Dreamland- By Sarah Dessen (Ellie's book report #3)

Dreamland-Sarah Dessen

 Ever since the morning Caitlin’s eighteen year old sister took off with her boyfriend, Adam, leaving only so much as a note, Caitlin has fallen into what seems to be a semiconscious dreamland type state. Her best friend, Rina, just a few days after Cass left, convinced Caitlin to try out for cheerleading, which happens so fast Caitlin isn't even quite sure it did. Her mom, the second  Caitlin tells her, becomes completely involved and practically obsessed with Caitlin’s cheerleading. Her mother had always been planning out Cass’ life and watching so carefully over it that when Cass is leaves and doesn't want to be in contact, Caitlian is who she turns to. At a cheerleading party that Caitlin is drug to by Rina, she sees him for the first time: Rogerson Biscoe. Rogerson is dark, with deep, compelling eyes. He’s magnetic, intriguing, mysterious, and someone who you can’t help but get drawn to, even when you know they’re someone you shouldn't be falling for. He hasn't said one word to her and she can already tell just from taking him in that he’s trouble. Caitlin, seemingly wonderstruck, gets into Rogerson’s car after just saying “Hi” and being offered a ride home. After making out and going all the way to 2^nd base in his car by her driveway, Caitlin, as if being held back by a daydream, heads into her house as to not break curfew. The more Caitlin got deeper into her relationship with Rogerson, the more she slipped out of reality. Her school grades skyrocketed downward, and so did her cheerleading effort, though her parents didn't notice, as her mom moved onto home decorating to keep busy, while her dad was working a full time job. It wasn't long until she saw it. Rogerson’s dad beat him hard, just for being a few minutes late. It was only a day or two later when Rogerson hit Caitlin for the first time, coming as such a shock to her, the only way she knew it wasn't just a dream was the increasing pain from her cheek to her temple. As the hitting grew more frequent, Caitlin pushed everyone out of her life more and more, only focusing on not being late to meet Rogerson or not doing something to set him off. People wondered, but they never asked. Caitlin’s life was heading down a downward spiral. She was drowning deeper and deeper into Rogerson, which brought her deeper and deeper out of reality; out of careful watch withdrawn mother and missing sister. 

It wasn't until Rina forced Caitlin to spend a day with her, since she hadn't in ages, literally dragging her down to the beach. By the time Caitlin got home, Rogerson had been waiting an hour in her driveaway. He immediately started swearing and yelling things like “Where the hell were you? I've been waiting for an HOUR.” Before Caitlin could respond, Rogerson grabbed her, hit her just about everywhere, and threw her to the ground multiple times. It wasn't until Caitlin’s mother heard and ran outside, calling 911 as Rogerson disappeared into the woods. Caitlin, basically out cold, was taken to the Evergreen Treatment center where she recovered for a few months. She spent her days under structured schedule, having nightmares and flashbacks of Rogerson and his beatings on her. When she finally got to go home, she felt as if she was waking up for the first time since Cass had gone missing. Almost as if she had been so deep underwater, but was now so close to resurfacing.

Sixteen year-old Caitlin has deep brunette hair and light, enchanting hazel eyes. Caitlin lets life take her wherever it wants to once her sister leaves and her parents become distant, which leads her straight to someone who changes her life in the worst but best way; Rogerson Biscoe. Caitlin sparingly interacts with her parents, afraid they will be able to tell that something is wrong. A quote from Caitlin to support this analysis is this one: “Lying to my parents had become easy. I just answered their minimal questions at the dinner table, and used cheerleading as an excuse when I was really going to meet Rogerson.” Caitlin’s minimal interaction includes saying just things like the usual Caitlin is even too afraid to talk to her sister, Cass on the phone when she calls, because she knows that Cass knows her too well, and will know that something is very wrong with her. A quote to support this analysis is this one from Caitlin: “I opened my mouth but no words came. I wanted to talk to Cass so bad, but I was afraid if I did she could immediately tell somehow that something was wrong.” Caitlin’s interactions with Rogerson, however, include asking him the answers to her homework, because she seems to always be dozing off in school, quickly failing. Rogerson he seems to know absolutely EVERYTHING when Caitlin asks, which can be supported by when he says “I watch a lot of Jeopardy”. Caitlin begins to worry about what she says to Rogerson once he starts to hit her, afraid she will say something to set him off. This can be supported by this quote from Caitlin: “I wanted to tell him how horrible my day was, how I had to work with Mike Evans for a project and how upset Rina was when I said I couldn’t hangout, but I just couldn’t. I was too afraid I’d say the wrong thing and set him off, so I answered with the simple “It was okay.”’ Caitlin slowly loses interaction with Rina as Rogerson begins to take up more and more of her time. A quote from Caitlin to support this analysis is this one: “I felt bad for telling Rina I couldn’t hangout, again, but the guilt didn’t last long, as I ran to meet Rogerson before I was late.” This character analysis described the main character in Dreamland, Caitlin, and her interactions with others.

