All right, here's my first go at it (and because I need a break from a writing project).

I didn't plan for the write up to be this long but I'll work on the others to make them shorter. Honestly, I've already read up to Part I, Chapter VII but, yeah, I just wanted to see how this goes.

I enjoyed it more than I thought I would.

SPOILERS & LONG POST AHEAD--->

PART I

I. The New Pupil

The story starts out as a mini biography of—not exactly the protagonist—but an important character nevertheless, Charles Bovary.

Charles is described as,

"a country boy, about fifteen years old... His hair was cut straight across his forehead...he looked sensible and shy."

Apparently, this is the first time he went to school later we find out why, but, from his description alone, Charles came off to me as a Momma's boy and not to impressive/interesting (if he were a real person in real life). A key thing to note in MB is Flaubert's use of excessive detail, but I won't go into it (just something I thought was interesting). Let's see...

After Charles's manner of dress was described, and after a brief explanation of a custom in the school (which was that their caps/hats would be thrown to the side of the classroom or something) he, being new, doesn't know and keeps a diligent hold onto his new hat.

When the teacher told him to stand, his hat falls. He goes to pick it up but his "neighbor" knocks it back down. laughter ensues in the classroom as he picks it up a second time. After that ordeal he sits (obviously a bit embarrassed) but the teacher calls him to stand once again so he can tell everyone his name.

At the utterance of: "Charbovari" students laugh and make fun. From this, you know that Charles has an accent (can you blame the guy? he hasn't been properly schooled yet). The students get reprimanded with lines and his hat goes missing but the teacher says that no one has stolen it and he'll find it eventually.

Sounds like a sucky day at school...

Then the chapter goes in depth about his parents, Monsieur and Madame Bovary (not the MB that the book is focused on, mind you)—right after mentioning that Charles is doing a little better at school (good for him). To put it plainly, his father is no banker (he does poorly with finances) and is known as a big flirt. The Madame, loved him dearly at first but due to his actions, her love turned to bitterness, however; she focuses her affections on Charles (she spoils him pretty much that it's kind of ridiculous).

"His mother was always dragging him around with her; she would cut out paper dolls for him, tell him stories; and involve herself in endless monologues full of melancholy humor and baby talk."

Huh. makes me almost—note, almost—envious.

"In the loneliness of her life she lavished all her thwarted ambitions on this childish head. She dreamed of important positions, could already see him grown up, handsome, witty, a successful civil engineer or magistrate."

I take that statement back.

You can guess what happens after. His mother goes about organizing for Charles to learn how to read and...sing ballads while she plays the piano...

Anyways, it appears that, because of their financial trouble, little Charles can't go to school (I believe this story is set when the French were still divided into classes—bourgeoisie (sadly, I can't recall what little I know about French history)) so he wanders about the town, doing whatever mediocre thing (like harassing farm animals—haha kidding) to occupy his time. It remained as so, him helping around the town/farmhands till at twelve he was to begin his studies (hmm, so I was wrong? hmmm...)

Oh. Wait. He gets to study under a priest...well, it would benefit Charles more if the study times weren't so varied (since the priest had to do church things) and the classes were done in haste. All in all, "the lessons were...badly organize(d) that they did no real good."

Finally, his Father gave in and sent him to normal school—on which he spends three years in (with a year or so between his enrolling there) before they pull him out to study medicine (I may be wrong but he's what? 17 or 18 yrs old? and not too talented a student either but he's...competent).

His studies prove to be an EPIC FAIL for he procrastinates and prefers to go to a cafe' and play with dominoes, apparently they struck his fancy (well, who doesn't like to play dominoes? knocking stuff down is fun).

"So many of his repressed feeling expanded; he learned songs by heart and sang them to entertain the women present, developed a taste for Beranger (a french song writer), learned how to make punch, and finally how to make love."

Sounds like a rippin' good time! [/endsarcasm]

By the time he gets home, there was a celebration in order for his graduation from med school... Which didn't happen. Though he failed his first attempt to become a doctor, his mother takes the blame, as well as points the finger at his "incompetent" instructors... Yeah. His mother "loves" him that much.

Oy...Five years pass...before the news is broken to the dad (yikes, that's a long time) but he saw it as "ancient history. Moreover, he was unable to accept the fact that a son of his might be a fool." His father thinks highly of himself...pretty much.

So, Charles continues his med education in a city/town called Tostes, but not after finding him a beautiful bride...that's (from my numbers) twice his age.

"He needed a wife. She[Madame Bovary] found him one: the widow of a Dieppe bailiff, who was forty-five years old and had an income of twelve hundred pounds. Although she was ugly, thin as a rail, and had as many pimples as the springtime has buds, Madame Dubuc was not lacking in suitors."

It's the money. It's got to be.

