Monthly Review 2

The Forever War is a gripping science fiction novel that masks strong themes of the Vietnam War. In this novel a man named William Mandella is the protagonist. He is drafted into the army for his intelligence and shipped into space to fight an unknown enemy, and because they go through time when they go really fast through space the universe ages much faster than they do. And when he returns the world is no longer as it once was. So he reenlists. He goes through several more battles with his girlfriend and they go to a planet that is not as hostile as earth but they have to go back into the army but are separated and because of the time differences his girlfriend will be dead long before he returns, if he even returns. But all in all this is a great book.

1. What was the author's purpose(s) in writing this book, and how can you tell? How well was this purpose achieved?
I believe that the authors purpose in writing this book was to spread knowledge about a subject that everyone was scared to talk about, Vietnam. In fact I'm positive, he said so himself in the intro to the book. But nevertheless, that was his purpose and the fact that that message still gets through to my generation 30 years later, is pretty impressive.
One way I can tell this is his purpose is he said so himself, but ignoring that fact, there are themes throughout the book. First of all, the title The Forever War is representative of the Vietnam War since that was the U.S.'s longest war. And in the beginning, not knowing what the enemy looked like, or even if you could kill them in the same ways. In their first engagement the humans slaughter the enemy because they didn't know what to do.
The main character Mandela has the author's name, Haldeman, in it if you get rid of the H and turn alde into "dela" and then swap that and "man", and Haldeman is a Vietnam vet. When he returned to his home, the world seemed alien to him, the economy was a lot worse, the speech had changed, it was much more dangerous, it was one third homosexual. Drastic changes like these are changes that veterans would experience when they returned home. With this and the overall treatment of the soldiers, you can't help but see the similarities to the Vietnam War.

2. For what audience(s) is this book intended, and how can you tell? (In other words, for whom would you recommend this book?)
This book was probably intended for the Veterans of the Vietnam war, because it definitely wasn't for any other people during that time, because no one wanted to talk about it. Hardly anyone would even publish the book because it was so controversial. But writing such a timeless novel as this, he probably knew that younger generations would like this book as well. It stays current, if I had no idea that this book was written in the 70s, I would've thought it was a brand new book. It just has that feel to it.
As I said in the last letter, anyone who is old enough to read this (maturity-wise probably like 14 or 15) should definitely read this book. It's pretty awesome. Also anyone who has read Brave New World might like this book as there are similar themes and the author even writes "O brave new world" and uses words like "conditioning" to describe human behavioral modification. And there is an lot of sex in this book, as is in Brave New World, hence the recommended maturity age. But, yeah, otherwise it's good, so read this book, fer sherrrrrrrr.

5. Find out about the author. How did they end up writing this particular book? Is the author's true life reflected in the book in any way(s)?
The author is a winner of the Hugo and Nebula awards, basically this book is the more modern day Great Gatsby of science fiction, or really any genre for that matter. Seriously, it's hella good. Haldeman is a veteran of the Vietnam war, which explains the underlying themes and purpose of writing this book. And he has written a great sci fi book every other year since his first book (this book), The Forever War. He was, or maybe still is, I'm not sure yet, a creative writing professor at MIT, and has taught some of todays greats in the science fiction genre.
The authors life is reflected in many ways throughout the book, starting with the main characters name. As I said earlier, it's the same as the authors, if you switch the letters around and get rid of the "H". Also, the main characters girlfriend's name is Margay Potter. Haldeman's wife's name is Mary Gay and her maiden name is Potter. Plus, Haldeman is as I said, a Vietnam vet, and this book is basically the Vietnam War with science fiction slapped on top of it, so this book is basically his experience in the war. Much like F. Scott Fitzgerald relating his life in the Great Gatsby. Which makes it seem like the modern day Great Gatsby. Like I may have mentioned before. Basically, this authors life is reflected in the book, but subtly as any good author does.

As I said. This is an amazing book, I wouldn't hyave changed it if I could, except for the physics, because it is more or less perfect. Haldeman did a really superb job of writing this book. A romantic subplot, an impactful war, and a universe that is changing around the main character. It really doesn't get any better than this.

lit cirlce letter 3

Now that I have read this book all the way through, I have to say this is now my favorite book ever. The way it is written alone just makes it such a good book. The descriptions are pretty good, and he writes with a great flow. The themes he uses also kick ass because this can either be interpreted as a science fiction novel or a synopsis of the Vietnam War.
The plot of the book is great as well. There is so much darkness and unhappiness throughout the book but it still manages to have an upbringing and awesome ending. This is probably the only novel I would consider reading again. I'm really glad I bought it. Its just such an amazing book.
It has the perfect amount of maturity in it too. It isn't too gory most of the time and it isn't overly sexual like brave new world, although Haldmen does use a lot of themes from that book. Such as saying o brave new world, using conditioning to describe behavior modification, and the clone society at the end. But I digress... this novel is completely awesome and EVERYONE should read it at some point.

