Explain why you think this novel is considered a good/bad novel. Make sure to state and explain specific reasons for this conclusion. Please include your alias at the top of your entry.
The book Chanda’s Secrets was a good book. It deserves seven out of ten stars. The author showed how AIDS effects people and showing the worst case is you can die. Allan Stratton shows that people have different reactions once they hear someone has AIDS. If someone has AIDS it showed in the book that some people would shoot themselves, like Emmanuel. Other reactions are going to a new town to safe their family from shame, or people in the town thinking your family is dirty. “A disease too scary to name out loud. If people say you have it, you can lose your job. Your family can kick you out. You can die on the street alone. So you live in silence, hiding behind the curtain,” (Stratton 35). This shows how lonely a person can be when they have AIDS. Who would ever guess one sixteen year old girl could change people from hiding their shame. The plot development begins once hiding the secret of Lilian having AIDS from her kids Chanda, Soly, and Iris. After Chanda heading to Bonang to see if her mother is alright. Then finding her and bringing her back to Tiro. Next going to the hospital in Tiro and her mother falls into a coma then dying. What excitement and responsibility of Chanda from taking care of Soly, Iris, helping out her friend Esther to proving it does not matter if you have AIDS. The only thing that matters is you have friends and family that love you and help you get through each day. AIDS does not mean you are different from anyone else or being dirty, it shows us it does not matter if you have AIDS it is better to tell the truth then live with shame.
Rida Ahmad Ms. Russell ENG-1D1-06 05/05/09 The novel Chanda’s Secrets is tender, tear-jerking, sensitive, and destructive, but it is also very intriguing. [Mr. Selalame looks up from his work. “What’s the matter?” “Everything!” I head to the door, bumping into desks. “Chanda, wait. Talk to me.” I want to! I want to tell him about Mama, Esther, Mrs. Tafa, Iris-how I’m scared I can’t breathe, and I don’t know what to do.] (Stratton 154) The story is about a young, 16 year old girl named Chanda. Her father and brothers died, and her other two stepfathers died of AIDS. In the exposition, Chanda’s sister Sara passes away and at the end of the novel her mother dies of AIDS as well. The quote cited above refers to Chanda visiting her English teacher. Mr. Selalame is her favourite teacher and she wants to get everything out her chest but she keeps it inside knowing that it will not make the situation any better. The atmosphere of the plot starts out as disastrous and does not develop in a positive manner. Chanda is the narrator of the story. The writing style is very descriptive and is from her point of view. She thinks and talks about all her problems, her teacher, her friend Esther, and also has a lot of negative thoughts inside her mind. She decides to get rid of those thoughts by reciting the alphabet over and over in her head. This makes the book interesting because one gets into the head of the character and is able to experience their personal emotions. In Bonang, everybody is horrified and ashamed of the AIDS virus and Chanda is trying to put an end to it. All over, the novel is miraculous, addicting, and has a great overall theme.
As a reader, I would consider Chanda’s Secrets by Allan Stratton to be a very intriguing read, but actually liking it depends on your taste in genre. The plot is well developed, the tale is written fluently, and the characters are well established and developed. From page one; Chanda’s Secrets draws you into its depressing atmosphere with the immediate death of her sister Sara, “Everyone but Sara. She’s frozen in time. Alone in the ground.” (Stratton 59). From this point on the story continues to drive you onward, trying to figure out what will happen next in Chanda’s hectic life. A difficult challenge for many authors is managing to keep the story logical and written clearly; Allan Stratton has succeeded greatly in this novel. “She’s started to be Mama again. It’s a miracle.”(Stratton 104) “All week she makes progress. She spends more and more time outside, manages some errands, and best of all never stops smiling.” (Stratton 104). These quotes show that there are no jumpy transitions between paragraphs and statements; no random, illogical fact has been thrown in without reason. This is important in writing so that you always know where you are at the event you are reading, you don’t have to stop frequently to ask ‘What just happened? How did the story get here?” which to me means it is expertly planned out. When an author can vividly create a person in the reader’s mind, I say they have achieved a small victory in the process of their story, Stratton does an excellent job of describing the characters in his fictional environment, “He’s a skeleton. The flesh has been sucked out from under his skin. The skin’s dried so tight to his skull that the bridge of his nose has ripped through. His striped bandanna has slipped from his forehead. It hangs around his neck like a noose. His old navy suit flows over his bones like rivers of cloth. Flies are eating him alive.” (Stratton 106). By strongly developing the characters the reader can thoroughly enjoy the book without wondering who’s who. Although Chanda’s Secrets is an excellent book, I cannot say I truly enjoyed the novel. However as a school novel this is one of the better books I’ve had to study. I must say that even though this is a great book, there are many other books I’d have chosen over it had I been given the chance, despite its intriguing plot line, it just isn’t my type of genre in books.
