Tag Archives: classic literature

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

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The Great Gatsby - Wikipedia

Nick Carraway, an intrepid young man from the West, moves east after World War I. Expecting a quiet and comfortable life, he instead finds himself caught up in the fast-paced, dangerous world of highballers such as his cousin, Daisy Buchanan, her husband Tom, the haughty and beautiful Jordan Baker, and the most mysterious man of them all- Jay Gatsby. As lies and betrayal pile onto each other, Nick is left starkly in the middle of a massive cultural and class divide that will leave him forever changed.

I wasn’t expecting to enjoy this book as much as I did, but I really found it riveting- after the first few chapters, it was nearly impossible to put down. The book is rife with symbolism, which gives it incredible depth- and many of the symbols and themes discussed in it are still very relevant to our world today. It’s one of America’s most quintessential and classic novels, and for good reason- even though the novel will turn ninety-six next July, The Great Gatsby will forever offer us an invaluable window into times past and present.

-Vaidehi B.

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is available for checkout from the Mission Viejo Library. It can also be downloaded for free from Overdrive. 

As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner

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As I Lay Dying - V745: Faulkner, William: 9780394747453: Amazon.com: Books

Set during the Great Depression, William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying explores the nature of existence while also denouncing the nature of humanity. Acclaimed for its stream of consciousness writing and use of multiple narrators, the novel challenges conventional grammatical and thematic ideas by showing the instability and unreliability of reality. 

The Bundren family consists of Anse (the father), Addie (the dying mother), and their children: Cash, Jewel, Darl, Dewey Dell, and Vardaman. The novel follows the Bundren family on their ill-fated journey from the (fictional) Yoknapatawpha County to Addie’s native Jefferson, Mississippi, ostensibly to bury her there as her last wish. In reality, each family member has a different, private reason for wanting to travel to Jefferson, and these desires come to light over the course of the novel.

In contrast to typical works of the time period, the Bundren family is shockingly dysfunctional. Each family member absolutely detests every other member, and, when faced with any problem, they will not hesitate to betray or place the blame on someone else. The lack of definitive parental influence only highlights this disparity between the ideal and the actual.

On a broader scale, As I Lay Dying investigates themes of mortality and inevitability. From Vardaman’s infamous statement when faced with his mother’s death (“my mother is a fish”) to Darl’s monologues on is and was to Addie’s narration of her story from beyond the grave, the novel considers the truth of life and death, and what it means to be alive, making it an interesting read.

– Mahak M.

As I Lay Dying by WIlliam Faulkner is available for checkout from the Mission Viejo Library. It can also be downloaded for free from Overdrive.

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

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The Scarlet Letter: Hawthorne, Nathaniel: 9781512090567: Amazon.com: Books

The story is set in the early 1700s and centers around the intrepid Hester Prynne, who has had a baby, named Pearl, by a man other than her husband. She faces public humiliation and ostracization from her strict Puritan town, and is forced into exile into the forest at the edge of town. Her husband, Roger Chillingworth, is determined to seek revenge against the father of the child- who Hester stubbornly keeps a secret. As the entire town grows rife with rumors, it becomes clear that everyone in this story has something to hide.

I liked the book- Nathaniel Hawthorne described a very tantalizing story of love, guilt, and betrayal. Even though it was fairly easy to deduce just from the first few chapters who the father was, it was still an okay read. I would definitely recommend a simplified version to anyone younger than high school- the archaic English becomes very thick and complicated in many places throughout the story. Still, as a cornerstone of classic American literature, I would recommend that everyone read it at least once.

-Vaidehi B.

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthrone is available for checkout from the Mission Viejo Library. It can also be downloaded for free from Overdrive.

A Christmas Carol By Charles Dickens

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A Christmas Carol is a novel written by Charles Dickens and published in 1843. The book follows a miserly old man named Ebenezer Scrooge, who owns a business and is obsessed with money. The story takes place on a cold Christmas Eve. While Scrooge is sitting in his shop counting money, and his clerk, Bob Cratchit, is copying letters in the side room, Scrooge’s nephew, Fred, walks in to invite him to his annual Christmas party. Scrooge refuses and is rude, spitting out “Bah! Humbug!” to Fred as he wishes him a merry Christmas but Fred still keeps a merry mood. Scrooge also gets visited by two other men asking him to donate some of his large amounts of money to help people in need. Scrooge responds “Are there no workhouses?” which goes to show that Scrooge doesn’t care about the poor.

