This guide to Absalom, Absalom by William Faulkner stands head and shoulders above other published study guides of the same book and compares favorably to the best of contemporary scholarship on this complex and peculiar giant of American literature. The precision and clarity of Johnson's writing is second only to her incisive yet empathy-tempered insights into the cultural origins and psychological dynamics of of William Faulkner's creative genius. It might well be said that Johnson herself is guided by a daemon driving her to educate, illuminate and uplift the masses of the great unread, so vast is her talent for explication and exegesis, so graceful her dance through the hermeneutic spiral. Buy this book and you will be lead into undreamed of realms of knowledge and wisdom by an actual PhD.

This fine interpretation should be used by any person who endeavors to understand the body of Faulkner's work. I daresay even old W.F. himself would have benefited from reading this text. I only wish I had had assistance like this when I was in school.

As an impartial audience, I MUST say that this book displays ABSOLUTE GENIUS! It's clear that Carol Johnson should receive the MacArthur Award. This book should be on display at the Library of Congress next to the Declaration of Independence.

Beowulf is in Anglo-Saxon, but is probably originally a Norse legend. Please ignore the comment in another review that the Anglo-Saxons were ancestors of King Arthur! Arthur, if he existed, was a British king who fought the Romans. The Angles, Saxons and Jutes were teutonic tribes who came to England at the end of the Roman occupation several centuries later.

The concept of the Modern Critical Interpretation series is an excellent one. The editor, Harold Bloom, a renowned scholar in his own right, has assembled the best literary criticism of a large number of important works.

If you want to get a deeper insight into Beowulf as a work of literature, this book is an excellent way to do it. Some of the essays are a bit challenging--the book is for the fairly serious Beowulf fan. Seamus Heaney's translation really got me into a work which I've been meaning to get to for a long time. This collection of essays took me the rest of the way--it told me all I wanted to know about Beowulf as work of literature. Think of it as a senior-level college text book.

The essays give the reader some valuable insights into the language, but you don't have to know Old English to appreciate it. But a willingness to learn about a few of the words will help.

"Difficult" classics usually pay back many-fold the effort one puts into studying them. Beowulf and these essays are definitely worth that time and effort.

When I had to switch my college study to English, I was a bit frightened of all the reading before me. This book told me that I was in for a REAL exciting journey towards my B.A. "Beowulf" is no less than an exquisite masterpiece. It is just the right length, the images are well drawn, the language is well used, and the plot is more complex than we may have thought. The setting prior to Beowulf's entrance is well constructed. Beowulf's character is well prepared upon his entrance. Unferth is well placed. He reveals to us that despite Beowulf's piety and courage, he is not a flawless hero. He suffers from excessive pride. Beowulf's fight with Grendel offers suspense and captivation, and we are even allowed a small amount of sympathy for Grendel when he escapes only to die later. We are then told the story of Siegmund, and his fall over excessive pride foreshadows Beowulf's fall. (History repeats itself.) Grendel's mother than comes to avenge her son. (This goes way beyond a simple chapter.) She is a threat that must be dealt with, but it is difficult not to feel sorry for her. (She is after all a mother in sorrow over her son's death.) Although Unferth rebuked Beowulf earlier, he joins with Beowulf for a common cause, and later, Beowulf ADMITS that the battle was very close. (He is not invincible.) King Hrothgar then warns Beowulf of excessive pride. Later the dragon attacks, and Beowulf displays excessive pride (the very thing King Hrothgar warned him against). In this battle Beowulf does fight with courage, and Wiglaf displays touching loyalty to Beowulf in this battle where Beowulf dies. Beowulf's funeral is a fitting end for this masterpiece. So we have a hero with strength, virtues, and flaws, suspense, well organization, well drawn supporting characters, complex villains, and even an element of mystery! Who was this author?

Part of the reason Dickens uses his "flowery" language, despite the effectiveness in creating vivid imagery, was that he was paid by the word. Therefore, his wordiness should not solely be considered an artistic choice, which makes you a bit more sympathetic to how long winded this book can seem. It is however a classic for good reason, with a compelling plot, even without very memorable characters. Still a good book to read for its historical context, and if you can handle the language it, for its good story.

