Twelve Sharp

Kaliqah Mims
Professor Christine Specht
LIT/GNS 5107
30 July 2008

Twelve Sharp

This novel was not like the other books we read which dealt with self esteem issues, death, and abandonment. This novel was witty and suspenseful, when I started reading the book and discovered it was about the streets of Trenton, New Jersey, I had to laugh because I lived in Trenton, New Jersey as a child. Stephanie in the novel definitely lived an exciting life as a bounty hunter. She and her sidekick Lula seemed to pickup the strangest characters. Stephanie also was a woman torn between the two men in her life, Ranger and Morelli.

Morelli seemed laid back and to me not very romantic, but he had a streak of jealousy in him that a woman would have to watch out for.

The novel got interesting when the character Carmen Manoso entered the picture and accused Stephanie of sleeping with her husband, the mysterious Ranger. I think this threw Stephanie off, as she did not think that Ranger was married. She also did not look at Ranger as being a guy who would dump his wife and clean out the bank account. She felt despite his flirtatious nature he was a very honorable man. Ranger in my opinion seems like a man that appeared secretive and private, but charming and seductive. The scene when Ranger was in Stephanie's apartment, and her and Ranger were in bed and some one was trying to open the door, was a close call for Stephanie. Stephanie is like the average woman who has a man in her life, but is not certain that is what she reallys wants. I think that if Ranger would have pushed a little harder, Stephanie would have fallen victim to an emotional rollercoaster.

I thought that Lula and Sally was hilarious, especially the outfits they wore when performing. Evanovich did an excellent job of portraying these two characters as over sexually stimulated individuals. When Stephanie finds out that Ranger is missing and his daughter kidnapped, Stephanie launches a search of her own. In her search she discovers that a wonabee Ranger by the name of Scrog who dresses like a woman to keep from being identified, has all the skills deception of Ranger, is the culrpit behind this cat and mouse game of who can outwit who. In the process Stephanie becomes a victim of Scrog in his fantasy of Stephanie and Julie becoming his family. Her escape was helped inadvertly by Joyce Barnhardt, one of the off the street bounty hunters hired by Connie and the other office staff. Joyce is on a big catch for Lonnie Johnson a bail jumper, who has a $5000 bonus fee for catching him. She ends up shooting Scrog in a entanglement of the two trying to capture Lonnie for the bonus money. Although Stephanie absolutely dislikes Joyce I bet she was glad she was at the house of Lonnie, which helped her to escape this psycopath and lead the police to where Julie, was being held.

In the end, Stephanie is once again caught between wanting Ranger and Joe Morelli, it isn't until one of them gets hurt that she decides she is in love. I think this novel had strong but gentle sense of humor, the motive of the antagonist is jealousy, which we could see is a deadly motive that leads one to do almost anything to get what they want. I have never read any of Evanovich's book before, but I understand this is one of her many series of books. I forgot to mention the character of Melvin Pickle who I found quite comical. It was relief that although he was a pervert who masturbated in public he did not hurt children or anyone else. I enjoyed this book.

The Secret Life of Bees

Kaliqah Mims
Professor Christine Specht
LIT/GNS 5107
25 July 2008

The Secret Life of Bees

This novel showed us parallels between the insect world and our own human society. The history of bees shows how they have a division of labor workers that extends to the leadership of the colony. It also shows the ingenius structure of their hives and the order in which the colonies function. I think that it was unfortunate that Lily had to be living in the time of the civil rights movement when there was so much racial tension. Lily was a young girl who had been holding on to the thought that her mother was a person who loved her, when in fact later in the novel she discovers that she probably was not wanted by her mother. I can not imagine what it feels like to be abandoned by your mother and being told by your father that your mother left you and was basically no good. If she did not have Rosaleen in her life I don't think she would ever have made that journey to Tiburon, South Carolina. Rosaleen was portrayed as the typical African American woman in the south who was tired of the racism. and thought if she exercised her right to register to vote, that this would make a difference. I think when Lily saw what the three racists men did to Rosaleen and when she was put in jail and T. Ray not getting her out, this set the wheels in motion for her to seek a different life. T. Ray was a typical man who was bitter because Deborah left him. I do believe that men are not as forgiving when a woman makes a mistake to challenge their manhood. I felt he took out his anger and bitterness out on Lily, because she looked just like her mother. I thought it was wrong for him to allow Lily to think she killed her mother, when in essence it was an accident. I guess this shows the hatred that a person can harbor within. He tried to hurt her spirit by telling her that her mother left her because he saw how Lily had worshipped the imageof her mother. I thought it was very interesting about the role of the Black Madonna, despite there being churches in the city. These black statues had a lot of influence on the people in this region, more so than the doctrines of the church. I felt that this figure gave the people a lot of hope and courage, and when reading the novel you could actually place yourself and feel what these individuals were feeling.

Mims 2

When Lily busted Rosaleen out of jail and they was on their journey to an unknown place, I was quite taken on Lily's drive to find the missing links to the puzzle of her mother. She had to lead a life of deception which she thought would not reveal itself. In here journey she has discovered new feelings that she had not experienced before. She became attracted to a African American man at the home of Autumn. She knew that it was taboo to have such feelings about an individual who was not even thought of as a man or anything human. This had to be painful. to want something so bad that is forbidden to you. My instincts told me that May was going to commit suicide. When I read she was a twin, and the description of how they both encountered the same feelings, lead me to the assumption that since one twin died the other would follow. The other 2 sisters felt that they really could not live the life they wanted to live as long as they had to take care of May. This novel has so many metaphors it is hard to talk about all of them. There were a lot of lessons about life, the power of unity, looking at nature for guidance, even the spiritual aspect of things. The journey of a young girl, who suffered loss, shame, and trying to come it her own identity. She was able to see how people give pain, are callous and insensitve. Through all this, Lily was able to see the power of healing and how it fills the emptiness you experience. I think the hardest lesson for her was learning to forgive herself, because I don't think she could or would ever forgive her mother for leaving her. A child cannot comprehend how a mother who is suppose to love unconditionally, could do this unspeakable thing. In the novel it was hard for Lily to come to the realization that T. Ray was right about her mother, this was the other half of the bitter pill she had to swallow. It is hard to accept criticism from such a callous individual but later to find out that what they were saying is the truth is like a slap in the face. I am happy the story ended on a happy note, I thought that Lily would have to go back to T. Ray which would have continued to be misery for her.