So his wonderful wife accompanies him to Tostes. Scratch wonderful. The Madame turns out to be a demanding woman, and insisted that she be the ruler of the household...

"He assumed he would be freer to choose his own actions and spend his money as planned. But his wife was the ruler; he had to watch what he said and didn't say in public, eat fish on Friday, dress as she prescribed... She would open his letters, spy on his whereabouts, and listen behind the partition when there were women in the consulting room..."

You get the idea but, overall, she's a lonely woman in my perspective and I don't see why she'd be doing these things except out of her twisted love for her young husband...I could be wrong.

Hopefully, everyone's still awake.

What ho! (the Shakespeare meaning please) Tis' another weekend to which I'm grateful is finally here. It's been a tough week for me but I'm sure others have it tougher than I. (If so, how are you? and you've got a listener on your side if one is called for.)

So lately I've been assigned by my Graphics teacher to design something for a T-shirt--it's a class project--but, what he doesn't know, is that I've been in a big artistic slump ever since I've been writing. Though I don't see it as a bad thing since I've been writing more poems as of late and that's quite an achievement for me (though they don't make much sense at times, or they focus on a character or a specific story). But I'm glad that I've gotten into the habit of writing in poem form since it helped me on an English assignment I had to do on Tennessee Williams' play A Streetcar Named Desire. It's a lovely play, though violent and at times suggestive, but it gave me a lot of insight on real-life conflicts and character development.

The strange thing in my school is that no one likes the books that are assigned...is that true? maybe, but I previously watched the movie and loved it so I loved the play version twice as much. Then, there was Millers' The Crucible, which I liked and made me take an interest in Nathaniel Hawthorne's works... Before that, we had to read various articles, though a bit boring (since the way we did these were really repetitive) they were on interesting subjects. Some, if I remember correctly were on: childhood obesity--who is responsible?; teenage crimes and whether sending them to adult jail was justified...things like that.

...I believe what I was trying to say is that reading is a fun and educational activity. Call me old fashioned but people, especially teenagers need to read more. I'm kind of tired, if not a little annoyed, when a student says something that is so obvious if they had read the material assigned.

I'm at a crossroads right now. One, I could continue ranting about what I find faulty in the educational system, while implementing multiple exclamation marks in the process. Or, two, I stick to my Libran nature and not poke the sleeping bear with a 3 cm toothpick. IT JUST CAN'T BE DONE! And besides, my mind wanders faster than the Roadrunner does from Wile E. Coyote. (I'm trying not to focus on anger because it makes me feel idiotic as I type.)

Is it just me who feels a bit lost? Probably...or not.

...Here's something that was mentioned today.

Crap. I just lost the game.

I should explain...a lot....but I'm not sure where or on what to start.

Right now my computer is connected to the modem in my dad's room and I have all the time in the world till he comes back. :-) First of all, happy new year to everybody! This New Year's was a little different than what I'm used to. My cousin invited her friends, had a big spread of food (to which I couldn't eat as much due to me having one of those canker sores on the side of my mouth--a spot that I kept biting on since my braces got adjusted a few days before) and sang karaoke till 3 in the morning...eh...it was...interesting.

Anyway, before the celebrating and before christmas (which was alright)...actually way before December at all...I've been having internet problems. I just stopped getting a signal and every now and then I'd get a signal for a moment and then it would disappear.

While the internet was on the fritz, I had to deal with personal and creative problems. And due to that I'm going to have to close down LoF since (after my cousin took me to see Twilight)...well...idk, I just felt I had to change it--all of it. And I'm not even sure how to begin it again, seeing that I have this tendency to severely criticize myself... Anywho, I did have a lot of things to change anyway, as well as things to add and whatnot in the beginning. :-) I think it'll be an interesting project all over again.

By the by, besides the mental conflicts and crud, I've been reading Dostoevsky's works lately--it's safe to say that I'm a little hooked! I just finished Crime and Punishment and just began The Idiot. I'd love to rant about C&P but I can't without spoiling it *curses quietly to herself*. Just know that I was kept on my toes throughout the beginning, middle and end...it was just the epilogue that kind of made me stop and say...WTF? Then again, it could never have ended better...I suppose (I'm still a little miffed about it but I'll get over it soon enough).



The poverty-stricken Raskolnikov, a talented student, devises a theory about extraordinary men being above the law, since in their brilliance they think “new thoughts” and so contribute to society. He then sets out to prove his theory by murdering a vile, cynical old pawnbroker and her sister. The act brings Raskolnikov into contact with his own buried conscience and with two characters — the deeply religious Sonia, who has endured great suffering, and Porfiry, the intelligent and discerning official who is charged with investigating the murder — both of whom compel Raskolnikov to feel the split in his nature. Dostoevsky provides readers with a suspenseful, penetrating psychological analysis that goes beyond the crime — which in the course of the novel demands drastic punishment — to reveal something about the human condition: The more we intellectualize, the more imprisoned we become.

