Silverwing by Kenneth Oppel

This is my second time reading this book, because I read this trilogy a long time ago, and they’re a really good trilogy. Yesterday, the author, Kenneth Oppel was in Winnipeg! I talked to him at MTYP, saying that I really love his books and I’m looking forward to a sequel to one of his books “Airborne”. Interesting little tidbit of irony, if you would call that ironic.

The book Silverwing is about bats, or at-least the world from their point of view. It’s main character is a newborn named Shade. He was born very small, and struggled to stay alive for the first few weeks of his life. I think his struggle for life is a major defining point for his life, because it gave him many of the personality traits he has. One of his first endeavors to prove his worth is a competition with a jock-like newborn, Chinook. Chinook was really well off from the beginning, having a really good body and strong wings. You see for about four million years, bats have been banished from the daylight. If they’re found flying around in it by the owls, then they face the risk of death or great loss for their colony. Shade’s rebellious and curious mind comes up with an idea to challenge this stupid law. He sees who will actually have the courage to see the sun. Shade wins, but with an owl catching him. This ends up with Shade almost dying, and the colony’s home being burnt to a crisp.

Shade also has a remarkably similar personality with his long-lost father. His father got lost (as I remember from reading this previously) in a quest to see the sun. Shade’s mother is a real worrier, but is also a very good mother.

Now for my weekly identification with the main character part! It’s really easy to find similarities between Shade and me. Shade is very, very curious, which is unique for the newborns because none of them are really authentically curious. Shade finds himself picking up tidbits of conversation. He quickly makes friends with a very knowledgeable and kind colony elder, which both have a love for curiosity. I like to be curious, and am most of the time. I find myself piecing together information tidbits, and I love opening electronic things to see what’s on the inside of them. I also love to know how things work. Shade also has the capability to make really good friends, partly because of his curious and inquisitive nature. I try to do that, and I think I succeed at it for the most part.

From my current and previous knowledge of this book, I’m gonna explain what the meaning is. For the most part, I think the books message is to be courageous, even in the face of grave danger and death. Its also about being loyal to your friends, and also believing what is right, and not just following blindly what others have done. Curiosity is also a message, saying that its good to question things if you have good motives behind the questions.

I’m not really into this book yet, but I know I will be, and I have been before. I’m really looking forward to this, because after this I have two more books in the series to read. Yesterday, Kenneth Oppel also said that he’s thinking of doing a trilogy of three books that explain things leading up to Silverwing. That would be really interesting.

Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger

The Catcher in the Rye is a very interesting book. It is not like a typical book where the events leading up to the climax are exciting and all, its very mellow and humble the whole way though with no real climax. It makes it hard to write about, but makes me think about it more so I guess its better. The Catcher in the Rye is about Holden Calfield’s struggle with life and all its bumpy crazy roads. The book starts off with Holden explaining how he got expelled (for doing horrible) from the university he was attending. After this he constantly gets into bouts of depression and anxiety. After being kicked out, Holden still has a few days to wait before his parents (who don’t know he’s expelled yet) are expecting him home. Holden is not one to jump the gun and surrender to his parent’s wrath early, no no, he waits till the very end.

Holden’s character is a very interesting one. Holden is very critical of everything. If he doesn’t agree with a person, or thinks they’re just fake, he calls them phonies. He labels a LOT of people phonies, which should give you an idea of his personality, and establish how critical he is. When Holden labels people a phony, it is true in a way, and and how a lot of people aren’t authentic a majority of the time but he does label people too quickly. Holden is ALWAYS lashing out at people, which makes sense because of his own immense insecurity. He is to quick to judge, but at least he is truthful and doesn’t hold his anger in like all the “phonies”. Holden has a dangerously low ego, which lead to the depression bouts and fits of random fury (which we all have no doubt). Another side of Holden, is when he is content he’s a very good friend. He won’t hide stuff from you but won’t go over the top by insulting you.

I can’t help but think that JD Salinger was expressing himself as Holden. After he wrote the book, he ran away to a small town to escape all of his popularity which scares him and now no one hears from him. This knee-jerk reaction would be something I wouldn’t be surprised seeing Holden doing.

I see myself in Holden’s character especially in the way he judges people so quickly. I fall victim to that sometimes, seeing someone in public and judging them by the way they dress or express themselves and label them as superficial. I’m working on seeing more broadly because when you do this and tell people they get after you and start criticizing you. Holden is very impulsive, and falls victim to a lot of physical comforts like smoking, drinking and even a prostitute at one time. I don’t fall victim to that stuff, but thats also because smoking and drinking was a lot more popular back then, and plus they had much less awareness of the negative effects of substances.

I’m amazed of how much controversy this book has created. First it was the excessive use of swearing like goddamn (Holden says that a crazy lot!). Next it was that Mark Chapman (John Lennon’s assassin) who was found reading that book the day he killed Lennon. The amount of controversy it created is also a sign of the times. Swearing and all the topics discussed in the book weren’t really talked about back then.