Song of the achilles6/29/2023 It’s at this time that he first meets Achilles. This event resulted in his exile to Phthia. Patroclus describes accidentally killing another young boy, one of noble birth. The remaining young men take a blood oath in defense of her choice. Helen does not select the young Patroclus, but instead Menelaus. Patroclus narrates these events with the insight of a grown man, looking back on how his father was continually disappointed in him. ‘ The Song of Achilles‘ opens with Patroclus, a Greek prince, son of Menoetius, being presented to Helen, daughter of King Tyndareus (and the future Helen of Troy) as a suitor. Spoiler alert: important details of the novel are revealed below. Achilles’ fate, foretold in a foreboding prophecy, plays out in a tragic series of events. They avoid the negative influence of Achilles’ mother and eventually have to go to war together, assisting Agamemnon as he attempts to retrieve his brother Menelaus’s wife, Helen, from Troy. ‘ The Song of Achilles‘ follows Patroclus, a Greek prince, who falls in love with the famed warrior, Achilles. ‘Spoiler-free’ Summary of The Song of Achilles
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The iron trial by holly black6/29/2023 The Iron Trial follows the life of Callum Hunt, just your typical troubled, social outcast, trying to survive his pre-teens. Lucky for me, the story itself also held great charm. I’m not well-acquainted with either authors (please don’t stone me for this statement, The Shadowhunter Chronicles is on my to-read list), so I might have passed this book had it not seduced me with its visual charms. What first drew me to The Iron Trial, the first novel in Holly Black and Cassandra Clare’s Magisterium series, was the fantastical and murky cover (seems like I do judge a book by its cover). Nothing brings out the nerdy kid in me like a fantasy novel with an angsty pre-teen protagonist throwing sarcastic comments at the world while also trying to save it (with magic of course) from a great evil. A Book Review on The Iron Trial by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare The dented metal lost its polish long ago in the many conflicts he has fought to protect our kingdom, and I know he wears this now to remind the Dark Elves of his resolve. With his short blond hair, striking green eyes and only a hint of scruff along his jaw, he may be known as the young king of Florin, but Edmynd is no stranger to war. I observe as our eldest brother, Edmynd, moves to the front lines on his black mare. The Dark Elves captured him less than a week ago, and I pray that he still lives. My chest tightens with worry as I think of my older brother-Raiden. It rakes its sharp claws over the ground, snarling and gnashing its fangs as if impatient for war. The massive beast has the appearance of a common wolf, but is twice as large as a horse. Riding his dire wolf, he is terrifying to behold. His vibrant blue eyes are trained on our army with a piercing gaze. He is dressed in the dark green armor that is standard for his people. Known as a fierce and lethal warrior, it is rumored that none can stand against his armies and expect to win. Across the battlefield, the army of the Dark Elves lies in wait, their glowing eyes easily visible in the darkness as they stand in formation behind their king. The full moon shines brightly overhead, bathing the landscape in an ethereal, silver light. The gilead novels6/29/2023 The novel's eponymous protagonist is Jack Boughton, Reverend Boughton's prodigal son. But in Jack, Robinson meets racial inequality head-on. Robinson uses their discomfort to set race up as a topic the inhabitants of Gilead orbit at a distance, fearing to touch - not unlike many white Americans today. Though Ames takes some pride in this heritage, neither he nor Boughton is fully able to extend their understanding of grace to Black Americans. The Gilead books are set in the 1950s, with retrospect ranging back to the Civil War, in which Ames's abolitionist grandfather served. Reverends Ames and Boughton believe in this preciousness, but are uncomfortable with its political implications. Robinson describes herself as a liberal Protestant, and her deep investment in her characters reflects an immense preoccupation with the concept of grace, which, in Robinson's theological estimation, seems to confer total, unearned preciousness on every human life. Robinson's three subsequent novels - Home, Lila, and, most recently, Jack, all as transcendently lovely as the first - return to Gilead's world, characters, and plot points, retelling and re-examining each one with lapidary care. Marilynne Robinson created the Boughton and Ames families of Gilead, Iowa in her 2004 Gilead, a lingeringly beautiful epistolary novel in which the aging Reverend John Ames reflects on his life in a letter to his son. Queen and alex haley6/29/2023 The miniseries, in need of outsized folks like Ben Vereen’s rich Chicken George or Leslie Uggams’ freshly minted Kizzy, settles for lesser images it’s a sad lapse. John Erman, who directed episodes of both “Roots” adventures, finds himself hedged in by too many stock characters. Verging on mock Defoe and Fielding, her adventures lead to the birth of Abner, her subsequent meeting with the original Alec Haley (Danny Glover as the author’s grandfather), and a grim siege in a madhouse. Other such excesses are graphically reported, and the burnt body of a man hanging from a tree symbolizes other agonies, physical and spiritual, visited on blacks by whites historical wickednesses are horrifyingly timely.Īfter Easter’s death and the Civil War, teenage Queen lights out for Charleston. James marries spoiled-rotten Lizzie (Patricia Clarkson), whose mother advises her to be delighted with the situation: Slaves take care of lustful white husbands. Their mulatto daughter Queen (Halle Berry) grows up on the plantation without official Jackson acknowledgement. Watching dressed-up slaves dance on a separate-but-equal footing with whites in a ballroom or sharing an elegant wedding ceremony are eye-openers but play more like dressing the story itself turns on racism and the plight of women folks.