The Secret Life of Bees (Pgs. 1-102)

Summary: The Secret life of Bees, written by Sue Monk Kidd, a New York Times best-seller is about a little girl that tries to find a piece of herself. The first section that I read seemed to pave the way for the rest of the book. In the first 6 chapters (the first section), a little girl named Lily Owens lives with her father and their African-American house mother, after the death of her biological mother. Lily Owens is introduced living in a rough environment with her father, he is constantly neglecting her needs as a growing girl, and she feels like she has nobody to turn to, except her African-American house mother. Lily constantly feels like she is blamed for her mother's death because her father insists that it was her fault. With nowhere left to turn after being placed in a difficult predicament involving racism, Lily finds herself escaping her hometown with her house mother, traveling to Tiburon, South Carolina. The reason for the specific escape to Tiburon, South Carolina instead of any other city is because on the back of an old picture her mother possessed (from the select few that were left), Tiburon was written.
Quote: "My first and only memory of my mother was the day she died." (Kidd 5).
Reaction: Growing up without a mother is difficult for a fourteen year old girl, who was only five when her mother passed away. Along with not having a mother to be her guide in life, Lily's father wants nothing to do with her. They [Lily and her father] are practically strangers in the same house. Occasionally they will speak to each other, but their conversations do not happen on a regular basis. As Lily tells her life story, the point of view is being told from innocent eye. Here is this fourteen year old that doesn't understand too much about racism, even though she has grown up around it all her life. What this first section reminded me of was To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, where a little girl is going through life with such a naive mindset, guiding readers as her life picks up the pace.

Blonde Ambition pgs. 184- 233

Summary: To conclude Blonde Ambition, Zoey Dean ends the story with a happy ending. The guy that Anna had come to know while working with Cammie's father, is the guy that Anna falls in love with at the end. It seemed that all the trouble that Cammie went through to try and steal Danny from Anna was not really worth it. Anna ultimately ended up with the guy that she thought that she could never have a future with because she was previously in a relationship. With Cammie, she just had to realize that Anna was now going to be apart of her life. Cammie's father really liked Anna and if Cammie didn't change the ways she treated Anna, her life was going to become miserable.
Quote: "Anything was possible. Anything."(Dean 233).
Reaction: Now that Anna is well liked by Cammie's father and officially apart of his 'Hermosa Beach' team, Cammie has no other choice but to like Anna. Things seem to be looking up for Anna because of the positive attitude that Anna had when encountering any situation. Instead of trying to getting even, tit-for-tat action with Cammie, Anna knew where her mindset was going to take her. By Anna believeing that anything was possible, she proved it. Throughout the novel, i didn't like how Zoey Dean stuck to the classic, cliche,` mean girls plot, but after i read the end, i see that the plot worked out. By Anaa leaving her comfort zone, which is home, to explore life on her own, she encountered some obstacles that made her successful in the end. Also, what i liked at the end was how Anna returned back home to her family; she returned back to her comfort zone.

Blonde Ambition pgs. 133-184

Summary: Cammie is still treating Anna like a peasant in the street. Cammie's father is the producer of Hermosa Beach, a new hit TV show in hollywood, and Cammie uses that against Anna. Cammie uses her father as something to hold over Anna's head; anything wrong that Anna does to Cammie, Cammie has the authority to tell her father. Right now in her life, Cammie has a boyfriend named Ben but there is also another guy that Anna really likes. What Cammie tries to do is steal Anna's new 'guy friend.' Zoey Dean specifically dedicates a chapter to the actions that Cammie takes to try and still this guy away from Anna. What i question is whether this plot will have a classic cliche` ending, which is Cammie realizing all the wrong things she's done to Anna, and ultimately changing her personality at the end of the story.

Quote: "So she pulls Danny close and kissed him back."(Dean 183)

Reaction: As I'm reading, I'm noticing more and more that the way that Zoey Dean writes appeals to me like Gossip Girl. The Gossip Girl novel takes the same approach as Zoey Dean when telling a story about life in a busy city. I feel more like I am watching something like 'the young and the restless' rather than reading a bildungsroman novel.