Probably the first thing I thought about when I first read Charles Dicken's A Tale of Two Cities was, 'There's WAY too much detail in thing dumb novel!' Well, as I read on it occurred to me that Dicken's uses his amazing flowery language for a reason. It gives you the 'reality' feeling, like you can actually see and picture in your mind what is going on. The novel grabs you in places and lets you feel the sorrow or happiness the characters feel. His rendition of London and Paris are extraordinary because he lets you see the injustice and the anguish that the peasant class felt at that time. The use of detail and language in this novel is one of its most effective elements and truely I would rate this book as one of the best.

Readers should note that this site does not distinguish between the various editions of Shakespeare, so the reviews you read may be for audiotapes, modern translations, etc. I am reviewing the Kenneth Branaugh BBC Radio recording of Hamlet. It is adequate, which I consider high praise for this challenging play. Like Branaugh's movie a few years later, it includes the entire text of the play, which is a nice way to remind yourself of some issues you may have forgotten.

The performances are pretty good, and include Branaugh (of course) as Hamlet and Derek Jacobi as Claudius, giving us a hint of the performances they would later give in the movie. No one's performance really blew me away, although Jacobi was excellent.

Ultimately, the play loses quite a bit when transferred to audio only. There's a lot to be conveyed with stage placement, physican action, expression, etc. Somehow, listening to the play limited my imagination on those issues, preventing my from using my "mind's eye" to the fullest.

Hamlet is considered, by many scholars, the pinnacle of Shakespeare's dramas. If you haven't read it yet this this Case Studies in Contemporary Criticism edition would be a great place to begin.

The text notes that are included with the play are very helpful to understand some of the more difficult language nuances that are inevitable with any Shakespeare. The structure is well laid out and conclusive. It complements the complexity of Hamlet very well.

Of course Hamlet is one of the great paradoxes and mysteries every written. The search of finding yourself and what it is that fuels the human spirit. Hamlet can be a very confusing play because of the depth of substance. However, the critical essays that suppliment the reading make it very accessable.

Each of the critical essays are of different schools of literary criticism: Feminist Criticism, psychoanalytic criticism, post-structuralist (deconstuctionist) criticism, Marxist critism, and finally a New Historicist criticism. Before each critism there is clearly written introduction to explain the motives and histories of that type of criticism.

This edition of Hamlet will not only introduce the reader to more Shakespeare, but also explain the play and help to familiarize the reader with literary criticism too. It is a beautiful volume that cannot be more recommended if you are wanting to buy a copy Hamlet.

Hamlet has always been thought of as one of the classics of literature. I could not think of another book which deserves this title more. The story of a Danish pricne who learns from his fathers ghost that his father, the king, was murdered by his brother, Hamlet's uncle, who then went on to marry Hamlet's mother. Hamlet is overcome by a longing for revenge, but also indecisive. Shakespeare creates a great amount of tension between the chatacters with powerful confrontatoins and biting language. It is a suspenseful tragedy, filled with anguish.

William Shakespeare was a genious when it came to breaking down the human psyche, and Hamlet is perhaps one of the most complex plays when it comes to human emotions. It is undoubtably one of his finest works, full of very complex, interesting characters, and a wonderfully chaotic plot. There are innumerable theories on Hamlet, why he is so indecisive, and if it all comes down to an oedipus complex. whatever way you interpret it, everyone can get something out of it. I feel like I am priveleged to have read such a wonderful play.

Hamlet is a character that I can relate to in some ways, being a very indecisive person myself. I felt I could connect with him better than many Shakespeare characters, MacBeth, Ceasar, Juliet, Helena or Hermia. That is one of the reasons that I enjoyed Hamlet so very much. I wish that everyone could love Hamlet as much as I did, but I know, especially being a high-school student, that it is a little much for general reading. For high school students, like me, I very strongly recommend this book, if you really like Shakespeare, and aren't looking for a quick read. Otherwise, it might be a little to much to tackle, if you don't really enjoy Shakespearian tragedies. For anyone who has time required to comprehend such a complex work, and is looking for a masterpiece of literature that will keep them thinking, Hamlet is the book for you.

