First Book Review: The Last Town on Earth

My book, "The Last Town on Earth" by Thomas Mullen is a fictional story based on a little-known historical footnote about a small town called Commonwealth and their survival throughout the Spanish Flue epidemic, a disease which started during World War One and was brought back to the United States. 

Basically, Commonwealth decides to quarantine itself off from the rest of society while the Spanish Flu epidemic is occurring. Their basic goal is to stop the disease form spreading into their town, like the many others surrounding them. 

"The encounter that ensues, and the shots that are fired, will have deafening reverberations throughout Commonwealth, escalating until every human value-love, patriotism, community, family, friendship-not to mention the town's survival, is imperiled."

 I think that this story focuses on the human aspects of emotion and survival. Obviously, Commonwealth is threatened by the epidemic raging outside of their small town. Many are forced to choose between life and death. Survival becomes the main concern of Commonwealth's society. With this change in morals, the town itself changes too. Conflicts occur, threatening as stated above, every human value, and the town itself. In essence, I feel that it illustrates the "animal" in us and what people are willing to risk for survival.


Thomas Mullen began writing this book simply because of his discovery of the 1918 flu pandemic. He did not discover much information about towns that specifically quarantining themselves off from society; he said this gave him room for creativity throughout the story. Mullen felt that the 1918 flu was a major even that had been "forgotten." Also, during the time he was writing the story, the bird flu was a cause of sickness in the United States. He thought the 1918 flue shared common similarities with the bird flu, and that this book is relevant to society because of it. 


"The Last Town on Earth" illustrates an image of a small town desperate for survival, but that the same time, uses historical events to connect to current modern times, such as the bird flu. This book is a great read!

Family History Connections

Throughout the many family stories that I read, I found a theme of families who were affected by war. I am doing a comparison of Jasiu, Crystal, and Tiffany's stories.

"My grandma told me what it was like to survive under Russian control. Though not know to be as horrible as the Nazis, they did do some unbelievable cruelty that matches up with the germens. It was not safe for anyone to go out on the streets anymore. Piss a Russian soldier off and pow! Pow!"(Jasiu)."

Throughout Jasiu's story, the cruelty of what Polish people faced from the Russians was told rather than what they faced from the Germans.  This greatly surprised me. I never realized that the Russians were so cruel to the Polish people. In his story, Jasiu described that his grandmother went to church, when some Russian soldiers entered and began killing the people inside. Luckily for his grandmother, she hid, but had to endure the sight of dead bodies and the smell of burning flesh after the Russian soldiers burned the bodies. 

"People in the village were shouting that the Japanese were coming into the village. Many fled but my grandma's grandmother decided to use the extra time to hide the little food that they had left in the house."(Crystal).

Crystal described the invasion of China by the Imperial Army. Apparently, many of the Chinese people faced many horrors from the Japanese. In particular, she described the account of her great grandmother's encounter. When the Japanese invaded her village, her great grandmother and grandmother decided to stay behind to hide the food that they had. This is because during the war, food was hard to come; also the Japanese looted any food or materials they found in Chinese homes. Her grandmother was caught trying to hide the food and was almost killed because of it.

"How would they get to America? It was by helicopter. My grandfather was a general so he ordered planes to head up north, but he saved one just for my family. We had to wait on the roof, but the person riding the helicopter took his own family to America."(Tiffany).

Tiffany's family was affected during the Vietnam war. During the war, her family tried to flee Vietnam, failed, and instead had had to resort to going from country to country until they reached the United States. Luckily, the reached the US eventually. They were forced to flee to the US.

As  you can see, there is a strong theme of war throughout the stories I have found.


 

