Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

HAS SOME SPOILERS! (though most people have read this)

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

I am currently reading Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire which is about Harry Potter (the dude who survived the wrath of Voldemort~) attending Hogwarts for his 4^th year. In the beginning Harry attends a Quidditch World Cup Tournament with his best friend and best friend’s family. And then from there, Harry goes to Hogwarts, finding out that there will be a Triwizard Tournament. The Triwizard tournament includes Hogwarts’s rivals, Beauxbaton and Durmstrang, which of course includes one of the most famous Quidditch players, Viktor Krum. In the tournament, the 3 schools need to compete to see which player could complete all 3 tasks and lead their school to victory.

The schools used to have the tournament but there were….complications (Death…*cough*) so they had to put rules on the tournament, saying that no one under 17 can enter the tournament. And therefore, the people who can enter are Viktor from Beauxbaton, Cedric from Hogwarts, and Fleur from Durmstrang. But (Hold it…!) somehow Harry manages to get it! Many people are outraged! Hogwarts can’t have 2 people in it! Also Harry’s underage! Outrageous! But, of course, everyone also agreed that anyone who’s decided must enter the contest-so, what are people supposed to do? So. Harry entered the competition! I would like to say it ended well…it kina didn’t. Harry’s enemy (Voldemort) came!!!  Yep. The one who tried to kill him but failed! And course little Voldy has a reputation to live up to-huh? 

I guess I can see the whole Kill-Harry thing from Voldemort’s point of view. You’re known as the most powerful wizard everywhere, everyone feared you! Then all of a sudden, you try and kill a kid-BOOM! You suddenly are destroyed into almost nothing! Being known as the guy who couldn’t kill a single kid! Well, that must have really crashed everything! (Also, doing this does not mean I support Voldemort! I don’t support killing a kid; I just see it from his point of view.) Some people really don’t see this as a problem. “Voldemort’s gone-yay! No more random dying!” Everyone’s basically like. Must really make Voldemort angry-looks like some wizards will die! 

I know saying this looks like I’m supporting the bad guy but hey, I’m not! Killing isn’t cool. But everyone looks at the Harry Potter series from Harry’s point of view! Why can’t you look at it from others? Like, I know Harry’s a good guy; it’s good to see it from his point of view. Everyone looks at Voldemort as the bad guy but people don’t know his story! The bad guy is the bad guy, nothing else! Why doesn’t everyone look at it from his point of view? Or possibly the others, but no one thinks about Voldemort’s view! I’m not saying anything big; just I think they should see it from the other point of view of people’s. Not just Harry’s. Not all bad guys are as completely bad as everyone thinks…they have a story too.

Fang

Fang

I have recently finished reading Fang by James Patterson. In the book, Maximum Ride (Max) is basically trying to save the world from all the scientists trying to destroy it. She's been through so many things-having people betraying her left and right, getting into fights with close people, and people dying- but one day, Angel-Max's backstabbing friend who can't seem to make up her mind on being on the good side or bad side- makes a prophecy: "Fang will be the 1st one to die. And it will be soon."  So while Max has to deal with Fang's coming death of her shoulders, she also has to deal with the coming of her perfect other half, Dylan. She also has to deal with the end of world thing...so...Max has a lot to deal with.  

 Now, with all, you can't really blame Max for not wanting to side with Dr. Gunther-Hagen, a scientist who says he can help Max with the whole saving the world thing. And the one who created Dylan, which of course is not helping him in this case. (The whole perfect half thing is really bothering Max.) Personally, I think Max was right to not accept the alliance thing. For one, I'm a big Fang and Max fan, there is no way Dylan is Max's other half-he hardly knows her! I know I'm being biased here, but there are other reasons! Just that's my big one. (Sorry to all those DylanxMax Fans xD) Another reason is that, Max has trusted so many people, and they all broken it. Jeb-another scientist-helps prove this too! Jeb promised that he would always be there for Max, that he would always help her with whatever she needed help with. Look at him now-siding with the enemy (*cough*) and just ending up hurting Max. Now, I don't really think Hagen can hurt Max emotionally, but like, many scientists that Max knows always end up hurting her, they just manipulate her into getting what they want. So personally, I think Max is right not to take this whole alliance thing with Hagen, what good would it do? Max should only be trusting the members of her flocks, they're her family!

