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The book I’ve read is Pig, written by Andrew Cowan in 1994. It was his first novel, a drama which made him win a lot of prizes.The story takes place in England, during the industrial restructuring of the country. It is narrated by the main character, a fifteen-year-old boy who has his head in the clouds and lives quite isolated from the real world.The book tells us about the life of an underclass family, seen from the boy’s point of view.The story starts with the death of Agnes, the protagonist’s grandmother and shows how the family reacts to it, taking his grandfather to a residential home for the elderly, and how the teenager spends the summer taking care of the pig his grandparents had, until the house is pulled down to build a theme park.Apart from his Indian girlfriend, the pig will become his only worry, the way he disconnects from all the problems.In this context, the book deals with the troubles of racism, the hate that English people feel towards the immigrants, and the lack of attention that the grandfather suffers. The boy is the only character who really worries about him, the only one who goes to visit him.In my opinion, it is a deep story, but I found it a little bit boring to read, because it doesn’t tell a story in the typical sense, with an ending. It’s just a part of his life. The most interesting aspect in the book is the symbolic meaning that the pig has. From my point of view, the pig is the symbol of the last time of innocence in his life. The pig gets ill and old and finally he has to kill it, what I think it means: he has to face adults’ problems, his girlfriend leaves him and his innocence is gone. All the things that have happened change him and he matures.

To sum up, we could say that it’s a good book, but that’s not because the story is gripping or entertaining, but it has a hidden meaning that makes you think about the problems that appear in the book.

by Águeda Díaz Tuero

“Girl with a pearl earring” is a novel written by Tracy Chevalier. It is published by Harper Collins and it’s a drama and a romantic story. It’s told by the protagonist who is telling us her own biography.

The story took place un Delft, a Dutch town, during the seventeenth century. Griet, the protagonist, was a sixteen-year-old girl who belonged to a poor family. As her father got blind and he couldn’t continue working as a tile painter, she had to start working as a maid for a painter’s family, the Vermeer’s. It was a huge family whose bread-winner was a painter. Since the first day he met Griet, he realised that she had some artistic intuition which, later, will help with his colours and paintings. At her work, she had to deal with children pranks, specially Cornelia’s ones , the jealousy of the other maid and of her mistress, who didn’t put up with the special attention her husband had for the maid.

She got used to her hard job, her new house, her mistress and master religion, not seeing any familiar face.. Nevertheless, her new life brought Pieter to her, a handsome and kind boy who wanted her as his wife. On Sundays, she was allowed to visit her family and do her protestant services.

Eventually, she was in big trouble because the man who supported her mastress job, van Ruijven, wanted a picture of her. The story reflects how the aristocracy seemed to believe that they could have everything they wanted and what life was like in the 17th century.

From my point of view, the writer uses a good technique, giving us information from the past in between present events and going back and forwards in time (flashback). I think the vocabulary isn’t very common nowadays because it’s set in another century but I could guess almost all the meanings from the context, without looking them up in a dictionary. I found it moving and worth-reading. What I most enjoyed was the strange relationship Pieter the son and Griet had, that is gripping. They loved each other in a weird way. On one hand, she wasn’t sure about getting married to him and she put it off for two years. Moreover, she was found of her master but she tried to hide her feelings. On the other hand, he never inquired her about her feelings, his relation with the master or how she had her lobes pierced.

I was quite interested in the importance Griet gave to hide her hair. The moment someone saw it, she felt like she had nothing more honour able to lose and she lost her virginity with Pieter.

I did not like van Ruijven character because he thought that, due to his fortune, he could have whatever he wanted. He had had an affair with one of his maids whose life he spoiled leaving her pregnant. Pieter the father was also a very rude character but, in my opinion, he had a good heart. I found her sister’s death because of a sudden pest appalling and the effect it had un her sensitive little heart.

It was an easy read. Nevertheless, the beginning was a little tedious but then you couldn’t stop reading it. I would like to recommend this book as a love story for those who are romantic like me. I found the book explanation of how the paint of the girl with the pearl earring was done moving: the colours, the shines, the reason for the earring…That’s beacuse I had seen the original picture in a trip to Holland and I can say that it’s worth-seeing.

