VOLTAPAGINA WEB
A.S. 2023/2024
BOOK REVIEWS BY 1° G
ANIMAL FARM by GEORGE ORWELL, by ELENA DELL’AIRA Not too long ago I read a book called Animal Farm, it’s a fantasy and sociological novel written by George Orwell. The story is set during the 1940s and the main characters are the animals: Old Major, Napoleon, Snowball and Squealer (the main pigs), Old Benjamin (the donkey), Clover and Boxer (the two cart-horses), Muriel (a white goat), Mollie (one of the sheep), Moses (a raven), the Cat,the dogs, and all the other animals. The story starts when all the animals meet at night to discuss about the brutalities they are subjected to. The Old Major, a very old and wise pig (which are the smartest animals in the farm), starts the speech and goes on about the cruelty and injustice of humans towards animals, and proposes a revolution. Old Major dies the morning after, but the animals hadn’t forgotten his words, and led by Napoleon and Snowball (two really intelligent pigs), they take over the farm and chase away Mr Jones, the owner. From that moment the pigs are the leaders, and they decide to write down 7 commandments that all animals must learn and respect. Snowball quickly makes plans to improve the farm, but starts having angsts with Napoleon. At one point Snowball disappears mysteriously, and Napoleon takes the lead of the farm, in particular thanks to the dogs. From then on, a slow downfall begins, the rules made during the first revolution get modified to manipulate the minds of the animals and subject them to the power by leveraging their ignorance. I genuinely liked everything about the book. I love the metaphors of the animals, the satire and the overall meaning of the novel. I wouldn’t really change anything about it. I find the authorexplains a very difficult topic marvellously, in the simplest possibleway. It’s absolutely one of my favourite books ever and I really recommend it. ELENA DELL’AIRA, classe 1°G, Liceo Scientifico
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A GOOD GIRLS GUIDE TO MURDER by HOLLY JACKSON by DALILA MARIA GANGI The book I recently read is “A Good Girls Guide to Murder” written by Holly Jackson. The story is a thriller. It is about a girl who mysteriously disappears: Andie Bell and a dead boy: Sat, considered the girl’ s killer. The story is set in Little Kilton in April 2012 and Pip is the main character. When somebody in Little Kilton is murdered, Pip decides to try to discover the truth. The case was never closed, and the people thought that the murderer was the boyfriend, Sal. Pip decides to discover what happened. During a school project, Pip becomes interested in the case of Andy Bell. She starts to investigate, but somebody tries to stop her. Pip becomes a friend of Sat's brother, who is called Ravi. Ravi helps Pip to find out the truth. I like this book because there is a lot of suspense and attheand a big surprise. This book will keep you wondering and you'll want to help solve this case. I know for me, I kept trying to guess and figure out who did it. But I was shocked! A investigation deepens, she begins to realise there are a lot more suspects than the original investigation let on, and a lot of dark secrets that people don't want exposed. Then when her own life is threatened, Pip realizes she must figure out the identity of the real killer before she becomes a victim herself. I think that this book is very enthralling and it is difficult to put down, and I've actually already started reading another book by the same author.