I recommend Pevear and Volokhonsky's translation (and I'm trying to find their translation of The Idiot so I can actually compare two different translations) because that was the translation that kept me doggedly (somewhat) on the page, flipping and experiencing the dark conflicted atmosphere of the main character (on which I can hauntingly relate to). I even cried to the point that I had to set the book down before the pages were baptized with them. I'll definitely read it again.


In addition to the goings-on of my life (so far) I've been hopelessly addicted to Silent Hill. Alright, just to clarify, it isn't an addiction (or in any way hopeless) really (and I'm not one those uber-addicts... *shudders*) but an interest definitely. In addition to the movie based on it (and cannot wait for the second one to come out--which is far off in 2010 or something...maybe even farther due to some conflicts with the director and the script writers) the games are creepy and (to me) philosophical. I'm not sure how to describe them at all. The world you encounter is mainly because of the characters. Overall, the landscape and even the monsters (or people) you encounter are variations of the main character's (or others) thoughts--or, better yet, their innermost selves (think, the darkest part that should never see the light of day). Of course, there are others involved, side characters and whatnot... It's really varied and this is just my opinion of it. Well, know that it's capable of scarring you mentally in a good and bad way--the gameplay reflects that for the music (composed by genius Akira Yamaoka) could set you on edge (especially if you're a curious child who has nothing to do except watch her step-brothers play video games...in the dark).

Now this brings me to think over a lot of things, taking in C&P, Silent Hill and what I've been raving about internally... It feels almost like I've been in a delirium for a major portion of 2008.

And that kind of bites (no pun intended *cough cough*).

I don't have a particular subject to write about but I find it best to vent out every once in a while. As a person who probably rates on a below average on a social scale ^_^ thats probably the best medicine out there--blogs are fun!

I was thinking on school and somewhat college too. With all the lameness happening with my art block or loss of drive-- should I still go for an art school? It sounds great and all but realism doesn't happen to be my thing. Of course, at my age the realism style isn't that exciting and teenagers tend to drift away from reality sometimes so why focus on it? rather draw or depict anything in the style. Although I appreciate realism and the artists--because it takes skill to do so-- I can't bring myself to do it...alone. I figured in my junior year I'll focus more on passing my core classes, getting the right credits and then focus on my art dilemma by taking some of the art classes held there...so I have to make sure that I pass my math course (b/c I verily fail at math) D-: .

Hmm...what else is there? Besides unearthing an old song that I liked a long time ago--there isn't much going on. Later this hour I'm going to leave the house to go shopping and I'm hoping I find some new clothes for the school year or just have some fun. Speaking of fun, yesterday, though I despise the sport for some reason, I bowled. My thumb is sore because I bowled without gloves--the side of my thumb actually began to peel! It was so painful that I began using my left hand to bowl, good thing I have some control over my left hand but I still utterly failed at that.

Ah, speaking of yesterday now...I got to finish the first of The Bartimaeus Trilogy. Otherwise known as the Amulet of Samarkand. I'm now working on reading the second, as well as setting my eyes on the third installment of the series. I never thought I'd finish it b/c, at first, I was reluctant to read it for I wasn't used to the way the story was told however, I gave it a shot and couldn't put it down. Unlike Eragon, I could actually read aloud without having to pause in order to consider how a word was pronounced or just sound absolutely silly trying to sound the word out (b/c the author gave the world of Eragon it's own library of languages--which is very creative but a bit frustrating, as well as reminiscent to when I started to write my epic fantasy adventure years and years ago ). In fact, I still have the sequel Eldest in my bookshelf left unread b/c I decided to give the first one a go again--but I haven't found the time since I'm preoccupied.

Books! Maybe I should muse about books since I'm bored and somewhat out of topics. The books I like to read presently is fiction (big surprise). Fantasy, Adventure, the occasional Romance if its good, some other genres, the fiction novels based on ideas or other stories, a little Shakespeare, manga, fairy tales...I only have a few books that could be considered non-fiction but still fiction overall. Well, putting genres aside...Twilight series what's up with that? ^_^ I gave the book a shot but I found the main character and annoyance already...so I am one of the few who do not like it. (I swear the popularity is immense that I already know how it ends) --okay, putting the info aside as well. Some authors I'm keeping an eye out for are: Libba Bray (A Great and Terrible Beauty), Jonathan Stroud (Bartimaeus Trilogy), Garth Nix (Abbhorsen Trilogy, Seventh Tower, etc.)... those are just a few but these are the main people I look for on the bookstore shelves--if anything new came out or their past works so on. That doesn't mean that I don't occasionally take a peek at other authors though-- in other words, they are kind of my favorite authors at this point in time?

I'm officially bored so I'll just end my post here. Who knows? I might post again about something later that may or may not be interesting.