Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick

Assignment:
The readings for this week emphasize the fiction of ideas. What ideas or mind experiments were explored in the works you read for this week? What were some of the implications or consequences of those ideas for those of us living today?

One of the best examples of a mind experiment in this book is the paradox of this book.  In chapter 5, two character talk about a work of fiction in their world, that is in fact our history.  They mention that FDR was shot and killed in Miami, leading up to a different man becoming president who can do nothing about German taking over Europe in World War 2.  This is our world.  So we are caught reading a book about a fiction world where they read a book about a fiction world that is actually our world.  Once you get done with your headache, you realize how cool it is that Dick did this too us.  Yes the whole premise of the book makes you think about how horrible life would be for the average American if Germany had one, but this was the first moment that I stopped and actually thought about what that would actually mean.  Up until this point it had been fiction to me, but for some reason, making my world fiction put things into a perspective I could really understand.

Amanda

A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess

While reading this short novel I was constantly wondering where the ending was going to take us.  Sure the book is about broken systems, so I knew that the brainwashing would not "work out all right" and leave Alex becoming a better person, but I was expecting something more than what I was given.  One of the thought I had while reading this work was that they would have Alex overcome his old life, start a family, and then have teenagers come and destroy his family like he did to others.  That might have been too much irony, but I think it would have felt more just.  Instead we are left with him seeing how his son will grow up to be like him and there is nothing he can do, but in the end it will be alright because man is not a machine so we grow and play by our own rules.
-Amanda

American Gods by Neil Gaiman

"It doesn't matter that you didn't believe in us, we believed in you." -Mr. Ibis (American Gods)

American Gods by Neil Gaiman was a very interesting read.  Taking the old myths of the past worlds and mixing it with contemporary "gods" was executed in such a way that left the reader wondering who exactly was going to win in the end (or as the gods say there is no end). All of this brought questions into my mind.  I was left with this idea that the gods had created us yet we had created them.  After some time struggling with this age old chicken or the egg dilemma, I had to accept that this was an interesting work that could make people think a lot more about their beliefs and actions, but in the end in real life it all has to come down to faith, that old gut feeling.

Shadow was such an interesting main character because, when it all came down to it, he wasn't really relevant to the story.  Sure if you took him out the story would change a bit, but in the end the same things would happen: gods would go to war over the love and worship of man kind.  It was like reading about a man who was watching an event.  This is probably why the book is so long and takes so many tangents to get to the important stuff; I mean for a book about waring gods, we really only faces that near the end.  Most protagonists are "the chosen one" and we can find endless examples of people being needed to fulfill tasks, rescue others, and solve problems.  And while Shadow does play a big role for Wednesday, I truly believe that he could have figured it out without him.  This is one of the biggest differences between this book and others like it.  Instead of the gods coming to shadow and asking him to do these tasks that would be easy for them to accomplish but they need him to learn, grow, and be a better person, they bring him along as a taxi driver who also helps clean up the messes.  Odin talks about how he needed a son, and yes Shadow convinces the gods at the end to not fight, but I just feel like it could have been anyone who was paying close enough attention.

Amanda 

Caraval by Stephanie Garber

Caraval is a book that should be compared to The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern.  They have all of the same elements: magic that seems to be fake but is real, love both romantic and non-romantic, a game brought on by a magician, a big twist at the end, and strange yet magical worlds that feel more like game boards than locations (something I am sure the authors did on purpose).  I liked the books about the same amount, which is to say they are about average.  But I have already talked about The Night Circus and my problems with it, now I will be talking about Caraval by Stephanie Garber.

One thing I liked about this book was the "magic system".  I put this in quotes because I still feel like I cannot call it that.  It is not magic to these people, it is their everyday lives.  My favorite aspect of it was how they dealt with time.  In the beginning the main protagonist enters a clock shop, and this is just used as a piece of foreshadowing for on of the most exciting moments in the book.  Scarlett trades days of her life for a dress.  This is something we see as a warning often in fiction, but I really enjoyed how they played with her not dying sooner but instead being unconscious for those days.  The whole book is focused around time.  Things are done at night.  This adds an elements of mystery but also weirdness.  Overall the way the book handles magic and time was very interesting.

So why did I think this book was average when I really like the concepts behind it? I think it all cracks down to personal opinion.  I felt like Garber's writing style was a bit juvenile.  I also felt like the story was predictable.  I should give authors more of a break, because as I get older I hear more stories and it is harder to surprise me, but instead I get frustrated when I can figure out the big ending before the main character can.

Amanda 

Artemis by Andy Weir

I chose to read a newer book that Andy Weir had written for this week.  Artemis falls into the same genre as The Martian but instead follows a civilization (and heist) on the moon.  I absolutely love heists stories and this one did not fail.  There is murder and twists like in all good thieving stories.  I would hate to compare this work to Ocean's Eleven, because then it would fall short, but it has the same structure as that story meaning that every time the audience is getting comfortable something big happens and you are pulled back into the story. 

Another reason why I picked up this book was due to it being about a female person of color.  Not only is it hard to find women as leads in science fiction, but never would you find a middle eastern woman.  The best part was that her race and sex where not just thrown in there to have a female poc pov, but he used it in parts to further the plot.  At one point she wears a Burqa to go undercover.  Another she is a prostitute in a fancy hotel.  She herself is not very religious but her father is, so we can see him finding ways to keep to his religion while on the moon.  

And finally I chose to read this work because, have I mentioned, it takes place on the moon! Like most humans, I have a huge fascination with the moon itself, so mention that a book is going to take place on it and I am ready to read.  Andy Weir constantly reminded us in the work that that was where we were; wether it was through the low gravity, the hot sun, the small living conditions, the illegal imported goods, the bad wifi (I think you get it, he was constantly reminding us), but he also did it through the science.  There were moments throughout the work where he would stop and give us a science lesson through the main protagonist, which was always used to educate and further the plot.

-Amanda

Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

Assignment:
Fantasy of this type is pointed at young adults to help instruct them in the complexities of navigating the world. In what way were complex moral issues and spiritual challenges presented in the work you read for this week?

Responce:

The book Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern brought up a few different moral issues throughout the work.  The biggest one is the one addressed at the very end, completing the plot.  Celia and Marco choose their own love and happiness over that of another person’s life.  Bailey was an ordinary person, and they way that he was thrown into the Night Circus’ world bothered me.  He was not given the opportunity to choose anything for himself, just like Celia and Marco were denied that right, yet they were still fully willing to force everything onto him.  They were both upset that they never got to do what they wanted and never got to be together yet in the end they were willing to do that to another person. 

Another moral issue this book brings up is how Celia and Marco use everyone in the Circus as a pawn in their game.  While they do not get their lives taken away, none of them know to the full extent what they are participating in.  This moral issue does not bother me like the other one does, because I believe they are not taking anything away from the other performers, but instead offering up a place for them to work without know the full extent of what their work is benefitting.  The exception of this is whenever they directly lie to another person like Marco does to Isobel.

But the reader must look beyond Marco and Celia’s moral crimes and search the real root of the problem, they were forced to participate in these “games” just like everyone else.  Both Chandresh and Hector chose this life for these children and treated them abusively growing up, then forced them to perform when they wanted to just be happy together.  The issues I brought up in paragraph one would not have been a problem if it was not for these two forcing the competition onto their children.  They had to use everyone in their lives like pawns because they were pawns in a game they did not get to start and had no choice but to finish.

-Amanda LaCorte