This is possibly the saddest novel I have ever read. I have been thinking about it ever since I finished it. Few novels have evoked so much emotion in me. Tess makes me feel sad, frustrated, and angry.
Tess of the Durbervilles is the story of Tess Durbeyfield, the daughter of poor, alcoholic parents who learn that they are of a noble bloodline and send Tess off to work for her noble "cousin" Alec Durberville. While there, Alec rapes Tess and she has his illegitimate baby. This event ruins Tess's life. She is no longer pure, and virginal, and therefore brings shame upon her true love Angel Clare when her past is revealed.
It is hard to believe, in this day and age, that Tess is shamed and ostracized because she was the victim of a horrible crime. Hardy's novel is a powerful statement on the questionable morality of Victorian society. Tess, who is a heroic, brave, caring, selfless woman, is not worthy of Angel because she is somehow impure due to the rape. Angel, who has lived with a woman out of wedlock and is clearly not a virgin himself, feels justified in punishing Tess when he learns of her past.
The writing is beautiful, but the story tragic. It will stay with you a long time.

Please ignore the immature high-school student reviews and understand that this book is a masterpiece. Hardy analyzes the relationship between human desire and society's mores to an unprecendented degree. The characters are multi-faceted and very life-like. Hardly aptly avoids the mistake of creating mere carciatures of the pure woman, idealistic intellectual, and spoiled playboy. Moreover, his use of religious allusion is excellent although this may alienate the modern, secular reader. And perhaps this is the problem with some readers. Finally, Tess is an admirable and strong woman who had difficult circumstances. How many people would act as admirably in her circumstance? Not many! The reviewers that criticize her actions should realize this and that they ignore one of Hardy's key points: Don't be so judgemental! This is one of the best books I have read and believe me, I have read a lot of the "good" books.

I'm many years out of college and thought I should start reading some more of the classics. Previous favorites of mine have been The Sound and the Fury, Jane Eyre, and Pride and Prejudice. I saw Tess of the D'Urbervilles on my sister's bookshelf and for about a year I considered reading it. Finally, I picked it up and began. Wow! I read it in about three days. I never expected I would feel so much by reading this book. I cried when she baptized Sorrow herself. Her concerns that he be buried in the churchyard and her efforts to ensure he was were touching. I wanted to help Tess Durbeyfield. I thought she was a very complex character--she was sweet and unworldly but she wasn't actually stupid. And she was strong in many ways--for example, her family relied on Tess for so many things--eventually even their support. In fact, I hated her family for not working harder and making their own sacrifices. All the burden was on poor Tess. I also wanted to shake some sense into Angel. He really did wrong by Tess--although he eventually realizes this, it comes too late. The only thing I really did not care for was the sudden inclusion of a minor character (who we met earlier)into the end of the book and the implication that she would play an important role in the future of a major character. I barely knew this minor character and NOBODY could compare to Tess of the D'Urbervilles. If you are reading this to find a good book, ignore the negative reviews by high-school students and buy this book NOW. It's unforgettable.

Marguerite (Maya) has lived in Stamps, Arkansas for most of her life with her grandmother and out of the blue her father comes forward into her life. In this unexpected visit Maya and her brother are whisked to St. Louis to live with their mother. After awhile, Maya and her brother leave because her mother's boyfriend violates her. Time passes, and they are sent to California where Maya is shipped off to her father and his awful girlfriend. She finally runs away to a wrecking yard where she eventually goes back to her mother. After feeling "finished" with high school, Maya gets a job on the streetcars as the first African-American and some months later becomes pregnant.

I really enjoyed this book and somehow could relate to it, even though I'd never been through any of the same experiences. Maya Angelou has a distinct writing style with an intricate slow pace which I usually dislike although in this book her vocabulary painted a picture which kept me interested. Maya's life has been really hard and reading this now, I wonder how you can overcome all of what she has went through. Her life with her parents was a wreck and yet she still held herself together, probably because of living with her grandmother who helped instill morals, stability, and how the world really worked. It's a remarkable story and that's just what it appears at first. The moral of her life shows how will and determination cannot change your inborn character, that you become stronger through it.

While reading "...Caged Bird" I payed attention to Angelou's innovative writing style. She is of a new generation who dares to write about life as it really is. Instead of an autobiography that idealizes and candy-coats life, this book tells about life's embarassing and not-so-enjoyable details. I enjoyed this book. It was a fast and easy read. I would recommend it for older audiences (9th grade--on). Some of the content may not be appropriate for younger readers. Teachers: this book could be coupled with Mildred D. Taylor's "Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry". It would be a great complement for authors like Langston Hughes, Gwendolyn Brooks, Zora Neal Hurston, Jean Toomer, Walter Dean Myers,James Baldwin... for a unit on Multicultural American literature. You could address topics like: racism, rape, relocating and its adjustments, teen pregnancy, parental roles, autobiography writing styles... I'm a 21-year-old female studying to be an Enlish teacher.