On balance, I¡m satisfied with my decision of choosing this book.

Silvia Blanco

The talented Mr Ripley is a novel written by Patricia Highsmith, published in 1955. It is a mystery story. The narrator is not involved in the action.

Tom Ripley, the protagonist, is a cruel inhuman young man who lives in New York City. Tom is asked by a wealthy man to go to Europe and try to convince his son to come home. Tom decides to go to Italy and talk to Dickie Greenleaf. Although the Italian village and his new friend make him feel as though he is in a paradise, Tom realizes that he loves Dickie´s life so much that he decides to become Dickie. Tom kills Dickie when they are in San Remo, where they were on a trip. Marge, Dickie´s girlfriend, suspects Tom of being a murderer but Ripley tricks her and finally, the book ends with Tom traveling to Greece, replacing Dickie Greenleaf.

From my point of view, The Talented Mr Ripley is a extremely absorbing book that makes you feel the tense atmosphere that involves all the characters. It´s a really gripping book because you can´t stop reading. You can read a hundred of pages and want to read more. What I most enjoyed was that it wasn´t like other books, where the good guys fight the bad guys and at the end the good guys win. This story is different and I would like to recommend it.

Rachel

Leviathan

First of all I am going to say why I chose this novel. I wanted to read somethin written by Paul Auster, who was given the Prince of Asturias award. Besides he directs movies and he has several cultural interests. I thought ,this is my chance. But why this novel, whose title is “Leviathan”. On the one hand because the title is the same as a book of philosophy and on the other hand I supposed taht the topic mas not philosophical, in addition to the fact that the shop assistant encouraged me to buy the book because she had loved it.

My first impressions when I started readin it were not very good. I felt it was a little boring. However after reading some pages I changed my mind. The book was gripping me, and I could not put it down until the end.

The plot mainly takes place in New Yord city from the seventies until eighties (including the first Regan’s government) .There are two main characters, whose names are Peter and Benjamin. Peter, who is the story teller, tells us how and when he met Benjamin. Different circumstances, periods, and several people are showed in each moment of their lives, but they are always related to these men. The writer makes yor understand the behaviour and feelings of main characters.

On balance, it is a book highly recommendable. It is easy to read, it is interesting so shows up American people in an unusual way. To my mind it is worth reading.

Monse Rodriguez Alvarez.

 

 

 

 

HEAT AND DUST is a novel written by Ruth Prawer Jhabuala. It is a Romance which takes place in Satipur, India. It alternates between two times periods, the 1920`s and the 1970`s.

The proganists are two English women living in India in different times: Anne, who is the narrator, is in India to learn more about her grandfather`s first wife. Olivia, another protagonist, who lived there during British colonial rule. Olivia is a young woman bored and lonely in the middle of the British colonial society. Olivia travels to India to join her husband Douglas, but she has difficulty integrating herself because of British prejudices against Indians. She develops an affair with the Nawab, a local man. When she becomes pregnat, she has an abortion because she is not sure who the father of the child is, her husband or the Nawab. Parallelly, the narrator also falls in love with an Indian man, her Landlord Inder Lal.

From a historical and social point of view, I found the novel quite interesting, but I didn`t find all the characters moving, the novel is not very clear about the character of Anne, for exemple. I did not quite like the end, I think it is rather abruptly and inconclusively.

In my opinion, the lenguage was not too difficult but some parts were a little bit boring. The book is worth reading but I expected more from it.

Marta Cabeza Casielles

Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life is a collection of seven stories written by Roald Dahl. All of them grew out of Dahl’s experiences with his friend Claud  when he lived in the countryside.

The action takes place in rural England and the characters who are related to the seven stories are: Gordon (the narrator), his friend Claud and their neighbour Rummins.