The Lovely Bones

Kaliqah Mims
Professor Christine Specht
LIT GNS 5107
20 July 2008

The Lovely Bones

Mims 1

Reading this novel was a little difficult for me at first, as I had a son that was murdered. The first part of the novel I found to have strength because it was part mystery and part ghost story and it captured your attention. I thought it was an interesting twist to have the story being told from heaven by Susie who thinks everyone is seeing the same thing she does in her new place. Later she learns that heaven is whatever you truly want it to be and, sometimes other people's version of heaven intercepts with your own. I often wonder if my son has met other people and has an intake counselor to help him along. The second part of the book seemed to be tedious in reading because it stretched out the scenes of Susie watching her family an friends on Earth as they come to the realization that she is gone forever. Also I felt they were missing the clues she was trying to give them to help solve her murder. This was probably because her murder occurred in the 1970's back at a time when people still didn't believe things like that could happen in surburbia. In the beginning her parents reacted like parents who knew that their child was missing or dead. I got the impression that Abigail never wanted children and it disturbed me that Abigail started becoming unattached about her daughter's death and withdrew from the family and into an affair. I felt she used the husband obsession as an excuse.

Mims 2

I did learn in my counseling session that when a child dies the divorce rate increases. They say that the parents start blaming themselves for the child's death and the physical relationship starts to fizzle. I felt sorry for Mr. Salmon because he was on the right track as far as who he suspected killed his daughter and it appeared that the authorities were slow to process what he was trying to give them as far as clues. He became grief stricken and felt helpless that he could not get the police to charge Mr. Harvey. This is very true to life as this is the case in many murder cases today. They tell you there is not enough evidence and they do not have the manpower to investigate, so the cases seem to drag on. I felt bad for Lindsay who feared the kids at school will forever define her by Susie death and she tried very hard to be her own person. I do applaud her for her courage in breaking into Mr. Harvey's house for clues. I think that she could feel the presence of her sister and she paid attention to the clues Susie was transmitting to her. I can attest to this possibly being true, My youngest daughter was 3 years old when my son died. I had recieved a phone call from her teacher at school, she asked me if it would be okay for my daughter to talk with the school psychologist. I asked why and she told me that my daughter was found on several occasions talking with someone in the back of the classroom but there was no one there. I asked my daughter who she was talking to and she said my brother. She stated that he comes to see me at school all the time, and he told me to tell you to stop crying because he cannot come to you as long as you cry. I told her he knows that I cannot stop crying right now, she then said to me I will help you mommy. I was speechless, I do believe that children have the gift of seeing things adult do not because they are innocent. I do think they lose that ability when they get older. The character Mr. Harvey reminded me of a pathetic old man preying on innocent children for their gratification. This is one of the horror's that was mentioned on page 186 of the things that haunt our society.

Mims 3

This was a great novel despite how unsettling the first part was of Susie replaying her murder in her mind, trying to figure out why this happened to her. In the end I think the dead think about the living a lot less than they did when death first occurs. They become preoccupied with their new dwelling place.

My post did not publish correctly

When I viewed my composed blog it, it published differently than written even after corrections. Help

Jemima J

The first part of the book reminded me of the struggles of dieting and confidence problems. It could

also put you in the mind of the ugly duckling developing into a beautiful swan. Jemima in the

beginning had terrible low self esteem because of her weight. This story told the pain of what

most every overweight women might feel. Most are desperately unhappy and end up

lonely because they feel that no one genuinely could care for them and beyond their physical

features.

Jemima thought that being thin could make you happy, but it's Jemima's internal struggles

with her confidence that make the real changes in her life. This story had some confusing moments

and often the characters jumped around. It could be that Jemima could cast blame on Ben who did

not really give her the time of day until his interview for a new job, and that seems to been the

jumpstart to their friendship. I felt her roommates and Geraldine were users in the beginning but

the book through you off and in the end Geraldine turned out to be a genuine friend.

The section of the book when Jemima was determined to lose the weight, gave us a cautionary tale

about going to far to whether you are fat or thin to reach a goal.

I found that when Jemima discovered new ventures on the world wide web this gave her the push

she needed to accomplish her goal. After meeting Brad on the internet and planning the trip to visit

him in Los Angeles made me a little nervous that maybe she was coming out of her shell to quickly.

Which ended up with her experiencing sexual feelings she never had and thinking she was falling in

love only to be hurt in the process. Every woman has experienced something in their life similar to

Jemima's hurt only to be made stronger by the experience and hopefully a little wiser.

I enjoyed the book for the most part, it makes you more aware of how cruel the world can really be

and it allowed you to walk in the shoes of someone who is seriously struggling with a weight

problem.

Introduction Of Self

Hello fellow classmates, I had a hard time creating this blog. My password would not take, after 2 hours of trying I finally had success. I have never posted my writings on a blog, this should be interesting. Good Luck on the course.