A quick review by Michelle A. Bejar.......I first read this book in my English class in the University I am currently attending. It became one of my favorites, that I will have in my own library of books. I know why the caged bird sings, is the biography about Maya Angelou herself, a book that helps understand the struggles of a little girl and her brother Bailey. They both had a hard life, living between Arkansas and California, but both overcame those issues in such a young age. Both children in their young age were not living with their parents due to the divorce, but rather were staying with their grandmother in Arkansas. The grandmother took on the father and mother figure for them, they later had begun to call her Mama too. After moving with their grandmother, the children were facing racial discrimination against them. I think that we can all learn from these issues to make life itself easier. Some readers might not realize this, but I feel that this book teaches us the hard facts about racial issues in life. In Maya's life racism was not the only issue she had to deal with. Once she moved back with her mother, she was raped by her mothers boyfriend at a young age. This is another way she shows the reader how she dealt with hard situations in her young life. I personally recommend this book to adolescent readers, it deals with issues that need to be learned at a young age. I feel that the book will help the majority of the readers to cross giant walls of cultures, race and people. It will help us to learn how to treat and learn about others who might not be the same way as we are. At the end, I think that it will strengthen the race relations between people for the better. In conclusion I would like to add that this book can be funny at time, but also heart breaking at other times. It is the genuine story of a girl, where at times we can relate too.

I read this book in 9th grade. I am 26 years old now and still think about the morality and symbolism of human nature I discovered in "Lord of the Flies". I decided to write this review all these years later after watching the first installment of the TV show "Survivior". I saw a lot of similarities. In "Lord of the Flies" we are given a sort of scenario...what if a group of young adolescent boys were left abandoned on a deserted island. This is what happens...and as I describe some of the scenes from the book, compare them to that of a real life TV show a lot of us watch. Maybe like me, you'll see a more animal, evil side to these "real-life" strategy survival shows. On this deserted island a natural leader is born, Ralph. He is kind, and understanding of the fears his fellow students face. He accepts responsibility and delegates "chores" for the other boys to do. They must tend a rescue fire. They must hunt for food. They must tend to the wounded pilot. Ralph chooses the path a responsible adult might. Soon some of the boys become lazy. They do not follow Ralph's rules. These unruly boys are headed by another natural leader. The more "wild" and fun-seeking Jack. Jack and Ralph argue. To maintain control the boys find a large shell ....the conch....and whoever holds it has the right to speak. This attempt at order works for a little while but soon Jack dismisses the control the conch holds. He and his pig-hunting, lazy friends split from the original group and leave to another part of the island. They want to "do their own thing". They defy rules and organization which Ralph feels is the key to survival. Meanwhiile Ralph and his friend Piggy struggle to keep their small group in order. It becomes increasingly difficult to maintain adult responsibility. For the youngest who fear Jack and his clan, Ralph becomes almost their savior, their security on an island of unknown. Soon Ralph's pack decides they too are tired of rules, and one by one leave to join Jack's ideas of senseless fun. Jack represents abandonment of control, living purely through pleasures. This is where you can form a million metaphors between the two clans of boys. Jack and his bandits become so wild and animal-like near the "end" that they actually start hunting Ralph in the manner of a real pig-hunt. They have forgotten society, basic humanity, and most of all..they have forgotten they were once all friends. This kind of behavior echoed alot of the back-stabbing things I see on TV and in the government, religion, everywhere in real life. Read this book and never let yourself abandon what you truly beleive to be good in your heart...Let us compare this book of instinct and leaders and followers to our own lives....On a personal note....Jack always kind of reminded me of Adolph Hitler and his control over his followers during the war. I would love to hear some other thoughts via e-mail. If you are reading this book for school, like I did once, really try to think about some real-life comparisons you find between the pages of Golding's work of art.