I think the book Chandra's Secrets was pretty good. The only thing I would change would be the first couple of chapters, because I found them hard to understand what was happening. I liked how the author put a little girl (Chandra) to face all the challages that she did. Chanda showed you can beats AIDS as long as you have a open mind and that you are there for the people you care about. Another thing I liked about the novel was that all of Chandra's dreams came true when Mr. SelaLame offered her a job at the elementary school. She thought that was a prefect job because then she could keep an eye out for her brother and sister. I thought the plot was planed out very well and that the problems were spread out enough to let the reader know what just happened. Over all I thought it was a good book and I will look for the second book to read and hopefully find out what will happen to Chandra next. By.Brandon
I am responding to Brandon’s response. I agree that it was a good book that had Chanda face challenges and accomplished the challenge of AIDS. With enjoying this book so much I would like to read the next book and find out what happened to Chanda and what will she accomplish next. “I close my eyes and I picture a center in my very own front yard. The Lilian Kabelo Friendship Project,” (Stratton 193). Maybe the next book will have Chanda opening a center for AIDS. The thing I disagree it is hard to understand some chapters because I found it pretty explanatory, but there was many different settings in the book, that could have been confusing. It almost seemed like each chapter was a new setting. Where are they living now? “But we could live at Papa’s cattle post. Or in the village with Granny Kabelo. Or at Granny and Grandpa Thela’s. Or with Lily-her husband wouldn’t mind, would he?” (Stratton14). This quote shows the places the Kabelo family could have lived with. The Kabelo family moved to a lot of different settings all through the book.
1. The novel Chanda’s Secrets is an intriguing novel, which captures the hearts of many. Chanda’s experience speaks for many suffering in Africa from AIDS. The author develops characters well as he describes the courage portrayed by Chanda throughout her difficult experiences, such as her sister’s death, her best friend’s troubles, and her mother’s illness. However the conflict wasn’t very engaging and I found very predictable. The book is more of a sequence of tragic events; it starts off right away eventfully, and then continues steadily with more and more tragic events, each no more exciting or tragic than the other. However, the message from the author is very meaningful. The message of this book is that the dangerous truth shouldn’t keep buried, but should be faced head on. The truthful danger of AIDS was hidden and disguised as other less shameful diseases, and therefore there was no solution to the millions of infected people. “The real reason the dead are piling up is because of something else. A disease too scary to naem out loud. If people say you have it, you can lose your job, Your family can kick you out. You can die on the street alone. So you live in silenc, hiding behind the curtain. Not just to protect yourself, but to protect the ones you love, and the good name of your ancestors. Dying is awful. But even worse is dying alone in fear and shame with a lie.” (Stratton 35). However once Chanda faced and stood by the truth, people began to open their eyes to this dangerous illness. This showed inspiring courage on Chanda’s behalf. Chanda’s Secrets is a page turning novel with courageous characters, meaningful theme and a very tragic and realistic plot.