As Scrooge enters his house, he suddenly sees the face of his old partner, Jacob Marley, on his knocker. It vanishes, and scrooge dismisses it. However, as he gets into bed the Ghost of Marley floats through his door in chains of moneyboxes and iron. Marley, wishing to save Scrooge from his fate, tells Scrooge that he will be visited by three other spirits of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet To Come.

As the book goes on, the spirits visit his house and teach him the importance of others. Past makes him see his old mistakes, Present makes him see what others are going through and how to give compassion, and Yet To Come shows him what will happen if he doesn’t change his ways. Scrooge holds the meaning of these things in his heart and is deeply moved by Bob Cratchit’s son who is crippled, and as Christmas Day dawns he gives money to those in need and shows kindness to his nephew and the Cratchit family. He treats the crippled boy Tiny Tim as his own, and as the years go by holds Christmas dear to his heart.

A Christmas Carol is a Christmas tale that is filled with themes of kindness, family, redemption, and the joy of the holiday season. The book is filled with many characters with completely different personalities. The miserly Scrooge, the kind but poor Bob Cratchit, the thoughtful young Tiny Tim, and the three ghosts of Christmas. While it isn’t an adventure book or action packed, it is very good and filled with inspiring themes for readers. I enjoyed the book, and I feel that many other people will enjoy it too. The book itself is a bit wordy and slow at some times, but mature readers will be able to read this book and understand its deeper connections.

All in all, I liked this book and I recommend it to anyone who wants to sit down and read a nice holiday tale. Happy Holidays!

-Brandt D.

Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol–along with every variation–is available for checkout from the Mission Viejo Library. It can also be downloaded for free from Overdrive.

Book Review: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

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To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is a classic of American literature, dealing with the silent and prevalent plague of racism in the Great-Depression-era Deep South. Told through the eyes of young Scout and Jem, the novel created one of America’s most respectable fictional heroes- Atticus Finch, the upstanding, intelligent, and determined lawyer, dedicated to righting the wrongs of the South.

This novel deals with many complex themes- especially the theme of morality. Atticus Finch, the single father of Scout and Jem, is an upstanding, respectable, and almost irritatingly moral figure in his community. He is seen as a lone beacon of justice and light in his community because of his values. Another theme in the novel is that of humanity’s base instinct of right and wrong- beyond what is outlined in the law. This is clearly shown when Atticus chooses to defend Tom, the black man accused of raping a white woman.

Even though this book is highly lauded on many different platforms, I would not give it an incredible rating. First of all, I was not a big fan of Atticus- even though every single townsperson in the novel gushed about how Scout and Jem were so incredibly lucky to have such a moral, upstanding, and intelligent father, I did not concur. Sure, Atticus was most definitely all of those things- but he seemed more like the idea of a father rather than a real father: he was a personality before he was a person, so to speak. He was cold and aloof towards his children- he did not seem to provide Scout or Jem any real love or guidance through the novel outside of faux-profound moral platitudes. In addition, the book overall had an undertone of condescension and white saviorism that I really did not appreciate. However, this book was written in the 1960s- so it is understandably less progressive than what we would expect today. Even though I didn’t much enjoy this book, I would definitely recommend that you read it- it is still a window to not-so-past times, and can help us better understand what we need to do to confront racism in our world today.

-Vaidehi B.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is available for checkout at Mission Viejo Library. It can also be downloaded for free on Overdrive.

Book Review: Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

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Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury is an incredibly interesting and, at times, deeply unsettling novel on just how far humanity will go to suppress what it doesn’t understand.

The book is set in a dystopian future- the United States has become a massively powerful republic, and all news coverage and media are centered around a single event: the “War,” which the Republic is winning. It centers around a seemingly ordinary firefighter named Montag- but in this universe, firefighters do not put out fires. They light them, burning down houses which contain contraband items, usually books.

On one such night, Montag witnesses one woman refuse to leave her house, choosing to burn with her books- and is unsettled. How important must books be if she is willing to die with them? From the smoldering wreckage of the house, Montag takes a single book home with him. On his way home, he meets a teenager named Clarisse, who is out alone, walking in the night. Clarisse expresses the beauty of the night, and how the fallen autumn leaves “smell like cinnamon.” Montag is again deeply uncomfortable- primarily because he himself never thought to look up at the night sky or focus on the smell of fallen leaves. Soon, wracked with guilt about his crime of taking a book, Montag decides he will simply read a few pages to satisfy his curiosity, and then burn the book. But what he finds will change his life forever….