I read this book many years ago in high school, and found it very philosophical. It isn't conforting in any sense of the word, but it gives a powerful message regarding the nature of humans. The whole conflict between Jack and Ralph is petty, but that was the point. Written during the horrors of WWII, W. Golding wanted to show the readers that the only difference between human beings and beasts is that we are governed by laws and civilization, without which we do become savages. Disturbing, extremely, but that doesn't mean it isn't a good book. Someone once told me the purpose of art and literature is to make an audience think through its powerful messages, not to be comfortable to place in a "hospital" setting. Lord of the Flies does exactly that. Through vivid descriptions and masterful symbolism, this book conveys a powerful message regarding human nature. A previous reader claimed, due to the Columbine shootings, this book should not be read in high schools, I couldn't disagree more. It is because of such atrocious acts that the message this book contains is needed more than ever.

William Golding addresses what happens to society if the norms are broken down and anarchy takes its place. Golding uses English school boys stranded on a remote desert isle for his study of society. At first, the boys agree to work together with Ralph trying to maintain order by assigning various chores such as food gathering and keeping a signal fire for search and rescue attempts. Not long afterward, Jack challenges Ralph and lures the boys away to live like savages hunting wild pigs and running around in paint. As jack gains power among the boys, Ralph finds himself suddenly being hunted by his former friends.

Lord of the Flies is an intense look at larger society if the norms are ever overturned. At first it is fun acting any way one wants when there are no adults to oversee. However, the mundane chores stop being done and order breaks down. The young children that were being looked after, just disappear without reason and nobody seems to mind or notice. The savage group reacts alomost with casual abandon when one of the group is accidentally killed by the rest. When order is tried to be reinstated, chaos reacts swiftly and harshly. Lord of the Flies is both a great read and a very important book.

Willy Loman the protagonist of the play „Death of the Salesman" is supposed to embody the American average man. An American average man is married, has children, lives in a house, possesses a well paid job. Hence he spends his quality time with his family, so most of American fathers use to teach their children football, baseball or other sport activities. Willy Loman the protagonist in Arthur Miller's play just seems to fulfill the duties of an American average man. Yes, he is married to Linda, yes, he also has children, two boys named Biff and Happy. Willy and his sons are footballphile. Nevertheless, he lives in a house and he seems be to be succesful as a salesman. But while you read the play you will realize Willy Loman is just a faker who is still dreaming and has not woke up yet. Willy Loman has internalized wrong values which are money, success and „being well liked". He wanted to earn respect and lost his view for the most significant values a human being should have such as being satisfied with yourself and having people around you who support and love you. The consequence of having wrong values is Willy Loman alienated himself from society, although he deeply wanted to be part of succesful people. Ironically Willy Loman is a product of society. He tried to adapt himself to society's expectations and actually lost himself in the crowd. Willy has always looked for more, more than he actually was able to achieve. Willy wanted success, money and respect which people should bring towards him.

At this point I am wondering if these goals will lead individuals to become satisfied with themselves. Can people be actually pleased with money and success? Or are these aims only an illusion? Biff and Happy Loman experience whether money and success are worthy values you should set your life on or not. They both come up to a different conclusion. Happy still holds on to success and money. He believes that these values are the key to life. Money rules the world. Whereas Biff has found other criterias he wanted his life to be based on. Biff believes in his individual talent, he trusts his feelings what they tell him to do. Biff goes his own way, therefore he prefers to work on a ranch. Biff came off from what society thinks, what society expects him to do.

Therefore I think Death of the Salesman has lost a little bit of topicality. Arthur Miller focuses his play especially at Willy Loman's failure in society because of his wrong values. But today I think people have enough courage to stand and speak up for themselves as Biff does by the end of the play. Our daily American and even European society is a crowd of individuals.

Death of a salesman is a play written by Arthur Miller (1915- ). The play focuses on how Willy Loman, the main character always thinks and talks about being successful. Being successful is Willy's great dream. Just like the American dream. Willy strives to bring happiness to himself and his family, but does not succeed. He is too prideful to accept the fact that his dream of being a successful salesman never will become true, and he is too prideful to accept where he fits in society. People like Willy are very common in today's society. They are caught up in the American dream; everybody wants to be successful, but only a few make it to the top. But is this really the most important values in life? Willy looks at himself as a failure, just because he didn't make it to the top in business life, well, that is how business is; not everybody can make it to the top. That doesn't necessarily mean that your whole life is over. That is what happened to Willy; when he felt like a failure because of his broken dream, he let it out on his wife, and his two sons, Biff and Happy. Then he killed himself. This shows that Willy's only values in life were to become wee-liked and successful and if he didn't, it wasn't worth living. I think the book was a bit difficult to read, because the play shifts between present and past, which makes it a bit confusing. All over, I liked the book, not because the story was so good, but because after finishing it, it made me think about how much people think about their career, and how often the career becomes a first priority, no matter what. Is it the career that makes a man successful?

