Sports Story #2: Rags to Riches

SPOILERS

Hey everyone, I’m back with another book, this one titled Rez Ball. This book is about a Native American basketball player whose brother recently died, and about him trying to live up to his teammates’ expectations of him on the team. Tre Brun is a Red Lake, Minnesota Native American, and as a freshman, he starts on a very good basketball team. It's so good that Tre takes the team to the state championship, eventually winning the entire state title. This book is a great topic to discuss because our class book is also about a Native American male.

 

Tre’s team travels to a bunch of different towns and their relationship with each town differs along the way, but in the players’ minds and mine, the best venue was in Minneapolis for the championship. They got to play at the Minnesota Timberwolves stadium as high schoolers. It’s those types of experiences that shape a person into who they become as an adult, especially for a reservation team. This team is the definition of rags to riches, with a town court so bumpy the players calculate ways to use them to their advantage.

 

Rez Ball, short for Reservation Ball, follows Tre Brun’s success story. This book made me really into sports novels for a long time because of the feel-good feeling at the end. Along the way to the championship, Tre gets drunk with his teammates and gets a date, so there are lots of ups and downs to this story, which is what makes a good book in my opinion. Call me shallow, but I also like books with happy endings at the end. Rez Ball was a fantastic read, and if you are a sports fan, I really recommend this book to you. I hope everyone has a wonderful week!

(Reasonably) Kill Your Main Characters. (Karina)

*The following consists of my opinions with the exception of the cited articles*

Most authors and movie directors constantly strive for the production of unfamiliar yet intriguing works–something their audiences will still ponder even decades after–something to forever contemplate. In more recent years, I have noticed the increase in books killing off their main characters–sometimes as shock factors, other times as plot twists–in comparison to the "happily-ever-after” endings more commonly associated with movies and books of the past. Back then, the majority of audiences were content with seeing the main characters obtain their relatively perfect ending after their author-imposed tribulations. For example, think of the classic “Scream” movies. They follow a (now) arguably stereotypical plotline and currently face a decrease in positive reviews. However, when the first movie premiered, audiences enjoyed it so much they, “turned it into the industry’s first massive horror box office win in years.”^1 But as these scrip-writers and books kept following similar, almost ‘cliche’ endings, shelves and streaming services became continuously filled with the same storyline, resulting in the likelihood of their success gradually decreasing. (Though, I don’t mean to say cliches should never be used, as when done ‘right’ they can add, rather than take, from the plot.)^2

Therefore, I believe it is reasonable to think those behind these productions have jumped towards something few would expect; after all, death is an arguably heavy subject, and more unlikely to appear in every work. So to include such a detail within a plot, regardless of its form, whether it be a script, novel, poetry, or anything else similar, a great amount of forethought should happen if the person wishes the scene to cohesively fit within their writing. Such dramatic moments substantially alter the course of a story, however when often repeated, this main provider of substance to the scene is removed. What would have once been of great shock to an audience would have now been reduced to a mundane, common, almost expected moment, therefore removing the need for that specific ordeal in the beginning. 

Throughout the past couple years, I have come across many great novels, most of which do make ‘proper’ use of main character death scenes, such as: Six of Crows, All of us Villains, Three Dark Crowns, and more. The mentioned literature mainly consists of Young Adult fiction, all of which were written in the last decade or so, and manage keeping ‘important’ deaths to a minimum, while ensuring the writer’s wanted impact remains the scene’s premise. 

Though, for every story I have read or watched which have arguably mastered writing heavier topics in a relatively well manner, I have seen just as many that do the opposite. For example, the ACOTAR series (A Court of Thorns and Roses), written by Sarah J. Maas contains quite a few moments where deaths felt unnecessary, rushed, or both. Her books are purely meant for entertainment, but why should that equate to poor structure? I was a huge fan of her books during ages twelve to thirteen, however as I recall certain scenes, I realize their faults. In the third book within that series (A Court of Wings and Ruin), the main character's father tragically dies whilst fighting against an enemy in defense of his three daughters, specifically for the one who held great disdain towards him. In this scene, readers can see the turmoil caused in that daughter as his death is then ever so slightly attributed to her changing in character (alongside other events, though for the purposes of this post they shall be disregarded due to their irrelevance). I find this death to be one the most troublesome, as it no longer affects the character after that moment, (with the exception of having created a fear of fire roughly mentioned every 100 pages), showing the scene was used purely to add emotion to that one specific scene and then be simply disregarded. Furthermore, in the chapters surrounding this moment (and in the book’s sequel) readers can observe characters arguably more important to the plot die, only to be revived within seconds, therefore reducing any significance.

When killing a character, especially one which affects the course of other characters' lives or mentality, it is vital to show a change within characters (regardless of whether through grieving, personality, etc.) plot, or both, as otherwise, the writer risks boring readers with what I would consider to be filler scenes. Though, I will mention that this logic applies to more than just character deaths–I just happen to see more examples regarding death. ((Though I guess that also says something about what I typically read… WAIT IS THIS A CONFOUNDING VARIABLE-?! Mr. Smyser better be proud I still remember that word)). 

Including more somber moments into books must be carefully done to ensure continuity within the story and cohesiveness within scenes; this applies to all book scenes, though extra attention should be paid towards those more ‘complex’ such as death scenes. And regardless of everything previously said, the death of a character can be a wonderful component of a book or movie as it brings forth endless opportunities and likely enacts some sort of emotion within readers, and after all, what good is a fiction book if it doesn't make you sob at the end? But in all seriousness ((maybe–I don't even know at this point. I've been yapping too long)), WRITE GOOD SCENES AND STOP OVERUSING DEATH. FIND SOME OTHER WAY TO TRAUMATIZE YOUR CHARACTERS. 

