Reading log #5

Reading log #5

Title: Alphabetical Destiny from ' Tomorrow all will be beautiful ' 

Text type: Short story

Author: Brigid Lowry

Alphabetical destiny is one of the short texts in Brigid Lowry's book 'Tomorrow all will be beautiful'. Alphabetical destiny is written as an anonymous letter from a girl to someone she admired most: her best friend. 

The letter focus's on a photograph the girl stole from her best friend. The girl looks at it fondly , to her it is the only photograph of that time that they both looked lovely. " We look good. We're laughing. World's out oyster, sky's the limit, best of friends. " She also speaks of how it was deceiving. " What cannot be seen: Our crumpled childhoods, our Scarred Wrists  , How we hated our bodies, How we tried , Hour needle marks , My envy. " I think by this she means that at first glance they seemed happy , but if you really think about it there was so much going on that wasn't happy at all.

I felt this short text had a theme of Envy. We see this as in the letter the girl speaks about her  friend so beautifully " You wore silk nightgowns. Stole decent perfume from flash department stores. Summertime crime. You were bad and daring. Your legs were brown and muscular. Your hair was like the movies. I always wanted to be like you" but when I read the authors own description of herself then , she came off as really disappointed with her self "My daggy flannel nightgowns, my loneliness, my collection of wonderful hats that I was too shy to wear. Me with all those unsuitable boyfriends. those clumsy strangers. Me reading till morning. Me getting by." The author of the letter even wrote " I wanted so many things. Mainly to be you. Right from the day we meet." But as the author turns from a teenager into a women , she accepted who she is "I've stopped trying to be you and I don't need to steal from you anymore."

While reading this , I thought of a quote I once read 'Another women's beauty doesn't mean the absence of your own' and I think if she thought of herself in a more positive light , she would see that she too is beautiful. Which she finally did as an adult.

I thought this was a interesting letter to an old friend , like a goodbye love letter.

Reading log #3

Reading log #3

Title: Train to Busan

Text: Visual text

Director: Yeon Sang-ho

'Train to Busan' is a South Korean action thriller directed by Yeon Sang-ho, that follows a group of frantic passengers fighting for survival through a countrywide outbreak that turns people in zombies while trapped on a train on it's way to Busan. 

I was excited throughout this movie from start to finish. It had a great theme of 'Morality', and gets me thinking about what I would've done in a situation where zombie's are infecting New Zealand. All of the characters were terrified and desperate to survive, which in any situation like that everyone would instinctively want to live. Seok-woo , the main character told his daughter Su-an ' At a time like this , only watch out for yourself' but we see multiple scenes in the film where he risks his life to help other passengers on the train , even as desperate as he is to keep himself and his daughter alive.Because he knows the only way to survive is for people to look out for each other.  However , a business man name Yong-suk was the complete opposite of this. He risked the lives of so many people , and got so many people infected in his attempt to only look out for himself which I found frustrating , but again in a situation like that I understand the desperation. I think it showed peoples response to a panicked situation accurately.

This film is also focused on the relationship of Seok-Woo , an overworked worker has with his daughter, Su-an. He doesn't spend much time with her , and even got her a birthday present that he already bought for her on children's day. Su-an  had a recital where she was singing a song , but stopped halfway through, Seok-woo watched this on a video recording. Later , Su-an tells her father " I practised that song for you , that's why I couldn't sing , Because I didn't see you. " And asks him to stay with her , which show's them coming together in a difficult time. I think their relationship was an excellent choice to portray in the film as it made me attached to the characters more.

Overall , I really liked how this film touched on mortality and how it showed Seok-woo's love for his daughter. I think it show's characters accurately and had me anxious throughout the whole film. I would suggest this everyone. 

Reading log #2

Reading log #2

Title: The Truth about Alice

Text: Extended Text

Author: Jennifer Mathieu 

The Truth about Alice is a book by Jennifer Mathieu told from four different perspectives. alternating between the past and present events , it tells the story of the events that led to Alice Franklin becoming the girl no one wanted to be associated with.

The truth about Alice is a book that sends a strong message about how distorted rumors can be. Brandon Fitzsimmons created a lie that he ' did ' her , after  Tommy (another character) did  because she refused his advances and he didn't like the rejection. I hated how the truth of this is never really told to the people , because Tommy had left for college , Brandon died and Alice was silent on the mater, which I think encouraged the people in the town to believe these false rumors. And a lot of people would go on the talk about how much of a great guy Brandon was , when actually he was a complete jerk. So many people built up this lie after Brandon died , even his best friend told the lie that he crashed his car which killed him because he was distracted by Alice sexting him. I really hated this injustice , these rumors were very damaging to  Alice's reputation and she became a target of vicious bullying and being slut shamed from an entire town , except of course Kent. 

From the descriptions of Alice the characters had given , she was a confident girl, who didn't seem like the type to initially come off as a doormat and " Who always has raspberry-colored lipstick and wears pencil skirts." So I think these rumors must of really hurt her and made her feel powerless , and changed who she was for her to began wearing hoodies to hide herself and not speak to anyone. I was rooting for her to fight , but at the same time I can understand why she isolated herself as she did. In the final chapter we finally could get something from her point of view, she described the pain like "It was a million paper cuts on my heart, because it was slow and not all at once. " because people slowly distanced themselves from her , so they wouldn't feel like they're the bad guys.

The truth about Alice is a book I think every young people needs to read , to get a better understanding of how damaging rumors can be , especially when they spiral so far out of control like they did for Alice.