Review: "The Outsiders" Classic a Month #6.2013

The Outsiders by SE Hinton
4 out of 5 stars

My 13 year old sister told me I HAD TO READ THIS BOOK, BECAUSE IT WAS AMAZING!!1! So I did. And she was right, it was pretty dang amazing. :) Side note: my sister likes to use "amazing" for everything from One Direction to broccoli, so I usually don't take her too seriously, but she was right in this case. I'm not sure why I never read this in school though, seems kind of odd. And the fact that this was written by a 17 year old girl just blows my mind. And kind of makes me feel sad for my pathetic life.

Okay, anyway, this is one of those "coming-of-age" stories where lots of bad things happen to the main character but he still stands strong for his morals and beliefs and turns out okay in the end. Or maybe he dies, that happens sometimes too. In this case, we have Ponyboy (real name), who lives with his two brothers, Darry and Sodapop, after their parents are killed in a car crash. The boys are 20, 18, and 14 so I'm not really sure how that works, them staying alone. The book is set in Oklahoma, in the late 1960s and the brothers live on the poor side of town and are known as Greasers. Their gang includes other lively characters such as Dallas (Dally), Two-Bit, Steve, & Johnny and their main goal in life is to take down the Socs (Soshes or Socials), the rich kids that seem to have it all better than them.

They carry out this goal by "jumping" random Socs who venture into their territory, stealing knives and candy from stores, sneaking into the drive-in movie, and having street "rumbles" which combine their thug skills with the other lower gangs against the Socs. I wish we still had rumbles, although I suppose we do, just all online now lol. "You didn't like my picture of my cat in a box! I'm unfriending you!" or "You use too many hashtags, I'm blocking you!" (<--actually happened to my coworker friend recently!) or "No one likes my pictures, I'm just going to delete myself from all my social media accounts." (<--also seen IRL) I will give the Greasers and Socs one thing though, they are highly civilized in their rumbles...they agree ahead of time when and where it will happen, what kind of weapons are allowed if any, where the "hit zone" is, etc...that's some classy fighting right there.

Ponyboy and his brothers also like to get cleaned up for the rumbles, putting on their nicest & tightest white t-shirt and making sure their hair is greased into that perfect curl. Just think of the amount of hair pomade these kids went thru in a month. Yikes. All kidding aside, this is a moving story of a boy having to grow up way too young and way too fast. Ponyboy has seen and done things he is not proud of and he is just now realizing that maybe the thug life isn't for him. Especially when 2 of his street family are killed. Spoiler, highlight to read: I didn't cry when Johnny died, because I kind of saw it coming, but I did wail dramatically "noooo Joooohhnnnnnyyyy!!!" Lol. /end spoiler The question is though, can he get out? Is it too late for him? I like to think that he was able to use his considerable brain and loving brothers and pull himself out of that pit of despair and maybe become a teacher himself of lower-class kids, kind of a Stand & Deliver ending. ;)

Review: "Twelfth Night" Classic a Month #3.2013

Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare
3 out of 5 stars

This is another classic that I was kind of iffy about. I picked it because of Just One Day (and the movie She's the Man, but sshh, let's ignore that!) and I wanted to branch out and try a play again. Well, let me just say this first: Shakespeare is hard to read. The dude likes to make up his own words and phrases and sometimes they work... "If music be the food of love, play on, 
Give me excess of it; that, surfeiting,
The appetite may sicken and so die."

And sometimes...they don't. "Whoe'er I woo, myself would be his wife." Yeah, I'm not sure what that means. So, not only do you have to deal with his made-up words, but you also have to read the old English style and figure out if he is actually being dirty when he says "I hope to see a housewife take thee between her legs and spin it off." Yeah, I'm pretty sure he is lol. Pervert. Luckily, I knew the basic story so it wasn't too hard. But I totally get why kids complain so much about reading Shakespeare. This play is meant to be one of his great comedies and yeah, I giggled a little, but I don't think you can just read a Shakespeare play thru once and expect to get it. I think you really need to immerse yourself, reading it several times, watching plays or adaptations, etc...