Bye bye now!

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1. Eisenberg, Eric. “Scream's History And Legacy: How Wes Craven’s 1996 Film Saved The Horror Genre.” Cinema Blend. 2 Feb. 2023, www.cinemablend.com/movies/screams-history-and-legacy-how-wes-cravens-1996-film-saved-the-horror-genre. 

2. Popova, Maria. “The Best-Kept Secret of Clichés: How to Upgrade Our Uses and Abolish Our Abuses of Language." The Marginalian, www.themarginalian.org/2014/08/04/its-been-said-before-orin-hargraves/

Access date: 23 Sept. 2024.

Around the World in Six Innovations

hi all! 

Today I want to talk to you about an amazing non-fiction book called How We Got to Now: Six Innovations that Made the Modern World. This book written by Steven Johnson in 2014 covers six of, in his opinion, the most important inventions that shape the world today. Those six inventions are glass, cold, sound, clean, time, and light. I know it might seem boring at first but the little bit of extra something that makes this book amazing is how he brings together all six of the inventions into somewhat of a cohesive reading that simplifies everything. He doesn't just introduce what glass is he brings in examples and stories to make the book more entertaining while he explains how glass was made. Along with little stories, he goes one step deeper and actually explains the significance of the innovation and then connects it to another topic. That is the magic of Steven Johnson. I've never been so hooked on a book in my life. His writing style just connected with me immediately on a book that I genuinely enjoyed reading and that I hope you will too. I can't recommend this book enough especially if you're tired of the regular boring non-fiction, textbook-like books. 

fun fact: The same year the book came out, a six episode docu-series came out on P.B.S with one episode per innovation. So if you are less of a reader and more of a watcher I would strongly recommend watching it at least.

'till next time, jameson

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand - Brandon Lee

 Spoilers Ahead!!! 

 Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand is a non-fiction story about a true story from World War II and an amazing survival

story of the main character Louis Zamperini (aka Louie). Louie was a famous Olympic star runner for team

USA, and was depicted as a hero before he got drafted into the air force for WWII. While on a bomber

mission to destroy a Japanese military base, Louie encounters a problem with the left engine. As the

plane begins to descend downwards, Louie braces for impact and the plane ends up crashing  into the

middle of the pacific ocean. Louis along with two other people stay on a raft for almost two months

until only Louis and his best friend manage to stay alive. On the brink of death, a shadow towers over them.

Louie’s celebration however, is short lived as both of the soldiers realize that a Japanese ship has found

them. 

The next chapter cuts to a scene of Louie and his companion along with hundreds of other

American soldiers that were captured by the Japanese in war. They are forced to stand in the hot

weather until the warden suddenly emerges from a building in the distance. He introduces himself as

Colonel Watanabe. Louie gets a rude welcome as he is continued to be punished and beaten for

standing up to the warden. Louie stays in this camp for about a year and faces multiple harsh

punishments. However, hope is found when the American military slowly captures military bases near

the camp and slowly reaches the camp until one day, the whole base is attacked and the prisoners are

forced to move to another camp. All of the prisoners are transferred to another Labor camp coal mine

where the conditions would be way worse. The temperature was significantly colder, and the living

conditions were also terrible. However, one last surprise awaits Louie and the rest of the prisoners

that might take away all the hope that they have. 

This book about the journey of Louis Zamperini was truly an inspiring and amazing story for

people who are new to this genre. I myself was not a big fan of non-fictional and war related books

or movies. However, after reading this book, I gradually started getting used to these types of plots.

The amazing plot of sharing real life experiences really allows the reader to take a deep dive on what

it was like to be a main character in a world full of obstacles blocking your way to success.

The resilience Louis and all the other soldiers have shows how much people will do and love their

own countries and origins. I highly recommend this book even for people who have not explored

these types of genres and to explore the deeper meanings hidden between the pages of the books.

The Silence Between Us - Book Review - By Naomi

What’s harder than being the new kid? Being the deaf new kid. 17 year old Maya is starting her senior year across the country and is convinced she’s going to hate it. Maya hasn’t been at a hearing school since she could hear and she’s gotten so accustomed to communicating with deaf or hard of hearing people. Using sign language to communicate was awesome and she could understand everything, however, now she’s going to have to rely on her interpreter and lip reading, which is not going to be easy…

Not to mention how Maya’s schedule is going to get busy. Between completing loads of homework to achieve her goal of working in the medical field and helping her single mother out with her brother who has cystic fibrosis, Maya is in for a really late night. But, she loves her mom and brother, so it should be worth it.

So, maybe Maya will be fine, I mean, aside from making friends, but she doesn’t need any new friends. That is until Maya learns her younger brother is trying to make friends, so perhaps she should as well in order to be a good example for her younger brother. If he can do it with cystic fibrosis, she can do it deaf. And hey, there’s Nina- a nice girl in her grade, one friend should do the trick. Except there’s also Beau… the student body president. To Maya’s surprise, he starts learning sign language and attempting to communicate with her, but Maya isn’t entirely sure what to think. Is it a prank, or is he being serious? Whether it’s his green eyes and dimples or the fact he’s trying, something makes it so Maya can’t help but be somewhat drawn to him… Would a hearing and deaf relationship ever work, though?

This heartwarming and thought provoking story is a 10/10 in my opinion and I highly recommend it.