The Book Taught: March 2015

BOOK REVIEW: Paper Towns by John Green

EN 9:59 PM

Original title: Paper Towns

Author: John Green

Year of Publication: 2008

Number of pages: 305 [epub]

Available in: English, Spanish, French

I read it in: English

"All those paper people living in their paper houses, burning the future to stay warm. All the paper kids drinking beer some bum bought for them at the paper convenience store. Everyone demented with the mania of owning things. All the things paper-thin and paper-frail. And all the people, too."

Quentin is about to graduate from High School when Margo, his neighbour, childhood friend and the girl he's been in love with from afar, visits him one night and asks him to go with her to a revenge mission. When one of the best nights of his life is done, Quentin goes back to sleep thinking that his life will change forever, and it does, but not in the way he was expecting: Margo has disappeared and has left him a series of clues that he is willing to follow, with some help from old –and new- friends.

Paper Towns is a unique book, definitely. I started to read it a bit reticently because I left my YA (Young Adult – book genre) phase way back, and even though I’ve always enjoyed John Green’s books, I mostly read them in High School when I could strongly identify with them (Looking for Alaska, I’m talking about you). But even if I started reading Paper Towns, left it for 5 months and then came back to it, I was a bit surprised to find out that I had a lot of fun reading it.

One thing that I now find a bit boring about YA novels in general is that they tend to be really blatant about their ultimate message, so you don’t really have to think about it. But nonetheless, I enjoyed seeing as Quentin learned that it’s not ok to put expectations of perfection on anyone, and that Margo Roth Spiegelman, the courageous, fun, mysterious Margo, wasn’t there for his personal growth or learning. As John Green himself said: “[…]Mostly, I wanted the reader to be conscious that s/he is only seeing Margo through Q’s eyes, and that Q—at least for much of the novel—knows absolutely nothing about the girl he says he loves.”

Something else that happened while I was reading the book: I got awfully nostalgic of when I was younger and I was so obsessed with hating my hometown. Not that I don’t now, but I’m not obsessed anymore. Margo’s feeling towards everything that she left behind were exactly what I would’ve loved to read about in High School and, incidentally, one of the things that shaped my life the most, like it did to Margo.

At the end of the day, this is one of the most fun books John Green has ever written, it made me laugh out loud, it is short, it is easy and it might just leave you feeling a bit gloomy because you’re not in High School anymore. But if you are… then you should read it and enjoy.

Oh! And this review wasn’t published on a Wednesday because I was waiting for the right timing: the Paper Towns movie trailer premiered today in the morning, starring Nat Wolff and Cara Delevingne, and for what I could see in the trailer, it’s exactly as I pictured it.

Where to buy? The Book Depository, Barnes and Noble & Amazon
Follow John Green on Twitter or watch his YouTube channel!
What I was listening while I read this book: The Wonder Years: Suburbia, I’ve given you all and now I’m nothing.
John Green’s blog where he answered questions about the book

In loving memory of my dog, Goofy, who was always pretending to read with me.

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RESEÑA DE LIBRO: Ciudades de Papel por John Green

Ciudades de Papel 9:46 PM

Título original: Paper Towns

Autor: John Green

Año de Publicación: 2008

Páginas: 305 [epub]

Disponible en [idiomas]: Inglés, Español, Francés

Yo lo leí en: Inglés

"Todas esas personas de papel, viviendo es sus casa de papel, quemando el futuro para mantenerse calientes. Todos los niños de papel bebiendo cerveza que algún vago les compró de una tienda de papel. Todos dementes con la manía de tener cosas. Todas las cosas delgadas como el papel y débiles como el papel. Y toda la gente, también."

Quentin está a punto de graduarse de la preparatoria cuando Margo, su vecina, amiga de la infancia y la chica de la que ha estado enamorado desde lejos, lo visita un día en la noche y le pide que la acompañe a una misión de venganza. Cuando termina una de las mejores noches de su vida, Quentin regresa a dormir pensando que su vida cambiará para siempre, y lo hace, pero no de la forma que él pensaba: Margo ha desaparecido y lo deja con una serie de pistas que está dispuesto a seguir, ayudándose de viejas –y nuevas- amistades.

