Cut Book Review

Cut by Patricia McCormick is an amazing book, focusing on real-life situations. The book is about Carrie, a young girl who is at the Sea Pines Medical Centre, being treated for her depression and self-harm issues. At the centre, Carrie makes friends with the other patients there. The story is told in Carrie's point-of-view, and the reader is the therapist that she meets up with once-a-week. Carrie is shying away from opening up, and she finds her sole comfort with Ruby, a worker at the centre. Throughout the story, Carrie realizes just how much her life could benefit from this treatment, and gradually starts warming up to the workers, and sets about setting her life right again.

This book was a great book, that focused on what many people today suffer. The author really somehow expressed what those patients were feeling throughout the book. She made the reader feel immersed into the book. In the afterword, she mentioned that she had actually been to a similar centre, and met the girls there. She talks about how all those girls, were practically broadcasting their problems to family and friends, but no one noticed. Those patients wanted help, yet was too scared to get it. This book is really just an amazing work.

As I flipped through the pages, I thought about the book of Chicken Soup Series. Basically, both books/series are about real teens and kids, who wanted to tell their story and make people more aware. Both books/series talk about all the problems that the current youth suffer through, whether it be mentally, physically, or both. They both show how young people everywhere are somewhat getting hurt everyday, yet everyone else are completely blind sided, even if that someone is also a teen themselves. Overall, this book is amazing, and really goes in depth of what really goes on in the world sometimes. You should pick it up, and I would definitely recommend checking out Patricia's other books too!

Book Review: Testify by Valerie Sherrard

Testify by Valerie Sherrard is a very fast-paced story, with twists and turns around every corner. Shana is a good girl, good grades, a nice household. However, her whole life goes into turmoil when she agrees to help her friend Carrie, by LYING on the trial stand. Carrie "says" that her stepfather has done horrible things, however, she only says this because she doesn't like him, so she tells Shana to stand up for her by saying that she has also seen the event happen. After the trial, Shana notices that someone is their close-knit group of friends is stealing. However, it's not who Carrie has lead the group to believe. As Shana discovers the truth along with another friend Hannah, she finds that her best friend, Carrie is actually a monster, capable of twisting the truth, theft, and possibly murder, if she finds that her lies are threatened. When Shana finally finds what Carrie has been doing, Carrie sets the house on fire, to prevent the truth coming out. Thankfully, a recording of what has happened makes it's way into the police's hands. Carrie is arrested, and all of the people that Carrie has affected are free once again.

This book was an amazing book overall, with a great plot, and amazing secrets in every crevice. It's written very realistically, and shows that not everything is as it seems. However, I felt the end was a bit iffy. After the amazing detail throughput the whole book, I feel the author could have added more detail at the end. There was no real explanation on the arrest of Carrie, or anything about what happened to everyone after the arrest. By adding a very short epilogue, the author really took away from the quality of the story. Reading the end to me was literally like the book just came to a stop.

This book just furthers the fact that nothing is as it seems. By showing all the troubles that Shana had to go through just because she trusted the wrong people, it shows that if she had just gone with her gut feeling, none of this would have happened. It reminds me of the everyday news. So many reporters twist the story around, just so they can relieve the "it" story. By changing the story, they are essentially telling the audience lies. So overall, this book was a pretty good book, I just feel that the story would have been greatly improved by lengthening the end, so that readers have a greater grasp of what is happening.

When Do You Feel Most Alive?

When Do You Feel Most Alive?

"When Do you Feel Most Alive?" Some people feel most alive when they get what they want, but I feel most alive when I am listening to music. Through music, a person can express their feelings, and opinions. Music can be a way of communication for someone who is scared to say something in public, so they use music as a way to express it. Music can also say alot about the listener. If a person is feeling conflicted inside, they will choose a "sadder" category of music, or music that has more "soul" put into it. If someone is a so-called "hopeless romantic", they might like singers who sing about heartbreak and that criteria of music (Taylor Swift, Adele etc.) Music can be a form of release, almost like a personal dreamland. The right tones and sounds can create a happier environment, but if the music is not constructed for your taste, it can be blank noise. Therefore, through music, a person can really show their true colours, and truly feel happy.

What Can We Learn From Disasters?

What Can We Learn From Disasters?

Disasters are terrible and cause death, destruction and injuries. But from disaster, we can also learn new ways to prevent future disasters from happening. For example, in a natural disaster, many homes, and people, are destroyed. Say the disaster is a flood. Maybe the sandbags that someone put around their house failed and let in water, therefore flooding their house, and neighbours. That would be a tragedy, however, through that disaster, we could observe what failed in the sandbags. Were they not full enough? Not strong enough? Is sand not as absorbent as we thought? By observing what went wrong, we can improve the particular invention, so that in the future more disasters don’t happen. Also, some areas need disasters to flourish. In a forest fire, the tallest, most regal trees are burned down. This is bad because these trees could take centuries to grow back. However, with the larger trees gone, the smaller plants on the forest floor have more access to light, and can grow better.

What is honour? Why is it important?

 I think honour means maintaining your dignity in all situations. Honour means someone who is trustworthy, responsible and maintains their dignity (no lying, no scamming etc). Honour is important because it really contributes to how people will view you as a person. In the world, people who can be trusted are viewed as a better overall moral then people who are always lying, or cheating other people, or people who have no respect for themselves.

Almost Dead-Lisa Jackson Reading Response

Almost Dead

Almost Dead by Lisa Jackson is a thrilling horror novel with touches of romance, which will keep you captivated until the last few words. Cissy Cahill is a young mother, who is being tormented by the deaths of her family and close friends. A murderous monster has killed her grandmother, uncle, and sister-in-law. She feels certain she is being watched, and items with sentimental value are going missing from her home. To add to her worries, she is also going through a heart-wrenching divorce with her husband and father of her son-Jack. Her half-sister Diedre is also planning a horrible plot against the Cahill family because she felt abandoned since she had been given up at birth.

This story was amazing, and kept me on edge for the whole book. I really liked how Lisa Jackson wrote the book in a way so that it keeps you informed about what is happening, but also has enough mystery to make you read until the very end. I also liked the characters; they are formed in a way so they are all somehow linked together, either by family or their past. The characters in the book all have a bit of a mysterious background except for Cissy, which emphasizes the fact that she is the main character in the story. Lisa Jackson, throughout the story, is almost trying to tell the readers a message, which I believe is be careful of who you trust . This is made evident because Cissy trusted the wrong people, like Diedre who turns out to be the one to have killed her family.

When I read this book, I really had an instant connection with another book by Lisa Jackson, which was Absolute Fear. The two books were a lot alike in terms of the way they were written, and the basic plot. In Absolute Fear, the basic story was also about how the past came back to haunt the characters. The two books were extremely descriptive. The books do not follow each other and you don’t have to read one to be able to read the other. So, the next time you are not sure what to read, pick up a book by Lisa Jackson and comment telling me what you thought of the text.