The main theme in Dreamland is forgiving someone for something they don’t deserve to be forgiven for. Caitlin is always forgiving Rogerson for hitting her, and always just letting it go, even though she knows he doesn’t deserve to be forgiven. An example from the text to support this theme is this quote from Caitlin: “Each day after he’d hit me I could tell he felt horrible. However, instead of directly apologizing he would bring me a soda, or hold me a little bit closer. By not bringing it up he knew I had forgiven him, even though he never deserved it.” The first time after Rogerson hit her, he’d said “I love you Caitlin. Never forget that, alright? I love you.” Caitlin, of course, forgave him, even though he entirely didn’t deserve it. Caitlin over and over, every time, forgave Rogerson. Never did she bring a hit up after it had happened, never did she say a word about it to him, or to anyone. The examples shown describe the main theme of forgiving someone who doesn’t deserve it, and the quotes from the text support the theme.  

I can relate Dreamland to my own life not due to being beaten or hit, because I haven’t, but because of a couple other reasons. First of all, I can relate to the main theme, forgiving someone for something you know they don’t deserve to be forgiven for. I have many times forgiven people, knowing they don’t deserve it. I usually do it because I don’t want to cause drama by making a big deal of it or bringing it up, or because I tell myself they won’t do it again, so why bring it up. I think everyone, at least once in their life, has forgiven someone for something they don’t deserve to be forgiven for. Another occurring part of the book I can relate to is the semi-theme of making up an excuse as to not have to talk about something. quite a bit throughout the book. I can relate to making up excuses to not talk about something because sometimes I just don’t want to talk about something so I make up the excuse of “I’m tired” or “I’m fine”, because I’m not always ready at every second to get into a full discussion about something. I feel like everyone, multiple times in their life, has made up an excuse to not talk about something. Doing this is just a very common thing among humans because we can tend to keep things inside or not feel like having to tell someone something every time you are asked to. The examples shown are how I can relate to the book Dreamland.

I would definitely recommend Dreamland to any teenager, because I feel like it’s too mature of a book for younger kids. I would recommend Dreamland because it brings up the very important topic of abusive relationships, which are so common nowadays, and really shows the early signs of an abusive relationship. Dreamland really gives off the message that it’s not a good idea at all to stay in an abusive relationship, and that it is important to tell someone, or you could end up as just as bad, or worse, than Caitlin did in the long run. Besides that, Dreamland never gets boring to read and will definitely keep you wanting to read to the end of Caitlin’s long, seemingly endless journey through her abusive relationship with Rogerson Biscoe. Dreamland appealed to be because of how raw and true of a book it is, and how abusive relationships can completely change whole life in the worst way. The reason described are why I would recommend the book Dreamland to any teenager looking for a really extraordinary read for this winter season, or any other time of the year. 

            

            

*I chose the first image because the song "I Knew You Were Trouble" By Taylor Swift really describes this relationship Caitlin is in with Rogerson. She knew he was trouble the moment she saw him, but she went into the relationship anyway. I chose image two because it shows a depressed girl wearing long pants and a long sleeve shirt, not wanting to show her bruises, just like Caitlin.*

Link to "I Knew You Were Trouble" music video, which  100% describes Caitlin's relationship with Rogerson :  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNoKguSdy4Y

Want to learn more about the author, Sarah Dessen? Click here to visit her official website: http://sarahdessen.com/books/

Want to purchase Dreamland? Click here: http://www.amazon.com/Dreamland-ebook/dp/B0023SDQBW/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1355808725&sr=8-4&keywords=dreamland+sarah+dessen

Image 1:http://musicselects.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/112_9_4_95529906.jpg

Image 2: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgONpRQfHf6XdRkCJUc_aXVN9fkDIbVJiNxlp2fgF2MptWbKbpzAGzYn2LJivz8ctGH2Ol_T8Prs2zHDab3b_Zm_sjZT91kk14wvEuxP2GZN3s2QfM4kW9TfvxxppwLCy-9PaCiBvpiEsxE/s1600/depressed_girl.jpg

