Showing posts with label Quotes. Show all posts
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*Disclaimer: spoiler alert. Trust me, you won't care that I spoiled it.*
For my twelfth book, I chose The Circuit: Stories From the Life of a Migrant Child by Francisco Jiménez. This book was, well, it was a book. It was okay. I chose it based on the fact that it was short and I need to make up for some serious time in this challenge. (Even though it still took me over a week to read because I've been in such a lull with reading lately! Hopefully that will improve this winter.)
Anyway, this is a semi-autobiographical story about a family of illegal Mexican immigrants who come in to the States, written from the perspective of a child.
First complaint: The family is living in poverty in shacks/tents/whatever on the farms that they are working for. The dad smokes like 6 packs a day. This pisses me off. This is one of my biggest pet peeves that I have for families that I work with. Do not sit there and complain about money issues while you chain smoke right in front of me. 3 packs a day? That's $20 people. You could FEED your entire family on that for a day, easily. Grrrrr....
On a similar note, when the family moved to the States there were 2 children with a 3rd born shortly after. In the span of the time that they were in the US during the book (estimating a span of maybe 7 years tops), they increased this amount to 7... SEVEN KIDS. If you are this poor and are working for a total of $15 a day and spending $20 of that on cigarettes, HOW CAN YOU AFFORD TO FEED YOUR KIDS?!?! GRRRRRRRR (again)! (OH and might I add that at one point, when there were 5 kids, all 7 of the family members were sleeping on one mattress... how is that even possible?)
Another big complaint I had for this book were the random Spanish words throughout it. I know very little Spanish and there were several words per page that were written in Spanish without explanation of what they meant. I was able to figure some of them out (without translating) due to context, but it was a major annoyance for me.
Now, I don't condone illegal immigration. I understand that people feel that life is better in America and that there is more opportunity for them here, but it doesn't mean it's okay. I don't feel that it is the fault of these children that they were brought to America, and I don't necessarily feel that they should have to leave, but I do feel like the parents should know that, while they think they are making a better life for their children, they are greatly jeopardizing the childrens' success. These kids are bounced from town to town, school to school, and sometimes are not in school at all due to work. Every time they make a friend, they have to leave. Every time they build a rapport with a teacher, they have to leave. They are living in complete poverty and receive no health care. The parents would rather let the child get as close to death as possible before getting them health care.
While reading this book, I faced a lot of the same issues I deal with every day in my job. I get so angry. I loved the main character, Panchito. He seemed to be a great kid in spite of every thing he was going through. I don't get angry at these poor kids that are going through this trauma, showing poor behaviors due to it. I get angry at the parents. Take care of your children.
Anyway, I'm ranting. I'll make sure to post a blog on my other blog, ranting more about this some time.
Oh yeah, one last thing. This book ends with the kids being collected by immigration from their various work sites. Like... it just ends. In the middle of the story. It's like he was in mid-sentence and just decided that he was done with the book.
This book is NOT RECOMMENDED. It was interesting to read from the viewpoint of a migrant child, but at the same time it was very stereotypical and didn't hold much content for the things that most people don't already know about migrant workers. (Or maybe I just think that since I'm in the social work field.)
First Line Teaser: '"La Frontera" is a word I often heard when I was a child living in El Rancho Blanco, a small village nestled on barren, dry hills several miles north of Guadalajara, Mexico.
Next Up: Elie Wiesel's Night
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Books,
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Rant,
The Circuit
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I've finally done it. I finished Eat, Pray, Love. I don't know what my problem with this book was! I actually did enjoy it (for the most part), but I really struggled to get through a lot of it.
That being said, let me tell you my thoughts. Like I said, I enjoyed this book, for the most part. I love the idea of this book, but I am still very skeptical of a lot of it. I understand that Gilbert went through a huge "bad" spell in her life before the content of the book, but the story (where the novel picks up) just works out to perfectly for me. Yes, there are still struggles for her throughout the book, but... I don't know. I'm not at a loss for words as that last sentence makes me out to be, but I am at a loss for thoughts. Mixed feelings.