Mandatory Question, Good or Bad Novel: Response to Rida
I agree with you to a point Rida, I can visualize the novel being “tender, tear-jerking, sensitive, and destructive” although I never felt this way reading the book. It was interesting in choosing to talk about how Chanda recites the alphabet; I found that to be a very unique little insight into Chanda’s mind. “ABCD-CD-CD-CDEG-GF-FG— I can’t even remember the alphabet.”(Stratton138) The fact that Allan chose to put that little piece of information really allowed the reader to know how distraught Chanda was, I mean when you can’t remember the alphabet, you know something is wrong. In this case it’s because Chanda is thinking too much about her family having AIDS. Good point about the writing style as well, it is very descriptive so the reader can truly understand how horrific, beautiful, or outstanding something is in appearance. “He’s a skeleton. The flesh has been sucked out from under his skin. The skin’s dried so tight to his skull that the bridge of his nose has ripped through. His striped bandanna has slipped from his forehead. It hangs around his neck like a noose. His old navy suit flows over his bones like rivers of cloth. Flies are eating him alive.” (Stratton 106). In this quote it is referring to how Chanda sees her ‘favourite’ AIDS ridden step-father, Jonah, when his sister leaves him in front of the Kabelo house. Although I have to disagree with your opinion of the novel being miraculous or addicting, I found that I could easily put the book down and read my other ones, but to each their own opinion when it comes to literature.
Mandatory Question, Good or Bad Novel: Response to Brandon
Brandon, I actually happen to agree with you. Chanda’s Secrets was a good easy novel to study and read. “I’m alone in the office of Bateman’s Eternal Light Funeral Services.”(Stratton 1) I really didn’t like this ending, even though I’m a sucker for the ‘jump into action on the first page’ novels I found the first few chapters a strain to read, sure it was semi-interesting but I was beginning to ask myself ‘Why did I pick this novel to study?’ I think Allan tried to hard to make the beginning compelling and failed at it, at least the rest of the story made up for it. Interesting point about her future job, even though Chanda was delighted about this promise she was distraught as well. “All the same, I think of my dreams. How I wanted to graduate. Get a scholarship. Be a lawyer. A doctor. A full teacher.”(Stratton 187-188). I agree with your theory on the plot outline, most of the plot was planned out well, but sometimes there wasn’t enough going on. A note on the second book. “Chanda's Wars is the unforgettable story of a teenager who risks everything to save her brother and sister. Epic in its sweep, intimate in its humanity, here is a gripping tale of family intrigue, love and courage, forgiveness and hope.”(Stratton Back of Chanda’s Wars). I’d be interested to see what’s going to happen as well, and it just so happens there are copies at our local libraries.
I agree with Victoria. The novel is intriguing and courage is displayed continuously by Chanda. I strongly agree with the fact that the whole novel is a “sequence of tragic events”. The atmosphere or events do not get any peaceful as the plot progresses onward. “We try, to make her happy, but laughing’s too hard. Even breathing is hard.” (Stratton 124) The quote above refers to when Mama is leaving for Tiro. The children are scared and worried but they try to be happy, for Mama’s sake. The novel is grasping and well-written with lots of detail. The author has developed his message of theme throughout the novel, so the point comes across clearly when one is reading. Chanda did a remarkable job that no one in Bonang would ever think of doing. Others in the community would hide from this disease or try to cover it up with other diseases such as cancer to hide the shame. I am not much of a reader, but I liked reading this novel. The plot development is not that great but the theme is well expressed, and the novel is engaging.
I agree with Brandon, that at the beginning, the novel was hard to follow with flashback after flashback. However because of the well written descriptions, I was able to follow the different settings. In addition, I like Rida's point about the atmosphere. The atmosphere of the entire novel is depressing, and very intense and it never develops in a positive manner. However unlike Rida, I did not find the book very addicting and I found I could put it down, as I didn't feel the need to continue reading to the climax. The climax to me was very predictable, and was not so intense that I had to keep reading. However, I think that overall it was an excellent novel and very interesting as a novel study done for school.