Ciudades de Papel es un libro único, definitivamente. Empecé a leerlo un poco reticente porque dejé mi fase de YA (Young Adult – Adultos Jóvenes, género literario) bastante atrás, y aunque siempre he disfrutado leer libros de John Green, generalmente los leía en la preparatoria, cuando podía identificarme fuertemente con ellos (Buscando a Alaska, estoy hablando de ti). Pero aun cuando empecé a leer Ciudades de Papel, lo dejé por 5 meses y después regresé a leerlo, me sorprendí un poco al descubrir que me divertí mucho leyéndolo.

Una cosa que ahora encuentro aburrida acerca de las novelas de YA en general es que tienden a ser bastante directas en su mensaje, así que en realidad no tienes que razonar mucho. Pero de cualquier forma, difruté ver como Quentin aprendía que no está bien poner expectaciones de perfección sobre nada, y que Margo Roth Spiegelman, la valiente, divertida, misteriosa Margo, no estaba ahí para su crecimiento personal o aprendizaje. Como el mismo John Green dijo: “[…] Más que nada, quería que el lector estuviera consciente que él/ella sólo está viendo a Margo a través de los ojos de Q, y que Q- por lo menos por gran parte de la novela- sabe absolutamente nada acerca de la chica que dice que ama.”

Algo más que sucedió mientras leía el libro: me dio mucha nostalgia de cuando era más pequeña y estaba obsesionada con odiar a la ciudad en la que vivo. No que no lo haga ahora, pero ya no estoy obsesionada. Los sentimientos de Margo hacia todo lo que dejó detrás eran exactamente lo que me hubiera encantado leer en la preparatoria e, incidentalmente, una de las cosas que moldearon más mi vida, como le pasó a Margo.

Al final del día, este es uno de los libros más divertidos que John Green ha escrito, me hizo reír en voz alta, es corto, es fácil y puede que te deje sintiendo un poco triste de que ya no estás en la preparatoria. Pero si lo estás… deberías leer y disfrutar.

¡Oh! Y esta reseña no fue publicada el miércoles porque estaba esperando por el momento adecuado: el trailer de la película de Ciudades de Papel se estrenó esta mañana, actuarán Nat Wolff y Cara Delevingne y por lo que pude ver en el trailer, es exactamente como me lo imaginé.

¿Dónde comprar? Gandhi, El péndulo y The Book Depository
Sigue a John Green en Twitter y ve sus videos en YouTube.
Lo que escuchaba mientras leía este libro: The Wonder Years: Suburbia, I’ve given you all and now I’m nothing.
Blog de John Green en donde respondió a preguntas del libro

In loving memory of my dog, Goofy, who was always pretending to read with me.

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BOOK REVIEW: Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut

EN 5:25 PM

Original title: Slaughterhouse-Five, or The Children's Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death

Author: Kurt Vonnegut

Year of Publication: 1969

Number of pages: 215 [Trade Paperback]

Available in: Almost every language.

I read it in: English

"All this happened, more or less. The war parts, anyway, are pretty much true."

Billy Pilgrim takes us with him throughout his odyssey between time and space, traveling in a non-linear way between the bombing of Dresden, his married life and when he was abducted by the Tralfamadorians who teach him a really strange way of seeing life.

In 1945, between the 13 and the 15 of February, 4 continuous attacks were made on the unprotected city of Dresden, releasing around 4000 pounds of bombs on it and thus killing around 135000 people. Kurt Vonnegut begins this book talking about the necessity he has to write a book of when he witnessed the bombing, but he spends way too much time trying to write it, without actually being able to say anything. At the end of the first chapter he announces that he finally wrote it and in the next chapter he tells us the story of Billy Pilgrim who is unstuck in time.

From here on we find Kurt Vonnegut every once in a while, in the form of a war partner of Billy, but we mainly see how Billy travels through time, in the least adequate moments, to other stages of his life. Being especially relevant when the Tralfamadorians, plunger-shaped aliens, abduct him, put him in a zoo and show him how they experience life: with all the events of their lives happening all at once, present, past and future are mixed all together and they see what they want of it, and that's how Billy spends his life, in a non-linear way, jumping through the mental house, his marriage, his job as an optometrist, when he was a prisoner of aliens and the war.