THE GREEN MILE by STEPHEN KING by DANIELE VASSALLO The Green Mile is a dark fantasy book written by Stephen King. What in other penitentiaries is called the “Last Mile” in Cold MountainPenitentiaryit is called “The Green Mile” because of thecolour of the flooring,linoleum. The story is told by the old Paul Edgecombe from Georgia Pines NursingHome. He was the supervisor of the Death Row in Cold Mountain, alsoknown as Block E. During his stay in the nursing home, he remembers of the ‘30s and his service in the Block E, when his duty was to keep the prisoners good untilthey would finally sit on Old Sparky and their time would come. So, he startswriting down in his diary about his strange experience. The story begins when “The President” get absolved from his sentence and Bitterbuck gets killed on the Electric Chair. Eduard “Del” Delacroix, an arsonist, rapist and murderercomes to replace them. He’ll be targetedby Percy Wetmore, a mean, petty guard who likes to mistreat prisoners.“Del” will adopt Mr. Jingles, a mouse who appeared in the Blockat the same time of his arrival. In the meantime the Block sees the arrival of another prisoner, JohnCoffey, a well build, tall, black man accused of raping and murdering two littlegirls. Despite the accusations, he doesn’t cause troubles during his stay. In fact, he demonstrates to be really calm and even somy for his crimes. What confuses the guards the most is his apparent healing abilities. The third prisoner is William Wharton, or Billy the Kid, a guy who will create a lot of problems for the guards, knowing he cannot "be fried twice". The Green Mile is surely one of the best books written by Stephen King. The author has been able to make the reader go past the crimes of the prisoners, to make him see them from a different point of view. What he marks the most are the human aspects of the characters, making you even feel sympathy and mercy for the condemned. I also loved the details that Stephen King gives to his story, and the idioms he uses to make the story more personal. But what I loved the most are the introductions and the forewords that King gives to his books. If I had written this book, I wouldn’t have changed anything about it. If I had to recommend this book to someone, I think I would recommend it to young lovers of dark fantasy and thrillers. The well-known film by Frank Darabont is based on the novel and features Tom Hanks as Paul Edgecombe and Michael Clarke Duncan as John Coffey.
SOLITAIRE by ALICE OSEMAN by EMANUELA MARINO The book i recently read is “Solitaire”, written by British author Alice Oseman in 2014. It is her first published book, and it’s a narrative novel for young adults. The story talks about Victoria “Tori” Spring, a sixteen-year-old girl who isn’t very sociable, and doesn’t like having too much contact with people. During the course of Year 12, a mysterious person starts doing pranks in her school, which progressively get worse, and Tori feels like these are all, somehow, connected to her. Her first hint was a trail of post-it notes left on the lockers, which lead to a dismissed Computer Lab. Here, Tori finds an odd video playing on the projector, and the URL to a famous card game website, Solitaire, written on the wall. That is, infact, the name of the culprit: “Solitaire” is the name this mysterious person uses to refer to themself on a blog, where each post ends with the same sentence, “Patience Kills.” In the story, we also see other characters, such as: -Becky Allen, Tori’s bestfriend, who is totally the opposite of her, in terms of personality: she’s outgoing, she likes to hang out with people, and tries to convince Tori to do the same; -Lucas Ryan, Tori’s old friend that suddenly shows up again, after they had cut contacts; -Micheal Holden, a rather strange guy that Tori meets in the Computer Lab, that she will slowly start to care about. By investigating Solitaire’s moves and learning more about it, Tori will spend more time outside and with other people, learning that having friends isn’t that bad, after all. Something i liked about the story is the way it keeps you entertained and leaves you wanting to read more. It surely is an easy read, given the fact that it’s intended for an audience of teenagers and young adults, but at the same time there are unpredictable plot twists. Overall I think the book represents a very nice read, which I would reccomend to all the people that like a nice story with a hint of mystery and no romance. It’s also a great starting point if you want to get into Alice Oseman’s books! One of the covers of the book with the protagonist, Tori.
