The Dinner Part 2

  Hello everyone, I am back this week with another blog post, I hope everyone is having a fantastic week, in this weeks blog I will be talking about chapters 15-31 of The Dinner . I also would like to thank everyone who commented on my last blog!!

  One of the things I would like to talk about is the relationship between Paul and Michel, in specific I would like to talk about the moment when Paul found his sons phone in his pocket. One of the things that interested me the most was how Paul thinks that his son does not respect him, when Paul was talking to Michel on the phone he says how "grateful he is that Michel still calls him "Dad" and not "Paul"." (Kock 104).  Like Paul, I personally believe that calling your parents by their first name is weird and defies the whole purpose of being a parent. The first time I realized that my mom name is not mom I was surprised, I got so excited about it I started calling my mom by her real name at first as a joke. My mom laughed about it the first few times, but when I first did it at a family gathering she got really mad and did not talk to me for the rest of the day, after that day I never called my mom by her first name again. I personally find Paul and Michel relationship really annoying, like Paul talks about personal space and how he respects his sons personal space. But a few seconds later he goes on his sons phone and look at his personal videos. Like Paul just:    

  Another thing I would like to talk about is the disrespect Michel and the others showed the homeless woman, like to that to an animal is bad but to a human being! They killed her, this makes me hate Michel and everyone else so much. First of all they threw a gas can next to her and threw a lighter next to it, after that "You saw a flash of light, a flash that overexposed everything at once" ( Kock 129 ). To make things worse they were enjoying it, Paul then decided to be the "cool" dad and not do anything too hurt his feelings. This kinda reminds me of The Lord Of The Flies and how everyone by the end of the book lost their innocents, just like Micheal and his cousins after killing a person. I personally think that you should never look down on someone unless your helping them, that is how I have been raised like if I was Paul I would have taken him to the police. But will that really be enough, think about the family members she has. The question I have for you guys is, do you still like Michel and how this incident changed his personality? What makes this event more sad is that it happens in real life too....

The Dinner Chapter 1-16

  The first section of The Dinner by Herman Kock was very interesting, it gives you a lot of information that makes you want to keep reading. However, one of the things that made me dislike the book was how slow pace it was in the beginning, I also found it very descriptive which was both an advantage and disadvantage. Like who knew someone could describe the food he's eating for half a chapter, it also took us about 4 chapters to know the narrators name ( Paul ) like you should talk less about the food and tell us your name. Some things that I liked about the book was how we had a choice of what book to read unlike The Namesake, I also liked how the book does not give much information about Serge Lohman which makes you want to keep reading. What do you guys think about the book, what do you like and dislike about it?    

  The first thing I would like to talk about is when the narrator first introduces Babette, Paul describes her as a tall person a tall person compared to him. Paul then talks about how in high school he had a friend who was 6 feet tall, he describes how it felt to stand next to him Paul says "how tiring it could be always to be standing next to someone who towered head and shoulders above you, as though they were literally standing in his shadow" ( Kock 31 ). I was very short guy when I was young, my cousins were so much taller than me back, I remember at one point my sister who is 2 years younger than me was my height. It felt like I was in their shadows literally, just like how Paul felt at high school but unlike Paul it also applied metaphorically, what I mean by this is that they were also smarter than me so I had a rough childhood. My whole perspective changed when I started playing soccer, unlike basket ball which I tried playing and all I ever got back was a participation medal, size was something important in soccer and it made me feel comfortable about my height. At that time I also started watching Lionel Messi who was a short soccer player, after seeing Messi overcome his growth hormone deficiency and became the best player in the world it really showed me that size does not matter.  

Old picture of my sister and I, we always saw eye to eye back then( dum tmm tss ).

  Later in the novel Paul talks about how the waiter keeps getting to close to his food, at one point Paul says "This was the closest he had come to me this evening"( Kock 45 ). This raises a big issue, personal space some people have non like the waiter and some people take it way to far. I personally tend to get way too close to people when I am talking to them, since I was born and raised in an Arab country people their do not really give you any. So when I first came to Canada I used to get way to close to people since it was just the way I was raised, so it took me a while to get used to it. But when I got used to it I had to go back to Kuwait in the summer, so in family gathering I sat so far from everyone it did not help that I had such a big family. Do you think that Paul is taking this too far, like the waiter is not touching his food or does he have the right to?        

