Invisible Man

Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison was written in 1952. I started reading this book because my English teacher strongly recommended it to me.This book is really giving me new perspectives on race in America. Starting in the very first chapter there is so much racism. The narrator who is never named is a very scholarly school and is invited to read a speech in front of distinguished white men in the community. Before he reads his speech he is put in a boxing ring with a blindfold on and told to fight other brothers. The other boys leave the ring after awhile so the narrator is left alone in the ring with a massive man to duke it out for the prize money. After several minutes of fighting they are told to stop and their money is on a rug on the ground. This rug was electrified and when they tried grabbing the money...well you can imagine what happened.

Reading all of this shocked me. Not just because of the brutality and specific details of this ordeal but I knew that this happened all over the south and not just once but several times I'm sure.

Later in the novel he is in college and has a job as a driver. One day he is driving a trustee of the school, an older white rich man. This drive changed both of their lives forever. Mr. Norton the trustee told him to just drive and so he obeyed. The narrator took him through the slums of the town where the blacks lived and they stopped and talked to a man who had impregnated his daughter. Not a very joyous scene and this put Mr. Norton in shock! Then the narrator drove him to a bar to get some whiskey to stimulate him but he had to bring him into the bar and there were prostitutes and drunkenness and all sorts of things that an elderly white male from the north did not want to see. All of this was too much for Mr. Norton and he was left the school immediately that night. The next morning the Narrator was expelled and sent to New York. New York has been a disappointment to the Narrator but he has not given up hope. The Narrator just got a job at a paint factory and then promptly fired. And that is chapters 1-10. I recommend this book to anyone because has really given me new insights on racism in America. Thats another King Klamm blog done!

Gullivers Travels

My Mother was suggesting different books that I should read since I had just finished "Vertical Run" by Joseph R. Garber. My Mother suggested all of these older biographies that I was not too keen on any of the books she suggested me. Gullivers Travels caught my eye as another one of the countless dusty books on her shelves. I had seen Gullivers Travels the movie starting Jack Black that came out in 2010. The deeper I read into this novel the more I realize that the book and movie have very little in common. The main character is Lemuel Gulliver, who is a surgeon by trade and lives in England. Gulliver's business slowly starts to fail so he starts sailing. One day he is shipwrecked and swims for shore. When he awoke he found himself by thousands of Lilliputians and tied up. All of the Lilliputians were tiny compared to Gulliver and their arrows felt no more than pinpricks against his skin. Gulliver is basically in full surrender to these people when he is tied up but as soon as he is free he could real havoc on everyone their and they could not stop him. What would you do if you were a giant compared to everyone else? Would you be cruel or kind? Would you be helpful? In Gulliver's travels staring Jack Black, Gulliver (Black) decides to have lots of fun with the Lilliputians. One of my favorite scenes in that movie is when he makes a foosball table and ties some of the Lilliputians to rods and has a foosball game with them. That scene had me cracking up. Those questions are challenging to answer because we have no idea what it is like to have that much power. Being in charge of someone cannot be compared to being able to have such a physical and awe inspiring to everyone who looks at you. No one knows what he/she would do in this situation and I doubt we will ever find out. I am enjoying this novel so far. Gulliver is about to go to war to help the Lilliputians defeat their enemies and I can't wait to see how he easily deals with their enemies.

Vertical Run Final Review

I recently finished this book and all I can say is WOW!!! There were some crazy plot twists at the end that I could never have seen coming in a million years. I can't say much about the end without giving spoiling it for my readers. I don't want to spoil it because I want everyone to read this novel, seriously its worth the read! This book really went beyond the physical actions and really dove into Dave's mind while he racked his brains about why these men were trying to kill him and even his wife would be on their side (sorry I couldn't help a little spoiler). As a reader you find out the reason and reason behind all of Dave's actions and I realized that if a whole bunch of men came and tried to kill me I'd be dead very fast. I jus hope I am never in such a situation.

There are many themes that can be taken away from this book, but the one that stuck out to me the most is that one should never ever give up no matter what is opposing you. In this novel the opposition was trained men with guns and a target on your head. Other opponents could be an addiction you are struggling with, a family member that is battling a terminal illness, or your darkest fear whatever that may be.  Dave Elliot used his intellect most of all to deal with his conflict and I think that people should always think carefully about going into a situation guns blazing (punny).

I hope that everyone who has read this blog (about 5) are all intrigued by this book and hopefully pick it up one day, and hopefully actually read it. I have really enjoyed this book and it was nothing short of a page turner. King Klamm out for now.

Vertical Run Blog

I am on page 106 of Joseph R. Garber's book Vertical Run. I guess you would call this book a thriller and an adventure story. The conflict of this book starts almost immediately on page one and keeps building. The main character David Elliot is a Vietnam war veteran but those days are long since behind him. Elliot now works in a big corporation downtown. One day at work a man wight he code name of Ransom and a whole team of men came into the office and started trying to kill him. Now thats some conflict! I won't say much more because I hope I've inspired all of my blog readers to read this novel.
David Elliot is the narrator of this book and it is first person limited. So far he has been racking his brains of why these guys are out to get him and all of his old army training and skills are coming back to him. I think he is very believable as a character, granted that he has already escaped death few times. Elliot has gone through thinking about this whole situation logically and sensibly. Well as sensible as anyone can with random guys trying to kill you at work. The whole situation with the killers at work is a little less believable because when would that ever happen?? I will just have to wait until I finish the novel.
In the novel Elliot keeps thinking about his days in Vietnam. I just read The Things They Carried which is a novel of vignettes all about the Vietnam war. That novel was fiction but the author was a Vietnam war veteran himself. So far in both books portrayals of the war they are fairly similar.
I can't wait to finish this novel and find out why all of these killers are after him! Stay tuned for the next King Klamm blog post!