A FOREIGNER IN NEW YORK by RAMÓN YBARRA RUBIO

 

SYNOPSIS:

I think that the main character, Antonio, behaves in an expected way. He is as humble and a good person as I thought he was going to be. He is a very curious and open minded person. Just because he was brave enough to travel to a new country just to meet his old friend Jason. Some things from the reading that I believe will continue to be important in the future are the history of New York and all the events that happened there, like the catastrophe of the Twins Towers, that every New Yorker is still sad about nowadays. This one of the passages that I found from the book where Antonia and Elaine describe The Statue of Liberty. " We walked around the observation area on the pedestal and admired the views of the harbour and the statue directly above. Then, the stairs in the interior of the statue looked out and we walked up to the windows in the crown on the statue's head. We walked up the spiral staircase inside the statue. The statue is 22 floors high, so there were a lot of steps to climb! Elaine explained about the history of the statue as we walked up. "The statue was designed by a French sculptor called Frédéric- Auguste Bartholdi. He used his mother as a model for it and it took him 21 years to finish it. The interior structure that you can see as we climb was designed by Gustave Eiffel - the same man who later designed the Eiffel Tower in Paris." We finally reached the crown and looked out of the windows at the impressive view. Elaine told me to look at the book that the statue holds in her left hand. I chose this passage because The Statue of Liberty is one of the first places that I would like to go in the future if I travel to New York one day, and this passage discribes the setting very well so anyone that goes there will know exactly how it is. If I could interview the author of this reading, I would ask him which season is the best to visit New York. His response would be a difficult decision for him to make because he only went in winter and summer, but I think that he would answer in winter just because of the beautiful and unique events that are held at that time, like Thanksgiving.

PERSONAL OPINION:

I didn’t really dislike anything about the story if I am being honest and I can’t really think of any part that I disfavoured. But what I really liked about the story is that all the things that were said in the book are true and that if in the future I go to visit the City, I will have a lot of information about New York because of the book.

REVIEW by Greatine Agho Amed

GHOST STORIES by ROSEMARY BORDER

 

SYNOPSIS

In the story "The judge's house" the author is a person who focuses a lot on his studies and doesn't care about anything else. He went to a place to be able to study better and he rented the old house of a judge. Many people told him mysterious things about that house and he didn't care, something that I expected since he was a person who doesn't care much. But then he started to pay a lot of attention to a simple rat just because he looked at it a lot. It started to scare him, something that I didn't expect from him since he wasn't a person like that. But it's true, there was a reason why that rat looked him and it is that the spirit of the judge was in the rat. Also in the story "The stranger in the mist" a man named Charles Linkhworth killed his mother just because he wanted to steal her money. The police noticed and put him in jail. He never admitted that he killed her. The judge sentenced him to death. He died, but then he started to communicate with them by calling them using the prison phone. It was something strange and mysterious. Finally he told them why he called them every day and it was because he wanted to apologize and accept that he was the one who killed his mother. I didn't expect that from him since he had never accepted it in his life and now after dying, he accepeds it and also in this strange way. There isn't anything very important for the future since these stories are all about horror. But there is something in one of the stories that could be fun to play in the future. In the story "Smee" Jackson was on vacation on Christmas Eve with his friends. They wanted to play hide and seek but Jackson didn't want to because years ago a girl died when he was playing in the dark. He preferred to play the game "Smee" which was much more fun. He explained the rules which were that every player is given a sheet of paper. All the sheets except one are blank. On the last sheet of paper is written "Smee". Nobody knows who "Smee" is except "Smee" himself or herself. Turn out the lights, and "Smee" goes quietly out of the room and hides. After some time, the others go off to search for "Smee" but of course they don't know who they are looking for. When one player meets another he challenges him by saying, "Smee". The other player answers "Smee", and they continue searching. But the real "Smee" doesn't answer when someone challenges. The second player stays quietly beside him. This goes on until all the players are in the same place and the last one to find them has to pay a forfeit. It's a bit of a mystery game but it's fun to play with your friends or family in the future. In the story "Fullcircle" the author describes “a house that was into a little valley like a green cup in the hills. It was a beautiful place. There was an old stone wall, and a little wood. Then there was smooth green grass, and a tiny lake. And at the heart of it all, like a jewel in a ring, stood the house. It was very small, but everything about it was quite perfect. It was old, perhaps seventeenth century, with large windows and pale stone walls. It was built about 1660 by Lord Carteron.” I choose this passage because the way he describes the house makes me want to see it in person. In the story "Fullcircle", I would ask the author why he moved to a place that is apart from the town and lonely. He also left his house in London to be able to live in this house that his cousin built. I think his answer would be that one of the reasons he moved is because it belonged to his cousin, also because it was very well done and it was beautiful. Plus, he didn't have to pay anything just to move.

