Dear Mr. Tom Wolfe,
I thoroughly enjoyed your novel, “The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test” as it was very well written. Every word on the page I read I could clearly picture in my head what was going on, it was like no other book I have read. Your novel had a very strange plot, dealing with adults experimenting with drugs, but more specifically acid.
Your book first attracted me, because you inspired the novel “On the Road” by Jack Karouac, as the plot of your novel related to Jack Karouac’s work as it was about an adventure literally on the road. The journey had been partaken by Kesey and his gang of Pranksters. The story begins with Kesey getting out of jail and the extensive journey then begins with him and his friends going on a bus across the country. The bus they traveled in was a DayGlo a painted bus called the “Furthur”.
This was one of my favorite quotes from the 3rd chapter, “Mountain Girl fishes around in the debris over beside a bunch of theatre seats and gets the shirt, a brown buckskin shirt with an open neck and red leather lacings. Kesey takes off the shirt he has on. He has huge latissimi dorsi muscles making his upper back fan out like manta-ray wings.” I love this quote because it catches your attention and describes something so simple, in a more detailed and explicit way.
In the 9th chapter, the “Crypt Trip”, Kesey and his gang of Pranksters find themselves at Leary’s house a drug addict that was experimenting with acid on three-day trip. It is a very funny chapter as everything described about the house is very interesting. “When they got in sight of the great gingerbread mansion itself, all towers and turrets and jigsaw shingles, Sandy Lehmann-Haupt started throwing green smoke bombs off the top of the bus, great booms and blooms of green smoke exploding off the sides of the bus.” This quote describes in such perfect detail, the reader can imagine Sandy throwing the smoke bombs at the bus and the big explosion that they would cause.
Near the end of the novel, is “The Graduation”, I found a quote which is a brief description of the “The Danger of LSD”. The graduation is pretty much a conclusion of all the things that occurred on Kesey’s adventure, including all the weird events and concoctions they tried over their huge adventure. “-coming on in big letters on the screen of the monitor sets in the studio, with a drawing of three sugar cubes under it…the symbol of LSD, of course, like four XXXX’S for whiskey…and the voice over”… (and author Ken Kesey…). This a final quick detailed description of the view of LSD in the eyes of Kesey.
I really enjoyed the novel, thank you.
Sincerely, Michael Dawson
Monday, December 15, 2008
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Poor Tom is Cold by Maureen Jennings
Michael Dawson Poor Tom is Cold by Maureen Jennings October 26, 2008
Character Profile
Detective William Murdoch, is a very smart and cunning man who completes his work very thoroughly. As the story goes along, we follow Murdoch’s dedication to find the true story behind the supposed suicide of Constable Oliver Wicken. He believes that Wicken was murdered and did not commit suicide and sets out to prove it. Murdoch shows his courage by retracing the morning “beat” or route that Wicken took the morning he was killed. This leads him to Mrs. Bail’s bakery leading to the beginning of a series of clues. Murdoch is also shown as a dedicated and caring cop. He did not know Wicken very well but felt compelled to find a way to prove the murder. This level of dedication makes you feel that Murdoch was related to Wicken but he was not. This diligent detective finds some clues which lead him to believe that the murder of Wicken occurred so that greedy relatives could inherit money from an old man, who was married to a younger mentally unstable young wife with a devious stepson.
Clues
The clues begin with the meeting of Murdoch and Mrs. Bail at her bakery. She provides information about Wicken and his mother. Murdoch then questions Wicken’s mother who provides information leading to the Eakin Family. The Eakins’ are a well-off family who have family issues dealing with inheritance. The stepson Jarius Gibbs resents his new stepmother. He reveals that he is worried she will have a baby which will affect his inheritance. Jarius does everything possible to make Mrs. Eakin unstable so that she will be put in a mental asylum. On the night of the murder, Mrs. Bail said there was a woman’s cry in the night. The cry was from Mrs. Eakin and she was then sent to a mental asylum. Murdoch visits the asylum to interview her. He learns she fears being poisoned or killed by her family. She reacts strongly when Murdoch questions her about Constable Wicken’s death. After this meeting ,Mrs. Eakin escapes from the asylum as she suspects another patient has been poisoned after eating a tart intended for Mrs. Eakin. This is a perfect clue because it leads the detective right back to the relatives of Mrs. Eakin. Murdoch is then able to solve the crime by following Mrs. Eakin, Jarius Gibbs and Mr. Eakin.