11 comments:
The book Chanda’s Secrets was a good book. It deserves seven out of ten stars. The author showed how AIDS effects people and showing the worst case is you can die. Allan Stratton shows that people have different reactions once they hear someone has AIDS. If someone has AIDS it showed in the book that some people would shoot themselves, like Emmanuel. Other reactions are going to a new town to safe their family from shame, or people in the town thinking your family is dirty. “A disease too scary to name out loud. If people say you have it, you can lose your job. Your family can kick you out. You can die on the street alone. So you live in silence, hiding behind the curtain,” (Stratton 35). This shows how lonely a person can be when they have AIDS. Who would ever guess one sixteen year old girl could change people from hiding their shame. The plot development begins once hiding the secret of Lilian having AIDS from her kids Chanda, Soly, and Iris. After Chanda heading to Bonang to see if her mother is alright. Then finding her and bringing her back to Tiro. Next going to the hospital in Tiro and her mother falls into a coma then dying. What excitement and responsibility of Chanda from taking care of Soly, Iris, helping out her friend Esther to proving it does not matter if you have AIDS. The only thing that matters is you have friends and family that love you and help you get through each day. AIDS does not mean you are different from anyone else or being dirty, it shows us it does not matter if you have AIDS it is better to tell the truth then live with shame.
Rida Ahmad
Ms. Russell
ENG-1D1-06
05/05/09
The novel Chanda’s Secrets is tender, tear-jerking, sensitive, and destructive, but it is also very intriguing. [Mr. Selalame looks up from his work. “What’s the matter?” “Everything!” I head to the door, bumping into desks. “Chanda, wait. Talk to me.” I want to! I want to tell him about Mama, Esther, Mrs. Tafa, Iris-how I’m scared I can’t breathe, and I don’t know what to do.] (Stratton 154) The story is about a young, 16 year old girl named Chanda. Her father and brothers died, and her other two stepfathers died of AIDS. In the exposition, Chanda’s sister Sara passes away and at the end of the novel her mother dies of AIDS as well. The quote cited above refers to Chanda visiting her English teacher. Mr. Selalame is her favourite teacher and she wants to get everything out her chest but she keeps it inside knowing that it will not make the situation any better. The atmosphere of the plot starts out as disastrous and does not develop in a positive manner. Chanda is the narrator of the story. The writing style is very descriptive and is from her point of view. She thinks and talks about all her problems, her teacher, her friend Esther, and also has a lot of negative thoughts inside her mind. She decides to get rid of those thoughts by reciting the alphabet over and over in her head. This makes the book interesting because one gets into the head of the character and is able to experience their personal emotions. In Bonang, everybody is horrified and ashamed of the AIDS virus and Chanda is trying to put an end to it. All over, the novel is miraculous, addicting, and has a great overall theme.
Jen Gleason
Mrs. Russell
ENG1D1-06
05-10-09
As a reader, I would consider Chanda’s Secrets by Allan Stratton to be a very intriguing read, but actually liking it depends on your taste in genre. The plot is well developed, the tale is written fluently, and the characters are well established and developed. From page one; Chanda’s Secrets draws you into its depressing atmosphere with the immediate death of her sister Sara, “Everyone but Sara. She’s frozen in time. Alone in the ground.” (Stratton 59). From this point on the story continues to drive you onward, trying to figure out what will happen next in Chanda’s hectic life. A difficult challenge for many authors is managing to keep the story logical and written clearly; Allan Stratton has succeeded greatly in this novel. “She’s started to be Mama again. It’s a miracle.”(Stratton 104) “All week she makes progress. She spends more and more time outside, manages some errands, and best of all never stops smiling.” (Stratton 104). These quotes show that there are no jumpy transitions between paragraphs and statements; no random, illogical fact has been thrown in without reason. This is important in writing so that you always know where you are at the event you are reading, you don’t have to stop frequently to ask ‘What just happened? How did the story get here?” which to me means it is expertly planned out. When an author can vividly create a person in the reader’s mind, I say they have achieved a small victory in the process of their story, Stratton does an excellent job of describing the characters in his fictional environment, “He’s a skeleton. The flesh has been sucked out from under his skin. The skin’s dried so tight to his skull that the bridge of his nose has ripped through. His striped bandanna has
slipped from his forehead. It hangs around his neck like a noose. His old navy suit flows over his bones like rivers of cloth. Flies are eating him alive.” (Stratton 106). By strongly developing the characters the reader can thoroughly enjoy the book without wondering who’s who. Although Chanda’s Secrets is an excellent book, I cannot say I truly enjoyed the novel. However as a school novel this is one of the better books I’ve had to study. I must say that even though this is a great book, there are many other books I’d have chosen over it had I been given the chance, despite its intriguing plot line, it just isn’t my type of genre in books.