Extra Credit Bog Post

1. I feel that the dialogue helpfully contributes to the story's growth of the relationship between Dorthy and Adrian. It allowed me to understand both of them much more easily. It also allowed me to see the progress of their relationship, e.g. if their was still tenseness between them or not. Basically, it allows me to discover new things about the individual characters, and more in particular, the development of the relationship between Dorthy and Adrian.
2. I thought the explanation of the Filipinio folklore was very interesting. This is because it brought a whole new level to the story. From what I learned, Dorthy was the decedent of a Filipino god, and Adrian was a vampire who needed to protect her from another group of people(not humans, one of whom I am guessing is the blond haired, green eyed white person who liked Dorthy at the beginning of the story.). The problem with this is that it reminds me way to much of a mix between Twilight and Percy Jackson and the Olympions.
3. Her reaction does seem realistic. It adds on the the story's progress throughout the plot. As stated earlier before Adrian told the folklore, Dorthy needed to discover who she was. It leads on to Dorthy researching into these stories and discovering more about them and the relation with them to maybe her and her family. She also might discover who Adrian is. Again, the problem with this is that it reminds me way to much of Twilight.
4. The cultural elements do not seem forced in the story. To me, the are not a big part of the story at all. There has not been a particularly big emphasis on Dorthy and Adrian being Filipino. The story has focused more on the building relationship between them. For all I care, they could be European and the folklore could be based off of European gods. I really don't care what their race is.
5. Dorthy is not a relatable female protagonist to me. This is firstly because I am male. Secondly, I do not know a lot of people who put such a big emphasis on schooling and not on socializing. As far as I am concerned, socializing is just as important as school is. It seems unrealistic for Dorthy to be so unsocialized(this again relates to Twilight). I do not care that she is Filipino. As I said before, it does not really matter. I feel the only people who would consider it to be cool would be other Filipino people, if they are prideful for their ethnicity or something similar to that.
6. He is compelling. This is partially because in my opinion, he was not properly introduced. By the way, the introduction of the story needs to be changed. It is extremely cliche, and did not draw me into the book. The mystery revolving around his character does does make him compelling though.

Basically, I thought the book was fairly good, but it feels like another story of Twilight so far and Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Somehow, make the story feel more original and unique. This is critical, for me at least, in order to get readers attention to the story.

JLC Cycle

Throughout Joy Luck Club, the biggest cycle I have seen throughout is the art of storytelling. The mothers of the book tell their daughters many varieties of stories; this is started because many of them had imperfect communication skills great enough to communicate with their daughters effectively. Because of this, they told stories to them, including themes of education, warnings, and success. They also wanted to make sure their daughters did not forget their heritage. These stories were passed on to their daughter and gave them a sense of identity and shaped their fate.

"I wanted my children to have the best combination: American circumstances and Chinese character. How could I know these things do not mix?"(15).

 When the mothers of the Joy Luck Club came to America, they decided to pass on their heritage and moralities to their children through story. In a sense, these stories were a way for the mothers to communicate with their daughters properly. They wanted to tell stories and allow their daughters to appreciate their heritage and remember who they were. They also wanted to teach them their morals of life. Unfortunately, they did not push the daughters to work hard enough to follow the stories(they became americanized), but the daughters still gained the stories knowledge and understood their heritage.

"And now I see what part of myself is Chinese. It is so obvious. It is my family. It is our blood,"(15).

Although the daughters became americanized, they soon realized why the stories were told and what their mothers attempted to accomplish.  This then continues the tradition of telling stories, form mother to daughter, from mother to daughter, or son. They pass down their traditions, and heritage.

I see this as a cycle because throughout the story, the mothers tell their daughters stories, and it is assumed they will do the same thing in their older ages too. It is an extremely important part of their lives and is necessary to pass along critical ideas. These ideas changed the daughters fates, and they will do the same thing to the next generation. The story continues even after it has ended.

Family Story

 I, along with many other people, would consider my grandpa to be an extremely “crazy” or active person. From the beginning, he has always stood up for what he thinks is right. This is because when he was a child, he grew up relying on himself alone for support and guidance in life. He says his parents focus more on alcohol than he and his sisters. His parents constantly went across the street to drink with their friends. While they were gone, he say he and his sisters melted butter over lightbulbs, rolled marbles down the roof, then climbed down the roof to get them out of the gutter, etc. . He was left unsupervised, which was how he came to rely on himself. Later on in his life, he went to an all boys catholic school , directly across the street from a mortuary; he says the area constantly smelled of burnt skin. At his school, he succeeded in properly learning. He only regrets not passing geometry, which he still has not passed(he attempted to take a college class last summer, but it did not work out). 

He persisted in life for success; he up ended going to Stanford for a college education. He eventually met his wife here. Afterwards, he was sent to Vietnam in the navy eight years before the war started to find landing locations on the coast for the future war with Vietnam. Luckily, he was not killed because the second day after arriving at Vietnam, he became friends with many of the locals, who were supporters of the Viet Cong. He did this by simply playing volleyball on the beach. While there, he traveled down the coast, constantly looking for landing locations. When the war was near, he reached the capital of Vietnam; the day before he reached it, the Viet Cong had sprayed the hotel he was going to stay at with bullet fire. Also, they dug one foot deep trenches throughout the road systems so no one could move around easily. Luckily, my grandpa was unharmed and left before the war actually started. 

After leaving, he, along with many of his friends, etc. began to protest the war. I guess you could say at one point he became the classic image of a “hippie.” He was particularly involved with protesting in Alameda. He bought his house in Alameda during the early 50’s for an extremely cheap price, about twenty-thousand dollars, and has stayed here ever since. He raised his four daughters here too. They all became something of what my grandpa is like; I guess you could consider “crazy.” His family has always had a reputation in Alameda for being like this, or maybe a little too liberal. 