My favourite stories in this  book are: ‘Ah, sweet mystery of life’ and ‘The champion of the world‘ because I think both are the funniest. In the first one Rummins has a singular and amazing method to get a heifer or a bull when a cow is mating; the method does even work with people!, in fact, he says that he has used it to have his four male children.You can find it a bit ridiculous, however, it was Rummin’s method and how proud he feels about it wthat made me laugh from the first moment. Apart from that, I  found the vocabulary easy in this first story, which let me have an enjoyable reading.

In ‘The Champion of the world‘ Gordon and Claud poach pheasants in a non conventional way, they are able to hunt more than one hundred in one night but in the end they have a little problem with them.I think the story has an hilarious ending but what I like most is the way the author relates how the characters prepare the poaching and how they make it possible.

Since you start reading the book you realize Roald Dahl makes an exhaustive description of characters and places. It is sure that this aspect really helps you to visualise the story in your head, however, it can sometimes make the reading boring because the author spends several lines doing it, and from time to time what you want is more action than description.

In spite of having said that the first story has an easy vocabulary, I think, that in general, the book has a lot of new words which make the reading a bit  tedious, although it is not an obstacle to follow the storyline.

Finally, I have to say that when I chose this book I expected it to be easy to read because Roald Dahl is supposed to write for children, but it is obvious this time he didn’t. In general, I liked all the stories and I would recommend them if you want to have a good time and, especially, if you have a good vocabulary level.

                                                                    Alejandro García Lodeiro                   

 By Maite Martínez Crespo

Something that I would never forget is how much I wanted to see the film called “Matilda” when I was a child and how upset I felt when my parents did not take me to the cinema.

Al my friends talked about that film on those days but I had to wait in silence or to try to introduce another topic because I knew nothing about the plot…until now. That is the reason why I have chosen this book. I enjoyed reading it very much and I am proud of being able to tell you a little bit about its plot now:

Matilda is a five-year-old child whose parents care little about her so she learns to look after herself. Her family also hates reading and Matilda desperately wants to go to school and to the public library but she has to wait until Miss Trunchbull, a horrible school Headmistress who believes that hard discipline and intimidation are the best methods of learning, bought a second hand car from Matilda’s father’s company.

Matilda learns that the Headmistress is more cruel than her parents as she usually punishes students locking them in a small hole in the wall called the “cokey”.

Matilda also discovers that she has mental powers and she uses them to help her lovely teacher, Miss Honey, who is Miss Trunchbull’s niece and is now living in poverty, by stealing, using her powers, some of Miss Honey’s stuff from where Miss Trunchbull was living or writing on the blackboard as if she was Miss Honey’s father’s spirit. Because of that Miss Trunchbull disappears and Miss Honeys recovers her father’s house.

After that Matilda loses her abilities but she wins a family because Matilda’s father is being followed by the police for selling stolen cars and he decides to move his family to Spain but he lets Matilda stay with Miss Honey, they two make a loving family and live together in Miss Honey’s father’s house.

Sara Gutiérrez Sama

The book I’ve read is Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. It is a fantasy book and it’s author is Roald Dahl. It tells the story of a young boy, Charlie Bucket and his poor family. Charlie, his parents and his four grandparents lived in the same tiny cottage on the outskirts of the city and they didn’t have enough food for all of them.

     In the city they lived there was the biggest chocolate factory in the world and no one had ever got into it.

     For several years, the factory had been closed to the public, but suddenly, one day, the headline on the papers said: WONKA FACTORY TO BE OPENED AT LAST TO LUCKY FEW. The idea consisted of five golden tickets hidden into the Wonka chocolate bars all over the world, and those lucky who could find them, would be able to visit the factory with their parents, guided by Willy Wonka himself.

     Charlie dreamed about finding one of them, but he wasn’t able to afford buying a lot of chocolate bars. For his birthday he used to have one of them as a present, but when the day arrived, the bar didn’t have any golden ticket. But some days later, he was walking along the street when he saw a coin on the road. He picked it up and after thinking about what to do with it, he decided to buy a chocolate bar, and then another one, and this one did have a golden ticket!

     When he arrived home, he told his family what had happened and no one could believe it! Finally, they decided that Grandpa Joe would go with Charlie to the factory.

