Overall thought of The Good Thief

I excepted more out of The Good Thief . I found it boring at most  parts and very predictable. I was struggling getting through the last few pages. Although I wanted to abandoned it, I finally finished it.

Things I liked about The Good Thief

• Good setting and imagery

Things I didn't like about The Good  Thief

• Ren didn't learn any lesson
• Ren was not 'good'. He was a bad person
• There was no clear theme
• Ren completely developed in 50 pages
• Uninteresting conflict
• Plot was very predictable

Overall, I would give The Good Thief one star.

I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone. Especially people who get bored reading certain books. Do not waste your money buying this book.

Update on The Good Thief

I am now roughly 200 pages done with The Good Thief. I am not liking this book anymore! I believe it was two post ago when I said I was excited to see what happens next, but i was only 30 pages in. The most exciting parts happen in those first 30 to 50 pages. In the beginning there were some really unexpected plot twist, now they are all predictable! They are pretty much things I have read in other books.

I am kind of mad at the book right now because there is nothing "good" about the main character as the title implies. "It was more money than they made from the church, or the stolen jewelry, or from Mother Jone's Elixir for Misbehaving Children." (Tinti 153) When they were at the church, they pretended Ren was homeless and he got even more money from people because he had a missing hand. They also dug up dead bodies and took the jewelry, they sold stolen dead bodies, and they deceived people by selling people a fake misbehaving elixir. It's not like Benjamin and Tom was forcing Ren to do these things. He wanted to! "He wanted to please Benjamin, but he has never done a job by himself." (Tinti 127) Ren wasn't giving the money to the poor, he was using it for himself! How is he any way good? He became friends with a murder! Ren knew he was a murder before he became friends with him. The murdered is not sorry for what he did and Ren still stands up for him!

This book is just making me angry at it! I hope the ending is better!

Analysis of The Good Thief

Although I'm only about half way through The Good Thief,  there were some parts that I had to reread, so I could understand it better. I thought I would share my analysis of certain lines and passages I had to reread.

"A few minutes later Brother Joseph came to gather the children, and said, 'Get to the statue.'" (Tinti 4) At this point in the story, all you know is the main character is in a Catholic orphanage and some man is there to adopted a child. I got really confused when he told the boys to go to the statue even though the man was out front. I read it again and I finally realized they were going to the statue to pray. I infer this by knowing that the orphanage was a Catholic orphanage.

"He stared past the farmer at a maple tree just beyond the stone wall, it's fall leaves beginning to turn. Soon those leaves would be a different color, and then the wind come, and the tree would look like something else completely." (Tinti 9) This is after the head of the orphanage tells the man not to adopted Ten because he's missing a hand. I think what the author is trying to show with the passage is the things around him will keep on changing, but Ren will always stay at the orphanage because nobody wants to adopted a child with out a hand.

"'All right.' Benjamin let go. 'Is that what you wanted to hear?'
'No.'
The man reached over, took hold of the lantern, and blew it out. Night enveloped the barn 'Well,' he said at last to the darkness in between them, 'that's when you know it's the truth.'" (Tinti 48) I was very confused when I first read this passage. Benjamin had told two completely different stories about how Ren's parents died. I infered here thought Benjamin didn't really know what happened. But, if he did, he wouldn't tell him because it was  horrible.

The Good Thief

 

I just started the book, The Good Thief by Hannah Tinti, today. My brother read this book for his summer reading project, so I thought I would read it too.

Even though I am only on Chapter 5, The Good Thief has kept me on the edge of my seat. It is about an orphan boy named Ren, who is about 12 years old. (They don't say his actual age, but a character in the book said he looked 12ish.)  Ren has been at the Saint Anthony's orphanage, since he was a baby .He has not been adopted yet because he's missing a hand. Ren was just dropped off at the doorstep, so no one knows anything about his back round. I think this book takes place in the late 1800s or early 1900s because they talk about clashes with Indians and the priest at the orphanage whips the kids even for a small thing, like not saying who beat you up.

Ren is a thief, but he steals small things like bread and books. Inferring from the title, I'm guessing later in the book Ren starts stealing things for the poor, like Robin hood. I don't want to spoil too much, so let's just say I'm at a point in the book where I don't know what's going to happen next!

In conclusion, The Good Thief  has been a good read so far. 

 

In the picture, the boys left hand is missing!



Amped

I just finish the book, Amped.  While wordy, the book was interesting to read. I was in the edge of my seat until the very end of the book. There were many plot twists in the book. Some were predictable, but most of them were unexpected. Here is my overall thought of Amped by Douglas E. Richards:

 

 

I liked that the story was being told from different characters point of views, not just one. I thought the book was very detailed. But, this means you had to really pay attention to the detail to understand the book. I liked how the plot twists wanted to make you keep reading on. However, there were some chapters that were just explaining the complicated science involved. I thought this could be boring at times, but I'm glad the author included science into his writing. I also liked how the characters, and the plot were developed through out the book. The setting was not developed because it was constantly changing. I liked this because the different places meant different obstacles for the characters to overcome.

 

Overall, I liked the book and I would give it four stars! I would recommend this book to a mature audience, and people who are interested in science.  