Blonde Ambition pgs. 88-133

Summary: In chapters 10 through 14, the readers learn more about the boss's daughter. The boss's daughter is named Cammie, and I already see that she is going to be a problem. Zoey Dean portrays Cammie as the clichè mean girl whose main purpose in the story is to make Anna's life a living hell, which is true, because Cammie is. Cammie's father is a famous big shot who spoils and corrupts her with the money that he earns for his exclusive productions. We, the readers, meet Cammie when we meet her father and she doesn't seem very friendly. Cammie intimidates Anna on the first day of the production, automatically giving the readers a sense of who she is.
Quote: "And then, to show her who was the boss..." (Dean 101)
Reaction: My overall reaction, from reading this section, was a little surprised. I was shocked that Zoey Dean would take this route as an author, take the route of making almost clearly visible good guys and bad guys. The readers clearly see that Cammie is the bad guy in the novel, intimidating naive Anna. I noticed that Cammie tries to get the upper hand when dealing with Anna. I also see that the story may become a bit redundant because in the small amount of time that Anna has worked for Cammie's dad, Cammie has mentally abused Anna. This seems like something that may keep repeating because Anna is by herself with nobody to defend. I think of Anna's situation with Cammie as "dog eat dog" because Anna is trying to establish her name in a "dog eat dog world" such as Hollywood.

Blonde Ambition pgs. 45-88

Summary: In chapters 5 through 10, Anna is finally beginning to live on her own without her family. He sister, Susan had recently been checked into rehab, and Anna never used to talk to her parents before, so they are out of the picture as well. With Anna's new job falling into place as an intern on a hit show called Hermosa Beach, she is really started to get her life together. Anna had to remove herself from her parents and her sister to pursue her life as an intern. The only newly found problem that may become a conflict for Anna is her boss's daughter. The readers don't know to much about the boss's daughter, but i think that she may be a significant figure in the novel.
Quote:"I put myself in your more than capable hands" (Dean 44)
Reaction: So far, i can tell that this book has some bildungsroman elements. The readers can see that Anna has to leave her safe place to make something of herself. Anna's safe place is under her parent's watchful eye. At the beginning of the novel, Anna told the readers that she often gets check-ups from her family. As she is on her own, the check-up calls that Anna receives are becoming more and more less frequent than at the beginning. Also, Anna is creating her home away from home, which is her job as a TV intern. The big responsibility that she is gaining is making her grow up a lot more. I think that by the end of the novel, I will notice a change in the way that Anna is being portrayed by Zoey Dean. The responsibility is going to make her change more than any other factor in the novel, like her family or her relationship with the boss's daughter.

Blonde Ambition Pgs. 1-45

Summary: In chapters 1 through 5, the readers find out about Anna Percy's life. The readers discover that Anna likes to live in the moment with her boyfriend, Ben. Also, we discover that Anna' s family, although extremely rich, have a lot of problems. Anna's older sister, Susan has problems with herself, and their family is falling apart. Susan has a bad relationship with her parents because of a recent incident that happened while Susan was in college, and Anna is caught in the middle of their feud. Now Susan has arranged for herself to go to rehab, and the family is supportive of this decision. Also in these chapters, the readers see that Anna has a hard time finding herself. Anna has her eyes set on the type of career she wants, and how she is going to make it to that career, but she doesn't know who she is.
Quote:"But for the first time in her life she looked, she thought, wild and free. Those were two adjectives that never came to anyone's mind in describing her, she was certain."
Reaction: This quote relates to the overall story because the readers find out a little bit of what Anna is like. We, the readers, know that Anna is not a spontaneous person, she likes to plan and analyze the next step she makes. I think that throughout this book, the idea of bildungsroman will be found when Anna identifies who she is. I predict that Anna will leave her safe place, which is living by her parents, to find out who she is. By venturing off on her own, without the eyes of her parents and her sister on her, Anna will do what she wants to find out who she is. Zoey Dean uses 3rd person omniscent POV going through the story, so i know what each person is thinking, which helps me analyze what is going on, especially during Anna's family trouble.

Lucky pgs. 159-232

Summary: In these chapters (11-13), Alice is experiencing a lot of things within her life. So far, Alice had been sexually abused by an African American stranger, around her college dorm, during her freshman year. Along with this, Alice finds out that her mother is pregnant around the same time as her court trial and her older sister can't make it to her court trial because of her college business that she has to attend to. To top everything off, Alice's new roommate at college was raped as well. To leave the place of her rape, just to come back again and find out that her roommate was raped, is ironic. I think that throughout this novel, Alice sebold played with a lot of ironic ideas. At the end of the novel, Alice seemed to be trying to get her life back together; re-inventing herself.
Quote: "Rape would not follow me."(Sebold 232).
Reaction: I like how the Alice played with irony thoughout the story. She used irony on the title, 'Lucky,' which Alice never seemed to be. She also played with irony when Alice returns to her college and her roommate was sexually abused as well. The connection that the quote has with the story is that at the end of the story, Alice seemed to be completely re-inventing herself. Alice did not let the rape control to much of her life, although it often terrified her to think about. She reassured herself that her past would remain her past for as long as it could.