3 Passages of Effective Writing
“She moaned and began to rock slightly back and forth in the chair. Suddenly, he had an image of a young cougar that a sailor had brought into the village when he was a boy. For five cents you could go into the hot, musty tent and view the animal. For a further penny, the sailor handed you a stick and you could poke her through the bars of the cage and “make her roar”. The expression in the eyes of Mrs.Eakin and the tormented animal were the same.” (Pg. 337) This is a very interesting quote from the book, as it is a description of Mrs. Eakin’s reaction of being told of Constable Wicken’s death. It was very well described and gave you a good image in your head about him and his cougar encounter creating fear and suspense. It also creates a visual clue for Murdoch to help him solve the murder. He realizes she didn’t see the murder but her scream attracted Wicken’s attention and put him in danger. “She’s told you a nailer, my lad” (pg 353). This quote displays how language was used differently in 1895 to help you step back in history. The reader feels that the setting of the book is in a much different (earlier) time. “Thursday, November 12, 1895..I write this entry in good health. My tongue is furred but my pulse is quite steady. I have pissed copiously in the chamber and my water is of good colour…” (page 25) This quote is effective because it is a unique way to describe an entry in a diary kept by Jarius Gibbs. This helps the reader understand the criminal’s state of mind in his own words after he committed the crime.
Character Profile
Detective William Murdoch, is a very smart and cunning man who completes his work very thoroughly. As the story goes along, we follow Murdoch’s dedication to find the true story behind the supposed suicide of Constable Oliver Wicken. He believes that Wicken was murdered and did not commit suicide and sets out to prove it. Murdoch shows his courage by retracing the morning “beat” or route that Wicken took the morning he was killed. This leads him to Mrs. Bail’s bakery leading to the beginning of a series of clues. Murdoch is also shown as a dedicated and caring cop. He did not know Wicken very well but felt compelled to find a way to prove the murder. This level of dedication makes you feel that Murdoch was related to Wicken but he was not. This diligent detective finds some clues which lead him to believe that the murder of Wicken occurred so that greedy relatives could inherit money from an old man, who was married to a younger mentally unstable young wife with a devious stepson.
Clues
The clues begin with the meeting of Murdoch and Mrs. Bail at her bakery. She provides information about Wicken and his mother. Murdoch then questions Wicken’s mother who provides information leading to the Eakin Family. The Eakins’ are a well-off family who have family issues dealing with inheritance. The stepson Jarius Gibbs resents his new stepmother. He reveals that he is worried she will have a baby which will affect his inheritance. Jarius does everything possible to make Mrs. Eakin unstable so that she will be put in a mental asylum. On the night of the murder, Mrs. Bail said there was a woman’s cry in the night. The cry was from Mrs. Eakin and she was then sent to a mental asylum. Murdoch visits the asylum to interview her. He learns she fears being poisoned or killed by her family. She reacts strongly when Murdoch questions her about Constable Wicken’s death. After this meeting ,Mrs. Eakin escapes from the asylum as she suspects another patient has been poisoned after eating a tart intended for Mrs. Eakin. This is a perfect clue because it leads the detective right back to the relatives of Mrs. Eakin. Murdoch is then able to solve the crime by following Mrs. Eakin, Jarius Gibbs and Mr. Eakin.