In my view the drama "Death of a Salesman" by Arthur Miller is a very popular book. It is a tragedy where the reader can see the development of the tragic flaw from the first page till the end: The main character is Willy Loman. He is a normal father working as a salesman in a firm for many years. But something goes wrong with his mind and he lives in illusions. Hereby the point is to find out what went wrong in his life. Arthur Miller shows up all the different situations that led Willy to his decision at the end of the book. He looses his job for example, he does not come along with the behaviour of Biff and he cannot pay for his family anymore. So at the end he preferred the death more than being alive ("You end up worth more dead than alive"). Willy Loman is a dreamer. Looking back to the past is lovely for him, and there are all the flash-backs in the play which underline his dissipations into the past. The flash-backs are a good way to show the people after and after what might have gone wrong in the long past, because the real set is shortly before Willy`s death. So the reader just gets to know from the flash-backs what really happened in the past, and Willy`s own ones are not conformable with the real truth every time. The hotel scene in Boston is one big evidence. Very early the reader gets to know that his oldest son Biff broke up school shortly before his finishing. He did not want to go to summer school, but why? Later on the reader gets the answer because of the hotel scene where Biff caught his father with a strange woman and he was disappointed. There are hints like this one in every scene. Many criticisers, like Eleanor Clark, wrote about Miller`s play that it was definitely the capitalist system which made Willy loosing his mind. I share this opinion because the time Arthur Miller wrote the play is the shift in the society in the later thirties. On the one hand it might be a strong critic by the author about this new system, on the other hand he just could show how some normal people could break off because of this system. A big proof therefore is the brutal firing of Willy out of his firm where he worked more than forty years, and the remembers at his brother Ben who could go out into the world trying to make his way a long time before the capitalist system came. In the end I can say that I enjoyed the play; even the fact that many questions are unanswered (particular at the requiem) does not disturb me that much. The reader therefore gets the chance to make up his own decisions and thinks about it a lot. I think that is well done by Arthur Miller as well.

I started reading Faulkner because I never did in school, and as a writer myself, it just felt like I ought to be able to say, "I've read Faulkner."
Well, he's not easy. They don't call him the Master of Repetition for nothin'!
But, of the 3-4 of his books I've read, this one is imminently readable, funny as only Faulkner can be funny, tragic and pathetic as only Faulker can be tragic and patheticand as always, it's a helluva good story.
If you've never read Faulkner before, start with this one.

I think the great thing about As I Lay Dying is getting your friends to read it so that you can all talk about it. It's just so much more of a fun book that way. I mean, it's already my favorite book of all time. Or atleast one of them. But it's got dark, dark, black humor, and that family, The Bundren Family... they are just losers. The ultimate low life losers. They are so much fun. You learn to love to laugh at them.

Faulkner must've had fun with this novel. All the characters shine bright in some horrible way or another, some worse than others. Even Addie, the dead mother that the novel circles about isn't that great of a person. And Faulkner just exploits every weird bit about every weird character. It's just a delight!

This book is rich. Rich rich rich 20th century literature. And it isn't even that hard. I don't know why it gets a bad rap compared to Sound and the Fury which is more difficult. Sure, As I Lay Dying requires patience. But all you need is just a teensy bit of patience to get through it's door and you'll just see all it has. I guess you can't "look" for what you might want in a "normal" novel. Characterization is there but a little skewed of course. Plot is there, but of course its a little different, a little odd. It's just fun, especially if you're not expecting John Grisham or something.

Read it, enjoy it. Open up to it. It's a great starting point both for Faulkner, and just fun enjoyable literature in general.

