Post #2 And of Clay Are We Created by Isabelle Allende

This was an interesting and long story. I am unsure how I feel about it but for some reason I do not actually like it all that much. I felt that I was finished with the story before it was over but that is not the reason I do not particularly love it. I was very confused in the beginning. I wasn't sure who was talking and what they were talking about and in what order they were recapping things. The author abruptly brought up something that I had no knowledge of and i was lost for a little before i got onto the right track. It was odd how it was from the perspective of the wife (I am guessing, it never specified) because I would've liked to have heard about the feelings of Rolf more in depth. I didn't think that it was enough to just watch from behind a screen like the wife did. I also thought that the wife's character was odd. She seemed to blow smaller things into large proportions. She made the feelings of watching her husband through the screen very deep when i thought that it was just a simple observation on her part. I think that that emphasized something so much that it distracted me.
Through out the story we would go way into depth about the husband, Rolf, and Azucena and then all of the sudden we were back with the wife for a few sentences and then driven back into Rolf and Azucena. I would feel like a part of the story with Rolf and then I would be completely thrown off track when the wife came back into the picture, but only for a few sentences. Some of the things that the wife would intervene to talk about were a bit odd too. At one part she talks about trying to connect with her husband through her mind and she tried with such passion that she cried. In a way that could be beautiful but when I was reading the story I felt side tracked by that small thought. I was more focused on her little side comments than the actual story.
I did like the subtle idea that Rolf chose Azucena to stay with because from the very beginning he knew that he was just like Azucena, that he was trapped too.
All in all, I enjoyed reading the story but looking back I see that there were certain flaws with it that maybe only I fixate on. I was intrigued at certain parts while at others I felt like I was being dragged along with the story, as if I wasn't really a part of it as a reader. I personally like to be able to connect with the stories I read and get a sense that I was there but, I do not feel that so much in this story. Overall this was a very interesting read.

I find the pollution crisis in beijing really interesting and id love to write from the perspective of someone living there.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/31/china-war-on-smog-beijing-hebei_n_5059838.html?utm_hp_ref=green

Post #1: "The Story of an Hour" By Kate Chopin

I just finished reading the short story, "The Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin. It opens with an intriguing hook that looped me in immediately. I had different reactions through out the different emotions of Mrs. Mallard, the main character. I liked the extremity of her emotions as she thought through what had happened but there were also more subtle things that made you as the reader think through the story. The story is set in spring which is the season of rebirth which is interesting because our opening line involves a death. Chopin particularly chose the season of spring to show the contradiction of death and rebirth. She makes different references like crying like a child after hearing that her husband has died. She explains subtly that her reaction to her husbands death is unlike most others.