Justice

However little justice there is in this world, there is one thing you can rely on, and that's Justice. Doesn't make any sense I know, unless you are familiar with the band, then you know exactly what I'm talking about. Justice is, in my opinion, the best electronic duo ever conceived. There is no possible way you can't like them. If you are from the age of the disco... you will like them. If you are of my generation you will like them. If you are a hermit who has lived there entire life isolated from music and people, you will most definitely like them. They don't have a single bad original, remix, or mix. They can appeal to almost any person and apply all elements of music to their and still come out with a totally unique, yet electronica-ish song. And it just makes you want to move.
Get their album Cross (ignore the stupid adds). I don't care if you have to slaughter a thousand puppies, you wont regret it when you here this album. The employ everything from timpani's to a horn section. Every song features all different kinds of bases, including a punchy, probably slapped, string bass that gives it its somewhat disco-y sound. They even have a song, Valentine, that's sounds like Ratatat based their music off of, kinda. I found their complete discography and it's just an absolute delight. It has a version of D.A.N.C.E. on there called the Benny Blanco mix and it features Mos Def and Spank Rock, the song is amazing! And I made a mix with it with a few other songs
D.A.N.C.E. is probably their most current sounding song and it came out years ago, and still pretty much everyone I've showed it too has fallen in love with the band , plus the music video kicks ass. My only complaint about them is they don't really have any of the t-shirts readily available, watch the video and you'll know. And, unlike most really good bands, they're still together, and the new stuff on their MySpace doesn't disappoint. Their creativity flows like the Mississippi, except their music is waaay cooler than that river.
One of he cooler thing about them is how mixable they are. Anyone can take a Justice song and remix and make it their own, easily. I don't know what it is about them but for a long while they have been my favorite band. And they really need to start touring again because I need to see them live before I die. Their live mixes can be even better than the originals, which is pretty impressive.

Lit Circle Letters 1-2

The Forever War is probably now one of my favorite books that I've read. It's really good and the parallels to war, Vietnam in specific, are unprecedented. This book also sounds like it could've been written yesterday. It's so timeless, its hard to remember that it was written in the 70s. I've never found a book that's been so old yet could be so current. With Brave New World I could tell it was older, but this one, it definitely stays current. The only thing that confuses me about this is the "physics". I've been told that they are made up, which frankly, makes a lot of sense, because they don't make any. And I think it detracts from the glory of this novel. No ones going to understand it anyways why include it, to take up space?
Other than that this book is brilliant. Basically what happens in the first section is an introduction into the world of war in the 1990s and it isn't pretty. Only half the people survive through the training. I don't know if that's what it was in 'Nam, but I hope it wasn't. And then They land on one of the enemies planets and have the first encounter with the Taurans in which there are many similarities to Vietnam. It was a very gory and disturbing battle. Its this way with most of the book for that matter. There's lots of sex, lots of gory descriptions in the way people were killed or injured. But that's part of what makes this an awesome book. I can also see why almost no one, during the time period he wrote it, would publish it. It has very controversial and, as I said, disturbing content.
In this second section, the soldiers are traveling to the next world and are attacked by the enemy, one third of the soldiers are instantly killed and lots more die and get injured, so they return to Earth. The rest of the section is basically about the different world they returned to. One third of the population is gay, there is a universal currency, lots of people are unemployed, and very violent. The deaths of most the main characters families bring them to reenlist as trainers on the moon, but they get swindled and shipped back out into space.
It must have seemed like a different world to the vets returning from the Vietnam war, it probably didn't help the characters out that they had only aged two years when the world had aged 25. Which was something I didn't get, more of the made-up physics. And the fact that the army put them back into space seemed like just the kind of swindling that the army would've done back in the day (the nonfictional 70s). That's all I really have to report so far. This is a great book so far. It's got love, sex, violence, drugs, the works. I would for sure recommend this to anyone 14 and up, because there are some pretty mature subjects. So far I'd give it an A, it's not nearly as weird as the last book I read.

3rd Statement of Purpose

What are my current goals as a writer? Mostly to get better. What that necessarily constitutes is the important part. I really would like to be able to flow with my writing and stay formal, but I can't seem to be able to flow that well in essays in other subjects. I think that would be cool. Another thing I would like to do is not wine as much. Most of my posts are blah, blah, blah, this is stupid. blah, blah, blah this sucks. I would like to break that habit a little more often.
I would also like to blog more often, because there are seldom other grades in the English class and my grade always suffers when I miss one. I think the key to this is doing it early in the week instead of Friday because I'm usually out Friday and can't find time to do it. So I will try hard to finish them on block days and if I don't I will finish them after school on that day. But that shouldn't be too hard of a problem to fix permanently.
Another thing that I would like to do is to focus less on music. And I know I've said this before but I can never seem to come up with anything decent when it is time to write except for stuff in regards to music. I guess I need to get more experience in other area's in order to know more stuff about them that I fell like I should express in my blog. Of course, it may be much simpler than that. Maybe I am just meant to write, play, and talk about music.
As much as I would like to write about other stuff, I think I will just stick with whatever pops (I almost wrote poops) into my head first, because that seems to work for me when I actually get around to doing my blog posts. Unfortunately (or maybe not) that always seems to be music because I love it so much. Naturally, I would like my writing ability to better as I progress. And I've been told that it has been getting better and I believe that is because of the amount we are usually writing for your class, as I stated would help in my first statement of purpose.
I know this one's a bit short but I'm really tires and as usual for the weekends, I am somewhat pressed for time.