10.c Reading

Marks

Marks

my buk

Luīze

Elmārs

Vilma

Laura

Katrina Fogele

C:\Users\paula\Documents\READING JOURNAL.docx

They both die at the end

Paula

Anna

Amanda

Amanda

Luīze

Gerda

Gerda

Pauls

Roberts

Elza Strode 10.c

Book report

Plot

Two students meet in a Shakespeare seminar at the same time as the disastrous 9/11 tragedy happens. This soul-crushing occurrence quickly brings the strangers together. They find comfort and safety in each other as the world burns around them. But life goes on and it gets hard to figure out what exactly they are – friends, lovers or just strangers that keep finding each other because of a tragedy. Then at once, at a birthday celebration, as a gift, Lucy bumped into Gabriel – a silent wish carried through the years. A part of that short-lived passion sparked again and evolved into a relationship. Burning moments of passion were balanced out by heart-shattering conversations about traumatic past events. Talks about the future quickly turned to arguments about each other’s differing interests. The relationship doesn’t last because of a job opportunity that presented itself to Gabriel – and which he, unfortunately, accepts. After Gabriel’s departure, Lucy finds herself unable to move on and live with the memories of their love. Some time passes and Lucy gets in a relationship with a much more mature, grounded guy – Darren. Although she feels safe and appreciated with Darren, she still misses, even longs for, the spark that she had with Gabriel.

Destiny, decisions, cracking, guilt, perspectives, cooperation, complications, focus, allowing, unbalanced.

Characters

Gabriel- Tall, lean, with fair, curly hair and blue eyes, dimples. Spiteful, creative, hardworking, vigilant, reckless.

Lucy- The book is written from her point of view, so the visual descriptions are very limited. Short hair with bangs, bright eyes. Pushover,

Darren- Short, muscular, with dark, straight hair and brown eyes. Determined, caring, single-minded, grounded.

For me, this book is too predictable so I usually can guess what is going to happen in the next chapter. In these chapters Lucy acted very cautiously. At the very start of the book, she was reckless and inconsiderate of her own emotions. In contrast, later in the chapters, she moved slowly in the area of decision making, not wanting to mess up.

Main themes

I would say the main theme of the first half of the book is reminiscing – about all-consuming love, heartbreak, healing. The main themes of the first chapters are quick chemistry between characters, misunderstandings, problem-solving, compromise, searching for what is best for yourself. New themes such as heartbreak are introduced quite early in the chapters, later – healing, acceptance.

Language

Considering the events that occurred in the book are recent, and the book itself was written within the decade, I had no problem understanding the terms that are being used. If I don’t understand a word, I look up the definition right away, so it’s difficult to remember what words I did not know. In this book in particular it’s hard for me to understand the abbreviated company or business titles.

Prediction

I think that in the next few chapters Lucy will continue to go on the journey of a life in a relationship with a person (Darren) who is caring, understanding and seemingly important to her, while still reminiscing in the past, contemplating how it could have been different. How being with someone she cares about (Darren), and who cares about her does not change the fact, that the first love left such a strong imprint on her, that she still loves him (Gabriel) and will always, no matter what, care about him against her better judgment.

Quotations

“There’s something about death that makes people want to live.’’

‘’That some relationships feel like a wildfire – they’re powerful, compelling and majestic and dangerous and have the capability to burn you before you even realize you’ve been consumed.’’

Linoit lapa.

Home reading

PLOT

In the first half of the book, we get introduced to the two main characters. Fallon and Ben, both met on Fallon's last day in Los Angeles, before she moves to New York to pursue her dream of becoming an actress. They met at a cafe where Fallon was having her last lunch with her father who had not been present in her life for the previous two years after they got into a fire accident that left her with a scar. Fallon and her dad were having a really unpleasant conversation. Ben overheard it and interrupted the conversation by introducing himself as her boyfriend, to help Fallon get out of the awkward situation. After lunch, they decided to spend Fallon’s last day in L.A. to get to know each other more. But at the end of the day, she still had to move to New York, but they agreed on meeting each other every year on the same day which happened to be – November 9th.

https://1drv.ms/p/s!AvHfwjl3MSljgTXUeXqPOn2Lbu2c

presentation

https://1drv.ms/w/s!AvHfwjl3MSljgSi6nYp8Q1jLLVrS

word

Emīlija Cimbaļuka