After reading Chapter 1 (or equivalent), please share your first impressions. You are welcome to tell us a little about the characters, setting, beginning plot lines, your feelings as a reader, predictions, and anything else feels significant at this stage in the book.
Honestly, this book is quite engrossing.
ReplyDeleteSo far, Geography Club has gripped my attention in the first 18 pages, a feat some novels can't accomplish until page 345.
Brent Hartinger does not beat around the bush. He dives right into the mind of Russel Middlebrook, boldly displaying his gay thoughts on paper. The first five pages focuses on Russel feeling like the Men's gym locker room is enemy territory. Altough his orientation is to males, I can understand. Russel here is obviously pondering that, to be gay, it means that he is a female. Just like a guy walking into the Girl's locker feels foreign, a girl entering the Guy's locker is the same. I find it saddening that he is high-strung enough that when Kevin Land, the school baseball star, says "Nice butt, Russel." Russel takes that as a test to see if he is gay. This novel was written in 2003, so perhaps that was what stage LGBT's were at.
The chapter ends with Russel meeting up with an online gay chat friend at a playing field. To my mild surprise it turns out to be none other than Kevin Land.
I am interested in the characters, setting and overall message. So far, Geography Club is hitting all the right notes.
by Koltyn
So far, The Black Sunshine (of Goody Pryne)has been very odd. First the two main characters Goody and narator Fredie appeared to be in a house, but then it turned out to be a corner store, then they were outside. As you can tell the beginning has been a bit confusing. I also find that the family dynimics in both of their households a bit odd. Mostly the mother son/daughter relationships.
ReplyDeleteAt this point in time I am unsure what direction the plot will take as the description on the back was actualy just an outsert of charpter one so I have nothing else substantial to predict off of. I think that perhaps the story should have started in a more 'beginning' type way. So far I feel like I walked in on stomthing I SHOULD have known about before, but don't!
At this point in the novel I am pesimistic.
The beginning of "My Heartbeat" has been fairly good, but didn't really grab my attention until chapter four or so. The characters are sort of boring, and the author tells you things about them instead of showing you. What I do like about it is that the main character, Ellen, is starting high school, and she has a love for reading, both of which I can relate to in a way. Her older brother, Link, is a fairly boring character, I wish the author would have thought to add some sort of sparkle, pizazz (?) to his character. I think we might have reached the climax, but I can't be sure because I'm only on page 41/154.
ReplyDeleteThe begining of "Bad Boy" has been quite different from most of the novels I read. It just dives into the mind of A.J. Brandiosa, the main character. It explains the setting in a quick read and then after not understanding what has happened slows down and explains things a little bit more which was nice. I explains A.J.'s friends, what he likes to do and some of his strenths and weaknesses. It creates a sense of connection to the character which helps it to be an easier and more enjoyable read. So far no LGBTQ characters have been introduced or at least have not expressed their feelings publicly. Also, it is quite a humorous novel. Their are jokes every now and then to lighten up the mood and turn a bad situation to a less bad sutiuation (It is not actually less bad but it seems as if it is). So far I think this book is off to a good start and I will definatly read more. I just hope that the parts of the novel that involve hockey will come soon. I recommend this book to anyone in the enrichment class that likes sports, humor and some sensitivity when they read a novel.
ReplyDeleteIn the begining of the book that i am reading called "Bad Boy" has been very interesting so far. it is about A.J Brandiosa and one of his friends who are both hockey players that are trying out for a hockey team that they had tried out for and been cut the year before.This year, they are trying out again and they both feel a little worried about potentially not making the team for a second straight year. Hope it continues to be a great read!
ReplyDeleteThe beginning of my book, "Bad Boy", has been OK. It's told from the point of AJ Brandiosa, a triple A hockey player in his small town. So far, only a few things have happened. It's mostly about AJ adjusting to his new lifestyle (waking up for practices,etc.) and focusing on the relationships he has with the people around him. Towards the middle of the book, AJ is betrayed by his best friend when he finds out that his best friend is gay, and his best friend took him to a gay bar when AJ is not. It's kind of sad because of the way AJ treats his friend after that, and because of how guilty his best friend feels for not telling AJ he was gay. It also helps reveal how in AJ's town, being gay is an unusual thing, which explains why he's so surprised.
ReplyDeleteI'm interested to find out the ending of this book, and I want to know if AJ will ever forgive his best friend. I guess in the end, this book is actually pretty interesting.
In the first chapter of my book "The black sunshine of Goody Pryne" nothing LGBTQ relaited has come up so far. I find what has been shown of the polt so far is rather typical--- scrawny teen age boy loves the popular girl in school and is terified of her boyfriend, his bestfriend is sacrastic and kind of rough around the edges. It is an interesting plot line but it's also kind of commen, this makes me more interested in how the story will play out.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading the first chapter of the book "Geography Club", author Brent Hartinger had caught my full attention. Right away we were introduced to the main character Russel Middlebrook, who explains to us (from the boy's locker room, after gym) that he is gay. He knows that he is gay, but seems very worried that other people will find out, especially Kevin Land, a popular kid at school. Little does Russel know that Kevin and him have a lot more in common than anyone ever thought. I like how the Geography Club jumps into the topic of LGBTQ students right away, and adds a touch of humor to help lighten the mood. The book has captured me already, and I recommend it as a good read to others.
ReplyDelete