Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Fittings

"Fittings" by Floyd Skloot was another great memoir about her time with her mother. Because the mother lose her memories, she had to take her of her. Sher would take her mother out to buy bra and be a safe guardian. I thought the daughter perform her duties well and the mother sometime was funny. I understand what she going through, but I don't think I'll ever let my mother lived in a nuring home.

Life in Motion

"Life In Motion" by Nicole Lamy was her photo project. She gather photos of their family previous homes and falliable memory of where they had been. Her family did lots of moving from Maine to New Hampshire and to Massachusetts. Her father took her back to visit those places and took pictures of them to be remembered. Then she goes into her life shortly after the seperation of her parents. She became closer to her mother rather than her father. At the end, she finally give her mother her photo project, filled with historian's satisfaction.

Slient Dancing

"Slient Dancing" by Judith Ortiz Cofer was about her experience of moving to the New World, discovering the life of another. Because of economic pressures, her father was to joined the United States Navy and soon moved the family to America. Living in El Building and becoming more americanize., sharing the same likes and dislikes toward the New World. Althought, their family had changed, many Puerto Rican still remained the same. Throughtout the memoir, she tells about a tv show that had remind her of her life in the United States.

Monday, November 10, 2008

Out of the Garden

"Out of the Garden" by Jocelyn Bartkevicius was about her childhood life with her grandmother till the day her grandmother had passed away. In this memoir, she give out lots of descriptive characters and stories. She also talks about herslef as an American and Lithuanian, addressed by her grandmother. Then she goes into her experience with her father's and mother's life and the stories carries on. Then into her grandmother illness at the age of ninety-three and finally her camping trip. I though that this memoir was very emtional because it makes me think about my grandparents as well. She was lucky enough to be like by them and spend her childhood with them. Unlike me, I never have that chance.

The Unwanted Child

"The Unwanted Child" by Mary Clearman Blew, a memoir about her mother that faced harsh situations, including herself. This memoir was interesting to me because it open my mind to lots of my owm flashbacks.
I was a bit confuse when I finished reading the memoir because I wasn't sure who is the memoir supposely written about. But from what I read, the memoir open up with the situation of her pregnancy then into her mother's life, as the unwanted child, and then back to her.
I think the writer was trying to tell the readers that no matter what happened, you'll have to believe in what you desire. Beacause there's a part where her mother-in-law told her to stop her education, due to her baby. That part make me think about some situations where I had seen it in my life. Where's the mother-in-law told their daughter-in-law to stop going to school and work because of the family. I believe it's not fair, just because you're having a family doesn't mean you can't go to school and be successful in your dream career.

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

The Year of Magical Thinking

"The Year of Magical Thinking" by Joan Didion was a wonderful book about her husband's death and her dauther in a comma. Throughout the book, she talks about her research of her husband's death and the worries she went through with her daughter. She start the scene with her husband and her coming from the hospital, visiting their daughter. Suddenly after her husband first drink, he just knocked out. After her husband's death, her daughter awoke from her comma and started life, but soon went back into another comma. At the end, everything came together and make sense to her. She found what she was looking for and got a better understanding.

Monday, October 13, 2008

The Ashes of August

"The Ashes of August" by Kim Barnes, the whole summary of the essay is about the tense of the month of August, how storms, fire, rain, and sesan change can affect their living. It's really unpredictable. The author address the event to her personal experience and how she overcome it. They survive the fire by the help of the graces of the Clearwater-Potlatch Timber Protective Association, who had sent the helicopter. The envirnoment in the town turn into ashes after the fire was settled down.

I don't know what I would have done if I was in her position, maybe I wouldn't even let my husband go out there, including the helps of my children. Life is unknown, you'll never know what will happen next.