Finished with Emma

Over the spring break, I finished the Jane Austin's masterpiece of a novel, Emma . However, I did not get the chance to blog about it.


Although the English was hard fro me to comprehend, the story that the novel carries was really out of this world. I loved it, romance is sort of up my alley.
I just loved the ending when it was revealed who Emma was in love with. I must admit it, it was indeed quite a shock but I wouldn't spoil the ending for those of you who are reading the book at the moment.

The novel Emma was basically about marriages, like I mentioned in my previous blogs. Actually, it was more like "preparations" for marriage. It was about friendships developing into deeper relationships. So it wasn't surprising when there was a few marriages to start those serious relationships at the end of the book.

What I loved the most about the book:
I loved that I was sort of able to relate to Emma's character. I always tell my mom how I'm never going to get married because I don't think I can be in love with someone. I can love him but not be in love with him.
Emma thought the same as I did, until jealousy proves to be major in who she falls for.
I am a very jealous person as well...so we'll see if my life plays out like Emma's.

My favorite Character:
My favorite character has to be without any doubts, Mr. Knightly. Although he was quite a critic when it came to his close friend, Emma's life. He cared deeply and truly for her. [wink wink]

Marriage.

So far in Jane Austen's novel Emma and based on the last few chapters I read, it seems that everyone thinks life is complete when one marries.

Take Jane as a fine example. Jane's mother was the youngest daughter of Mrs. Bates, and died right after the news of her husband being killed during battle; he was a lieutenant Fairfax. That left Jane to be an orphan. A friend of her father's raised her as a member of his own family. He had a daughter about Jane's age, and the two girls became thick friends. Due to the fact, this man was kind enough to raise Jane with an education, Jane grew up to be an intelligent and beautiful young woman.

Everything was fine until it was time for Jane to be married, there was no dowry but in the place of it, Jane's education was the prize. It was mentioned that her knowledge will earn her a place as a governess. However, after the marriage, Jane became very sick and that place as a governess has not been fulfilled.

Marriage also seemed to be the way out for parents. Reading this book made me realize that back then, parents thought that marrying their daughter off to a "well off" family will ease them from their responsibility. Since everyone is getting engaged and married, this cases Emma's father to pose marriage to her. But Emma laughs, like she always does when the topic of marriage was issued to her, and said she wont ever get married.

I have to admit, the book is getting better. =] However, classics still aren't my choice in books to read, the language is surely not what I'm used to but I'm getting sued to it.

Emma by Jane Austen

Emma by Jane Austen was not on my list of books to read. In fact, I read the first several pages of the novel a while back and was so bored I decided to switch to another book. But as time would have it, I ended up reading it weeks later. In other words, one of my friends read this book and advised me to read it because the story lime becomes much more interesting.

Although I still find it a bit confusing this is what I know so far about the main character, Emma.

She is considered very good looking, clever and to top it off with a cherry, she is a member of the Woodhouse family, making her rich stereotypically, Rich people tend to be stuck up and stubborn. Emma seem to be a prime example of that.
She is currently 21 years old, and single. She intends to stay that way, with that being said I think Emma is the type of girl who is not ready for any type of commitment. So, I can't wait to continue reading to see what happens when Emma's flirtatious moves turn into a serious situation, transforming into a love interest.

The only reason, I feel any sorrow for Emma is that she did not grow up with a mother's love because her mother died when Emma was young. I can't imagine any type of life without my mother. My mother is everything to me, so I feel sorry for any girl who didn't have a chance to have a mother-daughter relationship with the woman who gave birth to them.

Going on without her.

Like the movie, in the novel A Walk to Remember the story of young, true love ended with Landon and how he felt about living life without Jamie after she left the world. When he was talking about Jamie though there was a few differences between the movie and the book. In the novel, Landon was 57 years old, and in the movie he was in his 20's and in college. In the film, it was not mentioned if Landon was remarried but in Nicholas Sparks' piece of writing, he made it clear that Landon found no reason to remove his wedding band that Jamie gave him because he was still in love with her, 40 years later.

Also, in the film it was Jamie's father, Mr. Sullivan that told Landon that he was Jamie's miracle while in the novel, Landon was the one who said he believes in miracle.
Below is the last two paragraphs of the novel, that just blew my mind away. You see, Landon was a person who didn't have faith, didn't have anything to believe in until Jamie came in his life.

"It is now forty years later, and I can still remember everything from that day. I may be older and wiser, I may have lived another life since then, but I know that when my time eventually comes, the memories of that day will be the final images that float through my mind. I still love her, you see, and I've never removed my ring. In all these years, I've never felt the desire to do so. "
"I breathe deeply, taking in the fresh spring air. Though Beaufort has changed and I have changed, the air itself has not. It's still the air of my childhood, the air of my seventeenth year, and when I finally exhale, I'm fifty-seven once more. But this is okay. I smile slightly, looking toward the sky, knowing there's one thing I still haven't told you: I now believe, by the way, that miracles can happen."