     The day after, they arrived at the factory, and the rest of the people were Veruca Salt, Mike Teavee, Augustus Gloop and Violet Beauregarde, all spoiled nasty children and their stupid parents. And Mr Wonka knew it. Then the visit started.

     The factory was the most incredible place in the world. The workers were very little people called Oompaloompas and they loved cacao. The first room they visited was the Chocolate Room: it was a lovely valley with green meadows, a great brown river, a tremendous waterfall all made of sweet and chocolate, and there was a whole mass of enormous glass pipes sucking the melted chocolate from the river. One of the children, Augustus Gloop, the fat one leaned towards the river trying to eat the chocolate, when the bigger pipe sucked him up.

     The next room was the Inventing Room where Mr Wonka was inventing his chewing-gum meal. When Violet, a chewing-gum addict, saw the new invention she had no doubt and chewed it. But the gum hadn’t been tested yet and Violet started to get as blue as a blueberry and become as round as a big balloon.

     They kept walking till they found the Nut Room, which was full of squirrels testing the nuts for the chocolates. Veruca, the most spoiled girl in the party told her dad that she wanted one of those trained squirrels, and that she would take one of them by herself. But when she got into the room, the small animals took and tested her and found that she was a bad nut, so they threw her down the rubbish chute.

     Mike Teavee was tired, so they took the lift and went to the Television Room. There they found a big TV set where the Oompaloompas were trying to send chocolate bars by TV. But Mike wanted to be the first person to be sent by television, got himself just in front of the set and was sent to the other screen but smaller.

     So, the only child who was safe was Charlie. Mr Wonka explained that he wanted him to become the new owner of the factory, and him and his family could move there. This way they’ll never starve anymore, and Charlie’s dream could come true.

       I’ve chosen this book because some years ago I saw the film, but I wanted to know the real story, because films usually rule out most of the things that appear in the original book. And I really like it because although we are not young children, it’s important to make our imagination work, and this book is full of fantasies. Of course it shows a moral, that parents have the responsibility of what we become when we grow up. I definitely recommend it to all those who have a children inside them.

 By Maite Martínez Crespo

This book, writen by Sue Townsend describes the life of a 13-year-old English boy who lives a complicated yet simple life. The story simulates Adrian’s diary so it goes into detail about his life while he is in school, at home, and with friends.

In this book Adrian tells the story about his complicated and miserable home life: he has to deal with a drunk father and an adulterous mum, the typical teenegers problems: he starts to be aware about his physical appearance, his acne problem, his first love with Pandora. He tells us about his parent’s split, his new eighty year-old friend: a crazy old man he helps for charity, he even speaks about the Royal Wedding.

But he speaks about all those serious and depressing problems in a funny way. This book is really hilarious and ironic, but at the same time it is a drama. I think the writer uses the child ignorance or the Adrian’s optimistic point of view to critizise some of the political and social problems in the world. Anyway I like how the writer analysed the teenage mind. She mixed everyday teenage problems with humour. This book can teach us that there are a lot more problems and obstacles as we get older: relationships, responsability and education become more complicated.

The book is brilliantly funny and I recommend it to anyone. It is different and original, it’s called the diary so it tells Adrian’s life with a lot of detail, although it is not heavy to read.

Sometimes it is a bit tought to get through it but you can understand it in the context. I think the book has the typical British sense of humour, some people are not very fond of it because sometimes it is difficult to understand, but in fact I think it is very special and I like it.

In this book you can find loads of new vocabulary, there were a lot of new words and expressions for me although they weren’t difficult, in fact they were everyday words, useful vocabulary, so I’m so glad to have learnt those words. So I recommend it to people who are learning English because it uses a coloquial language and we can learn a lot from it.

I liked this book because it is not boring or long, and it can be read quickly and enjoyably. And it’s funny to see what similarities I have with Adrian because I have just finished or I am finishing my teeneger period.

So I recommend it to everybody, the age is not important, it is good for teenagers because it migh help them to face their body and mind changes, and for adults and old people because it can remind them their life as teenagers. So read it and you will laugh non-stop, no doubt!!!

By Nuria Ortiz Pérez.