Final Review of All Books

For my very last blog entry, I will give a quick and brief rundown of the books that I read this summer. However, more importantly, this is my last blog! It feels so nice to say that. The first book that I read was titled The Old Man and the Sea. It is about a great and wise old man named Santiago who goes out far beyond where the other fishermen venture to catch a prize fish. He most certainly did when he hooked an eighteen-foot marlin. He may return after three days with only bones, but he gained the respect of his entire village. I liked this book, but I do not think that I would highly recommend it to my peers. It is a little dry for my taste. The next book, which I read in July, was titled The Catcher in the Rye. I truly loved this book. It highlighted some time in a teenager’s life in New York. The main character, Holden Caulfield, is a very emotional boy is teetering on the edge of immaturity and adulthood. I can relate to Holden in some aspects of life, but overall, he is an extremely independent and unique individual. I really enjoyed his outlook of many of the other characters and people throughout the story. Unfortunately, in the end, Holden is thought to have a complete mental and emotional collapse, so he is telling the entire story from a hospital where he is being psychoanalyzed. Holden is a very smart boy, but sadly, he does not apply himself to school other than English class. Thus is the premise for the story. He has recently failed out of his latest boarding school Pencey Prep., and he must stay away from home until Christmas break. The final book that I read was entitled The Grapes of Wrath. I wish I had more time to blog about my conclusions and feelings on this book, but unfortunately, I have procrastinated as I always do. I thought this book would make a nice story if it were not so dreadfully boring. It highlights the Joad family whose family farm in Oklahoma has been evicted by the bank, so they are forced to journey to California to search for jobs. Their search proves fruitless as there are no jobs in California, and three members of the Joad family passed away. Overall, it was a sad, depressing, and horribly boring book.