PERSONAL OPINION 

I liked the game they played in the story "Smee" the best because it was very scary. When they played, the girl who died appeared. That was the same house where she died and since everything was dark they couldn't see her and they thought she was one of their friends. I didn't like the story "Fullcircle" very much because I didn't find it scary. It's just that the man who lived in that house, who was the cousin of the owner, used to be evil and rude, but 2 years later he became the opposite, polite and educated. The owner of that house was also an educated man and that means that the spirit of him was still there. The story was boring.

REVIEW by Alisha Bano

VANITY FAIR by William Makepeace Thackeray

 

SYNOPSIS

The protagonist in this story, Becky, is a very cunning and sly lady. She is very good at pretending or acting according to the context. She’s a top tier manipulator who does everything just to live a pleasant life. Furthermore, she doesn’t really care to betray others who are close to her because she knows how to get their trust back. While I was reading this book, I thought that maybe, just maybe, she wasn’t an evil person but she never ceases to amaze me by how quickly she leaves her relationships without much remorse. The story is set during the late 70s where the French Revolution started. In fact, the beginning of the book gives an insight into the life of Napoleon, whose history is well known until today, and it definitely helped me with the reading. Additionally, it refers to many traditional British clothing from the 80s so it helps not to forget their culture and make it stay relevant. - George went to see his father, but when he began to speak about Amelia, Mr Osborne became furious. “Never say that name here!” he shouted. Why not? George shouted in reply. “Amelia Sedley is the sweetest girl who ever lived! I love her. You wanted me to marry her when she was rich. I can't leave her, now that she's poor ""Leave my house!” Mr Osborne screamed. “If you marry that man's daughter, you're no son of mine!” “Then goodbye, father,” George said and he walked out of the house. The reason I mention this long passage is because it shows exactly how George and Amelia are devoted to each other. Even if Amelias’ family lost all of their money, (back then, status was crucial when it came to marriage) he still chose to run away with his loved one and decided to cut off all or most contacts with his father given that he didn’t support their relationship. (Although the ending tells otherwise…) If I were to interview the author, I would have asked him how he created Becky’s personality because I definitely think he did a marvellous job. I love stories where the protagonist isn’t really a morally good person and rather enjoy evil characters where we can see their various thoughts. However, I still disliked her for the way she treated the Colonel but especially Amelia, who did become my favourite character. Amelia was too naive and gullible (most characters too though) and Becky clearly knew that so she took advantage of the poor lady. I believe that his answer to this question would be that he searched through different personalities and came up with a complex character like her.

PERSONAL OPINION

As I mentioned before, I really liked Amelia. For me at least, it’s quite rare that such a kind-hearted person becomes my favourite character but her devotion to his late husband really moved me. But, truly, I felt bad for Dobbin. Although he also loved Amelia, he knew that she couldn’t reciprocate his feelings. Honestly, at the end of the story, I was glad when he decided to leave her because he had all reasons to but I was still glad they got married in the end. The book itself wasn’t entirely bad, but whenever everyone believed Becky I was complaining internally. Nonetheless, I would definitely recommend this book for readers who like drama (lots of drama).

REVIEW  by MAUSAMI GURUNG