Boook Review – The Five People You Meet in Heaven

By: Jessica Luu, Grade 12

What is heaven? Is it a place where our true paradise is? Is heaven the same or different for everyone?

The Five People You Meet in Heaven, by Mitch Alborn, is one outlook about heaven. There is no peering down from the clouds. Or floor of clouds. Rather, it is a place that helps you understand your life on earth through five different people, ones who have crossed your paths, in some way, and altered your life. With each person you meet, you feel different and even your appearance changes. That’s only because you alter into the form that you were when you encountered these five people.

Sloppy Firsts Book Review

By Jessica Luu, Grade 12

“Deep down, I wanted to tell her that I’ve considered killing myself no more than an average almost-sixteen-year-old honor student with no best friend or boyfriend and bigger bumps on her face than in her bra.”

Sloppy Firsts, by Megan McCafferty, is one of my all-time favorite books. It is a hilarious and insightful account of a teenage girl, by the name of Jessica Darling, who presents her life through her many journal entries. Ever since her best friend, Hope, has moved away from Pineville, Jessica is unable to see the only person who she is able to communicate with. Therefore, she forms a habit of writing down her feelings and opinions about the different aspects of her life. Hope, The Clueless Clue, Hy, her dad’s obsession with her track races, her mother’s involvement with her sister’s wedding, and the compelling and mysterious Marcus Flutie, all ramble up together, to create the person that she is and will become through the course of the novel.

The Shock Doctrine Review

By Kevin Chan, Alumni

If you are familiar with Naomi Klein’s bestselling non-fiction No Logo, you probably already have a good idea about the style, and calibre of writing that you might expect to be reading in her latest novel, The Shock Doctrine. Published in 2007, it is a literal behemoth consisting of over 560 pages of meticulous research and mind-numbing fact after mind-numbing figure.

Be forewarned, Klein herself has stated that No Logo is equivalent to a “childhood bedtime story” when compared to The Shock Doctrine.

Wuthering Heights Review

By Jessica Luu, Grade 12

“If all else perished, and he remained, I should still continue to be; and if all else remained, and he were annihilated, the universe would turn to a mighty stranger: I should not seem a part of it.” – Catherine Earnshaw (Wuthering Heights)

Many of you have probably heard of Wuthering Heights, by Emily Brontë, from author Stephenie Meyer of Twilight. Although Stephenie’s third novel, Eclipse, and Wuthering Heights share a similar theme, needless to say, Wuthering Heights is much more of an extraordinary classic, far more complex and emotional.

Book Review: Eat, Pray, Love

By: Jessica Luu

The first time I saw Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert was at a friend’s house. It was placed noticeably on the ground (among a few other things). Since then, I remembered it as the cover with the pieces of pasta that formed the title. A few months later, I was recommended the novel, having been told that it is an account about a woman traveling to three different countries: Italy, India, and Indonesia. I immediately bought the book afterwards, but months flew by again, and decided to read the synopsis once more. The realization that the book is nonfiction displeased me. I’m not fond of nonfiction novels (even the great ones), as it doesn’t really provide that “imaginary escape”. Even so, I gave Eat Pray Love a try and fell in love with it.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Book Review

Many of you have probably heard of “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” on television or movie theatres. What many of you might not know is that the movie is based on a short story of the same title by F. Scott Fitzgerald, who is famous for his greatest novel, The Great Gatsby. Although “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” was written in the 1920s, it is evident that it has captured so many audiences with its simple, yet poignant plot.

The book opens with Mr. Button arriving at the hospital. He is excited that his wife has given birth to a child and is eager to know its gender. However, when he introduces himself as Mr. Button to Dr. Keene and several nurses, their reactions are outrageously unprofessional. This shocks Mr. Button. Demanding to see his child, one nurse finally complies. What he sees shocks him: an old grown man, whose legs are dangling out of a crib, is claiming to be his son. After this discovery, Mr. Button attempts to ignore the issue and acknowledges Benjamin as an infant instead of an intelligent old man. From there, Benjamin begins an absurd life, in which he becomes physically and mentally younger the longer he lives.

The Host by Stephenie Meyer

Book review
by Jessica Luu

You may be familiar with Stephenie Meyer from her New York Times Best Seller vampire novels, “Twilight,” “New Moon,” and “Eclipse.” However, beginning on May 6, 2008, Stephenie is also recognized for her first adult novel, The Host.

The Host is situated after an invasion of aliens called Souls. Most of the human mind is now controlled by Souls, who continue human life in a well civilized way. On the brighter side, Souls have cured cancer and brought peace into Earth.