I, personally, have a love-hate relationship with this book. The dialogue is clumsy, the expositions are vague, and the setup and lead-ins for the plot are often simply nonexistent. However, what makes Fahrenheit 451 so memorable is the ideology rather than the imagery. There are indeed some beautifully-written passages where Bradbury fully lives up to the term “author” and beyond- but the idea that the slow eradication of culture and eccentricity is the individual citizen’s fault as much as it is the government’s really rings true in today’s society especially.

-Vaidehi B.

Fahrenheit 451 is available for checkout at Mission Viejo Library. It is can also be downloaded for free on Overdrive.

Authors We Love: Thomas Hardy

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Thomas Hardy's Wessex - Wyntersea Productions Inc Wyntersea Productions Inc

“Happiness was but the occasional episode in a general drama of pain.” 

    ― Thomas Hardy, The Mayor of Casterbridge

Thomas Hardy was born on 2 June, 1840, in Higher Bockhampton, Dorset, England. While his father, Thomas Sr., was content with poverty and rural life, Hardy’s mother Jemima, who was well-read herself, encouraged her young son’s education. At 22 years old, Hardy entered the architecture field by studying the same at King’s College in London, winning prizes from the Royal Institute of British Architects as well as the Architectural Association. Despite this, Hardy despised London and its climate, and, having fallen to poor health, moved to Bockhampton to recover after five years of urban living. 

It was in this picturesque village that Hardy first tried his hand at published writing. While his first few works were not major successes, if published at all, he finally struck gold, so to speak, with Far From the Madding Crowd in 1874. Hardy’s subsequent wealth allowed him to finally marry and give up his architectural practice. While living with his wife in a cottage at Sturminster Newton, Hardy published the five major novels collectively of the theme of “Character and Environment”: The Return of the Native (1878), The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886), Tess of the D’Urbervilles (1891), and Jude the Obscure (1895), and enjoyed what he himself called the happiest years of his life. 

While Hardy had always dabbled in poetry, the public’s hostile reaction to the scandalous events chronicled in Jude the Obscure motivated him to become more involved in the poetic universe. The horrors of the First World War greatly influenced the dark, hopeless themes of his late works, including the epic drama in verse, The Dynasts, and a second verse play, The Famous Tragedy of the Queen of Cornwall. Because of these incredible works as well as others, Hardy was awarded the Order of Merit by King Edward. 

Sadly, in December of 1927, Hardy became ill with pleurisy and died on 11 January 1928. After some controversy over his burial site, it was eventually decided that his heart would be buried with his first wife in Dorset, while the rest of his body would be laid to rest in the distinguished Poets’ Corner in Westminster Abbey. Thomas Hardy left a lasting impact on the literary world, through both his award-winning novels and his stunning poetry, which inspired and continues to inspire many writers all around the world.

-Mahak M.

The works of Thomas Hardy are available for checkout at the Mission Viejo Library.

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

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A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens, is the well-known story of a miserly old man named Ebenezer Scrooge.  Scrooge hates everyone.  He mistreats his poor clerk, Bob Cratchit.  All Scrooge cares about is making money.  To Christmas he says, “Bah, Humbug!”  On one Christmas Eve, he leaves work to return to his dark and dreary home.  Strange things begin to happen.  Scrooge is home alone as usual, but he sees and hears things out of the ordinary.  He dismisses these at first, until suddenly, to his astonishment, the ghost of his partner appears to him.  Jacob Marley, his long-dead business partner, is wearing heavy chains.  Marley explains to Scrooge that his chains were formed during his lifetime by evil and selfish deeds, and now he must carry them through the afterlife.  Marley warns Scrooge that he will suffer the same fate if he does not change his ways.

As the familiar story goes, Scrooge is visited by three additional spirits.  The spirits show Scrooge the importance of caring for other people.  Gradually, Scrooge realizes the error of his former ways, and finally resolves to change his life.  When he awakes on Christmas morning, he goes about spreading Christmas cheer, even to the surprise of Cratchit and his family.

