Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist

      Nicks world is crashing down. When she broke up with him "three weeks, two days and 23 hours ago," Nick only asked his ex not to come to his shows. But there she is, standing in the crowed manhattan club with a new guy. Bobbing her head to the music, staring right at him. Problem. Nick is still in love with Tris, even though she's been cheating on him the entire six months the went out. Even though she laughed at the songs and poems he made her.
      Ironically, there's another new-jersey teen who feels just as passionately about Tris in the room. Another who doesn't even know Nick. However, Norah's passionate feelings are of hatred. For that cruel girl who stomps on nice boys hearts, who wears disgusting yellow tights and who's the least subtle person out their.
     So isn't it's  a  strange coincidence that Nick chose Norah to be his temporary girlfriend in a moment of panic as Tris was walking right towards him. But this small desperate move alters the rest of his night, or more.
     This is about how much progress i've made in  Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist. So far, it's been really entertaining and the characters are all out. I know them already. Their personality, their wants, their humor, their plans, their problems. The book goes back and forth from Nick and Norah's perspective, and I really like how close I can already get to the characters.
       Nick is kind of sheepish, and he's definitely kind. He loves music and his friends but he was really devoted to Tris. I feel like if Nick was real, he'd be the person to devote himself. To work, to love to music. Just in general he's really committed. One way I noticed this is that even though his ex had moved on, Nick was still really out of it and dejected during the whole night. But his niceness and devotion is not to the point where he's different from everyone else, he's still like an average teenage boy. He's interested in girls, and  cars and parties. He just has a unique view on things.  Well,  I guess he's not average in this sense with friends because he, in his words, is "a non-queer in a queercore band."
      Norah is, in my opinion, really funny. She's also very caring and affectionate. But when she needs to be cold and straightforward, she is. For example, she has a friend Caroline. Whenever the go into the city, Caroline gets crazy drunk and leeches herself onto a guy. Every time, Norah takes it upon herself to makes sure Caroline gets home safe, she holds her hair when she barfs, and she pulls her away from sketchy guys. But when Tris tried to manipulate Nick into lending her his car, and Norah was his "girlfriend," Norah took the matter into her hands, and made Tris leave. Also, when her ex was a jerk to her, and attempted manipulated her into staying with him, she got the strength to glare at him, yell at him, and leave him. But when she's not in a state of strong emotion, Norah's very playful and funny.
         These characters really have character. They are really realistic. Maybe the seem more real to me because I know people like them, or they're onlycouple years older than me. But the seem more real to me than most other characters, because I can clearly define their personality.

The Monsters of Templeton

 I am still reading this book. Although it's very good, it's taking me a long time.  Last week, I wrote " In this novel, Willie Upton returns to her suburbean  home town of  Templeton, New York, from an archeology mission in Alaska, the same day a horrific yet beautiful beast surfaces on Templeton's Lake Glimmerglass. Willie doesn't return to "recharge," and she certainly doesn't return home because she adores her home town. She returns because 29 year old Willie Upton is pregnant with her married professors child. Scandalous, I know. Not only this, but she attempts to slaughter her professors wife in a Bush Plane. However, this isn't really relevant. At least not yet. It's all just leading up to her returning to Templeton." Since then, the one of the main things of this book has entered the plot. Vi, Willie's mother, tells her that her father is not the random chicago hippie like she grew up thinking. In fact, he is a respected templetonian man with a family. Of course, this comes as a shock to Willie. Her father could be anyone! One half of the source of her life lives in her very town.  You see, Willie has roots in Templeton. Marmaduke Temple, the founder of the town, was an ancestor of her. But the Temple family has two sides. The side with Marmaduke's wife, and their children, and their children's children. Also, the is the side in which supposedly quaker Marmaduke Temple has an affair with his slave. (This is in the last 1700s.)It's the Temple's and the Averall's. However, another shock. Willies unknown father is also a descendent from Marmaduke Temple. So, Willie starts a mission. Tracing bake to her ancestors, she finds everything she can about her family.

           Now, I want to talk about Vivienne, or Vi. Willie's mother. I have mixed emotions about this character. Sometimes, I really like her, and others times, I hate her. My feelings contradict each other, just like Vi's "sides" contradict each other. All Willie's life, she grew up with a hippie mother who completely believed in equal rights for everyone, who lied to Willie by telling her she was allergic to sugar to keep her from eating it. She grew up with a mother who found some religions insulting. But when Willie comes back, everything is different. Her mother has gone eats fatty foods, and is church-crazy. We soon find out though, one reason she's so religious now is her relationship with the fat, greasy minister.

           I think the reason this really bothers me is because it's obviously not who she really is. Vivienne is drastically changing herself for her new boyfriend, when it used to be leaping from one partner to another. I understand how in a relationship, people would change small things to make their partner happy, but what Vi did isn't right. She's  basically masking herself for the satisfaction of, as Willie calls him, "Reverend Milky."

          So, what if she really has changed? If she isn't truly masking herself, I still find her new personality annoying. Because she is completely going against herself. I  personally think she is masking herself, because it's impossible to just completely change your view on everything. Her two opposing opinions just clash.