Choice book: Seven Dials

                                                      Characterization

One of the main characters in my book was “Bundle”. Bundle’s real name is Lady Eileen.  Bundle is very brave and curious. During the book even when there were many warnings and it was obvious people didn’t want Bundle investigating the crime, Bundle still investigated. During the story someone Bundle new was framed for suicide by overdose and in another scene while she was driving a man who was shot stumbled out on to the road and was barely avoided by Bundle. Both left indications that the murder had to do with a group called “Seven Dials” but Bundle still investigated and eventually uncovered the culprit. She also is hardworking. Even when it seemed like no one would ever help her out (like when she visits superintendent Battle and it is clear he is holding back) she stills try’s to discover the killer. Or when she is waiting for the Seven Dials meeting to commence and she waits in a cupboard for several hours. One this that seemed odd about the book though was that it felt like all the actual police investigators were idiots. Several times Bundle would find a key piece of information or find a key clue that no competent police investigators would have missed.

                                                               Summary

The book starts off with a group of old millionaires renting out a place called Chimneys with a group of young people. One of the young people has a reputation for sleeping in extra late. The other group of young people decides to prank him. Their plan is to set 8 alarm clocks of at 6:30 in the morning. The alarms go of as planed but without the reaction they were looking for. Time passes and all the alarms go off and Gerry still doesn’t come down. So eventually they discover them Gerry supposedly died by overdosing on chloral. But Bundle isn’t sure. After spending some time in the room he died in she discovers an unfinished letter that talks about a Seven Dials group and being so tired he can barely open his eyes. Bundle is suspicious. Later while driving a apparently drunk man stumbles out on to the road and Bundle has to swerve off to avoid him. Looking back he is lying face down on the road and her immediate reaction is she hit him. She walks up to him and as he dies he mutters about seven Dials and telling her to tell Jimmy Thesiger. But upon a further look by a doctor she finds out he was shot. The book is very interesting and a very good mystery.

book report

Alec Syvrud

Language Arts

Miss. Clear

The Book Thief

The Book Thief is a book that takes place during WWII in Germany. It is told from the perspective of death, which I think is an interesting addition on the book. It’s about a little girl named Liesel Meminger. In the beginning of the book Liesel is being taken to live with her foster parents along with her brother. During the trip Liesels brother dies, giving her much heartache. Later Liesel arrives at her foster parent’s home; her new parents are named the Hubermens. Rosa Hubermen curses constantly and rules the house with an iron fist, she helps the provide an income for the family by doing other peoples washing and ironing, but as the book goes on she starts to lose costumers one by one. Hans Hubermen is Liesels foster father and is very kind and caring much unlike his wife and also addicted to cigarettes. He plays the accordion at pubs and bars to bring in some money, he is also a painter. Liesel often has nightmares about her family, but Hans always wakes her up and calms her down. He helps Liesel learn to read and write using the books that Liesel has stolen. There first book being a book called The Gravediggers Handbook, a book that Liesel stole at her brothers burial, half buried in snow. Liesel quickly becomes friends with the neighboring kids and often joins them in soccer games. Her best friend is a boy named Rudy Steiner. They quickly become good friends and Rudy eventually falls in love with her, and always asks her for kisses. They often hang out and run errands for Liesels mom, or go on trips with other neighborhood boys to steal from local farmers. Liesel secretly is in love with him too, but never really show it at all until the ending. Later Hans Huberman is convinced to hide one of his friends sons, hide a Jewish fighter in their house, his name is Max, Liesel and Max become good friends because they each love words and have nightmares. He writes two books for Liesel and gives her his life story. “The Book Thief” has a very sad ending, but it seems to fit the book perfectly and no questions are left unanswered, also the final line of the book is very interesting and quite odd.

Recommendation:

I really like “The book Thief”. It was very well written and original; It is also very interesting and complex. It the kind of but that gives the reader a much greater appreciation of the topic. It shows you what it was like to live in Germany at the time, especially what it was like for the Jews   I liked how it was written from deaths point of view, it was very unique and almost funny at some points. It was very long but kept adding different elements to the story so that you were never board and always interested with the ever changing story. I liked how the author portrayed death not as a bleak merciless killer, but to actually have sympathy for mankind and actually not want them to die.   The beginning of the book was very thought provoking as it started out with this. Here is a small fact: You are going to die.  I think many people tend to not think about that and try to pretend that death is something that is going to happen to them, and that this is a very good way to get someone interested in the book quickly. All the characters are multi-dimensional and I think some of them could even have their own book based on them, and I think it’s pretty rare when you find a book with side characters in it that could have a book of their own based on their life.  I think a lot of people would find it very interesting, although I don’t think it’s for everyone. Even though the book is very interesting I don’t think some people