Įaster (Jasmine Guy), slave girl on the Jacksons’ plantation, and James Jackson Jr. Curiosity or fond memories will draw viewers to the story kicking off in 1841 at an Alabama plantation. There is a constant “atmospheric violence” in colonial society, and the colonized seem to inherently know that their liberation can only be achieved through violent means. The colonial world keeps the colonized individual continually on edge with their muscles tensed in violent anticipation. Fanon refers to the colonial world as “a Manichaean World” that is divided into light and dark, in which the white colonizers are seen as the light, and the black colonized individuals are viewed as darkness and the epitome of evil. The colonial world is divided by military barracks and police stations, and it constitutes two very different spaces: the colonists’ world is impeccably maintained with modern convinces and opportunity, whereas the world of the colonized is “a disreputable place inhabited by disreputable people,” which is saddled with poverty, famine, and illiteracy. The colonists took control of the colonized through violent means with military tanks and rifles with bayonets, and they maintain control in the very same way. Decolonization cannot occur with merely a “gentleman’s agreement,” as colonialism itself is steeped in violence. The Wretched of the Earth begins with Frantz Fanon’s explanation of violence within the “colonial situation.” According to Fanon, the act of decolonization will always involve violence. Sweet soul by tillie cole6/29/2023 It’s sweet, charming, heartbreaking, and overall a gorgeous read. I absolutely adored Levi and Elsie’s story! It is definitely my favorite of the series. You could not love in any other way.”Īs much as I love Tillie Cole’s Hades Hangmen series and her Scarred Souls series, the Sweet Home series has not been my thing – until now. “You love with your whole being, and it will be forever. New Adult novel-contains sexual situations and mature topics. In her world of silence, Elsie has given up hope that her life will contain anything but constant struggle and pain… until the beautiful boy she has severely wronged comes to her rescue at precisely the right time. Alone in life-a life that’s dangerous and cruel-her will to keep going is an ever-losing battle. Everyday is a fight for survival on the cold streets of Seattle, everyday a struggle to find food and keep warm. Too timid to talk to girls, Levi stays as far away as possible and completely on his own… until he saves the life of a troubled pretty blonde, a troubled pretty blonde that might just be the exception to his rule.Įlsie Hall is homeless. Haunted by a crippling shyness and the tragic events of his past, Levi spends his days with his head buried in his books, or training hard for his college football team. He isn’t dark in looks or intimidating to everyone he meets. The youngest of the Carillo boys, Levi is nothing like his older brothers. Life has never been easy for twenty-year-old Levi Carillo. Book essential labor6/29/2023 A first-generation Filipino-American, Garbes shares the perspective of her family's complicated relationship to care work, placing mothering in a global context-the invisible economic engine that has been historically demanded of women of color. In Essential Labor, Garbes explores assumptions about care, work, and deservedness, offering a deeply personal and rigorously reported look at what mothering is, and can be. In response to the increasing weight placed on mothers and caregivers-and the lack of a social safety net to support them-writer Angela Garbes found herself pondering a vital question: How, under our current circumstances that leave us lonely, exhausted, and financially strained, might we demand more from American family life? The Covid-19 pandemic shed fresh light on a long-overlooked truth: mothering is among the only essential work humans do. From the acclaimed author of Like a Mother comes a reflection on the state of caregiving in America, and an exploration of mothering as a means of social change. Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom6/29/2023 After seeing Morrie on an episode of Nightline, Albom decides to pay his former professor a visit which evolves into weekly visits every Tuesday. The story is told from Albom’s perspective, a workaholic who spends much of his time away from his family as a traveling journalist. A compilation of the good advice and meaningful conversations with his dying professor, Tuesdays with Morrie offers a refreshing perspective on the meaning of life and how to slow down in a world where people seem to speed through their lives. For Mitch Albom, that source of inspiration was Morrie Schwartz, his old sociology professor. As young, inexperienced college students, many of us are seeking good advice and reliable role models to help get us through life’s challenges. Chapter 7: Life and Labor on the Southern Sporting Plantation: African American Tenants at Tall Timbers Plantation, 1920-1944, Robin Bauer Kilgo. Chapter 6: A "Sporting Fraternity": Northern Hunters and the Transformation of Southern Game Law in the Red Hills Region, 1880-1920, Julia Brock.Chapter 5: Knowledge of the Hunt: African American Guides in the South Carolina Lowcountry at the Turn of the Twentieth Century, Hayden Ross Smith.Chapter 4: "Rice Planters in their Own Right": Northern Sportsmen and Waterfowl Management on the Santee River Plantations during the Baiting Era, 1905-1935, Matthew Lockhart.Chapter 3: Tending the New Old South: Cultivating a Plantation Image in the Georgia Lowcountry, Drew Swanson.Chapter 2: Reviving and Restoring Southern Ruins: Reshaping Plantation Architecture and Landscapes in Georgetown County, South Carolina, Jennifer Betsworth.Chapter 1: "Plantation Life": Varieties of Experience on the Remade Plantations of the South Carolina Lowcountry, Daniel Vivian.Introduction: Leisure and the Transformation of Southern Plantations: The Second Yankee Invasion in the Red Hills and the South Carolina Lowcountry, Julia Brock and Daniel Vivian. |