Later on in his wife, he and his wife both became involved in psychology; they basically both became therapists. I remember the backyard of his house used to be landscaped as a relaxing japanese themed garden; this is because he built a house in the back for their practice. I remember I was at his house once, he one of his patients had to use the bathroom, so she came into the main house. We had a dog on the side, which had a cat door that connected the side of the house to the bathroom. When she used the bathroom, my dog stuck his head through the cat door, which is right by the toilet, and the patient screamed bloody murder, running out of the bathroom and hiding in a closet. 

Later on, around the start of the twenty-first century, his wife developed a severe form of brain cancer. He tired everything he could to save her; both of them went to find help throughout the country, but they could not stop it. She died a couple hours after a halloween night. This changed his life dramatically.

Afterwards, he became an avid painter and still is. He has tried everything from realism to cubism. It is a huge joy to him. He can find inspiration in almost everything. He bought a house in Mendocino County; this is a huge source of his inspiration. The house came with ten acres of land, all of it beautiful rolling hills, different types of tress, and vineyards. What I find very funny about it is that throughout the area around of his property, there are pot fields scattered around other property’s, hidden behind trees. I accidentally walked in one once and was chased by a man; luckily he was too out of shape to run quickly. Anyways, my grandpa paints much of his property, and gives many pieces of his art to friends and family. Besides painting, he also like making wooden sculptures. Besides painting, a big source of his inspiration is swimming, which has been a big part of his life since he was a boy. He says when he was young, the swimming pools were segregated that he swam in. 

Besides his everyday activities, he has run for city council in one in the past couple of years. He unfortunately lost, but seemed to be fairly popular with voters. He is also still fairly involved with Alameda’s city council meetings. He makes his voice known to many. His last big “project” was his protest against suncal in Alameda, who wanted to develop the base. As you can tell, he can be very active in the community.

The amazing part about it is that he is eighty years old. He seems much younger to me. My favorite part about him is that he is always extremely lively and energetic. He is not the type that retires and watches T.V. all day. He will always find something interesting and fun to do in his life that will keep him healthy and entertained. He is a huge role model to me. I hope to be  like him when I am older and live and interesting and entertaining life like him too. 

jlc post

I am comparing "Two Kinds" to Amy Chua's relationship with her kids.

"Chinese parents demand perfect grades because they believe that their child can get them. If their child doesn't get them, the Chinese parent assumes it's because the child didn't work hard enough. That's why the solution to substandard performance is always to excoriate, punish and shame the child. The Chinese parent believes that their child will be strong enough to take the shaming and to improve from it. (And when Chinese kids do excel, there is plenty of ego-inflating parental praise lavished in the privacy of the home.)"

I find that between these two readings, the common problem occurring in both is the high expectations the parents have of their children. Both parents feel that their children have the potential to achieve greatness throughout their lives, but by believing this, strain and resentment are put on their children.

In "Two Kinds," Jing-mei and Waverly Jong felt resentment towards their mothers because of the stress put on them. Jing-mei was expected to be perfect by her parents(this supports Amy Chua's article). She began to resent her parents for this. She also did not go to college as a form of resentment. Weverly Jong also felt resentment towards her parents. Specifically, she was a good chess player; her mother constantly bragged about her and used her as a source of pride. Her mother also claimed credit her Waverly's success. Waverly grew tired of this and eventually quit playing chess. Both stories problems resulted from the stress put upon Jing-mei and Waverly.

I feel that the two stories support the accusation of Asian parents expecting too much of their children. When this happens, obviously children develop a resentment towards their parents.

JLC Post

The introduction to the second section of Amy Tan's Joy Luck Club foreshadows resistance between family. In the introduction, a mother tells her daughter not to ride her bike outside of her vision. The girl complains bitterly to her mother about that; the mother explains the twenty-seven malignant gates and say how bad things can happen to her outside of the house. The daughter in turn, ignores her mother, and falls the second she lands on her bike.

In "Rules of the Game," and "Voice From the Wall," resistance is shown between mother and daughter. In the first chapter, Waverly feels resentment towards her mother because she constantly braggs about her chess playing skills. Waverly did not understand her mother's pride in her skill. Instead, she only saw her mother bragging. In the second chapter, Lena manipulates her mother's speech when being forced to act as a translator. This in turn leads to her mother's messages being manipulated into new meanings.

In both chapters, both daughters face resentment or anger towards their mothers. They are both confused as to why events in their life are occurring. This all ties in with the introduction to part two because when the daughters do not follow the book about the twenty-seven malignant gates, their lives are affected for the worst.