All we have left

                For our group read my group has been assigned All We Have Left, a fictional novel based around the character of Jesse, a high school girl who gets caught up in the wrong crowd, and the history of how her older brother Travis passed away in the September eleventh attacks. However, the novel is told through the perspective of two people; one being Jesse and the other Alia, a Muslim American who was at ground zero for the attacks. The Novel is similar to how Eleanor and Park was written, with a back and forth between the two characters, except in this book there is also a span in time between the two narratives. Jesse is having trouble with her home life as her father has become a reclusive drunk over the death of her older brother Travis, while her mother attempts to hold onto whatever is left of their family. She is infatuated by Nick, a young trouble maker early on in the book. Nick and Jesse soon become a couple after an exciting first date of “tagging” together. The two make a perfect crime duo as Jesse is an experienced climber due to her father owning a climbing range. While we learn about Jesse and her new life style we also get a glimpse into Alia’s life years ago in New York City. She is also an average teenage girl at the time who is dealing with struggles of moving to New York and her Muslim heritage. Her parents recently restricted her acceptance to an art school program at NYU due to her being caught red handed with a joint in the school bathroom. Although she was just putting it out, she was caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. She has since been arguing with her parents over letting her join the program, but has yet to convince them otherwise. This leads to her going to the Twin Towers to visit her father in an attempt to convince him to let her join the program. Once again she is caught in the wrong place at the wrong time as she is trapped in one of the towers during the first plane crash. While in the tower she is caught in an elevator with Travis, Jessie dead brother. Personally I like our novel so far, although it is a big cringe worthy at parts. Have any of your books shared a writing style or theme to other books we have read so far? Do you like your books and how they relate to Islamic culture?

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe First reading.

So the first thing I noticed about this book is the structure. It is broken into six different parts, I am curious as to why the Author decided to structure it in this way and am curious to see your responses as to what you think. I find the character of Ari to be very interesting, as he considers himself an only child, although he is not. Another thing I found interesting is the how the relationship between Ari and Dante began. They both bonded over their classical sounding names after Dante teaches Ari to swim at the local pool. I also found it funny that Ari doesn't like to wear shoes since there was such a focus on not wearing shoes in our last book, American Born Chinese. They also both seem mature for their age, as they bond over poetry and stop some other children after they shoot a sparrow. They even go as far as to bury the bird. Ari also seems to have a strained relationship with his father, who is a Vietnam veteran. He is cold and distant as he does not like to talk about his war experience. Over all I am interested to see where this book leads and to follow the story further.