The Visibles

I am reading The Visibles by Sara Shepard. Summer Davis is a friendless girl who's mother left her and her family. Ever since then, Summer has had many problems. The cause of Summer's problems were because her mom left Summer and her family when she needed her the most. Summer was 11. She was just about to hit her teen years.

One problem is that Summer's father went into depression. The hospital had a nurse to take care of her dad. But since Summer's dad distrusted the nurse, so it was up to Summer to take care of her father by herself. But Summer has enough things on her mind. She's 18, she needs to worry about college and concentrate on her school work. Summer was offered a fellowship in Ireland for her junior-level genetics at school. But Summer decided not to take it because she knew she was needed at home to take care of her dad. I sort of hate Summer for giving up this really good opportunity for her career to take care of her father. But I know that I would have done the same thing for my dad.

Another problem is loneliness. Summer has no friends! Even the blurb describes her as a loner. When I read that, I felt bad for her. Summer is so shy and too independent. But I can relate to her because I am also shy and I don't make friends very easily unless people approach me first. Summer doesn't even try though, which frustrates me. I wish she would just try harder. Summer really needs a friend that she can trust and rely on. She needs someone who she can bounce ideas off and share advice with. She is under so much stress because of her dad's depression. Summer did have one friend though. Her name was Claire. But after Claire moved to France and came back, they became very distant. Claire is a popular girl and she hangs out with her own crowd.

Research shows that many kids go through many stages of emotions when their parents divorce or separate. Which Summer does go through. Though I'm not one of them, there are many people that go through these issues everyday. But I can still relate to Summer in different ways like friendships and family issues.

The Pact

I am reading the book The Pact by Jodi Picoult. Most of her books I have read have to do with serious problems, so when I picked up this book I was expecting the worst. At the very beginning of the book, Picoult started with a murder/suicide scene. It goes on at the hospital and this scene becomes a murder investigation. Chris is charged for the murder of the love of his life, Emily. I think that Chris didn't murder Emily. I think Emily actually committed suicide. She's dead so there's no way of finding out the reason why she did what she did.

One million people kill themselves every year just in the United States. 16,000 people are murdered a year in the United States. There is more of a chance that Emily killed herself than Chris murdering her. There were a lot of signs showing that Em was suicidal. Her art work changed drastically. Some of her drawings had to do with death. She even drew a self portrait of herself as a floating skull in class. She also talked about committing suicide ALL the time. Chris had a hard time with that and he always tried to talk her out of it. But she was determined or her mind was set on doing it.

Also, even though most of the evidence that Chris murdered Emily pointed to him, I still believe Emily wanted to die. I think Chris was telling the truth in the very end. When he first told his story to the detective  and his therapist, he was afraid. Chris was afraid of telling everyone the truth because he loved Emily and he didn't know what else to do. When up at the witness stand, Chris said that Emily told him, she didn't have the guts to pull the trigger on herself. So Chris held the gun to Emily's head as Em helped him pull the trigger. Apparently, that still counts as first degree murder because Chris was holding the gun. And because his finger prints were the only ones on the gun. But I think that Em was the one that pulled the trigger. I know that she was afraid to do it, but I think that because Chris was her boyfriend, the love of her life, she was more comfortable and felt safer with him holding her.

Chris wasn't convicted in the very end. He was dropped of all charges and Em's case was solved as a suicide. I was happy to hear that but I still wonder why Em killed herself. It's scary to even think that people would have these kind of thoughts going through their minds everyday. Chris tried everything to stop Em from killing herself. He tried everything to try and change her mind. But it's just like in the TV shows, when someone wants to kill themselves, something is pushing them to do it. Nothing can change their minds. They become afraid and they feel that they have no escape. I bet that's how Em felt.

Summer Sisters

Summer Sisters by Judy Blume is my favorite book. I've read it at least 7 times before. This book is mainly about two girls, Victoria a.k.a Vix and Caitlin, who have been best friends since elementary school. It goes on to them becoming adults and they're story leads on. This book changes perspective. It's written in 3rd person which I though was really interesting.

*SPOILER*

At the end of the book Judy Blume sort of ends it as a cliff hanger. Caitlin leaves for Europe. She left her daughter to her father, Lamb, stepmother, Abby and Vix. Since Caitlin never came back, everyone back on the island had a little a funeral for her. I didn't know weather or not to believe if Caitlin was dead or alive in Europe. She never contacted her family on the island. She didn't even bother to get to know her daughter. And she left her husband. I think Caitlin just wanted everything Vix had. Which is why she married Bru. Everyone knows that Bru was Vix's guy. ALWAYS. Von was Caitlin's. But when they were younger, she always said she wanted both Bru and Von. She just liked Von more. And because she never had a chance to be with Bru, she decided to be with him. She was jealous. Ever since Vix and Caitlin were kids, she always said, "I guarantee you, I'll be the first to do get everything." And Caitlin even confessed to Vix that she didn't know if she actually loved Bru. 

Also, I think Caitlin left to Europe because she was afraid. She was afraid of growing up. And now she was married, she had a wonderful daughter and husband. Caitlin has always been free will, she always did whatever she wanted without thinking. It was like she didn't know what she was doing.
Caitlin: Oh God...I don't even know if I want to marry him.
Vix stiffens.
Caitlin: That shocks you, I suppose? You've never done a single thing you've regretted, have you?
Caitlin: Oh hell...It'll be a good party, anyway.
I thought that this part made me think that Caitlin thought of life as some fun party. She was just marrying Bru because...because she felt like it. And she was asking Vix to be her maid of honor when she is marrying Vix's love.

I really hated Caitlin at the end. I sort of wanted to shake her and say WAKE UP!! this is reality. I mean how can she do this to her best friend?