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Brief Summaries of our "Classics" Book Club Choices
A Farewell to Arms: In 1918 Ernest Hemingway went to war, to the war to end all wars. He volunteered for ambulance service in Italy, was wounded, and twice decorated. Out of his experiences came A Farewell to Arms. Hemingway's description of war is unforgettable. He recreates the fear, the comradeship, the courage of his young American volunteer, and the men and women he meets in Italy with total conviction. But A Farewell to Arms is not only a novel of war. In it, Hemingway has also created a love story of immense drama and uncompromising passion.
Great Expectations: In what may be Dickens's best novel, humble, orphaned Pip is apprenticed to the dirty work of the forge but dares to dream of becoming a gentleman — and one day, under sudden and enigmatic circumstances, he finds himself in possession of "great expectations." In this gripping tale of crime and guilt, revenge and reward, the compelling characters include Magwitch, the fearful and fearsome convict; Estella, whose beauty is excelled only by her haughtiness; and the embittered Miss Havisham, an eccentric jilted bride. (Drama!)
The Scarlet Letter: This tragic novel of sin and redemption is Hawthorne's masterpiece of American fiction. An ardent young woman, her cowardly lover, and her aging vengeful husband—these are the central characters in this stark drama of the conflict between passion and convention in the harsh world of seventeenth-century Boston. Tremendously moving and rich in psychological insight, this dramatic depiction of the struggle between mind and heart illuminates Hawthorne's concern with our Puritan past and its influence on American life.
Frankenstein:Mary Shelley began writing Frankenstein when she was only eighteen. At once a Gothic thriller, a passionate romance, and a cautionary tale about the dangers of science, Frankenstein tells the story of committed science student Victor Frankenstein. Obsessed with discovering the cause of generation and life and bestowing animation upon lifeless matter, Frankenstein assembles a human being from stolen body parts but; upon bringing it to life, he recoils in horror at the creature's hideousness. Tormented by isolation and loneliness, the once-innocent creature turns to evil and unleashes a campaign of murderous revenge against his creator, Frankenstein. Frankenstein not only tells a terrifying story, but also raises profound, disturbing questions about the very nature of life and the place of humankind within the cosmos: What does it mean to be human? What responsibilities do we have to each other? How far can we go in tampering with Nature? In our age, filled with news of organ donation genetic engineering, and bio-terrorism, these questions are more relevant than ever. (
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn- Intended at first as a simple story of a boy's adventures in the Mississippi Valley - a sequel to The Adventures of Tom Sawyer - the book grew and matured under Twain's hand into a work of immeasurable richness and complexity. More than a century after its publication, the critical debate over the symbolic significance of Huck's and Jim's voyage is still fresh, and it remains a major work that can be enjoyed at many levels: as an incomparable adventure story and as a classic of American humor. (If you love historical fiction, adventure, or coming of age stories…this is for you! The language is tough at times…)
The Great Gatsby-F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel,The Great Gatsby, follows Jay Gatsby, a man who orders his life around one desire: to be reunited with Daisy Buchanan, the love he lost five years earlier. Gatsby's quest leads him from poverty to wealth, into the arms of his beloved, with some twists along the way. Published in 1925, The Great Gatsby is a classic piece of American fiction. It is a novel of triumph and tragedy, noted for the remarkable way Fitzgerald captured a cross-section of American society. (A bit of difficult language in this one, as well. If you like love stories and themes about the American Dream, this is for you)
Fahrenheit 451-The novel opens with Guy Montag, a “fireman” in a futuristic society where he and his coworkers start fires, rather than put them out. Books are banned and burned upon discovery. Guy Montag is a fireman. His job is to burn books, which are forbidden, being the source of all discord and unhappiness. Even so, Montag is unhappy; there is discord in his marriage. Are books hidden in his house? The Mechanical Hound of the Fire Department, armed with a lethal hypodermic, escorted by helicopters, is ready to track down those dissidents who defy society to preserve and read books. The classic dystopian novel of a post-literate future, Fahrenheit 451 stands alongside Orwell’s 1984 and Huxley’s Brave New World as a prophetic account of Western civilization’s enslavement by the media, drugs and conformity.(Science-Fiction with some difficult language, but a story that connects to our digital age in a haunting way!)
Of Mice and Men-A touching tale of the friendship between two men, Lenny and George--set against the backdrop of the United States during the depression of the 1930s. The book addresses the real hopes and dreams of working-class America. It is a short novel but it is packed with many symbols, topics, themes, and other literary techniques we have discussed in class. (If you don't LOVE reading, like you barely ever read, this one is for you because it's on the shorter side, but it still has some complex language.)
