Reviews

From books to games to LIVE LaVilla concerts...we have reviews of everything!

 

 

Paper Towns Book Review

by Anna

Inside LASOTA

 

     Paper Towns, written by John Green, is a book containing much humor, mystery, and love. John Green keeps you engaged throughout the entire book. With each character’s funny, witty personality, you just have to love them. Each John Green book has a certain flow that no other writer could possibly duplicate.

 

     Quentin is a normal High School student who craves adventure. Margo is a completely out of the ordinary High School student who has enough adventures to last a life time. One night, when Margo plans to sneak out and get revenge on her old friends and her boyfriend, she takes along her next door neighbor, Quentin, because she has no transportation. Throughout the whole night, Margo and Quentin discover multitudes of their hometown, Orlando, Florida, and things about one another that they had never known before. Every time I picked up the book and started reading, I couldn’t stop; I just had to know what they might get into next.

 

     The next day, Margo doesn’t attend school and Quentin suspects it's because they stayed up so late leaving fish at peoples’ doors and spray-painted M's on walls. However, the story takes a much unexpected turn. I, personally, was very surprised by this. None of Green’s books have ever taken a turn and become a mystery before. Nevertheless, it's John Green, and in each of his books, you will be surprised at one point or another. So, in a way, I was expecting it but didn't expect what was to come.

 

     During the rest of the book, Quentin is in search of Margo. Quentin believes that the clues she left were specifically for him, and that it's his duty to find her or no one else is going to. So Quentin and his friends decode the clues she has left for them, trying to find her before anything bad happens to her or she does anything to herself. Although Margo isn't there for a very long period of time in the book, you can still feel her presence, as if she's leading them on to the different clues.

 

     The thing I love about this book is how John Green makes each word touching. Even though it’s a sad or depressing topic, the way he words everything makes it all become more enjoyable. His characters are always wise and very smart which I like because if a character is very bland and doesn’t do much the book becomes very boring. But in this book each character has their own quirky, unique personality. Margo even once said, “The rules of capitalization are so unfair to words in the middle of a sentence.” Green also make his books relatable to anyone. At one point in your life you've felt something but haven't know how to describe it. Well, John Green describes that feeling. Even people beyond their teenage years cans still read this book and feel the same things. “High school is neither a democracy nor a dictatorship - nor, contrary to popular belief, an anarchic state. High school is a divine-right monarchy. And when the queen goes on vacation, things change” is one quote from the book.

 

     This book was a complete success and I don't think anyone can say they didn't once smile or chuckle at this wonderful quirky mystery filled book. I had heard a lot of things about Paper Towns and each person who talks about it say it's extremely good. Paper Towns is also being turned into a movie. On July 24 expect to see Margo, Quentin and many other characters come to life on the big screen. Overall, I would give paper towns 5/5 stars for its every aspect. Paper Towns is a book that almost anyone could learn to adore; I know I especially did.

 

 

 

    

A Movie Review of Home

by Lexie

Inside LASOTA

     The movie Home is a phenomenal family film; it has great detail about everyone. I highly suggest this movie because it draws you in.

     A group of aliens known as, “the Boov,” enjoy learning about and connecting with other people, and they crave warmth and human contact. The alien group conquers the Earth, they relocate the planet's human population to an enclosed space–all except for a little girl named Tip (voiced by Rihanna), who's managed to hide from the aliens. When Tip meets a fugitive Boov called Oh (voiced by Jim Parsons), there's a mutual distrust. However, Oh is not like his comrades; he craves friendship and fun. As their distrust fades, the pair set out together to find Tip's mother, but, unbeknownst to them, the Gorg–enemies of the Boov—are en route.

 

     Tip and Oh are amazing characters who make a great effort and explain the story to the viewer’s well. The reason why I like this movie is because it creates an impact on your life telling you not to trust strangers. And also this movie explains why you should not judge a person by their appearance.

 

     The theme of this movie would have to be the importance of forgiveness. I know this because, without forgiveness, there is regret—if you cannot remember physical pain, you might as well not have experienced it. You cannot be plagued by regret or grief if you cannot remember the events that hurt you. At some point in the past, the Boovs’ planet in Home decided to eliminate all pain from their lives. Not only did this allow them to forget all of the pain that had been suffered throughout human history, it also eliminated any nostalgia for the things the community gave up in order to live in total peace and harmony. According to the novel, however, memory is essential. Nonetheless, as Oh undergoes his training, he learns that just as there is no pain without memory, there is also no true happiness. 

 

 

To Destroy Innocence

by Macy 

Inside LASOTA

 

     When you think of the book To Kill a Mockingbird, what do you think of? Classic, Harper Lee, Alabama, the ‘30s? I think of one of the best books I have ever read. The name, To Kill a Mockingbird, means to destroy innocence, many characters in the book, like children Scout, Jem, and Dill, are represented as mockingbirds who have been innocents that are injured or destroyed through contact with evil.