But then again...Max can't always trust her Flock Family. Especially her little girl, Angel. Angel, the 6 (7 in this book) blond mind-reading and other amazing power girl, isn't exactly trustworthy. Many times she has been caught working for the School (Read Book 3 ._.) and has been known to backstab Max. All because the little girl wants to be Leader. 'Cause she feels she can lead the Flock better than Max can, 'cause she feels just because she's more poweful than Max, with all her amazing powers, she can lead the Flock and make them... survive. Also because she feels Max is getting to involved with Fang that Max doesn't care for the Flock anymore. So can Max really trust anyone? Angel, the one Max adores has proven to her she can't trust family, and Max can't seem to trust others so who can Max trust? Only herself? Does she have to be the lone wolf ? (A-wooooo! xD) 

Trust. Something Max isn't sure who she can trust with. People just love to break her trust for her own things! Maybe Max should become a lone wolf. (Well, maybe lone bird since she's a bird-kid...) Maybe there's one person who won't break her trust, the one who was made for her (The one I don't support!) Dylan. He was made for her so how could he break her trust? But, Max also doesn't trust him, she doesn't want him near her 'cause she feels that he's just there to annoy her or something with the whole I'm your perfect other half thing. Looks like Max need to become a lone bird-kid...

Cell phone tracking.

Are you being tracked? 

Cells phone. Cells phone help you communicate with others, they help you call your parents when you need help. They help you call your friends when you wanna talk with them. They help you call the police when you need major help with stealing or any other crime. Or it can help others communicate with you. The phone may help you communicate with others, or vise versa, but it also does something else, something you might not even be aware of. Your phone helps the police and anyone else find you. 

Many times people (mostly kids) are kidnapped and go missing. For example in 2011, November 16th, a student was on her way to class when was kidnapped. The abductor had tied the girl and shoved her in his car, where there was fiber-glass windows so she couldn't scream for help. She would have never been found if her cell phone's gps hadn't helped the police track her. She managed to get back to life and be safe about 30 minutes after she was kidnapped. 

Though cells phones can help people or police help find a person if they're kidnapped some people think that this whole thing is violating people's privacy rights. Personally, I agree with this, every person does have rights, they have a right to be able to do things without people watching them; but then again, what if you're kidnapped? Would you wanna be killed or anything else just because you didn't want the police watching you so you got a prepaid phone, the only phone that can't be tracked? I have a phone (with a gps) and having people know my every move, every thing I do, well it kinda freaks me out. But what if I'm kidnapped? What if I go missing and people don't know what's going on? Or I don't know where I am, I would want to be found, I want to live! I don't want to do who knows what! 

Sooo, I guess the whole conversation with the whole "privacy-right violation with the phone tracking" is kinda worth it, people do have a right to privacy but what if you need to be found and you don't know how you're gonna get helped? So who knows what's gonna happen to the whole phone tracking? Who knows if it's gonna stop? I don't know. I would like to read more about it and find out more info, but hey, that's my opinion. That's what I want to do-I'm just one voice in millions, I have no ideas what others think or what you the reader could possibly think, maybe you think that it should stop, maybe you think it should keep happening-who knows; I certainly don't know. What is it that you the reader think about this? Is it good for you? Or bad for you? Is your cell phone helping violating rights? Would you wanna keep your cell phone-even after reading this? (I sound/feel like an ad person here...) What would you do, say, or think about this? And if you think this is bad, why? 

 

If There Be Thorns~

If There Be Thorns

V.C Andrews

If There Be Thorns is the 3^rd book of the Dollanganger Story. But instead of being told from Cathy’s point of view it’s being told from both her sons’ view, Bart-the clumsy 9 year old boy who so desperately wants to find his place in the world but is having hard trouble with it-and Jory, a graceful 14 year old dancer who is trying to help his brother find his place and honor his dead famous dancing father. In the story Bart and Jory are slowly realizing their parents’ past, but instead of getting the whole story they find out bits and bits, judging from it there, the whole story is basically about if the dolls’ sons can accept their past or would they end up wishing they were never their parents?