The Grapes of Wrath-Tom Joad and his family are forced from their farm in the Depression-era Oklahoma Dust Bowl and set out for California along with thousands of others in search of jobs, land, and hope for a brighter future. A portrait of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless, of one man’s fierce reaction to injustice, and of one woman’s stoical strength, the novel captures the horrors of the Great Depression and probes the very nature of equality and justice in America. (If you love travel/adventure and historical fiction, this is for you!)
Invisible Man- Invisible Man is the story of a young, college-educated black man struggling to survive and succeed in a racially divided society that refuses to see him as a human being. Told in the form of a first-person narrative, Invisible Man traces the nameless narrator's physical and psychological journey (If you like philosophy and listening to a character's inner thoughts, or stories about race- this is for you! Is a definite challenge book.)
Lord of the Flies-In the midst of a nuclear war a group of school boys become abandoned on an island when their plane goes down. Without adult supervision they must work together to fend for themselves and survive.They elect a chief, Ralph, and begin to survive with the resources they find on the island, while learning many things about themselves and about each other. (The original Hunger Games…just with older language.)
Little Women-Jo, Meg, Beth, and Amy March are four sisters living with their mother in New England. Their father is away serving as a chaplain in the Civil War, and the sisters struggle to support themselves and keep their household running despite the fact that the family recently lost its fortune. As the girls grow older, each faces her own personal demons and moral challenges.The story comes largely from the real life experiences of the author. (If you like hearing stories about girls' lives in history, this one's for you…with love stories, adventure and old school drama. Long but not too difficult to read.)
Jayne Eyre-Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre opens with Jane, an orphaned, isolated ten-year-old, living with a family that dislikes her. She grows in strength, excels at school, becomes a governess, and falls in love with Edward Rochester…what happens next is epic. (An epic story about survival, love and loss…Difficult language.)
1984- The year 1984 has come and gone, but George Orwell's prophetic, nightmarish vision in 1949 of the world we were becoming is timelier than ever. 1984 is still the great modern classic of "negative utopia" -a startlingly original and haunting novel that creates an imaginary world that is completely convincing, from the first sentence to the last four words. No one can deny the novel's hold on the imaginations of whole generations, or the power of its admonitions -a power that seems to grow, not lessen, with the passage of time
(If you love a good, challenging dystopia, this one's for you...language is a bit tough...)
Great Expectations: In what may be Dickens's best novel, humble, orphaned Pip is apprenticed to the dirty work of the forge but dares to dream of becoming a gentleman — and one day, under sudden and enigmatic circumstances, he finds himself in possession of "great expectations." In this gripping tale of crime and guilt, revenge and reward, the compelling characters include Magwitch, the fearful and fearsome convict; Estella, whose beauty is excelled only by her haughtiness; and the embittered Miss Havisham, an eccentric jilted bride. (Drama!)
The Scarlet Letter: This tragic novel of sin and redemption is Hawthorne's masterpiece of American fiction. An ardent young woman, her cowardly lover, and her aging vengeful husband—these are the central characters in this stark drama of the conflict between passion and convention in the harsh world of seventeenth-century Boston. Tremendously moving and rich in psychological insight, this dramatic depiction of the struggle between mind and heart illuminates Hawthorne's concern with our Puritan past and its influence on American life.