PARADISE LOST by JOHN MILTON By ANGELO LO PORTO The book I recently had the pleasure to read, is a summary of none other than the renowned poem, 'Paradise Lost,' a masterpiece penned by the celebrated author, John Milton, back in 1667. The narrative of this fascinating book is structured in the form of a poem and it revolves around the deeply intriguing biblical episode of the fall of man from heaven. However, I will be focusing primarily on the aspects of the book that I personally found most captivating, rather than exploring the entire storyline in depth. One of the most compelling aspects of the book is the author’s deliberate decision to focus the narrative around the fallen angel, Satan. Milton's portrayal of Satan is particularly noteworthy: unlike Dante’s Inferno, where evil is personified in its purest form, Milton humanizes this evil entity to such an extent that readers might even find themselves empathizing with the character. This unconventional approach stirred quite a bit of controversy when the book was initially released. As the story unfolds, readers witness the transformation of Lucifer into Satan. Yet, traces of his origin and his past mistakes remain visible: he is a proud and envious angel who manipulates others to further his own cause. This trait is strikingly exemplified when he falls from heaven, declaring that it is “Better to reign in hell than to serve in heaven." What makes the book truly unique is that, despite knowing the plot and outcome of the story, readers can still experience a sense of sadness and empathy for the character’ situations. This attests to the depth of Milton's character development and his ability to elicit emotional responses from his readers While the book is undeniably well-written, there are a few areas that could potentially be improved. I must admit that I only read a summary of the book, but I found the language to be quite tedious at times. Additionally, there are instances where Milton's personal beliefs seemed to be forcibly driven into the narrative. In conclusion, while 'Paradise Lost' is undoubtedly a complex book, it offers an engaging narrative and provides a fresh, intriguing retelling of the events of the biblical episode. It was a pleasure to journey through this story, despite its complexities and controversial elements.
JUJUTSU KAISEN : SORCERY FIGHT by GEGE AKUTAMI by CATALDO DIMITRI CARAMANNA Jujutsu Kaisen is a Japanese comic series written by Gege Akutami.It’s a dark fantasy and action story. In this world the curses that we humans cast on everything , even unconsciously , when we are upset come to life in the form of cursed spirits which become stronger and cleverer as they take on negative feelings such as resentment, remorse, fear and hatred felt by us humans . These supernatural beings have tormented humanity since the dawn of time, casting their curses on them hurting or killing them. Humans are unable to do anything against these beings, since they can neither see nor perceive them , they are thus defenseless and destined to succumb to them , this until the jujutsu sorcerers were born , they are humans capable of perceiving and seeing curses thanks to their ability to manipulate cursed energy, with which they fight curses to exorcise them and save humanity. To this day the society of sorcerers acts in the shadows and continues to fight curses, and this is where we arrive at the beginning of our story. We are in Japan in 2018 where we are introduced to the protagonist, a young and cheerful high school student Yuji Itadori who, due to a series of events, will find himself involved with the world of sorcerers fighting formidable and petty adversaries, getting to know unique characters in the course of his new and turbulent life. Jujutsu Kaisen #1 Yuji Itadori Jujutsu Kaisen #0 (prequel) Things I liked about the story I love everything about this series, the settings chosen are real and contemporary, the characters are well characterized, the power system chosen by the author is wonderful and it definitely is not a happy story like many others of the genre but despite this it always manages to make you smile , even the way the author gets in touch with the reader with references and jokes is kind of nice. Gege Akutami Things I didn’t like about the story To tell the truth, one thing I would change about the story is the way in which some characters are treated, which I would have preferred to have been explored more deeply or used better. Overall : 9\10 I didn't give it a 10 because the story isn't over yet and because I still think it's too early to give it a real rating , so I just put in my personal and current feeling about it. I also recommend watching the animated series, which adds content to the comic as well as making it even better. In any case, this is just my opinion and I hope I've convinced you to read “Jujutsu Kaisen”. Poster of the 2nd season of the animated series written byCataldo Dimitri Caramanna
FINO A QUANDO LA MIA STELLA BRILLERÀ by LILIANA SEGRE by FRANCESCA TOMASELLA A great testimony Milan and Germany,1940-1944 Liliana Segre tells her story during the period of the persecution of the Jews in Germany and Italy.She talks to us about how she discovered she was Jewish, the attempted escape until deportation. The horrors she was forced to experience eandendure until the Americans arrived to save the lucky few. She also tells us about her bond with her family which unfortunately was never able to be reunited and how she then managed to get her life back in hand. It’s a story that struck me to the heart, given that it was experienced by a girl of the same age as me. It’s a dramatic story that raises awareness of the Holocaust. Suggestion for a good read: If you like the types of stories that make you cry, I also recommend you read Primo Levi’s auto-biography ,or Star Girl that deals with similar concepts on diversity.