The Summer I Turned Pretty- Book Review

The Summer I Turned Pretty-Jenny Han

    Isabel, who has been called Belly as long as she can remember, practically lives for the summers she spends in Cousins Beach with her mom Laurel’s lifelong best friend, Susannah, who has breast cancer and has to rest a lot, and her sons Conrad and Jeremiah. The last person who came was Belly’s brother Steven. Belly has always been looked at as “Steven’s little sister” during the long, hot summer days spent in their families’ beach house. Belly has always been chasing Conrad, the older brother, who was eighteen. Jeremiah has always been a best friend to her since day one, being very nice and kind to her. Belly desperately hopes and believes that this summer will be the summer things change. After a long drive, that Belly feels like was about seven thousand hours (really about seven hours), her mom, brother, and her pull up to the driveway in Cousins Beach. Belly immediately ran to hug Conrad and Jeremiah, who both told her she looked different this summer, and in a few hours the first night ended with their traditional first day dinner of pot roast. As the summer went on, Belly was getting mixed messages from Conrad. Sometimes he smiled and joked around with her, and others he ignored her  or gave her irritated looks. Feeling betrayed, Belly tried to push it all away by beginning to go out with a boy the same age as her and Jeremiah, which was sixteen. The boy’s name was Cam, and he was half Japanese and half French, and very into school. While going out with Cam, Conrad and Jeremiah seem to be acting almost jealous. This makes Belly confused, and during this confusion, she realizes dating Cam was a mistake and was just to forget about being hurt my Conrad.  Jeremiah, the night Belly basically breaks up with Cam, tells Belly he’s in love with her, thinking she was over Conrad when she really wasn't. About mid-summer, there’s a flashback to a previous summer, when Belly was 13. In this flashback chapter, Belly’s beautiful best friend Taylor Jewel comes to visit, and ends up hooking up with Jeremiah, though Jeremiah is still sending Belly lingering looks. When it goes back to the current summer, the boys, without their mother knowing, find out their parents are divorcing, likely due to their dad never being around. By now it is the end of the summer, and very depressingly Belly, Steven, and Laurel head back home. It has always been Belly’s dream to see the boys (Jere and Con)  in their winter clothes with rosy cheeks and scarves, so she is in complete shock when Conrad calls asking if he can see her after he  droves all the way from his hometown of Boston, Massachusetts to where she lives, which is left unknown. Belly, in utter shock, runs outside to see Conrad, and then the book is left on a note of her and Conrad  going for a drive, forgetting everyone like everyone was just the two of them.

    Belly has dark brown hair and brown eyes, with light freckles on her face. She’s fifteen at the beginning of the summer, but turns sixteen in July. Belly has been in love with Conrad since she was ten, as she said about it: “Over his shoulder, Conrad said, “Goodnight, Belly.” And that was it. I was in love”’. Though she tells people, like Taylor Jewel, that “Nah, they’re just like brothers. I’m just like a little sister to them.” Jeremiah, Conrad’s brother, is Belly’s best friend, even after he confesses he’s in love with her when she doesn't feel the same way. A quote from Belly to support this analysis would be this one: “ I could barely look at him. Because I didn't. I didn't see him that way. There was only one person. For me that person was Conrad.” As far as immediate family,  Belly interacts like the average teenager with her brother and her mom. However, Susannah to Belly is almost like a big sister. Belly’s mom is a lot less of a “cool mom” and is more distant, while Susannah is fun and will talk about teen things with Belly.  This analysis can be supported with this quote from Belly: “I could say no to my mother or anyone else, but with Susannah, I could never say no, so I agree to have Cam over for dinner.”  Another quote to support this analysis is:  “Susannah loved to talk about anything girly; she said I was the only person she could talk to about these kinds of things. My mother certainly wouldn't, and neither would Conrad or Jeremiah. Only me, her pretend daughter.” This character analysis describes the main character, Belly, and how she interacts with others.

    A major theme in The Summer I Turned Pretty is chasing after someone you've always loved. The whole book is based off of this teenage girl’s life every summer with her “summer family”, where she spends the summer crushing on Conrad, who’s never looked at her more than you would your friends little sister.  An example to support this theme is this one: “My heart was beating so loudly I could hear it. Everything was the same but not. They [Conrad and Jeremiah] had looked at me like I was a real girl, not just somebody’s little sister.” Also, her best friend Jeremiah, the other boy in her “summer family”, so hopefully tells Belly he’s in love with her, by saying this: “You've always been my best friend. But now it’s more. I see you as more than that. You’re cooler than any other girl I've ever met, and you’re there for me. You've always been there for me. I can count on you, and you can count on me, but you know that.” Jeremiah saying this is him showing the theme of chasing after someone he loves. These examples show  the theme of chasing after someone you love in The Summer I Turned Pretty.