Jory seems to have no big complications with that but Bart is really the one who has a hard time accepting it. Bart is a child who doesn’t know who to listen to, or what path to follow. Next door a new lady and her mysterious butler have moved in. Because Bart is curious and desperate for friends and for people who won’t compare him to graceful Jory, he goes over there in secret. Soon he and the butler are “friends” and the butler soon tells Bart more about his parents’ past, also telling him about his parents’ grandfather-Malcolm Neal Foxworth. Bart soon is eagerly trying to be like the “tough, know-it-all and great” Malcolm since he doesn’t know who exactly who he is. Because of that when Bart finds out about his parents’ secret he judges it so much. He calls their secret sinful and begins to show hate for them. He’s also putting his feelings for rejection into it and his adoring-feelings to his mother, making it more and more complicated for all of the family.  Soon Bart is hated on by the family, who is doing their best to not hate on him but he’s judging them so much, he hates on almost everything they do, it gets on their nerves. I can’t really blame them, they love Bart, no doubt about that, but he’s hurting them how can they not get angry back? Not being able to find out his true self Bart becomes a boy who loves his parents and hates when he hates on them to a boy who’s trying to act like an old man who’s dead and hated everyone and everything thinking what they did would be sinful.

For Jory it’s not so complicated. He loves his parents to death; he probably can accept anything they do. But when he figures out about his parents’ secret he begins to wonder about things. How could his parents keep a secret from them this big? Why had they done it?  And could he still love them the same way he used to before?  They clearly had done something wrong-right? But, can he also be like Bart? Love them but hate them? No, he knows he can’t do that. How could he? His mother had done so much for him…and his step-dad tried. But it was just one thing they kept? They treated him fairly, giving him almost everything he wanted…but they did something wrong, they married each other! Isn’t that wrong? Didn’t they do something sinful…? But they’re his parents, they love him, they did the best they could-right?-so why should he judge them? Is sweet, loving, dancing Jory gonna be like Bart, or truly accept his parents, who’s done their best for him all his life? 

Though, the story keeps me thinking (and probably will to you if you read it) and all that, I personally feel that there could be another person who could the same thing as Jory and Bart do. For one there could be Cindy, the innocent little adopted girl, how would she feel about all this? Bart, hating on her for some reason she doesn’t know? What does she think about Jory being nice to her but also seeming to have dark secrets, or about Cathy, the woman who adopted her in the first place, who seems to be happy to her but distant to Bart? Does she notice the darkness in her new family? What exactly does she know about her family?

Another person who would have been good to hear from is John, the butler. He’s the one feeding Bart the ideas to be like Malcolm. How could he? Why would he want a 9 year old boy be like a heartless dead old man? What are his motives, revenge, for clearly doesn’t seem to like Cathy or Chris, as if he knows what they have done and is judging them sinfully. What exactly does he get out of turning a little boy he doesn’t know much against his parents?  And his hate for the lady he works for, he seems to be planning something for her too, as if she can help him for whatever he’s planning. How does he see the Dollanganger and Foxworth story? Does he see sin and evil or good and joy?  If he sees evil how is he using Bart to get revenge? 

Clearly there are many problems in this book. Clearly even if they want it to happen, Bart and Jory are getting sucked in the twisted Dollanganger story, the big question is can they accept it? Or will they live in shame and hate for their rest of their lives? Is John gonna get his revenge? What’s up with the weird lady next door, who exactly is she? Will Cindy get sucked in too? Who exactly is gonna hurt even more? (I feel like one of those people who promote books xD) And will Bart finally find out who he is? What exactly is gonna happen to the dolls (read my other post to understand it). Will justice finally be served?

Petals on the Wind

CONTAINS SOME SPOILERS!

Petals on the Wind by V.C Andrews 
Question: Who's perspective is missing? What effect would it have had? Why do you think the author chose not to include it?