I think the book Chandra's Secrets was pretty good. The only thing I would change would be the first couple of chapters, because I found them hard to understand what was happening. I liked how the author put a little girl (Chandra) to face all the challages that she did. Chanda showed you can beats AIDS as long as you have a open mind and that you are there for the people you care about. Another thing I liked about the novel was that all of Chandra's dreams came true when Mr. SelaLame offered her a job at the elementary school. She thought that was a prefect job because then she could keep an eye out for her brother and sister. I thought the plot was planed out very well and that the problems were spread out enough to let the reader know what just happened. Over all I thought it was a good book and I will look for the second book to read and hopefully find out what will happen to Chandra next. By.Brandon
I am responding to Brandon’s response. I agree that it was a good book that had Chanda face challenges and accomplished the challenge of AIDS. With enjoying this book so much I would like to read the next book and find out what happened to Chanda and what will she accomplish next. “I close my eyes and I picture a center in my very own front yard. The Lilian Kabelo Friendship Project,” (Stratton 193). Maybe the next book will have Chanda opening a center for AIDS. The thing I disagree it is hard to understand some chapters because I found it pretty explanatory, but there was many different settings in the book, that could have been confusing. It almost seemed like each chapter was a new setting. Where are they living now? “But we could live at Papa’s cattle post. Or in the village with Granny Kabelo. Or at Granny and Grandpa Thela’s. Or with Lily-her husband wouldn’t mind, would he?” (Stratton14). This quote shows the places the Kabelo family could have lived with. The Kabelo family moved to a lot of different settings all through the book.
1. The novel Chanda’s Secrets is an intriguing novel, which captures the hearts of many. Chanda’s experience speaks for many suffering in Africa from AIDS. The author develops characters well as he describes the courage portrayed by Chanda throughout her difficult experiences, such as her sister’s death, her best friend’s troubles, and her mother’s illness. However the conflict wasn’t very engaging and I found very predictable. The book is more of a sequence of tragic events; it starts off right away eventfully, and then continues steadily with more and more tragic events, each no more exciting or tragic than the other. However, the message from the author is very meaningful. The message of this book is that the dangerous truth shouldn’t keep buried, but should be faced head on. The truthful danger of AIDS was hidden and disguised as other less shameful diseases, and therefore there was no solution to the millions of infected people. “The real reason the dead are piling up is because of something else. A disease too scary to naem out loud. If people say you have it, you can lose your job, Your family can kick you out. You can die on the street alone. So you live in silenc, hiding behind the curtain. Not just to protect yourself, but to protect the ones you love, and the good name of your ancestors. Dying is awful. But even worse is dying alone in fear and shame with a lie.” (Stratton 35). However once Chanda faced and stood by the truth, people began to open their eyes to this dangerous illness. This showed inspiring courage on Chanda’s behalf. Chanda’s Secrets is a page turning novel with courageous characters, meaningful theme and a very tragic and realistic plot.