     As far as inferring it and relating it to my life, I think anyone can relate to the theme of chasing after someone they've always loved, because it’s something everyone does at some point in their life, because everyone will, no doubt, fall in love during their life. Whether it lasts or not, it happens to everyone. I can’t 100% relate to it, because it hasn't happened to me yet. Sure I have had crushes come and go, which is the one way I can relate to it, However, it definitely happens to everyone at some point, whether it’s one time or five times. The reasons stated explain how I, and anyone, can relate The Summer I Turned Pretty.

  I would one absolutely recommend The Summer I Turned Pretty, as well as the other two books in the series, It’s Not Summer Without You, and We’ll Always Have Summer, to anyone looking for a good, real, raw quality book. Belly’s story is so real, that it can instantly be related to anyone out there who has ever loved someone (Or at least thought they did). The story line is so intriguing that you’ll want to finish it all in one day, like I did. The story of Belly and her summer family will be sure to capture the heart of any reader. These reasons I explained are why I would recommend The Summer I Turned Pretty to anybody looking for a nice summer read.

*The images above relate because a common lie in the  book is" i'm fine", and in that image the word LIES is spelled out in pink within the phrase "Im perfectly fine, trust me", and image 2 just sums up the whole series*

Want to purchase The Summer I Turned Pretty? Click here!- http://www.amazon.com/The-Summer-I-Turned-Pretty/dp/1416968296/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1354503448&sr=8-1&keywords=the+summer+i+turned+pretty

Want to purchase the second book in the series, It's Not Summer Without You? Click here!:http://www.amazon.com/Its-Not-Summer-Without-You/dp/1416995560/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1354503456&sr=8-2&keywords=the+summer+i+turned+pretty

Want to purchase the third and final book in the series, We'll Always Have Summer? Click here!: http://www.amazon.com/Well-Always-Have-Summer-Novels/dp/1416995595/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1354503456&sr=8-3&keywords=the+summer+i+turned+pretty

Want to learn more about the author and check out more of her books? Click here!: http://www.dearjennyhan.com/

So Much Closer- Book Review

                                                  SO MUCH CLOSER- By Susane Colastani 

     Brooke Greene has been crushing on Scott Abrams for as long as she can remember. However, when Brooke finally is just about to ask Scott out, she finds out that he’s moving to New York City. In just a short week Brooke convinced her mom to let her move to New York City for her senior year of high school, where her dad lives, saying the schools there will challenge her at the right level. So, Brooke packs up her life in South New Jersey after three short months of summer break, and heads on down to New York City. On the first day of school Brooke gets sucked into being a tutor for a fellow senior student with special needs.  Her genius IQ is shown not at all shown from her school grades, but from her testing scores. However, by the end of the day she found Scott and begins to try to become friends with him. Later that afternoon she begins as a general tutor for a boy named John with  the high-functioning mental disorder of dysgraphia. After becoming good friends with Scott, Brooke stumbles upon him with his girlfriend, Leslie, whom she had no idea about. Brooke begins hanging out more with the girl who persuaded her to tutor, Sadie, after finding out this news. Soon after, though, Brooke decides to keep being good friends with Scott, hoping he’ll soon break up with Leslie, his girlfriend who always looks like she just stepped out of Teen Vogue. 

    Problems arise when Brooke's dad is always out working, and if he is home, he’s on his laptop, talking to her about as much as you talk to that shy kid in class.  In the back of her mind Brooke knows that moving to New York was a huge mistake, but convinces herself it will all pay off when Scott falls in love with her. Fortunately for Brooke, Scott ends things with Leslie and Brooke decides to tell him what she’s been hiding all along- the fact that she moved to New York City just to be with him. He’s completely awestruck, and gives Brooke the most wonderful kiss she’s ever had. Later that evening, Brooke is still in a complete state of wonder-struck over finally being able to be with the boy she’s loved forever. John, the boy she tutors, begins acting out  once he finds out about Brooke and Scott, while Brooke is completely oblivious to him being in love with her. Brooke, however, soon comes to the conclusion after about a month that Scott is just in this relationship for physical things, and may think that making out will fix things verses talking about them. Brooke then does the hardest thing she’s ever done: she breaks up with the boy she’s always dreamed of. Shortly after this breakup Brooke realizes something. If someone makes you feel comfortable and is nothing but sweet to you, never let them go, therefore, she ends up with John, the boy who’s been fully in love with her since day one.

