Book Review

A book review is a reader's summation, reflection, and opinion of a certain reading. For this exercise, you will read certain American novels selected from certain periods of time. This is a way of providing you with an overview of the American literary landscape from the point of view of novels. Novels are not easy to teach in a class, because readers are always at different parts of the novel and classroom discussion breaks down quickly. Pace yourselves through a novel a month and then write a review of 450-500 words (a minimum of 20 sentences; two long paragraphs of 10-12 sentences per paragraph; about two double-spaced pages) for each one. As you look for topics to review, consider how the novel is a literary account of the times in which it was written. Some moral or ethical statement might be made; the characters may represent a certain human condition which is universal in time and place; or it just may reflect on life is some quirky way. Your review of each novel should direct itself to how the novel reveals a truth to you. In your review you want to be sure to highlight at least two incidents from the novel which support your statements. In your conclusion, I want you to reflect on how this novel is still relevant today or how it applies to your own life or observations about life. Is the novel still a reflection of our society today? Is it still relevant, beyond its language and setting? Have you learned more about yourself and your society by reading it? These are just some of the questions you may ask yourself as you read each novel.

Now on a more practical note, you may be asking yourself just why do we need to read these novels. Well, on that practical note, these novels will serve you very well on the SAT, Regents (not just the English Regents), exams, college, and light cocktail party conversation. Do you want to get really practical? When you see someone you may want to meet reading a book you know something about, it's a great conversation starter. Is that practical or what??

I will be discussing certain matters in class and each of you and I will be speaking constantly about your progress on these novels and on the work as it begins to be posted. Classroom discussion wil be general and then those students reading the same novels will get together to discuss them.

Here are sentence starters you might use:

For the month of February, you will read one of the following in-class American novels:

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Ann Jacobs
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien
The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey

For the months of April and May, you will read a biography/autobiography (you will have to find a copy at your local library). Here's the list of choices:
Amazon.com 100 memoirs and biographies to read in a lifetime