The novel revolves around war and it's usually described as an anti-war novel. We see throughout the story that Billy is more of a spectator than an active participant of his own life: things happen to him and he appears to accept them as they are, and regarding the war, Billy remains speechless when trying to describe the horrors he lived. Because of this and the black and satiric humor that Kurt employs all the time, the title it's given is quite controversial.

Many point out as a flaw in the book the detached language, the indifference to human suffering, the lack of opinion in the face of conflict, and that this is what demonstrates the intention of the book. We use language and words to comprehend what surround us, we designate a name, a quality and in that way we understand it. But, when what surrounds us is not comprehensible we find ourselves at a loss of words. That is exactly what happens to both the narrator and Billy: the war in its totality is indescribable because it's not rational or justifiable.

The book also talks to us about the effects of war on people. In Billy we can see as well his lack of ability to connect to the moment as a way of dealing with it. Don't we all do it? Tacitly accept to distract our attention from more painful or important matters because we don't want to or we can't deal with them. This way, Vonnegut's description of war is harsher and more realistic because… is there any proper way to react to loss? And not only loss, but pain, despair, helplessness and horror that something like that can happen before our eyes and that one way or another, we escaped this destiny. We are mere spectators. Besides, the stories of abduction can be taken as real or as a secondary effect of PTSD, in which Billy has to relive constantly what torments him and prefers to think that someone is taking from him the responsibility of his actions in the war, that he didn't choose any of it and that he can't do a thing to change it, somehow achieving peace.

A very special part of the book is in the first chapter when the narrator tells us of reading in the Bible the story of the destruction of the sinners and wicked that lived in Sodom and Gomorrah, only surviving Lot, his wife and their two daughters. The narrator tells us that when they are leaving town Lot's wife turns around to see the destruction and she’s turned into a pillar of salt. Vonnegut mentions loving her for that, because the act of looking back to all those people who were losing their lives was a very humane act. Further on, before he begins Billy Pilgrim's story, he writes that he has now finished the book but that it will be a failure because it was written by a pillar of salt. We can notice here how he compares himself to Lot's wife because he too looked back into the past, remembered the horrors of war and couldn't help but feel sorrow and compassion even for his enemies.

In addition to Vonnegut being a great author, this is a profoundly humane and even funny book that reminds us of our humanity and the simple fact that there is nothing smart to say about a massacre. So it goes.

Where to buy: Barnes and Noble, Amazon and The Book Depository (free shipping worldwide)
Movie trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvlZtlBfCi0
Interview with Kurt Vonnegut
Videos of analysis Crash Course and Thug Notes
Historical Context: Bombing of Dresden (what the book is about): Documentary and article, and the Vietnam War (when the book was published).
15 things you probably didn't know about Slaughterhouse-Five

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RESEÑA DE LIBRO: Matadero Cinco por Kurt Vonnegut

ES 5:13 PM

Título original: Slaughterhouse-Five, or The Children's Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death

Autor: Kurt Vonnegut

Año de Publicación: 1969

Páginas: 215 [Pasta blanda]

Disponible en [idiomas]: Casi todos los idiomas.

Yo lo leí en: Inglés

"Todo esto pasó, mas o menos. Las partes de la guerra, de cualquier forma, son bastante verdaderas."

Billy Pilgrim nos lleva con él a través de una odisea entre el tiempo y el espacio, viajando de forma no linear entre el bombardeo de la ciudad Alemana de Dresden, su vida de casado y cuando fue abducido por los Tralfamadorians, quienes le enseñan una extraña forma de ver la vida.

En 1945, entre el 13 y el 15 de febrero, se realizaron 4 ataques consecutivos a la desprotegida ciudad de Dresde, liberando alrededor de 4000 toneladas de bombas sobre esta y matando alrededor de 135000 personas. Kurt Vonnegut comienza este libro hablándonos sobre su necesidad de escribir un libro de cuando presenció el bombardeo, pero pasa mucho tiempo intentando escribirlo, sin poder en realidad decir nada. Al final del primero capítulo nos anuncia que por fin lo escribió y en el capítulo que sigue comienza a contarnos la historia de Billy Pilgrim quién "se despega del tiempo".

