Many students around Eagle Rock regularly love to read and have very strong opinions on the books that they read. However, their opinions are not often shared to a large number of people. Here is a collection of a few books that students at Eagle Rock have read recently as well as what their opinions of those books are.
(DISCLAIMER: Light spoilers for To Kill a Mockingbird, Unwind, and The Brothers Hawthorne)
Irene Maddox
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
The last book Irene Maddox read was To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, which she read during a long road trip. She has re-read this book multiple times because she really likes how the characters are written and she enjoys the use of figurative language. Overall, she would give the book 4.3 out of 5. She says this is because wasn’t fully satisfied with the ending as she was with the rest of the book. It left her wondering what happened after, and she didn’t like that. She also mentions that if she had been asked to rate To Kill a Mockingbird after the first reading, her rating would have probably been higher. She felt like the book wasn’t as satisfying when she already knew how it would end up. Her favorite character is Dill, and her favorite part of the novel is when he sneaks out of Meridian.
Irene has also read the sequel to To Kill a Mockingbird called Go Set a Watchman. This is a book that was technically written by Harper Lee prior to writing To Kill a Mockingbird, but it was not published until after she passed away. Irene thinks that it is something that should not have been published at all, which seems to be an opinion that is agreed upon by a large number of people. It is also believed by many people that Lee never consented to it being published, and would not have wanted it to be. Overall, Irene really enjoyed To Kill a Mockingbird and would read it again.
Nyda Hosack
Unwind by Neal Shusterman
The most recent book that Nyda Hosack read was Unwind by Neal Shusterman. She rates it 4 out of 5 stars. She says she really enjoyed the book, but that it wasn’t the best book she ever read. Overall, Nyda feels that the idea presented was very strong and really good. However, she thinks that the way the characters were written could have had more depth and focus placed on them and their journeys, not just on the events happening around them. She says that the book left her in an “existential crisis.”
The premise of the book is a dystopian world where certain people are deemed “unworthy” and are “unwound,” which is where their body parts are taken apart and given to other people who are believed to be worthy, while the soul of those unwound remains intact even while their body does not. Her favorite character is Reesa Ward, who is one of the main characters that the story follows. Nyda likes this character because she believes she makes a lot of sacrifices considering that she is someone who was deemed unworthy, which really helps to showcase the idea presented in the novel about taking away someone’s life just because one powerful person felt like they didn’t deserve it. The story centers around a girl and a boy who are both deemed to be unworthy and the events that occur following this. Nyda really liked the end of the book and felt like it really encouraged her to think about the ideas that the story was portraying, and that the dystopian aspect of the novel was done really well.
Avni Shamasunder Koppula
The Brothers Hawthorne by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
The last book that Avni Shamasunder Koppula read was The Brothers Hawthorne, which is the fourth novel in a series called “The Inheritance Games” by Jennifer Lynn Barnes. Overall, she says that she would rate the book 3.5 out of 5 stars. However, compared to the rest of the series she would give it a four. She really liked the first novel (The Inheritance Games) in the series, but felt like the second two (The Hawthorne Legacy and The Final Gambit) weren’t as good. She says that the plot of those two felt forced and the writing fell short. She really enjoyed the first novel, and was sorely disappointed by the two following it.
With the fourth book, Avni says the series got a lot better. She says that the plot felt more believable and natural, and that the character development that occurred in this book was also significantly better than it was in the other two. Her favorite part of the book was when Jameson climbed the bell tower, and her favorite character is Xander because of his humorous personality. Overall, Avni really liked this book and felt like it made the series better as a whole.
Students around Eagle Rock are reading mostly fiction books, and a lot of the reviews have been positive, with a few negative opinions on certain elements of the books, but not on the books as a whole. Series can occasionally get controversial, when the quality of the book differs throughout it, and certain people prefer one book over another in the same series.
love it!!!!!