Saturday, February 21, 2009
Blog #1
I think the main character, Lala, is a very curious girl in everything she does. She seems to take note of absolutely everything that's happening around her. When Lala talks about crossing the border from the U.S. to Mexico she observes things with all five senses. In this, she's also very curious. However, I think she's also very innocent and at some times clueless, which is expected since she is a young girl. This is sometimes frustrating as a reader because I can't fully understand a situation from her description, like when her parents are fighting. I relate to her because I think I'm pretty observant of people around me. Also, she's the youngest in her family and has brothers. I too am the youngest and have an older brother. I think the things that Lala needs to learn to fix her mistakes are normal things that will come with age like learning appropriate behavior in different situations like when she refuses to eat her grandmother's mole. Lala is influenced by her family because those are basically the only people she's spending time with in the book. Also, I think her family entertains her since she's always talking about different details of her family's life. For example, she's intrigued by what her grandmother does doing her alone time.
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I agree that Lala is very observant. I also agree that sometimes the story can be kind of confusing, but I think that's more the choppiness and the writing style than the descriptions. Also, even if not everything can be understood completely, the general emotion of the situation comes across.
ReplyDeleteI haven't noticed that much choppiness, but that's an interesting comment. Perhaps it's choppy because it's from the point of view of a young girl and that's how she would be thinking. I think the emotion does come through. As someone who understands more than Lala, I can infer people's feelings from what they say and what Lala describes, even though she doesn't simply state emotions.
ReplyDeleteI think the story is choppy because it's many different stories telling a bigger picture, but isn't all smoothly connected. And then within the stories, when she describes what is going on, all of a sudden someone starts talking. It helps to describe things, but it can be kind of a jolt in the story.
ReplyDeleteI agree that it is a little choppy, but I think that this comes from the many thoughts that Lala has. The book is written from her perspective, so you can sort of tell that it is a young person thinkin/talking. Their mind darts everywhere and they are so enthusiastic and observant about everything aroung them. I think this also helps to get the readers in her shoes and to think more like someone of that age.
ReplyDeleteI agree that that the choppy nature of the book adds to the overall effect. I think the author did this on purpose as a stylistic choice. Karen spoke of the many different stories connected to one another. I disagree that it is connected because as the book goes from chapter to chapter I sometimes feel lost and I feel like there are often confusing setting changes between chapters.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I guess that sometimes they are not connected. And I agree that the choppiness adds to the "being in her shoes" effect. Little kids probably don't always have very connected thoughts.
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