De aquí en adelante nos encontramos con Kurt Vonnegut de vez en cuando, en la forma de un compañero de Billy en la guerra, pero principalmente vemos como Billy viaja a través del tiempo, en los momentos menos adecuados, a otras etapas de su vida. Siendo especialmente relevante cuando los Tralfamadorians, aliens con forma de destapacaños, lo abducen, lo ponen en un zoológico y le muestran como experimentan ellos la vida: con todos los eventos ocurriendo simultáneamente. Presente, pasado y futuro están revueltos en una gran maraña y ellos ven a disposición propia lo que quieran de esta, y así es como Billy pasa su vida, de forma no linear, saltando entre su estancia en el manicomio, su casamiento, su trabajo como optometrista, cuando fue prisionero de los aliens y la guerra.

Esta novela gira alrededor de la guerra y usualmente es descrita como una novela anti-guerra. Observamos durante la historia que Billy es más un espectador que un participante activo de su vida: las cosas le suceden y el parece aceptarlas y en lo referente a la guerra, Billy se queda callado al intentar describir los horrores que vivió. Por esto y por el humor negro y satírico que Kurt emplea todo el tiempo, el título que se le da es bastante controversial.

Eso que muchos apuntan como la falla del libro, el lenguaje desapegado, la indiferencia al sufrimiento humano, la falta de opinión ante el conflicto, es lo que nos demuestra la intención del libro. Usamos el lenguaje y las palabras para comprender lo que nos rodea, le designamos un nombre, una cualidad y de esa forma lo entendemos. Pero cuando lo que nos rodea no es comprensible nos encontramos sin palabras. Eso es exactamente lo que le sucede tanto al narrador como a Billy: la guerra en su totalidad es indescriptible porque no es racional o justificable.

El libro también nos habla de los efectos de la guerra en las personas. En Billy podemos ver también su poca habilidad para conectarse con el momento como una forma de lidiar con ello. ¿Acaso no lo hacemos todos? Tácitamente aceptar el distraernos de cosas más importantes o dolorosas porque no podemos o no queremos lidiar con eso. De esta forma, la descripción de la guerra que nos hace Vonnegut es más cruda y realista, porque ¿acaso hay alguna forma correcta de reaccionar ante la perdida? Y no sólo la perdida, sino el dolor, la desesperanza, la impotencia y el horror de que algo así pueda suceder frente a nuestros ojos y que de alguna forma u otra nos escapemos de aquel destino. Somos espectadores. Además, las historias de abducción podemos tomarlas como reales o como un efecto secundario del estrés post-traumático, en el que Billy tiene que revivir constantemente lo que lo atormenta y prefiere pensar que alguien le está quitando la responsabilidad de sus acciones en la guerra, que el no escogió nada de eso y que no puede hacer nada para cambiarlo, dándole de alguna manera paz.

Una parte muy especial del libro es aún en el primer capítulo, cuando el narrador nos cuenta de leer en la Biblia la historia de la destrucción de los "pecadores y malvados" que vivían en Sodoma y Gomorra, salvándose solamente Lot, su esposa y sus hijas. El narrador nos cuenta que cuando están dejando la ciudad la esposa de Lot voltea atrás a ver la destrucción y es convertida en un pilar de sal. Vonnegut menciona amarla por eso, porque el acto de mirar hacia todas esas personas que estaban perdiendo su vida fue un acto muy humano. Más adelante en ese mismo capítulo, antes de comenzar con la historia de Billy Pilgrim, escribe que ha terminado la novela pero que será un fracaso, que era de esperarse porque fue escrito por un pilar de sal. Podemos notar que se compara con la esposa de Lot porque el también miró hacia el pasado, recordó los horrores de la guerra y no pudo evitar sentir pena y compasión inclusive por sus enemigos.