  Finally I would like to talk about Serge Lohman the narrators brother, we do not really get much information about him, all we really know is that he is a rich person. When we are first introduced to Serge he seemed  like an arrogant person who loves everything his way, this is shown by how he chose the restaurant they were going to. We also figure out the apparently Serge beats ( assumption ) his wife, Paul says how her eyes were " red around the edges and bigger than normal: unmistakable signs for recent crying" ( Kock 32). This makes the readers question  if Serge really is who he says he is, he could be hiding something but what could it be ? We can also tell that fame changed Serge, Paul says how his sudden love for wine seems suspensions since Serge never really cared about wine that much. What do you guys think about Serge, is he misunderstood or is he just an evil person? I personally think that there was a fight between both brothers that lead to them not liking each other, like I personally do not mind if someone changed, for the better at least.  

  Ultimately I think it was a great read although really slow paced it seems to work, it makes you want to keep reading to find what happens and what happened between Paul and Serge ? Please tell me in the comments on what I could improve about the blog :) Thank you and I will see all of you ( like 5 people ) next week. 

    

The Namesake chapters 8-12

  I am really sad this novel is over. Like I said in my first blog I totally expected to hate this book, but as I continued reading this novel I really fell in love with most of the characters in the novel since we have so much in common. I was really happy that Gogol finally found himself, but I felt like the novel kept getting worse as I read the book, but even with all these flaws I really enjoyed the book as a whole.

  One of the first things I would like to talk about is the relationship between Gogol and Moushumi, but like most relationships they had their "good times" and bad times. One of the things I hated the most in their relationship was how little they cared about one another, in the novel it says that they "didn't argue, they still had sex and yet he wondered. Did he still make her happy" ( Lahiri 271 ). Like instead of complaining why doesn't he try and fix it, I personally believe that if they just talked to each other it would have ended differently, even if it doesn't work and it still ended with a divorce at least  they could have at least ended on good terms and could have avoided Moushumi cheating on Gogol.

"Now Gogol this is what true evil looks like" 

   Now its all over, I hope you enjoyed my blog and now to end it this blog with a question since a lot of people like the idea. What do you think about The Nakesake, what did you like and did not like ? 

The Namesake Chapter's 5-7

Hello everyone, I am back this week with another blog post, I hope everyone is having a fantastic week and if you aren't I hope laughing at my pain makes you feel better. I also would like to thank everyone who commented on my last blog!!!  

One of the things that I would like to talk about are expectations in general. In the novel The Namesake the readers can clearly see how Gogol parents expectations help develop his character, this is shown when Gogol says how "his parents expect him to be, if not an engineer, then a doctor, a lawyer" ( Lahri 105 ). Gogol talks about how he did not tell his parents that he registered for a drawing class, like Gogol my family my family ( mostly grandparents ) have certain expectations I have to meet. Being the only guy in the family ( father side ) my grandmother puts a lot of pressure on me, like every time I would give my grandmother her medications she would always say that "I would be a great doctor and that I should become one since I should represent my families name in a positive way", but when I tell her that seeing blood makes me really dizzy she says that I should get over it and man up . My parents have a different perspective since they are more "westernized", so they just want me to have a job that I love ( which isn't a doctor ). The question I have for you is, do you think where your parents lived  or how their raised affect what their expectations are ?    

My grandmother and I 

Another thing that I can relate to is how little you now about a countries culture. Maxine attends Ashoke's funeral wearing black ( instead of white ), which is considered impolite this shows how knowing nothing about a countries culture can lead you into every awkward moments. I had a similar experience, but unlike Maxine it did not offend as many people. In 2011 I visited Canada for the very first time, I came to LDHSS for a visit to and I met his random guy. We talked for a bit and then he had to go to class, I shook his hand which is like how you say goodbye in most countries in the world and left. But I forgot about the fist bump and I just left him hanging  I never knew about me leaving  him hanging until the next day when my sister told me about it, she also told me how he acted like he was cracking his knuckles when I ignored him. Then 3 years later the same thing happened on my first day at LDHSS, but unlike last time the guy insisted that I would not leave him hanging. The question I have for you is, who was the person responsible for Maxine attending a funeral wearing black instead of white ?

Welcome to Waked's Library!!!

Welcome to Waked's Library, here we are going to review the novel The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahri.I also will give my personal option and how I can relate to the novel, if you like what you see hit that follow button and if you do not comment on how i should improve it.