Betsey Brown Response #3

Over the past week, I have finished Betsey Brown, which was a disappointment because the ending was terrible. Apart from that, I loved this novel. It took a while for me to get used to the writing style that Ntozake Shange used, but it really fit the story, so it worked out.

Betsey was a great character, and I really liked following her thoughts, especially when she ran away to a salon in the city. I wish it went a little deeper into her thought process, but that's okay. Greer was a frustrating character for me, with his cool, calm attitude like all of the doctors I know. Jane was also an interesting character, but I found it kind of random for her to leave, it was like it was just for the sake of the character Carrie, whom I didn't like either.

After Jane came back, the book ended. Just like that; done. I did not like that. What happened to their marriage? What happened to Eugene? Did Betsey ever confront Jane about the responsibilities she had taken on after Carrie was fired? There was too much left hanging, and it ruined it a little for me. But everything before the ending was great, so I guess I can forgive Shange.

I would definitely recommend this book to young-adults in the ninth grade and down, since the writing is simple and I don't see many older kids wanting to read this. But it was a great novel, and I would probably read it again.

Betsey Brown Response #2

I am just a little past the halfway point in the novel, and I'm starting to warm up to the eccentric writing style of Ntozake Shange. Betsey has become a dear character, as we get to look a little deeper into her thoughts about boys and growing up. Now as she is heading into a white school, I feel closer to her because the writing is so clear about how all of the children feel about this transition. I also like the character Regina, since she kind of spurred on Betsey's thoughts about "growing up," and kind of added comical relief to the so far slow book (not that there is anything wrong with going slowly.) The nannies almost act as a symbol of what level of maturity Betsey is on, well they are for me anyways. With the first nanny, Bernice, Betsey was still climbing trees and becoming a tomboy. Then with Regina, she was noticing boys and thinking about her future.

This book, surprisingly, is actually one of the better novels I have read this year. At first, I thought I wouldn't enjoy it, but now I'm starting to get into it, and I look forward to reading on into the story.

Betsey Brown by Ntozake Shange

I only read to page twenty in this book, and I'm already bored. It seems like it's going to be a cliche novel about a girl coming of age, just like most of the books I have read this year. The writing is confusing, the language being used is hard to read aloud.

The characters seem deep, though, and I can tell that there is going to be a long story behind the mother, father, and grandma. But right now  it's very confusing with all of the characters running around and yelling. Hopefully this book will get better as we read more.

"The Good Thief" by Hannah Tinti Review

The Good Thief by Hannah Tinti was one of the best books I have read for school. It was about something very interesting (grave robbing), and the characters made the plot all the more interesting, too. One thing that I found hard to handle was the amount of time we had to read the book. It was a little stressful trying to squish 327 pages into a week and a half, which I know isn't that bad, but with all the other things with school, paying attention to the book was hard to do.

Apart from that, I loved reading this book. The images that it gave me were chilling, but also made the book better. One of the only criticisms that I have is that the horse shouldn't have died. I know, it was a motif of Ren's childhood or pureness, but a rule in horror movies is that the animals nor children die...even though this is not a horror movie it should still apply. Anyways, I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys mystery novels, or body snatching.