Alessandra’s Comments (group member since Oct 21, 2016)

Alessandra’s comments from the Arters AP Literature 2016-17 group.

Alessandra Filippone
AP Literature
Mrs. Arters
6. January 2017
The Sandman Book Review
A quick, yet thrilling graphic novel, the Sandman will not only be attractive to the eye but the mind as well. Written by Neil Gaiman and beautifully drawn by Mike Dringenberg, this sci-fi and fantasy graphic novel mix is set way before our time in an odd modernistic world. It features many characters who brilliantly come to life throughout the novel such as Dream who is followed throughout the eventful novel as he travels to find all of his once belongings. His character is drawn through the story to be a very blunt straightforward character, but his actions show much more into his character. Some other very prevalent characters are Death, Desire and Lucifer. They are all met by Dream at some point in the story and I personally enjoyed how Gaiman decided to have the characters chase after his belongings in hopes of retrieving them back. The mere idea of retrieving lost items back is enough non-fiction for me.
The obstacles facing Dream were great touches such as small Gargoyles being hatched and given names and the three weird sisters scene was a wonderful allusion to Shakespeare's Macbeth. The entire novel being mostly fantasy and science fiction, will be appealing to those who enjoy reading about fantasy worlds and scenarios that can not physically exist in the real world. My favorite section of the book was definitely the travel to Rachel’s house. When the Gargoyle captured Dream and led him to the House of Mysteries, I was completely captivated and I have ever been that interested in what happens next in a book before. Now, just like a rose, every one has its thorn and therefore the thorn for this book had to be the unintroduced characters that were sprinkled throughout the story. One of the worst thing that can be done with any novel is not introducing the characters name and expecting the readers to understand. I picked up on the characters after a page or two but after re- reading the pages a second time I finally understood what was happening when the so called ‘new’ character was introduced. The beginning portion of the book also had me a bit rattled because for a while I did not understand what was going on between the characters. There are many other greatly written scenes in the book and that is why I highly recommend this to anyone who loves mystery, problem solving and fantasy science fiction. This is a thrilling story that everyone, no matter what age level or grade should read for pure enjoyment. The novel was jam packed with adventure, suspense and some gore towards the ending. The Sandman will have you sitting on the edge of your seat as you read in suspense awaiting any scenario that may occur.

I'm really liking this plot, I can understand why the sandman is lowkey very salty at every character that has trapped him.

Is the child the woman dreamed she had the 'sandman'?

This book is getting really good, but me oh my what is with all the gore?!

Where did Marylin Monroe, Elvis and the clown come in? Is it just his thoughts?

The amulet thing confused me too Mikey.

i am OKAY

it's fine, everything is fine

fine brendan

okay, i think i understand this now
there are so many different stories happening at once

update: they were trying a lot of black magic to try and get the amulet back and thats why they blew him up.

what the heck is happening? why did they blow the guy up?!?!

I have just started the book and so far it's very interesting, since i don't read graphic novels often, the set up of the strips were confusing for me. I like how the story jumps around, but sometimes it can be hard to follow due to how many events are going on.

By Alessandra Filippone

The Sandman

I am at page 50 in The Road now. I love the descriptive language in the work, I think it is brilliant! I am though getting annoyed with the lack of quotations used. Even though I have read a bit now, the quotations always seem to have me tripped up. The plot thickens though as the father and son travel south to avoid the cold winter.

I am on page 28 of the Road, and I really like how ominous this book is. It starts out all eerie in a barren land with the man and a young boy walking down this road. The way the author has chosen to write though is quite confusing. There is no real grammar to the novel since it is written from a post apocolyptical point of view. This rare comma usage and no quotations for dialogue are messing with my mind a bit, but other than that, I really like this book so far.

The Road