Summer Blog Entry #4

            The reason I chose to read the book Ship Breaker for my summer reading was mainly because after reading the descriptions of many books, this one really stood out in my mind due to how similar it was to other books I have liked in the past. It is a book about a dystopian society which is the same type of books like The Hunger Games and Divergent. Also, the protagonist, Nailer, is a teenage boy at right about the same age as me which definitely makes the book easy to relate to. Another way I related to this book when I read it was because it is based in a future, drowned city of New Orleans. This especially made me want to read it because my parents grew up near there and I have been there many times and have always loved it.

            I would recommend this book to anybody who likes books based in Dystopian societies. I would also say that nearly any teenage boy would love to read it because of how easy it is to relate to. One day earlier in the summer a friend of mine asked what book he should read for the project and I suggested Ship Breaker. After describing it to him, he decided he will read it. Yesterday, he came to me and said he loved it and is now choosing to read the second one in the series.

Summer Entry #3: Hooking the Reader

A section of this book that really provides a good hook for the reader is:

“’I won’t let you die, son. Don’t you worry. We’ll get you taken care of. You’re my blood and I’ll take good care of you.’

And then he was gone and Nailer sank into forever.” (Bacigalupi 146).

     This part of the book is at the end of a chapter and is intended to make the reader want to go on to the next chapter and read on. At this point in the book, Nailer’s father had just found him and the wreck and Nailer is seriously injured in his back. He is fighting for consciousness while they negotiate and finally, his Dad joins Nailer and decides to support him and take care of him. It hooks you in by ending right when Nailer goes unconscious and you aren’t sure whether or not he will die. As a reader, you really want to go to the next chapter to make sure Nailer wakes up and has received medical treatment. Also, you aren’t sure whether or not his father will actually take care of Nailer because his father often beats him or doesn’t care for him. This greatly adds to the suspense that the author leaves at the end of the chapter.

Summer Blog Entry #2

Nailer, the protagonist of the story who is followed the entire time, mainly wants to know what it is like to live luxuriously and be rich. All he wants is to be rich and to get away from the horrors of light crew and living on the beach in poverty. He had a chance to do this when they found the wreck of the clipper ship but, Nailer felt terrible if he left the girl alone to die. This means he must want to be a good person before wanting to become wealthy. Pima on the other hand, was ready to cut off the girls rings and leave her for dead before Nailer stopped her. She is a very strong, tough girl who wants many of the same things Nailer does. She dreams about making it big and living a life of luxury.

            A theme that is beginning to appear in the book is doing good deeds will eventually have a good effect on you in the future. The characters in the book believe a lot in Karma. When Nailer was severely injured and lucky that he lived, they all bought him luck gifts in hope that they may gain some luck from him.

            The way this book is structured is there are many 8-12 page chapters. Many of these end with cliffhangers to drag you on and make you keep reading. The chapters are headed using only numbers and there are never any subtitles in the book. Also, the book is full of a lot of dialogue between characters and is narrated in third person.

Summer Blog Entry #1

The book I am reading for this summer is Ship Breaker by Poalo Bacigalupi. The main characters in the book so far are Nailer (who is also called Lucky Boy by many), and Pima, one of Nailer’s long-time best friends. Nailer and Pima are both light crew members who go through old air ducts to find copper wire. They are both very clever and know their place in society but they frequently dream about being rich and living luxoriously.

            The setting of the book is a dystopian society on of a storm-ravaged Gulf Coast. The people who live on the beach are all workers who collect the raw materials from old oil rigs that have washed up and been abandoned.  These workers sell the raw materials to big companies like Lawson and Carlson and General Electric that then pay them just barely enough to live off of.

            The conflict at this point of the book is that Nailer and Pima have stumbled upon a huge wreck of a very expensive, new, clipper ship. They think that their dreams of becoming rich have finally come true but they then find a young, rich girl, barely alive on the ship. They feel bad just leaving her for death so they rescue her and now have to decide whether or not they can trust her. The girl says they will be rewarded greatly when her people come to find her since they saved her life. Pima and Nailer aren’t sure whether or not to believe her because she is definitely very secretive and sly. For now, they decide to camp out by the wreck until the rich people come to find her. I predict that they will take Nailer and Pima with them but will end up treating them like a much lower class and Nailer will realize that he is right back where he started, no money and treated like dirt.

            You could relate this book to nearly any dystopian themed book. One good example is The Hunger Games .They are both books about a teenage character who has grown up in a very poor society who only works for the rich people who live elsewhere. They have dreams about being rich but with the social classes, there is nearly no way to get there.

The Finish

Well that was....um...interesting? I can't think of a great word to describe it quite yet. I just finished the ending of Allegiant. I'm still not sure what to make of the ending though... It was definitely a surprise but the epilogue does help you get through it. It also makes me realize that it fits the series better. I'm not sure why the author made it this way but probably because she just intended for it to make a lasting effect on people. It will definitely cause you to continue thinking about it for a while after finishing. Have any of you read this series and felt the same way about the ending? Or a different way?

The author building suspense

 The author has done a great job building suspense throughout the course of this novel. Especially near the end,(See my last post for how that's affecting me). She does things like put in lots of drama between Tris and Tobias, have people switching sides, even people dying. It is a ton of suspense for the inevitable ending that I'm not quite sure what will happen during. I have made a few predictions like they will overthrow the Bureau or save the city, but those are pretty typical. I think something shocking might happen but I still have no idea what. Do any of you have any predictions? Don't you dare spoil anything on purpose.



Hey look, a lawnmower ............................'\.-. .......................

The worst thing about my book..

I'm still reading Allegiant and now, since I talked about the best thing last time, I will talk about the worst part of reading this book. The worst part of reading this book is that, from alot of people I have heard that they hate the ending to the Divergent series. Even Ms. Cohen! She loves books! I am still about 50 pages away from the ending and nothing terrible has happened yet so I am a bit scared while reading. Nobody spoil it for me I am almost there and will most likely come across the ending this weekend. I have no clue what will happen. Will somebody die? Will their plan work? This is tough.