Dear Suzanne and Matthew,

 

In this post I have written small book reviews for each of the books I have read on the list. I hope you like it!

 

The Pearl by John Steinbeck

In The Pearl, by John Steinbeck, there is a family of three people; Kino, Juana, and baby Coyotito. They are very poor. No one in Kino’s village is wealthy enough to afford a proper house like in the town. Everyone in Kino’s village lives in the cluster of brush houses instead of ones made from stone and plaster with gardens and fences like in the town.

In the book, Kino describes the two different villages as different races; because the wealth between the villagers’ lifestyles are so dramatic.  In the beginning of the story, poor Coyotito gets stung by a scorpion. Kino and Juana try to get the doctor to help and make a house call, but they are too poor to pay him. Additionally, the Doctor feels that he should not waste his time on brush people for he thinks he is too good for them. On page 15 it says, “This doctor was of a race which for nearly four hundred years had beaten and starved and robbed and despised Kino’s race, and frightened it too.”  The whole village of brush house people then walked to the town to seek the doctor directly. He then sent them away.

The only way the villagers receive money is by selling pearls. They fish for them in the Gulf and go to town to sell them to the people who work in the offices. Kino finds the “pearl of the world”. It is so magnificent that he envisions his family living in a plaster house in town and imagines his son going to school. He even thinks that he will one day own a rifle! What evil could the pearl bring to Kino and his family? Read the book to find out!

I didn’t like this book very much. Although it was extremely short; only97 pages, the story moved very slowly. Toward the end of the book the action picked up, but overall it had a very slow pace. I would recommend this book to someone who likes a lot of description. I would give this book 3 1/2 stars.

 

Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie

In Murder on the Orient Express, by Agatha Christie, Dectective Hercule Poirot is faced with a case like no other. A suspicious character named Rachett is murdered in the middle of the night and every passenger is a suspect. What secrets with Detective Poirot uncover? With the help of his friend M. Bouc and Dr. Constantine he will solve the mystery!

I loved this book but I did not have time to annotate it! If I did I would use it for the writing piece! The plot was great and I enjoyed the pace and suspense very much. The case has so many surprises and I can’t wait to read more Agatha Christie! I give this book 5 stars!

 

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

 

(This review is longer because this is the book I have chosen to do a writing piece about!)

 

In The Haunting of Hill House, by Shirley Jackson, you follow a group of people who experience hauntings and supernatural events.

There is a man named Dr. John Montague, upon learning about Hill House’s history, he decides that he wants to know more about the suspicious things that have been happening in that house. He sends out 12 letters to different people who have been in scenarios with the supernatural and ghosts. Only 4 reply.

Two out of the four are able to come to Hill House. Eleanor Vance is the first to arrive. She has a sister who is married. Eleanor is 32 years old. She was invited to Hill House because when she was a little girl, her father passed away and then stones magically started falling on her house. Dr. Montague thinks that she moved them with her mind because she was upset. Theodora is the second guest to arrive. She was chosen to come to Hill House because she ranked very high in a physic test so Dr. Montague think that she has some physic ability. There is a third guest at the house; Luke Sanderson. Luke is the nephew of the woman who owns Hill House and he is supposed to inheirit Hill House when she dies. He thinks that he is there just to make sure that no one will steal the family silver but in reality, his aunt put him in Hill House to keep him out of trouble. Mr. and Mrs. Dudley are the caretakers of Hill House but they do not spend the night because they are afraid of what might happen after dark. They constantly remind the guests that no one will hear them if they scream in the night due to the remote location of the house. Mrs. Dudley is very strict in how she runs the house and acts as a comic relief in the book because she’s so set in her ways.

After all of the guests get to know each other in the parlor, everyone retreats to their bedrooms and goes to sleep. Eleanor says that she slept better than she has in a while even though she is in disgusting, old, Hill House. The following  day everyone explores the house and discovers that Hugh Crain (the original owner of Hill House) built the house off center. Meaning that every angle is slightly off 90 degrees. They open all the doors so that they do not get lost as it is very confusing architecture. In the middle of the  night Dr. Montague and Luke are sent on a wild goose chase, almost as if it were on purpose to split up them off from Eleanor and Theodora.  At the same night, Eleanor and Theodora wake up to heavy knocking on their doors but only they can hear it. When Dr. Montague and Luke return, realizing they were off chasing an imaginary dog, they meet up with the ladies and see that there isn’t a scratch on their door. The following day, there is large chalk writing on the hallway walls: “HELP ELEANOR COME HOME.” Eleanor gets aggrivated when Theodora accuses her of writing it to get attention.  No one knows how it appeared.

The next memorable even was when blood was discovered dripping from the walls, splattering Theodora’s clothes and forming the same phrase “HELP ELEANOR COME HOME ELEANOR.”  Again no one could explain how it appeared and this time making everyone a little more afraid of each other.

It seems to me that the house is getting stronger and stronger and that the people staying in the house are getting more confused by all the different occurrences. The confusion is causing the guests to be more suspicious of each other. Eventually one of the guests gets added to the list of suspicious deaths and suicides at Hill House. I give this book 4 stars because it took a long time to understand all the different parts.