Let's break this book up in to three parts. We'll call them, fittingly, "eat", "pray", & "love". These sections will be from her time spent in Italy, India & Indonesia, respectively.
Eat
I liked this portion of the book. I love Europe. I love food (especially pasta). I love the romance languages. I'm sure all of these things helped in my liking this portion of the book. I don't have a lot to say about this section though other than that I just liked it.
*I will add, however, that I got really annoyed by her sob story leading in to Italy. Not that I don't like a good tale of sadness and despair; she just bordered on pathetic a lot of the time. I also recognize that she was most likely looking for the reader to see that side of her life though.*
Pray
This part is where I struggled the most. I am not an overly religious person, but I am not an atheist either. I have always been very interested in learning about different religions, but consider myself to be agnostic, because honestly, I don't know. (And, as I've mentioned, I'm a huge skeptic.)
I don't know if my reason for having difficulty getting through this book had anything to do with this being the more "religious" section of it, but I REALLY struggled through this portion. When I read stories like this and I hear stories similar from people, or I meet someone with a really strong faith, it always makes me feel the same way. I wouldn't say that I am jealous of these people, but I definitely am in awe of them. Don't get me wrong, I have faith. I have faith in my friends and family and I usually have faith in humanity, in general. I am talking about religious faith. There are some things in this world that I can never be sure of and religion is one of them. I've tried. I really have. I've learned a lot of my values and morals growing up in a Christian based family and growing up with the church and I am proud of that fact. I would change nothing about that fact. It's made me who I am. I also want to raise my children in a similar manner, giving them the option of having religion be a part of their lives.
Sorry, I'm getting off track. This is supposed to be a book review, but it has turned in to a religion argument. I will save that for my other blog.
Stay tuned...
Back to the book... well, I think you get a feel for my thoughts on this section. More power to Gilbert and good for her.
Love
This is probably the section of the book that I enjoyed the most. Maybe it's because I'm a sap. Maybe it's because I love my friends and family and this is the section of the book where you see a strong sense of friendship and the beginning of a family for Gilbert. I also think some of it is because I love some of the characters you meet in this section. I love Ketut Liyer (the adorable medicine man) and his complete disregard for time. I love Wayan, and even more so love her daughter, Tutti. And let me tell you about my love for Felipe. (I don't think that it helps that I know Javier Bardem plays him in the movie version... all I have to say about that is YUM.) I know that I am a hopeless romantic and that only makes me love Felipe more... Gilbert makes him out to be that "perfect" man that only exists in the movies... and books, of course.
The only part of this section that I was completely liking was Yudhi. Don't get me wrong; I liked Yudhi. I did not like the way that they converse with each other... most importantly the "your mother" jokes. Come on. Everyone knows that they are "your MOM" jokes. They don't ring the right way if you say "mother". :)
Over all, I did like the book. Consider it RECOMMENDED.
Sorry that this review kind of turned in to a novel, in and of itself.
Here's your first line teaser from it: "I wish Giovanni would kiss me."
Next up: Dress Your Family in Corduroy & Denim by David Sedaris.
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Books,
Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim,
Eat Pray Love,
Quotes
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Today's the day folks. CHALLENGE!!! Wish me luck.
Maybe I'm not giving myself enough credit; maybe it will be easy. I just know that I go through bouts where I don't read for a few weeks at a time, so I hope I can stick with it. I'm expecting all of my faithful followers to keep me pumped up about it. Keep giving me book ideas so that I can look forward to the next one and keep myself motivated!
As I think you all know, my first book will be Mark Haddon's "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time". I hope it's FABULOUS!
You know what they say, "Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body!" (I think I should do more of both!)
Thanks for supporting me! :)
Category
Books,
Goals,
Quotes,
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