Jen Gleason
Mrs. Russell
ENG1D1-06
05-18-09
Mandatory Question, Good or Bad Novel: Response to Rida
I agree with you to a point Rida, I can visualize the novel being “tender, tear-jerking, sensitive, and destructive” although I never felt this way reading the book. It was interesting in choosing to talk about how Chanda recites the alphabet; I found that to be a very unique little insight into Chanda’s mind. “ABCD-CD-CD-CDEG-GF-FG— I can’t even remember the alphabet.”(Stratton138) The fact that Allan chose to put that little piece of information really allowed the reader to know how distraught Chanda was, I mean when you can’t remember the alphabet, you know something is wrong. In this case it’s because Chanda is thinking too much about her family having AIDS. Good point about the writing style as well, it is very descriptive so the reader can truly understand how horrific, beautiful, or outstanding something is in appearance. “He’s a skeleton. The flesh has been sucked out from under his skin. The skin’s dried so tight to his skull that the bridge of his nose has ripped through. His striped bandanna has slipped from his forehead. It hangs around his neck like a noose. His old navy suit flows over his bones like rivers of cloth. Flies are eating him alive.” (Stratton 106). In this quote it is referring to how Chanda sees her ‘favourite’ AIDS ridden step-father, Jonah, when his sister leaves him in front of the Kabelo house. Although I have to disagree with your opinion of the novel being miraculous or addicting, I found that I could easily put the book down and read my other ones, but to each their own opinion when it comes to literature.
Jen Gleason
Mrs. Russell
ENG1D1-06
05-18-09
Mandatory Question, Good or Bad Novel: Response to Brandon
Brandon, I actually happen to agree with you. Chanda’s Secrets was a good easy novel to study and read. “I’m alone in the office of Bateman’s Eternal Light Funeral Services.”(Stratton 1) I really didn’t like this ending, even though I’m a sucker for the ‘jump into action on the first page’ novels I found the first few chapters a strain to read, sure it was semi-interesting but I was beginning to ask myself ‘Why did I pick this novel to study?’ I think Allan tried to hard to make the beginning compelling and failed at it, at least the rest of the story made up for it. Interesting point about her future job, even though Chanda was delighted about this promise she was distraught as well. “All the same, I think of my dreams. How I wanted to graduate. Get a scholarship. Be a lawyer. A doctor. A full teacher.”(Stratton 187-188). I agree with your theory on the plot outline, most of the plot was planned out well, but sometimes there wasn’t enough going on. A note on the second book. “Chanda's Wars is the unforgettable story of a teenager who risks everything to save her brother and sister. Epic in its sweep, intimate in its humanity, here is a gripping tale of family intrigue, love and courage, forgiveness and hope.”(Stratton Back of Chanda’s Wars). I’d be interested to see what’s going to happen as well, and it just so happens there are copies at our local libraries.
Rida Ahmad
Ms. Russell
ENG-1D1-06
05/18/09
I agree with Victoria. The novel is intriguing and courage is displayed continuously by Chanda. I strongly agree with the fact that the whole novel is a “sequence of tragic events”. The atmosphere or events do not get any peaceful as the plot progresses onward. “We try, to make her happy, but laughing’s too hard. Even breathing is hard.” (Stratton 124) The quote above refers to when Mama is leaving for Tiro. The children are scared and worried but they try to be happy, for Mama’s sake. The novel is grasping and well-written with lots of detail. The author has developed his message of theme throughout the novel, so the point comes across clearly when one is reading. Chanda did a remarkable job that no one in Bonang would ever think of doing. Others in the community would hide from this disease or try to cover it up with other diseases such as cancer to hide the shame. I am not much of a reader, but I liked reading this novel. The plot development is not that great but the theme is well expressed, and the novel is engaging.
I agree with Brandon, that at the beginning, the novel was hard to follow with flashback after flashback. However because of the well written descriptions, I was able to follow the different settings.
In addition, I like Rida's point about the atmosphere. The atmosphere of the entire novel is depressing, and very intense and it never develops in a positive manner. However unlike Rida, I did not find the book very addicting and I found I could put it down, as I didn't feel the need to continue reading to the climax. The climax to me was very predictable, and was not so intense that I had to keep reading. However, I think that overall it was an excellent novel and very interesting as a novel study done for school.
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