So what is this play actually about? Well, I guess it's about love but also about trickery and deceit. Viola is a young woman who has just lost her brother in a shipwreck (but not really, he's alive and thinks he lost HER) and decides to dress up as a man to work for this Duke Orsino guy. Why, I have no idea. Orsino is in love with this chick Olivia, who also lost her brother to a shipwreck, but she wants nothing to do with him. Orsino sends Viola (as a man) to try and get on Olivia's good side in his favor. Olivia starts to fall in love with Viola as a man, Viola as a woman starts to fall in love with Orsino, and it's all just super confusing. Then Viola's brother, Sebastian, shows up and somehow ends up married to Olivia, and everything blows up in the end. But, somehow, everyone is happy.

Then there's this annoying dude, Malvolio, that works for Olivia. Olivia's maid and other people in waiting decide to play a trick on Malvolio and make him think Olivia is in love with him. They make him wear these hideous yellow stockings and smile like a lunatic all the time around her and she eventually has him committed, because she has no idea what is going on and thinks he's become unhinged. He is, obviously, super pissed, and vows revenge on everyone. And that's how the play ends. Weird right?

There's also this odd part between the clown/fool and a Sir Toby where they are singing and it seriously reminded me of Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody. I don't know why, but the wording and writing style was so similar, I actually looked it up to see if Freddie Prince was influenced by Shakespeare. (He wasn't.) Check it out:

Sir Toby: (singing) Shall I bid him go?
Clown: What an if you do?
Sir Toby: Shall I bid him go, and spare not?
Clown: O, no, no, no, you dare not.

I'm not crazy right? That totally sounds similar? And let's end on a great quote that I was totally unaware originated with Shakespeare: "Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them."

Review: "Waiting for Godot" Classic a Month #2

Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett
3 out of 5 stars

So. I had a really hard time rating this play. I barely understood it, didn't really, so how am I supposed to tell if I liked it or not? I actually just rated it up a star while I was writing this review. Also, I haven't read a play since college, possibly high school and let's just say that's been a while. ;) It took some getting used to, but I think I'd like to mix in some more plays in my future "classic a month" picks. (Comment below if you have a suggestion!)

I'm assuming I was supposed to get some great meaning out of it, but really, it's just a play about nothing. That's not to say I didn't enjoy it though. It definitely had it's moments and strongly reminded me of the art movement, dadaism, which is essentially "art without meaning". I wonder if Beckett was influenced by that at all. Am I getting to be a "grown-up" in the sense that I want to research stuff just for the fun of it and not because I have to write a paper about it? Hmm...

Okay, these two men, Estragon (Gogo) and Vladimir (Didi) are waiting by a tree for a person named Godot. I gave you their nicknames because when they first used them, I thought it was a new character lol. We don't know how or why they came to be waiting for Godot, we don't get much history on the men other than that they seem to be best friends/companions, and we don't really get an ending. It's just...there you go, that's all you get.

Do you like my new Caution Owl? I thought he was better than Wheezy lol...

If you'll recall, the reason I picked this play was because there was a Sesame Street parody of it. Awesome right? I think I understood/enjoyed this more than the actual play hah!

I did not enjoy the bits with Pozza at all. He kind of creeped me out and it took me a loooong time to realize that Lucky was a human! Actually, I don't even know if Pozzo and Lucky were really there or just a figment of their imagination. This is all so confusing!

The bit where Vladimir and Estragon are trading hats was incredibly funny though, especially if pictured on the stage. "...but how do I look in it? He turns his head coquettishly to and fro, minces like a mannequin. Hideous. Yes, but not more so than usual?" They seem to truly care for each other, even trying to figure out how to hang themselves so that both die without leaving the other behind.

Let's go.
We can't.
Why not?
We're waiting for Godot.
Ah!