 

     According to www.commonsensemedia.org, the preferred age for To Kill a Mockingbird is twelve. The website also says that there is a man, Tom Robinson, who is accused of a horrible felony. His lawyer, Atticus Finch, is the father of the little girl who narrates the story, Scout. There are so many relationships in the town of Maycomb, Alabama that they go on forever.

     There is an interesting character in this story named Boo Radley, the town’s local hermit/ kook. He has been locked up in his house for thirty years, escaping from the fresh sunlight of day, and the cool hushed grays of the luminous night.

     In the story, the little town of Maycomb, Alabama has a few problems. A hermit, a criminal, and many other exciting, but treacherous journeys are in the old classic. A little girl, Jean Louise, or her nickname Scout, is in first grade, and has an unordinary life. Her father, Atticus Finch, is the defense lawyer for Tom Robinson. People holler at her and her brother, “You Finches! You’re not welcome!”

     The children also have a friend named Dill from Mississippi who comes every summer to hang out and stay with the Finches as well. There are many more details about Mrs. Radley, Atticus, Cal, and other characters, but then I would spoil it.

     Every person in Maycomb gets one part of their heart destroyed by the innocence of nature. The people of Maycomb learn their lessons fine and well, and the book is the most southern oriented story I’ve ever read. One of the main lessons is to stay out of trouble.

     All of the things in this book are harsh, cruel, strange, and heart-warming, but the one thing of the book that the citizens/mockingbirds of Maycomb learn is that life is filled with turns that you my never recover from.

     If you are willing to commit to the excited, fun-filled, action- packed adventures of Scout, Jem, and Dill, I suggest you get a copy.

 

Just Press Play

by Rachael

Inside LASOTA

 

     In 2011, America had 38,364 suicides, the third highest leading cause of death. In this chilling novel, Hannah Baker was fictionally one of those.

 

     “Hello boys and girls; Hannah Baker here. Live and in stereo. No return engagements, no encore, and this time absolutely no requests.  I hope you’re ready, because I’m about to tell you the story of my life. More specifically, why it ended. And if you’re listening to these tapes, you’re one of the reasons why.” This shared narration might be one of the most unique in all of the books I’ve read. Not only is it narrated by Clay Jensen, one of Hannah’s “reasons” for committing suicide, but Hannah Baker herself, a schoolmate of Clay who committed suicide recently to the book’s beginning. It’s great that this book is co-narrated with not only Clay Jensen, a big factor to the plot of the story, but also Hannah Baker so that we can get a glimpse of her perspective since the plot revolves around her last actions.

 

     Hannah Baker was a simple girl, a lover of hot chocolate, blue nail polish, filling out surveys, and puppy love. She was popular, pretty, athletic, and smart. So how did her high school dreams turn into a nightmare? One of the thirteen reasons; Clay Jensen. Clay was just a normal kid who’d grown up in the same town as Hannah and the other reasons all of his life. When he receives a package from FedEx with no return address, he’s more than confused. To find out that there are 7 two- sided cassette tapes with a starred map from Hannah Baker, his long life crush, telling him that he was a reason to why she was dead, his head was spinning out of control.

 

     As he listens to the beginning of Hannah’s suicide note, he quickly realizes the reason for the town map, covered in large, red stars; he’s to drive around town to the places that correspond with who she’s explaining. As he spends his night driving around listening to his lost love, he finds out many secrets about his cruel peers and also finds revelations about himself. Many secrets, good and bad, slip out in her last words to him. Some may be good, like her feelings for Clay, but he is also slapped with reality that Hannah is gone because of his actions. Is this fair? Clay isn’t one of the bad guys, but now he has the weight of their actions on his shoulders. Sure he will now be more sensitive to the world around him, but will his life be as bright, as happy as it could have been otherwise? It will forever be unknown, but it’s important to realize that this reality check is not all good news. This book is filled with unexpected twist and turns, moving you so fast that by the end, you’ll be finding yourself covered in a torrent of tears.

 

     I find the theme to be respect and reputation. Rumors, whether creating or spreading, are part of every high school experience. Hannah doesn’t delve into her pre- high school past, but she does hint that she had difficulties with her reputation in middle school. She considers her new high school in a new town a fresh start. Unfortunately, she becomes a target for rumors almost instantly at her new school, and once the rumors start, they just keep growing. Most of us have seen this ugly game in action and may have even played it- either by starting rumors, spreading them, becoming a victim of them, or all of the above. This theme points to a controversial issue in the novel: Hannah, a clear victim of rumors, leaves behind even more rumors in her tapes. This is the real problem when we think about characters being accused of serious illegal activity, particularly Bryce, Tyler, Justin, and Jenny. It was a challenge for me to remain objective about the characters while we don’t get their perspective and to still trust the protagonists.