3 Passages of Effective Writing
“She moaned and began to rock slightly back and forth in the chair. Suddenly, he had an image of a young cougar that a sailor had brought into the village when he was a boy. For five cents you could go into the hot, musty tent and view the animal. For a further penny, the sailor handed you a stick and you could poke her through the bars of the cage and “make her roar”. The expression in the eyes of Mrs.Eakin and the tormented animal were the same.” (Pg. 337) This is a very interesting quote from the book, as it is a description of Mrs. Eakin’s reaction of being told of Constable Wicken’s death. It was very well described and gave you a good image in your head about him and his cougar encounter creating fear and suspense. It also creates a visual clue for Murdoch to help him solve the murder. He realizes she didn’t see the murder but her scream attracted Wicken’s attention and put him in danger. “She’s told you a nailer, my lad” (pg 353). This quote displays how language was used differently in 1895 to help you step back in history. The reader feels that the setting of the book is in a much different (earlier) time. “Thursday, November 12, 1895..I write this entry in good health. My tongue is furred but my pulse is quite steady. I have pissed copiously in the chamber and my water is of good colour…” (page 25) This quote is effective because it is a unique way to describe an entry in a diary kept by Jarius Gibbs. This helps the reader understand the criminal’s state of mind in his own words after he committed the crime.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
The Great Gatsby Review By Michael Dawson
Over the summer months, I read a novel called "The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald. A very well written novel, set in the "roaring 20s", a time of great wealth and prosperity.
The story begins with a character named Nick Carraway, the narrator throughout the novel. Nick works in the bond business and lives on West Egg, just outside of New York. There are two eggs, West and East Egg, West being the less fashionable side and East being the wealthier one. One night, Nick gets invited to his cousin Daisy's house, and meets several characters there including: Tom Buchanan (Daisy's Husband) and Jordan Baker. Tom had gone to university with Nick and was a very good football player at that time. Tom was a very cocky and brutish man, who was not very nice to his wife, Daisy. Jordan Baker is a very good golfer who is fancied by Nick. The next day, Nick is invited by Tom, to go to New York and meet his "girl", in other words his other mistress. Myrtle. Tom's "girl" is married to George Wilson, a man who owns a garage in the valley of ashes.
Finally, we get introduced to Jay Gatsby, a very well off man who was a soldier in WWI. Gatsby always has these extravagant parties every Saturday, as his neighbor Nick watches. However, Nick gets invited to one of Gatsby's parties and surprisingly meets Gatsby not at the party, but inside where he watches the party. Gatsby and Nick become very good friends and oddly one day Gatsby decides to ask Nick if he could meet Daisy for tea sometime soon. Nick secretly sets up this meeting between Gatsby and Daisy, and to the interest of Nick, he discovers they both had a history together before the war. Gatsby had been training in Louisville for the war, and met the beautiful Daisy and fell madly in love with each other. The relationship lasted for a month, until he sadly left for the war. While Gatsby was away, Daisy found the rich and pompous Tom Buchanan and married him. Gatsby, heart-broken by the news, waited for eight years to find her and get another chance. At the climax of the story, Tom confronts Gatsby about him and Daisy, then by the end of the fight Daisy truly finds out that she loves Tom. Before, this confrontation, Daisy and Gatsby were drive to New York and had a collision with a car. Ironically, the car they hit was driven by Myrtle, and sadly she passed away. George outraged by his wife being killed, asks Tom which car crashed into his Myrtle's car. He said a yellow car, which Daisy was driving, however Tom tells George that Gatsby was driving the yellow car. George, in need of revenge of his wife's death, goes to Gatsby's house, shoots and kills Gatsby and then George commits suicide. At the end of the novel, only a few people show up for Gatsby's funeral, including: Gatsby's father, Nick, Owl Eyes and "the boarder". Also, Tom and Daisy end up staying together.
The author's use of diction, in this novel is very well done. Fitzgerald describes things in such a unique and interesting way. For example, "He had one those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life." pg-49. Fitzgerald describes Gatsby in such a nice and elegant way that you just want to keep on reading. His language is old-fashioned and gives you a really good feel of how the English language was used in the 1920s. The character development in this novel is very interesting to see how they turn out at the end of the story. For example, at first Gatsby seems very mysterious and unknown, however later in the novel we learn the real truth about his fortune, in which he inherited it from his elder/mentor, Dan Cody. The dialogue in this novel is very well written and easy to understand for the reader.
