I read Eyes first, which was my favorite because I found it the most compelling and interesting. Maybe it was because this was the only book with a female protagonist, or because I simply found her story more active and engaging than The Stranger/1984, but I liked it. I read it quickly and even (shockingly) tabbed the whole thing with color-coded stickies. I think I liked the nature motifs quite a bit (the pear tree and others I can't remember right now) because they were kind of blatantly obvious. Oh, and I liked Tea Cake's character a lot too, so that made me more interested in the book.
On the other hand, I did not like the Stranger. I mean, in general, I liked all these books more than the usual summer readings we get for English. They were more compelling with thicker plots and language that was easier to understand without being too easy, you know? But the Stranger was, well, boring. It took me a very long time to finish, despite how short it was, because I just couldn't get into it! I mean, how does an author make a murder and a death sentence boring? But Camus succeeded! I totally understand that it was translated from French and that the sentence structure/word choice is supposed to reflect the tone and psyche of Meursault, but that was the most chore-like read of the entire summer.
Finally, the leftover one is 1984. I also highly enjoyed this book but found it hard to get into in the beginning. For an essay, though, I think I'd really focus on the different themes presented that surround children/marriage/families, and love/hate. A lot of interesting parts of the story lend themselves to those ideas. The horrible children, for instance, reporting on their parents or starving their siblings. And there was a lot in the novel that centered on 'hate'; hating each other, hating Goldstein, hating another country (no matter what country it was). Opposite that, though, was this idea that everyone must 'love' Big Brother, the one creating all this hate. Another aspect for an essay, I think, would be the constant internal conflict that is present all the time with all the characters, and is even given a name: 'doublethink'. It was such a complicated idea that it took me, like, over half the book to really understand it. But the confusion that the concept created in the reader was a reflection of the insanity and confusion within characters such as O'Brian, and, well, the rest of the society in the novel.
On the other hand, I did not like the Stranger. I mean, in general, I liked all these books more than the usual summer readings we get for English. They were more compelling with thicker plots and language that was easier to understand without being too easy, you know? But the Stranger was, well, boring. It took me a very long time to finish, despite how short it was, because I just couldn't get into it! I mean, how does an author make a murder and a death sentence boring? But Camus succeeded! I totally understand that it was translated from French and that the sentence structure/word choice is supposed to reflect the tone and psyche of Meursault, but that was the most chore-like read of the entire summer.
Finally, the leftover one is 1984. I also highly enjoyed this book but found it hard to get into in the beginning. For an essay, though, I think I'd really focus on the different themes presented that surround children/marriage/families, and love/hate. A lot of interesting parts of the story lend themselves to those ideas. The horrible children, for instance, reporting on their parents or starving their siblings. And there was a lot in the novel that centered on 'hate'; hating each other, hating Goldstein, hating another country (no matter what country it was). Opposite that, though, was this idea that everyone must 'love' Big Brother, the one creating all this hate. Another aspect for an essay, I think, would be the constant internal conflict that is present all the time with all the characters, and is even given a name: 'doublethink'. It was such a complicated idea that it took me, like, over half the book to really understand it. But the confusion that the concept created in the reader was a reflection of the insanity and confusion within characters such as O'Brian, and, well, the rest of the society in the novel.
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