Friday, January 27, 2012
Garcia Girls Cover
When I examined the cover of How The Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, a few thoughts popped into my head. I noticed a girl on the cover but only her legs and feet were visible. She was wearing red shoes and a dress with her legs crossed, making me think that she was dancing or somehow involved with dance. I also saw a bird on a tree branch and I was curious to why it was on the cover. The reviews on the back cover and inside the cover were positive saying that the author, Julia Alvarez, has great storytelling skills and adds a "Spanish flavor" to the story. A good description of the story is also given on the back cover. Another comment said that it was "irresistable" and gave it terrific reviews. The family tree illustration was interesting because there are a lot of people in the family and the lines connecting the family together were all over the place. Some names were in bold and I inferred that they are the mains characters in the story. It starts out with "The Conquistadores" at the top of the tree which made me wonder if it will have any significance throughout the book. On the first few pages of the story, Julia Alvarez uses a couple spanish words and a good amoutn of words in italics. Her writing style so far is not very hard to understand and she uses dialougue efectively. Characters such as Yolanda, Carmen, Gabriela, Lucinda, and Tia Flor appear in the first chapter of the book. Yolanda talks and is mentioned a lot so I think she will be important later on. Other characters that were in the family tree have yet to be mentioned in the story. The length of paragraphs are standard and everything is formatted well.
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ReplyDeleteTo Mike... I agree with the fact that i believe on the cover the woman is dancing or somehow involved with dance but i disagree with a lot you had to say. I feel as if the dialogue was ineffective. I was very displeased with the first seven pages the only thing that I found even remotely exciting was talk of escape from a dictator ruled country. However I would like to have some faith in the book and I am hoping that the comments about the author and book turn out to be true. I agree with the fact that Yolanda will probably be important later. I just personally wish the author of the book did a better job at character development and made me care about the characters.
ReplyDeleteMike, when I first saw the book I thought about the picture too. I also noticed the girl who was showing a lot of leg. It seemed like she was doing some type of Spanish dance. I thought that was very interesting, it could represent the cultural backgrounds of the girls and how important their heritage is to them. Also, when looking at the family tree I noticed that there were a lot of people in the family. I thought that it might be difficult to keep track of all the characters that may take part in this book. I guess we are going to have to read and find out...I thought that it was insightful of you to examine Julia Alvarez's writing style. I noticed that her style was pretty simple as well.
ReplyDeleteMike, I have mixed views about how you feel. I do not believe her writing style is simple. It is all over the place and a bit confusing at times. I think that dialogue could be effective but it is hard to connect to the characters, at least in the early going. I do, however, agree with your analysis of the cover. It does appear there is somebody dancing and that grabbed my interest. I like how you implemented the reviews of critics in your review. I was stunned it got such a good rating, considering I am not thrilled about it so far. I hope you continue to post some good opinions and discussion topics.
ReplyDeleteMike, I agree and disagree as to what you are saying. I do agree with the fact that you can infer that one of the characters or many of them are involved with dance in one form or another. Also, that it may play some significance in the story. I do disagree with the fact that her writing style is simple. I feel that anytime an author consistently uses words from a different language, I feel it would be tougher to understand. Also, though she uses spanish words in her dialogue, she does use dialogue as an effective tool early in the story. Keep posting, Mike.
ReplyDeleteYeah Mike I agree with a lot of things that you say. Firstly, although it was not in my post, I did notice the cover as well and I thought it was very interesting and i had the same feeling that it could have been a dancer of some sort because her legs kind of show some sort of sex appeal. Regarding the bird house, it is definitely some type of symbolism; most covers include some sort of symbolism and i think that this could be it. I also agree with you that you think the reviews seemed pretty interesting. However, regarding the review about it being "spanish" i don't really like that. I am a french student and i have hardly any spanish background, therefore it will be kind of difficult with me to relate to the story. On the other hand, most kids are spanish students and will be able to enjoy it and connect to it more than me. And finally, regarding the simplistic writing, i don't necessarily agree with that. Her writing can get very confusing at time because she jumps around all the time.
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