     Brooke is a girl of average height at 5’ 6’’ with golden, flowing light brown hair and deep, intense brown eyes. Brooke is an extremely intelligent seventeen year old who doesn't  put forth any effort into school and her grades. Her test scores skyrocket up, but her grades are very, very low, basically at a failing level. A quote from the book supporting this analysis is when Brooke is thinking: “Is this the part where I’m supposed to be surprised? Because I've heard it all before. I still don’t care.” This thought occurs to her after  her calculus teacher, Mr. Peterson, says from her IQ test score that she excels in all subjects by a lot. This quote supports my analysis because it portrays how Brooke doesn't care or put effort into school work when she can easily highly excel at it, if she wants to.  Brooke lived in South New Jersey, then moved to New York City when she found out her crush was moving there.

     Brooke can be quite oblivious at times, such as during the four months John, the boy she tutored, was completely in love with her, before she realized over the winter. Brooke is definitely a dreamer, constantly daydreaming about her crush, Scott Abrams, just about all the time. Brooke is also a hopeless romantic; when she begins going out with Scott, she is just hopelessly in love, and never ever imagines that it could someday end. This analysis can be supported by this quote from Brooke: “That’s how I know Scott and I are meant to be together. I've never been so sure of anything in my entire life.” However, being that Brooke is a very intelligent girl, she’s smart enough to come to the sad, unfortunate realization that Scott is only in it for physical things and never made her feel fully comfortable; she always felt overwhelmed whenever she was around him, likely due to crushing on him for so long before and not entirely being able to believe that they’re a couple. A quote to support this analysis is when Brooke is thinking to herself after Scott asks if they can just keep things fun:  “It’s so tempting to say yes, to be with him however he wants me to be. But I've been playing this whole time. I desperately want to be that girl who can have fun city nights with a boy she loves and not want anything more. Ever since Scott kissed me, I've been trying to be that girl. I’m just not her. If Scott and I can’t be together the way I know we should be in my heart, then I can’t do this anymore.” Another quote to support how overwhelmed she feels is this one, from Brooke: “Scott’s room has a powerful effect on me. Just going inside triggers this overwhelming anticipation. Every time I come over here, It’s like I still can’t believe I’m finally here.” These quotes support my analysis because Brooke is always overwhelmed around Scott, and has always been desperately trying to be someone she’s just truly not.

       A major theme in So Much Closer is the fact that sometimes the thing you wish for so badly doesn't always turn out and can disappoint you once you get it. An example supporting this theme is the blatant fact that Brooke moved to an entirely new city, receiving an entirely different life, just for one boy that turned out to disappoint her once she ‘had him’. An example from the book that supports this theme of things not always being what they seem to be, is this quote from Brooke: “What I’m craving even more is a home-cooked meal. Missing Mom’s cooking is the last thing I expected to be doing, but there you go. Takeout was fun for a while. Now it’s sort of sad.” This quote from Brooke portrays the theme of things not always being what they seem because this quote describes how Brooke thought having takeout all the time would be so fun and awesome, but she later realizes she misses what she had before, and is disappointed with what she has now. Another quote from Brooke portraying this theme is this one:  I can’t remember the last time he talked about anything serious. But it’s not like we’re going to break up. I didn't move all the way here for things to not work out. I've loved Scott for so long. We just can’t go on like this.” This quote portrays the major theme of things not always being as great as they may seem because Brooke picked up and moved to New York thinking everything would just be perfect, and her and Scott would fall in love. However, she’s now beginning to realize that Scott may not be how she always dreamed he’d be, before she was dating him. These examples portray the theme of everything not always being exactly what it seems.

   I can really relate the theme of things not always being what they seem to my own life in many ways. It’s a very true, realistic theme that everyone is guilty of experiencing. An example of a time I've experienced it is when I was going into 7^th grade, I thought private school would be so amazing and perfect and way better than public school. I tried it out for half the school year and realized it wasn't what it seemed at all. There were only five students and the education wasn't as good as I thought it would be, which of course disappointed me. The example shown explains one way I can relate the theme of everything not always being quite what it seems to my life.

    This book greatly appealed to me because of how true and raw it is. Although it’s a fictional book, it could easily be the story of a real nonfiction person, because it’s not some totally unrealistic, fantasy story that could never actually happen. I enjoy reading books about real life things, rather than unrealistic stories that are so far from real life. I would recommend it to people who like reading about life lessons and  topics that can easily be related to, because this book is full of them. Another reason I’d recommend So much Closer is because it’s an easy read- it’s not hard to follow, and you don’t get bored with the story line. These reasons are why the book So Much Closer appealed to me and why I’d recommend it to others.       

Want to find out more about the author, Susane Colastani? Click this link!- http://www.susanecolasanti.com/books.html

Want to purchase this book? Click here!- http://www.amazon.com/So-Much-Closer-Susane-Colasanti/dp/0142421146/ref=la_B001JSE5XA_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1353995578&sr=1-4