Reading skills I've used while reading Amped

Amped  by Douglas E. Richards is a challenging book due to the deep scientific analysis in the book. Through out the book, I have made predictions, asked questions, looked up words I didn't know, and made connections,

Predictions

You have to really consider Amped to understand it. Making prediction has helped me accomplish this.  "The moment it hit, Jake felt though the weight of the world has been lifted from his shoulders. There was no end to possible threats from WMD , but none were like this one. Given Miller's ability to dole out superhuman intelligence and Desh's training and skills, he had eliminated what he was convinced were the two most formidable people on the planet." (Richards 25%) This quote is describing when Jake bombed Kira  Miller and David Desh's headquarters and heat sensors showed that they were inside. I knew that they wouldn't be dead because they are the two main characters. Then i thought, how could the escape a bomb that they didn't know was coming that torched the whole felicity? I then predicted that Kira must of planted heat sensors that made it look like their was two people in there but there was really no body in the building.

Another prediction I made was when Kira gave her self up, so David and Seth Rosenblatt could be set free. I immediately knew the Kira wouldn't just give her self up to the people trying to Kira. She probably had a plan to escape. Kira was shot by a stun gun and when she woke up, she kept asking what the time was. I knew that something was going to happened at certain time because Kira wanted know how long before it was going to happen.

Questions I asked/Words I looked up

There are many chapters in Amped where it's just explaining the science going on. This really confused me, so I had a lot of questions about it. "'So relative velocities Ire just a matter of addition of subtraction." (Richardson 35%) My first thought was, what's relative velocity? So, i looked it up. Here's a link I use to understand relative velocity and thus, understanding what the character was saying in the quote.

There is a point in the book where Kira is kidnapped by her own scientist that adores her. He kept on saying: "I'm sorry for this, I think you are amazing women." I started to think: If she was an amazing women, then why are you kidnapping her? Is somebody threatening you to do this? How did you get a hold of these weapons? And so on. This part of the books leaves you hanging until Kira's kidnapper finally explains himself chapters later. 

I have to look up many words while reading Amped. Some of those word are, galactic, pious, distilled, and conjecture.

Connections

Text to text:

I made a connection of Amped and the Maximum Ride books by James Patterson. In Amped, there are several narrators through out the book. The narrators are main characters, minor characters and the author. Amped is centers around science. From new technology, to the pills that boost your IQ and aliens. Amped's chapters are short, but there is a lot of them. The Maximum Ride books set up is almost exactly like Amped's. The Maxium Ride books also includes many narrators and not just the main characters. The Maximum Ride books are centered around kids who were experimented on and has bird DNA. Both books included a fantasy factor and a science factor.

Text to world: 

In Amped,  the ship that all the greatest scientist are on, who are trying to stop the Alien nanites from destroying the earth, is called Copernicus. Copernicus was a brilliant scientists who discovered the heliocentric theory that led to the rejection of the geocentric theory. I think Richards purposely called the ship Copernicus, so people can make the connection and realize the scientists want to make a break through like Copernicus.

Text to self:

I personally connected to the character Colonel Jacobson, aka Jake. Jake is very determined to finish the job he is given. Jake has trouble being convinced that some thing is untrue when he is told otherwise. Jake is very true to his word and never breaks a promise. In some ways, I see myself in Jake. We are both determined, stubborn, and trustworthy.





Characters in "Amped"

I am currently reading the book "Amped" by Douglas E. Richards. "Amped" is the sequel to "Wired". The story follows a women name Kira Miller who has discovered how to raise human IQ temporarily  to levels that are off the IQ scale, but there is a catch. While enhanced you become absolutely ruthless, and its very hard to control your actions. There's somebody after Kira Miller who wants to use her IQ pills for all the wrong reasons.

Kira Miller is a very complex character. In the book, "Amped" Kira is very developed because she was developed in the previous book. But, she continues to be shaped and refined. For example, Kira would never just give her self up to the enemy. Kira is very invested in self-pride. Kira begins to develop into a person who would sacrificed for the ones she loves. "'That's right. Me for the two of them.'" (Richardson 33%) A man named Jake, who is trying to kill Kira, captures her husband, David Desh, and a fellow scientist, Seth Rosenblatt.  She offers her self up, they can be set free. The quote shows Kira talking to Jake, presenting her offer. Kira doing this creates a plot twist because you except Kira to break David and Seth out, not give her self up.

Kira is a take-charge kind of women. She listens to others, but ultimately does what she thinks is right and she is a natural leader. In multiple situations, Kira makes the decision. An example is when Kira was kidnapped by her own friend, she did not wait for rescue, she devised a  plan to make an escaped. She is so brilliant, even without her IQ pill, that she escaped while wearing a straightjacket and being strapped down to a chair.

The other characters in the book, marvel at Kira Miller for her brilliance, even those who want to kill her. "'I have to admit," said Kolke, 'I always thought you were giving Kira too much credit. She couldn't possibly be as good as you thought. But I was wrong. I still can't believe what she was able to do. In addition to you, she took out four of our men without even breaking a sweat, and then managed to run a gauntlet and somehow escape.'" (Richardson 46%) Kolke is Jake's right hand man. He believe that Kira was going to destroy the world, but he still admires her. "David laughed out loud . "'Weak? Your will is stronger than any man or woman I know." (Richardson 53%) David thinks Kira is the strongest person in the world. Kira has this affect on people by her actions, words, and accomplishments 

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