This is the third Faulkner book I've read and each one seems to get better and better . . . maybe it's because I'm getting more used to his style. He beautifully recreates another place and time and populates it with a cast of characters that seem sometimes way too bizarre to live but then gives you peeks inside their heads that make you realize that they aren't all that different from us. The plot, in its simplest form, is that Addie Bunden has died and her husband, Anse, made a promise to her before she died that he would bury her in her native town of Jefferson, which is some distance away. So he gathers the family up and starts the journey. Only its not that simple and at times it seems like this is the unluckiest family on the planet, disaster upon disaster just keeps dropping on them out of nowhere. It doesn't help that by and large this is a family that defines the word dysfunctional and they have some interesting ways to deal with adversity (wait until you see the solution for a broken leg!). Faulkner keeps the narrative moving by the then innovative (I guess) technique of jumping to multiple viewpoint and having different people tell the story from different perspectives, often wildly differing in their presentation and tone. The people range from deadly serious to comical and Faulkner's skill at putting complicated thoughts into often beautiful prose is readily apparent here. Just about every section has a line or two that you find yourself reading over again simply to savor how well written it is. The plot curves like a downward spiral, culminating in an ending that I certainly didn't see coming, even if it did make loads of sense. As with any Faulkner book there are probably layers and layers of allusion and symbolism that I missed completely . . . some lines are repeated too often to stand for just their literal meaning. But even just read in a straightforward fashion Faulkner's stream of consciousness techniques and his ability to use setting to its fullest extent will make this a memorable reading experience for those who want a little thinking with their reading. They don't write like this anymore.

When the old man set out on his daily routine he experiences more than he has expected. He has found his dream fish and now has the task of reeling it in.
Ernest Hemingway was born on July 21, 1899 in a small village in Illinois. After he graduated from high school he started to report for the Kansas City Star where he learned to get to the point in direct, simple sentences. After going to WWI and being injured he fell in love with his nurse. These events inspired his first novel, which led to his amazing career as an author.
In my opinion "The Old Man and the Sea" was a great adventure and accomplishment book. In the book the old man is so dedicated to his goal that he endures pain and hardships to achieve this goal. I also think that the book is well written in the aspect of how easy it is to read. The book is easy enough for a younger reader to follow yet it is still interesting and in depth enough for the more average reader to enjoy. So if I had to rate this book on a scale of one to five I would probably give it a four because sometimes the book gets a little too detailed and boring.

Santiago, an old Cuban fisherman, has the battle of his life with a ferocious marlin in the book, The Old Man and the Sea. He is a very poor man and is very unlucky with fishing but with the help of the little boy, Manolin, he gets through the days of his life. Santiago's adventure with the giant fish begins eighty five days after his last catch. The Old Man and the Sea is an appealing and an enjoyable book because Ernest Hemingway is an excellent writer.

The events and actions of this book create interest for the readers. For example, Santiago was not angry with the other fishermen when they made fun of him. He is a good man and is so wise that being made fun of does not bother him. A good protagonist is always a good character to read about. Moreover, the characters and their actions can be related to real life situations. For instance, the old man ignores all the laughing made by the younger fishermen because he cannot catch any fish. This is like a student dealing with bullies and humiliation at school. These are some points that Ernest Hemingway made to arouse interest to readers.

Hemingway has a very unique writing style. For example, in the book it says, "Most of the boats were silent except for the dip of the oars." He has a very soothing way of writing. This is also easy enough for kids to understand. Also, Hemingway does not use clutter in his sentences which makes him different from the rest. For instance, he writes sentences like, "Only I have no luck anymore;" which is very direct. Many writers tend to use clutter to sound professional or important. Hemingway's style and voice is calming and intense in all the right places.

I think The Old Man and the Sea is a great book to read. My favorite part of the book was the climax when Santiago defeats the antagonist. If I could change something in this book, I would change some of the rising action so it is more gripping. I would recommend this book to adults and teenagers. Although a grade school student could read and understand this book, they would not value the moral of the story. Hemingway's original style and the characters in this book make it an interesting and wonderful book to read.

I read this book in Chinese,and I plan to read it in English again.(Maybe something that I am writting is not good translation from Chinese to English)I think the best way to understand a novel is to read it in its original language.Hemingway is one of my favorite authors.I like his style."Less is more."He uses the words that are not hard for me to understand,and they express his thoughts as well as the big words.In The Old Man and the Sea,Hemingway tells us a story about an old fisherman's experience on the sea.The part I like best is after the old man's way home after he finally catches the big fish,but he doesn't have enough strength to protect his victory from the sharks.He is all tried thirsty and hungry.Unfortunately,the sharks eat his fish bit by bit.So when he gets home,the fresh of the fish is gone,only the bone left there.Hemingway uses symbols a lot.For example,the old man's dreams of lions play on the beach represent the old man's youth and power.The old man is a hero that Hemingway creates successfully.