Además de que Vonnegut es un excelente escritor, este es un libro profundamente humano y a veces inclusive divertido, que nos recuerda nuestra humanidad y del simple hecho que no hay nada inteligente que decir sobre una masacre. So it goes.

En dónde comprarlo línea & físico: Gandhi, El Péndulo y The Book Depository (envíos gratis a todo el mundo)
Trailer de la película.
Entrevista con Kurt Vonnegut sobre el libro.
Videos de análisis profundo de la obra. Crash Course y Thug Notes
Contexto histórico: Bombardeo de Dresde: Documental y artículo 1 y 2. Guerra de Vietnam (cuando fue publicado)
15 cosas que probablemente no sabías de Matadero Cinco

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BOOK REVIEW: Animal Farm by George Orwell

Animal Farm 5:41 PM

Original title: Animal Farm

Author: George Orwell

Year of Publication: 1945

Number of pages: 147 [Trade paperback]

Available in: Practically every language.

I read it in: Spanish

"Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy.
Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend.
No animal shall wear clothes.
No animal shall sleep in a bed.
No animal shall drink alcohol.
No animal shall kill any other animal.
All animals are equal."

Everything begins with animals in a farm sick of their situation who decide to rebel and free from the yank of humans. So they take the farm and work together to mantain order and peace. But, how can this end if the farm animals start to act like humans?

In 1945 the entire world was at war: The Great Patriotic War was ending with the fall of Berlin, the Victory Day over the Nazi Germany was celebrated and the first atomic bomb was detonated. During that year, a novella that described allegorically the Soviet Union and the communism instituted there was published.

In the book, a group of animals sick of their situation and inspired by the bad treatments and the words of an old pig, take up arms against their oppressors who are drunk enough or bad-paid enough to run away at their sight, leaving this way Manor Farm in the hands (or claws) of the animals, who then call it Animal Farm.

Immediately, they create the 7 commandments that every animal must follow and for a while everything seem perfect: all animals -or most of them- work together to feed themselves and others, nobody steals, nobody takes advantage of anybody and they can taste their freedom every day when they sing "Beasts of England". However, little by little things start to change: the pigs decide that as they are the smartest ones they will work in the administration of the farm and they constantly give instructions to the less-smart animals, who always follow the words of the pigs and think they are having a say in the decisions taken there.

When Snowball, one of the pig leaders, is exiled, Napoleon takes the totalitarian power of the farm, strangely, keeping the animals convinced that all that he wants is what they truly want. The commandments that once were painted in the wall as sign of their freedom change slowly but surely until disappearing, the pigs take more privileges than those that originally were theirs and no animal has enough memory or brain to say otherwise.

This way we can notice that all that happens in the story has its equivalent in history and even though it is a direct allegory of the zarist Russia, it's impossible not to notice the similarities with current governments and the fight for power, which is another theme that can be easily interpreted without knowing the historical context.

Something that was really interesting is that during the entire story we don't see the direct point of view of those in power, these being the pigs. We never see what is going on inside the head of Napoleon, we don't know his true intentions, we can only see through the eyes of those inferior to them and their feelings, which are usually quickly appeased by few arguments and their lack of memory. Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

George Orwell doesn't ask for permission or talks with euphemisms when he accuses the Soviet Russia of feeding a corrupted idealism in the way of a totalitarian government to its people, he is pretty transparent with his goal of representing his context in the story, making it understandable for all those who want to read it, even kids. In fact, it was so up front that many publishers rejected it, something Orwell talks about it a well-articulated and slightly angry preface that he called "The freedom of the press". A delightful read that complements the story itself and gives us a clear view of what Orwell intended.

Not only was he a visionary and a great writer, he was also able to stir a few minds in the process. The book inspired 2 movies: one of cartoons and other with real live animals, and a Pink Floyd album that goes by the name of "Animals", one that I thought of, without knowing, while I was reading it.

As almost every social stratum is represented in the animals of the farm, we can ask ourselves a very important question: which animal are we?

Where to buy? Barnes and Noble, Amazon and The Book Depository (free shipping worldwide)
Movie from the book. Note: The ending was changed a little bit.
Listen to PInk Floyd's album "Animals" or buy it.
The Freedom of the press by George Orwell