While I was searching through videos about the movie, I came across the one below. It wasn't featured in the movie, but it was a music video off of Mandy Moore's (she plays the role of Jamie in the movie) cd. I think it goes well with the book because it showed how hard it was for Landon, who was played by Shane West, to live the years he did without his wife.

Sweet, Innocent Jamie's profile.

Full name: Jaime Sullivan
Lives in: Beaufort, North Carolina
Spouse: Landon Carter
Parents: Hegbert Sullivan (father) Mother's name is not mentioned.
Father's job: The Reverend of the church and Jaime was known as the "Rev.'s Daughter"
Religion: Christian
Beliefs: -"The Lord's plan" meaning that she thought who met who, who failed something in life, who lost someone in life...everything in life was all the lord's plan. -Give more than you have to give. -Miracles do happen. -Forgiveness is the best gift of all
Loves to: -Read the Bible at lunch and whenever she has free time. -Volunteer her time reading to the children at the orphanage. -Take part in plays that the church has. -Raise money every year to buy gifts for the kids at the orphanage.-Help older people pull the weeds off their grass-Make Lemonade-Share...
Way of dressing:-Hair in a bun or low pony tail (only on special occasions she has her hair down-just for Landon)-Lose dresses and skirts-Collared shirts-a brown sweater-socks up to the knee-Sneakers-no make up

Died at age 17-18...she had leukemia

A Walk to Remember-Nicholas Sparks

Symbolism is a great way to describe something or someone in a novel, especially when the author does not want to give away what they're trying to say directly. I think symbolism is like a curtain, readers must unveil it to reveal what the author meant.

In the Nicholas Sparks' novel, A Walk to Remember one symbol I found was the music box mentioned in the first few chapters of the book. Before I continue further, I want to let everyone know that the book is very different than the movie.

Continuing to the music box, I think that's a symbol that Nicholas Sparks used because it shows that that even though you lose something in life, it doesn't mean all of the music in your life has met its end. Mr. Sullivan, who is Jamie's [the main character's] father lost his wife when Jamie was born. She died at childbirth. Since then, he felt as if he lost everything his life stood for. But one Christmas, his daughter asks for a music box. So one evening before Christmas, Mr. Sullivan searches for that music box. There he came across a woman, who he never ever saw in the small town that everyone knew each other. The lady asks him what he was looking for, and he tells her. They chat for a while and experiences how it feels to help others who are unfortunate during the holidays.

At the end of the night, the woman tells him to look in the well, he'll see what he wants for Christmas. In the water, where he expected to see his reflection, he saw his daughter's. He realized his wife might be gone but there's still a part of his wife in Jamie. The music box appears under the tree on Christmas morning, and engraved on the tops of the box was a picture of that lady she saw a few night before. He didn't see her back after then.

Mr. Sullivan writes a story of that night, when he realized that having a small music box shows that he still has his daughter even if he doesn't have a stereo...his wife.
Although in the movie, it wasn't Mr. Sullivan that wrote the play performed in the video below, Jaime did have the lead part of both plays. In the movie, the "other woman" and in the novel, "the angel" also known as the lady Mr. Sullivan meets while shopping for the music box.

Finished with The Lovely Bones.

Wow, I am really like stunned with the ending of the book. I mean The Lovely Bones was a terrific book but the ending was not what I expected. It was better in some cases and not impressing in others. Take for example, the incident that occurred between Susie and Ray. I didn't know that would happen...it was like a bullet through the heart, as I was reading. I wanted to continue reading because it was so gripping and exciting but I didn't want whatever I was reading to happen. It was unreal to me and too supernatural. I don't want to spoil the ending for many of you that I know that are reading this book, so I won't continue to state what happened between the two, who shared so much love for one another.

I loved the fact that Samuel and Lindsey got married and had a daughter who carried Susie's name, Suzanne. That was just like a fairy tale ending. But on the other hand, Mr. Harvey got away with all that he did, of course he left the place that he raped and murdered Susie but he visited once in a while, and remembered a long list of woman that were his victims, from his first to his last. I HATED the fact that he would probably keep on doing what he did to Susie to other people. But hey, that's life who ever said it was fair? It isn't like they found Susie's body either, but her family and friends know she isn't coming back.

Although Susie's death caused her family to some what deteriorated within 8 long years, they came together hearing the news of Mr. Salmon's heart attack. Whether the characters liked it or not, they all had to deal with the death of Susie one way or another. Overall, I give this book (4) **** out of 5. It was great but I would have changed many things that happened if I could rewrite it. For those of you that are continuing to read it, have fun because you are in for a surprise.


I know this song doesn't go perfectly with what happens in this book, but some parts of it goes with what Susie feels, left out...as everyone continues to live life 8 years after her death, all trying to find closure.