Reading Response #2

Alex Rivers steals Cassie’s heart from the start with his charm and mystique. At first, she is captured by him and he asks, “You’re not going to start acting like I’m larger than life now, are you?” Cassie gazes at him continually and wonders why her. They go back to their apartment on the beach and Cassie cannot believe she ever lived in a world like this, and how she could just forget it all in a moment.  Alex gets on the phone with his assistant Herb and he begs to come over to make sure that Cassie is alright. Not only does Herb come over, but later on so does her friend Ophelia who is drop dead gorgeous, but hates Alex. Cassie still can’t figure out her complex life yet or why she had even left, but as each chapter passes more and more is revealed.

                As Cassie begins to relearn Alex, she realizes why they fit together so well; they’re each other’s halves. Cassie falls asleep on the beach one night and she has a dream about someone else who used to be called her other half. Her best friend from her childhood, Connor. He helped her through everything, her mom’s alcoholism, her parents constant fighting, he was just there. She has flashbacks through she and Connor’s first kiss, them jumping off the docks into the water, Connor helping Cassie clean up her mother’s mess, etc… Here, we really see parts of Cassie’s life that have made up the person she has become, which is very important in building a relationship to the character and connecting with them.

                Cassie finds out that she is an anthropologist and is already putting together puzzle pieces from her life. Alex gets her a skull for her to put back together and Cassie asks him to help. They are working on it when Alex has a flash back from his childhood and ends up crushing one of the pieces. “He wouldn’t be able to see the skull anymore as a sun of all those parts; instead his eyes would be drawn to what was missing, to what he had ruined”.  I feel like this passage is important to take note of because it shows the author’s writing style and who Alex really is.  Alex and Cassie go out to dinner one night and Alex gets into a fight with one of his costars whom he sees at the restaurant. The police come and sure enough, here comes Will. Cassie sees him and lights up with surprise, you can tell that they have a special bond that isn’t present in Alex and Cassie’s marriage. Will breaks up the fight and chats quietly with Cassie until Alex barges in.

                Many times throughout the book, Cassie gets this sinking feeling that Alex is acting. After all, that is his career, but she can’t help but wonder if it’s his character rather than himself. In one passage it describes how he can’t find the right words and so he slips into character, “He did not know what to say to her; he never knew what to say; he was used to speaking what others had written. He wished he’d learned long ago how to put into words the feeling that if she was gone, if she ever left, he would cease to exist. But he couldn’t tell her, so he did what he always did: he slipped into character, the first one that came, willing to do anything other than face the limits of himself”. I love that last line “Willing to do anything other than face the limits of himself”, I think it shows himself at his most vulnerable and the author illustrates this really well. Picoult continually leads you in a certain direction in the book and then takes the exact opposite route that you (as a reader) would choose which makes this book so intriguing. 

An Inspired Life

I have always felt at home when I am camping. I adore waking up to the chirping birds and the restless winds. No matter when or where I am, when I wake up I feel like I’m in a movie. Everything is perfect.  I am able to just breath and let go of anything that I am holding onto. It’s like I am going back to my roots, the way of life I was meant to live. When the sunlight streams onto my tent, it is like a warm flood hitting me. I love to feel the first of the morning on my skin and just close my eyes. There is a certain scent that takes me back to my younger years, and it can only be described as pine and morning dew. I enjoy taking morning hikes. Waking up in the wee hours of the morning, and seeing that amazing sun rise is something that not everyone gets the chance to experience. I feel accomplished and like I can fly.

                I feel so inspired by the Word of God. I get lost when I am reading His great and powerful books. A few hours digging in simply feels like a few seconds. I am always filled after I read scripture. His words don’t just have an empty meaning, they become a part of me. The Lord knows the true desires of my heart and he promises to fulfill them if I ask for them. This to me is such a great thing to know and be reassured of. It is not junk, He is true to His word and never fails you. He loves me and you with such an incredible passion it is unbelievable. I am constantly reminded of this every time I open my Bible. He knows my everything, he knows me better than I know myself. This is what inspires me to be who I am. He is what inspires me. He is my rock, I can always find comfort and peace in Him. 

Quote

I love this quote so much!!! It is often too true in our lives. We worry about failing, so we don't try. Your biggest regret in life will be missing an opportunity. The hardest part is starting; with anything any life. I went through the first two years of high school, wondering where i would be if I joined cross country. I have always loved to run; it's like it is a part of my system, embedded in me. I went years thinking "what if" but i never tried... My junior year came around and my friend convinced me to go out for cross country even if I was skeptical. I said no the first time, afraid that I wouldn't be good enough for myself. Then I felt like I should join to see where it would take me. I got on the bus to St. Louis not long after that. This is where I met my best friend Katie. Within my first week of running, I made the varsity team, but it came with its challenges. Now, I run for cross country and love it! We are like a family and I've created such a bond with everyone on it. There are still challenges, but I've come to realize that everyone has a struggle. Be it big or small, physical or emotional. We are human, and we are afraid to try and fail. We need to learn though, that if we give it to God, our weaknesses will be made strengths by Him.

Picture Perfect: Reading Response

This week, I went head first into one of my favorite books that I haven't read in years; Picture Perfect by Jodi Picoult. First of all, Jodi Picoult is by far my favorite author. Her writing style sends a clear message but is unique because she usually writes from the perspectives of all her characters that she introduces. The author writes from the point of view of the main characters in different times during their lifetime. It’s quite cleaver, in fact because Picoult unwinds the story piece by piece until the whole thing unravels in the end. Some endings are peaceful and leave the reader feeling content; other stories are filled with passion of rage how she ended the book so poorly. In either case, Picoult definitely leaves the reader filled with raw emotions.

Picture Perfect starts off with an old Native American tale about a man (Strong Wind) who was loved in his village by all. His skill as a fighter made all the women fall madly in love with him, doing anything it would take to get his attention. He said that he would marry the first maiden to see him come home at night. There was a lovely girl who was the youngest of three who was so beautiful that her sisters tried to mask her physical beauty. Strong Wind and the girl got married because she admitted to not seeing him, but he revealed himself to her. I believe that this is an extremely important part of the book. Not only is it setting up the story for the reader, but it is foreshadowing what is going to happen in the story.

The novel starts off with a girl who wakes up in a cemetery not knowing how she got there or how she got the blood on her head. We are introduced to a character named William Flying Horse, a Native American man. His car breaks down along the side of the road and he gets out in frustration. Then the woman, Cassie, walks towards him and says, “Not you too” and then passes out. They end up going to the police station and turning her in as a missing person, due to her amnesia. Sadly, the police cannot make it a report because she hasn’t been lost for over 24 hours; the police do know, however that Cassie is married. Cassie forms a relationship with Will and she stays in his new apartment for three days. During this time, she sees all of Will’s unopened boxes and decides it would be a nice gesture to unpack the boxes in the living room so he can be more settled in. Will does not give the reaction she was expecting. Instead of being appreciative of what she has done, he exploded and took her down to the police station. A few hours later, down at the station, a Mr. Rivers comes through the door. As it turns out, Cassie is married to a hot shot star named Alex Rivers. He captures the attention of everyone he passes, including Cassie. She can’t wrap her mind around the fact that she’s married to him and she definitely cannot get used to this lifestyle. The reader sees a blend of the past and the present through the eyes of Will, Alex Rivers and Cassie. I am excited to continue reading, it’s like I can’t set it down because I have so many emotions; for the characters, for the setting, and for what I know is going to happen.