pokes fun at military authority, specifically, but the parody can be applied to any hierarchical system. And the characters are all very fascinating and real. I think that even I recognize some of these characters in my own life. The story itself can be blurry at times and it is not the easiest book to read, but it is also very funny. Once you finish this book it makes a lot more sense than when you are reading it. I would suggest this title to anyone who is a good reader, who likes thinking about things, and enjoys a good laugh. I am very glad to have chosen Catch 22.

Ram Dass

The quieter you become, the more you can hear.


there are many ways to interpret this quote. I thought on it for four years... and I am still finding new ways to interpret it...

Silence your mind to learn something new. I forget each interpretation of this quote as I come up with new ones, but they all make sense.

one must empty their cup before they can fill it with more knowledge.