Frankenstein:Mary Shelley began writing Frankenstein when she was only eighteen. At once a Gothic thriller, a passionate romance, and a cautionary tale about the dangers of science, Frankenstein tells the story of committed science student Victor Frankenstein. Obsessed with discovering the cause of generation and life and bestowing animation upon lifeless matter, Frankenstein assembles a human being from stolen body parts but; upon bringing it to life, he recoils in horror at the creature's hideousness. Tormented by isolation and loneliness, the once-innocent creature turns to evil and unleashes a campaign of murderous revenge against his creator, Frankenstein. Frankenstein not only tells a terrifying story, but also raises profound, disturbing questions about the very nature of life and the place of humankind within the cosmos: What does it mean to be human? What responsibilities do we have to each other? How far can we go in tampering with Nature? In our age, filled with news of organ donation genetic engineering, and bio-terrorism, these questions are more relevant than ever. (
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn- Intended at first as a simple story of a boy's adventures in the Mississippi Valley - a sequel to The Adventures of Tom Sawyer - the book grew and matured under Twain's hand into a work of immeasurable richness and complexity. More than a century after its publication, the critical debate over the symbolic significance of Huck's and Jim's voyage is still fresh, and it remains a major work that can be enjoyed at many levels: as an incomparable adventure story and as a classic of American humor. (If you love historical fiction, adventure, or coming of age stories…this is for you! The language is tough at times…)
The Great Gatsby-F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel,The Great Gatsby, follows Jay Gatsby, a man who orders his life around one desire: to be reunited with Daisy Buchanan, the love he lost five years earlier. Gatsby's quest leads him from poverty to wealth, into the arms of his beloved, with some twists along the way. Published in 1925, The Great Gatsby is a classic piece of American fiction. It is a novel of triumph and tragedy, noted for the remarkable way Fitzgerald captured a cross-section of American society. (A bit of difficult language in this one, as well. If you like love stories and themes about the American Dream, this is for you)
Fahrenheit 451-The novel opens with Guy Montag, a “fireman” in a futuristic society where he and his coworkers start fires, rather than put them out. Books are banned and burned upon discovery. Guy Montag is a fireman. His job is to burn books, which are forbidden, being the source of all discord and unhappiness. Even so, Montag is unhappy; there is discord in his marriage. Are books hidden in his house? The Mechanical Hound of the Fire Department, armed with a lethal hypodermic, escorted by helicopters, is ready to track down those dissidents who defy society to preserve and read books. The classic dystopian novel of a post-literate future, Fahrenheit 451 stands alongside Orwell’s 1984 and Huxley’s Brave New World as a prophetic account of Western civilization’s enslavement by the media, drugs and conformity.(Science-Fiction with some difficult language, but a story that connects to our digital age in a haunting way!)
Of Mice and Men-A touching tale of the friendship between two men, Lenny and George--set against the backdrop of the United States during the depression of the 1930s. The book addresses the real hopes and dreams of working-class America. It is a short novel but it is packed with many symbols, topics, themes, and other literary techniques we have discussed in class. (If you don't LOVE reading, like you barely ever read, this one is for you because it's on the shorter side, but it still has some complex language.)
The Grapes of Wrath-Tom Joad and his family are forced from their farm in the Depression-era Oklahoma Dust Bowl and set out for California along with thousands of others in search of jobs, land, and hope for a brighter future. A portrait of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless, of one man’s fierce reaction to injustice, and of one woman’s stoical strength, the novel captures the horrors of the Great Depression and probes the very nature of equality and justice in America. (If you love travel/adventure and historical fiction, this is for you!)
Invisible Man- Invisible Man is the story of a young, college-educated black man struggling to survive and succeed in a racially divided society that refuses to see him as a human being. Told in the form of a first-person narrative, Invisible Man traces the nameless narrator's physical and psychological journey (If you like philosophy and listening to a character's inner thoughts, or stories about race- this is for you! Is a definite challenge book.)
Lord of the Flies-In the midst of a nuclear war a group of school boys become abandoned on an island when their plane goes down. Without adult supervision they must work together to fend for themselves and survive.They elect a chief, Ralph, and begin to survive with the resources they find on the island, while learning many things about themselves and about each other. (The original Hunger Games…just with older language.)
Little Women-Jo, Meg, Beth, and Amy March are four sisters living with their mother in New England. Their father is away serving as a chaplain in the Civil War, and the sisters struggle to support themselves and keep their household running despite the fact that the family recently lost its fortune. As the girls grow older, each faces her own personal demons and moral challenges.The story comes largely from the real life experiences of the author. (If you like hearing stories about girls' lives in history, this one's for you…with love stories, adventure and old school drama. Long but not too difficult to read.)
Jayne Eyre-Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre opens with Jane, an orphaned, isolated ten-year-old, living with a family that dislikes her. She grows in strength, excels at school, becomes a governess, and falls in love with Edward Rochester…what happens next is epic. (An epic story about survival, love and loss…Difficult language.)
1984- The year 1984 has come and gone, but George Orwell's prophetic, nightmarish vision in 1949 of the world we were becoming is timelier than ever. 1984 is still the great modern classic of "negative utopia" -a startlingly original and haunting novel that creates an imaginary world that is completely convincing, from the first sentence to the last four words. No one can deny the novel's hold on the imaginations of whole generations, or the power of its admonitions -a power that seems to grow, not lessen, with the passage of time
(If you love a good, challenging dystopia, this one's for you...language is a bit tough...)