I love this book and its inspiring message.  To me, this is a book about change.  Scrooge seemed like a person who would never change his ways.  But even he was able to change.  He learned the value of kindness toward others.  He also learned to care for those less fortunate than him.

This book is quite short compared to many of Dickens’ other books, but for good reason this is considered one of his masterpieces.  As we expect from Charles Dickens, the book is extremely well-written and wonderfully descriptive.  Take for example his description of the city streets:  “The house-fronts looked black enough, and the windows blacker, contrasting with the smooth white sheet of snow upon the roofs, and with the dirtier snow upon the ground.”

Dickens masterfully describes many contrasting images throughout the book.  On the one hand we see haunting ghosts and miserable living conditions, but we also see hope and cheerfulness, and finally the redemption of a miserly old man.  This book is highly enjoyable to read and we can learn many lessons from it.  It is great to read around Christmas, but I would recommend it any time of the year.

-Oliver H.

Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol–along with every variation–is available for checkout from the Mission Viejo Library. It can also be downloaded for free from Overdrive.

Authors We Love: Arthur Conan Doyle

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Arthur Conan Doyle Biography - life, family, children, name, story, death, history, wife, school, mother

His writing style can be boiled down to two characteristics: scientific and professional. The works are good at setting suspense, stimulating readers’ interest in reading, and paying attention to the overall layout. In terms of plot, there is a strong echo and strict reasoning. Rigorous causal reasoning and deductive methods are used to promote the plot of the novel and develop the story. He is famous for Sherlock Holmes. His short stories have a strong sense of painting, and their conflict settings are concentrated, with plot twists and turns, which make readers feel as if they are reading a movie story. However, in the later period of his creation, due to the gradual disappearance of enthusiasm for creation, Doyle’s depiction of Holmes became increasingly deified, showing a deliberately exaggerated plot with the so-called brand of the devil (see “The Adventure of the Devil’s Foot”, “The Adventure of the Dancing Men”).

It is no exaggeration to say that many of Doyle’s short stories, with minor modifications, are excellent movie bases. It is very rare for Doyle to have such artistic thinking long before the popularization of film art. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes is the most frequently made film novel in the world. For example, Sherlock Holmes starring Robert Downey Jr., Gene Wilder in 1975, Charlton Heston in 1991 and other films based on the detective’s records have also been produced. There have been seven TV series. His short story, El Anillo De Thoth, revolves around the theme of death and immortality in ancient Egyptian culture, presenting us with a fantasy world, which was one of the important creative sources of Hollywood mummification films.

“The Lost World” is also a cross-generational work. This novel can only be said to be enlightening for our modern adventures of ancient beasts and dinosaur types and films. Conan Doyle wrote 60 stories, 56 short stories and 4 novels about Sherlock Holmes. These stories were published in Strand magazine in droves over 40 years, as was customary at the time (Charles Dickens published his novels in a similar format). The story mainly takes place between 1878 and 1907, with the latest story set in 1914. Two of these stories are written in Holmes’s voice, two in the third person, and the rest are Watson’s accounts.

-Coreen C.

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Bernett

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No matter what age you are, almost anyone can enjoy a whimsical and well-written children’s classic. In fact, my most recent favorite is The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Bernett. 

The Secret Garden tells the story of a girl named Mary Lennox who whilst residing at her uncle’s house tries to figure out how to get into the secret garden, which has been locked up for a decade. Along the way she makes friends and leaves her mark on the dull and somber manor. 

One aspect of this story I loved was the character development. When we first start out the book Mary is an insufferable, harsh brat who knows nothing about friendship because of her circumstances in the past. But once she opens up to people and learns to see the good in things and people alike, everything changes for her and she transforms into a kind and caring child. 

The character development isn’t limited to just Mary though, her uncle’s son, Colin Craven has been thought to be dying for all of his life. But with Mary’s help, everything seems to change for the better. 

The Secret Garden is very predictable, in the way almost all children’s classics are, but I am in no way complaining. In fact, the predictability makes way for you to become more attached to the characters because of all of their arcs. 

Now if you couldn’t tell I have an infatuation with children’s classics. To me, they are such simple and impacting stories that always change your outlook on life. Frances Hodgson Bernett is my favorite children’s book author right now, seeing as she’s written both of my favorites, The Secret Garden and A Little Princess. Both books which I wholeheartedly recommend. 

In short, if you’re a fellow devotee for good children’s classics like me, then you’ll love this book. 

-Asli B.