"The intimate revelations of young men, or at least the terms in which they express them, are usually plagiaristic and marred by obvious supressions." Nick Carraway pg-1. This quote defines the novel by how Nick would judge most characters throughout the book. "I'm glad it's a girl. And I hope she'll be a fool, it's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool." Daisy pg-22. This displays how Daisy was so unhappy that Tom, her husband, was not there for his child's birth and puts her anger upon the baby, instead of Tom. Also, this shows that she regrets ever marrying Tom when she said she hoped the baby was a fool, referring to her being seen as a beautiful fool by Tom. A definite lack of respect for women.
The story begins with a character named Nick Carraway, the narrator throughout the novel. Nick works in the bond business and lives on West Egg, just outside of New York. There are two eggs, West and East Egg, West being the less fashionable side and East being the wealthier one. One night, Nick gets invited to his cousin Daisy's house, and meets several characters there including: Tom Buchanan (Daisy's Husband) and Jordan Baker. Tom had gone to university with Nick and was a very good football player at that time. Tom was a very cocky and brutish man, who was not very nice to his wife, Daisy. Jordan Baker is a very good golfer who is fancied by Nick. The next day, Nick is invited by Tom, to go to New York and meet his "girl", in other words his other mistress. Myrtle. Tom's "girl" is married to George Wilson, a man who owns a garage in the valley of ashes.
Finally, we get introduced to Jay Gatsby, a very well off man who was a soldier in WWI. Gatsby always has these extravagant parties every Saturday, as his neighbor Nick watches. However, Nick gets invited to one of Gatsby's parties and surprisingly meets Gatsby not at the party, but inside where he watches the party. Gatsby and Nick become very good friends and oddly one day Gatsby decides to ask Nick if he could meet Daisy for tea sometime soon. Nick secretly sets up this meeting between Gatsby and Daisy, and to the interest of Nick, he discovers they both had a history together before the war. Gatsby had been training in Louisville for the war, and met the beautiful Daisy and fell madly in love with each other. The relationship lasted for a month, until he sadly left for the war. While Gatsby was away, Daisy found the rich and pompous Tom Buchanan and married him. Gatsby, heart-broken by the news, waited for eight years to find her and get another chance. At the climax of the story, Tom confronts Gatsby about him and Daisy, then by the end of the fight Daisy truly finds out that she loves Tom. Before, this confrontation, Daisy and Gatsby were drive to New York and had a collision with a car. Ironically, the car they hit was driven by Myrtle, and sadly she passed away. George outraged by his wife being killed, asks Tom which car crashed into his Myrtle's car. He said a yellow car, which Daisy was driving, however Tom tells George that Gatsby was driving the yellow car. George, in need of revenge of his wife's death, goes to Gatsby's house, shoots and kills Gatsby and then George commits suicide. At the end of the novel, only a few people show up for Gatsby's funeral, including: Gatsby's father, Nick, Owl Eyes and "the boarder". Also, Tom and Daisy end up staying together.
The author's use of diction, in this novel is very well done. Fitzgerald describes things in such a unique and interesting way. For example, "He had one those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life." pg-49. Fitzgerald describes Gatsby in such a nice and elegant way that you just want to keep on reading. His language is old-fashioned and gives you a really good feel of how the English language was used in the 1920s. The character development in this novel is very interesting to see how they turn out at the end of the story. For example, at first Gatsby seems very mysterious and unknown, however later in the novel we learn the real truth about his fortune, in which he inherited it from his elder/mentor, Dan Cody. The dialogue in this novel is very well written and easy to understand for the reader.
"The intimate revelations of young men, or at least the terms in which they express them, are usually plagiaristic and marred by obvious supressions." Nick Carraway pg-1. This quote defines the novel by how Nick would judge most characters throughout the book. "I'm glad it's a girl. And I hope she'll be a fool, it's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool." Daisy pg-22. This displays how Daisy was so unhappy that Tom, her husband, was not there for his child's birth and puts her anger upon the baby, instead of Tom. Also, this shows that she regrets ever marrying Tom when she said she hoped the baby was a fool, referring to her being seen as a beautiful fool by Tom. A definite lack of respect for women.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)