Petals on the Wind by V.C Andrews is about the three Dollanganger Dolls trying to find their place in the world after escaping the mother who killed their 4^th Dollanganger Doll, telling that they would need to be hidden until she inherits the millions of dollars her grandfather has. While the two main dolls-Cathy and Christopher- manage to find their place-with the help of their new guardian, Paul Sheffield-while one doll withers slowly, mourning for the 4^th doll who had been her twin, Cory, who had been the closet person with her in the whole world.  

The point of view which the story is told is the dancing doll, Cathy. Cathy is the most bitter of the dolls. She is stuck in the past, wanting revenge for the mother who betrayed them all-especially the child who loved her the most and who Cathy is closest to, Christopher. As she strives through her dancing career, trying to become the best dancer in the world (for personal reasons involving her mother and since she loves dancing), she begins to plan to get revenge on her mother, making sure she is aware of where she is and sending her letters that say something like: ‘Are you still running away from me? Don’t you know yet you can never run fast enough for far enough? Someday I will catch up, and we will meet again. Perhaps this time you will suffer as you made me suffer, and, hopefully, thrice the amount.’ 

Though Cathy’s point of the view on things makes the book interesting, suspenseful, and makes me wanna read it over and over again, I feel that there could be other people who tell the story and still tell the story wonderfully. The first person I think could make it interesting is the Doctor Doll-Christopher. 

I think Christopher could make it just as interesting is because you would get to know what he thinks. His mother betrayed him, he loved his mother, he thought she was perfect, that no one else could be better than her…and then she goes and locks him up in a room, promising him riches beyond beliefs, not letting him go outside, not letting him live a life! Then 3 years later, when they plan to escape, and after Cory-the Dead Doll-died, Chris’s heart is broken. The woman he loved the most killed his little brother and made him suffer at a very young age all for riches which he found out in the end, he and his siblings would have to die so the mom could keep the riches…

The story would show what Chris feels about his mother betraying him. How he feels about when he has to choose becoming a doctor or staying with Cathy (He loves her-they’ve been locked up for 3 years, becoming closer and closer, so, yeah) and Carrie-the dying, mourning little doll, and how he ended up choosing the becoming a doctor. Also how Cathy tries to escape the sinful love they have by marrying Julian (Another famous dancer) then going to New York, then as he dies, she goes and marries Paul (It’s complicated…). Chris, who is so shut up, who mourns more than Cathy though doesn’t show it, who wants his sister to be his and his only, who just can’t stand the fact that his own mother wants to money more than them, no matter what she says. Chris is so expressional with his blue eyes, he get hurt easily; he doesn’t have that mean spark like Cathy…Chris who would have made an excellent person to tell the story of trying to live in the world. 

Another person who would be good to hear from is the mother-Corrine. The mother doll, who made it clear she wanted money more than her own children who loved her so much, who made it clear she cared more for herself than others, the one who killed her own child and tried to get away from it. How did she feel when she put arsenic in the children’s food to kill them slowly? How could she bear it? How could she walk in that room, telling the Dolls that she still loves them and is working hard for them just to get them out when she really was just spending the money she had gained in due time, living the lives the Dolls should have had? How could she do it? How could she betray her own children just to get money? How is the question, or for Cathy, Chris, Carrie, and Cory, why? 

What the telling of Chris’s and Corrine’s point of view, for me, would have made the book more interesting. Cathy’s point of view makes me love the book-but I’d like to know what it was like for the mother to see her children die then become successful later, when they hate her. I’d like to know what it would be like for the one who loved the mother the most, to slowly realize the mother loved money more than them. I don’t think that if it had been told from their point of view they couldn’t have ‘drowned out’ Cathy’s voice. Cathy is a headstrong dancer; a bit like her mother when she wants things to go her way-as in she would do anything to get it. Cathy’s version shows what she would do to get her revenge on her mother. Chris wouldn’t really do anything just try and stop Cathy but ending up failing. Corrine would just mourn, wanting her children back and wanting to reverse her mistakes. Cathy shows the step by step of what she does to get her revenge, she shows her struggles, her anger, the mistakes she made, the things she pleads. But either way, any view from there’s would have been awesome to hear from…maybe even the little twins, the most innocent, would have been nice to read…or maybe even a person from the outside trying to tell the Dollanganger’s twisted story.