Month: December 2015

Aditya Chakrabortty’s extract on the shard gives the shard human features to express and advance the users ideas. He says that the Shard is a building that ‘stalks’ the rest of London, while sitting at the top of London overlooking the rest of the skyline and  how have we looked at the increasing gap between the rich and the poor

The next day Pip’s sister realise he was gone and wants to know the details. Pip refuses to tell. Mr Pumblechook comes over for dinner and asks about Miss Havisham. He lies to them. Later, in the forge, he tells Joe his story was made up. He expresses the fact that he wants to be uncommon.

Pip spends the night at Mr. Pumblechook’s in the attic. In the morning, Pip is not treated well by Mr Pumblechook. They have a long conversation about the house. Another girl appears who is the same age as Pip. She is a really pretty girl. The girl heads him down a series of cold, dark passages. She takes him into a closed room and someone else is in there. It was a very old woman wearing a wedding dress. Pip realizes that all of the clocks in the room are stopped at exactly twenty minutes to nine. Pip stands still. Miss Havisham asks Pip to call for Estella (Which we assume is her name). Miss Havisham suspiciously make them play cards. She feels disappointed as she realises that Pip is just a common boy. Pip expresses that he wants to start heading home. Miss Havisham tells Pip to come back in six days, and she orders Estella to give him some food. Pip feels insecure after Estella mocks him. They head back through the tunnel and Estella leaves food for him on the front porch. Everything is withered and dead in the garden. He goes into the brewery while Estella stays one step in front. He sees Miss Havisham.

It was cold morning. Snow was settling on the outside while the carriage rocked up and down. The robotic woman’s voice was heard across the train ” Next stop is ‘vengeance road’.” In my hand, a heavy bag of classified material, not to be revealed to anyone, weighed my shoulder down. The bag, rocked to the side as the train halted to a stop. I was moved by the force but I held on to the pole. The doors slowly widened and opened and I stepped onto the platform.

I walked to the main entrance of the station, busy passengers walking by. The bustling city, created a surrounding effect as if the city revolved around me. I looked towards the towering trees situated behind the city. That’s where I’m headed. I looked around as the buildings stood tall and towered over the city’s main centre. People were going in and out of shops while they stood around studying the situation.

People were staring at me, giving me weird looks and screwing their faces. The fact that I was wearing dark shades and  a long duffle jacket didn’t help my case. It smelt of fresh air. Something I wouldn’t be experiencing when I get into the jungle. Suddenly, the weather takes a turn for the worst. Heavy rain falls and the streets are deserted. This caused me to run fast.

‘Shadow forest’ by Matt Haig is a fantasy fiction novel that follows the life of a little boy named Samuel Blink and his sister, Martha, who gets lost into a forest of ‘Huldres’, ‘One-eyed Trolls’ and ‘Truth Pixies’.

The book starts in a car on Martha’s birthday where they plan to surprise her by taking her to an unknown destination. They detour and ride off the road where they find themselves underneath the main highway where they where just at. A truck full of loose tree logs fall onto the front of their car, killing both Samuel and Martha’s parents.

They get sent to Norway, after the incident, to live with their Aunt Eda. She lives in a small cottage next to a huge deadly forest, infested with monsters and the ‘Changemaker’. Aunt Eda tells them the story of their Uncle Henrik who entered the forest a few years ago and was never seen again. She also owns Ibsen, a dog she found in a field shortly after Uncle Henrik had disappeared.

Samuel’s sister, who hasn’t spoken since the loss of their parents, follows a cat into the forest unknowingly and gets lost. Samuel, realising shortly after heads into the forest with Ibsen and a book of the forest, found in the attic. He ventures in to find villages and Caloosh traps, but no sight of his sister. He falls into a Caloosh trap and ends up being taken away.

Martha, is also caught inside a moving carriage with countless other prisoners including the shadow witches sister and trolls with intact shadows. Samuel Blink escapes and finds the Changemaker. He destroys the Changemaker along with Aunt Eda and his sister. They find out Ibsen is actually Uncle Henrik and they escape the forest to live a happy life.

I believe that this book is very interesting because it has a strong storyline while enticing the reader with the authors witty sense of humour. He includes abstract pieces of information that doesn’t affect the story but is interesting enough to keep us reading.

The story has a strong link to ambition. His strong desire and determination to find his sister is demonstrated when he learns that his sister had disappeared and he is willing to throw away his life to go in and look for her. This is apparent also, when his Aunt Eda follows them into the forest and tries to find them. Although “ambition” is not mentioned at all throughout the story, it is clearly demonstrated by their actions.