Kayla’s Comments (group member since Aug 29, 2017)

Kayla’s comments from the Fall 2017 - Comida Con Causa group.

Kayla: Page #311
Mila: Page #227

In our book club discussion Mila and I answered the questions:

- What questions did you have when you finished this weeks reading?
Mila: "I feel like Ester is going to leave."

Kayla: "I am curious to know what is going to happen in Horacio's trial."

- Did anything that happened in the book surprise you?
Mila: "I didn't think that Virgilio was actually going to leave Margot because she's super controlling of him."

Kayla: "I am surprised that they actually killed off Ester and that Horacio is finally going on trial."

- What is the author's purpose for this story?
Kayla: "The purpose of this story is to illustrate how violent it was to take control of this land. People were really greedy for money, and others suffered because of this."

Mila: "I think the purpose was to tell the story of the cocoa trade, and make it more understandable by presenting it in a historical fiction genre."

- How do the setting, plot, theme or character(s) contribute to the effectiveness of the story?
Mila: "It humanizes the story."

Kayla: "The new setting that the author as recently been describing in these last few chapters is a really portraying how violent the fight for cacao land really is."

- Does the book remind you of any real-life experiences?
Mila: "No."

Kayla: "Recently the book hasnt been reminding me of any thing from my real life because the once bright and colorful town that was described to me that reminded me of my trip to Mexico is now a bloody and dark town."

- What would you have done if you were the character?
Mila: "If I was Ester I would have left Horacio already."

Kayla: "If I was the character Virgilio I would have escaped to Rio with Ester a long time ago so she never would have caught the fever and died."

Violent Land
(Mila created this discussion. Goodreads won't allow her to log in.)
Kayla - Page 224
Mila - 201

How did you feel while reading this book?

Kayla: It started to get a little repetitive. It also started getting confusing. There are some entertaining chapters, but I find most the the characters boring or annoying.

Mila: I felt similar. I felt like most of the characters were written to be annoying/hated. I also feel like some of the chapters are pointless and not essential to the story.

What was the authors purpose for this story?

Kayla: The purpose of this story is to illustrate how violent it was to take control of this land. People were really greedy for money, and others suffered because of this.

Mila: I think the purpose was to tell the story of the cocoa trade, and make it more understandable by presenting it in a historical fiction genre.

Does this book remind you of anything you've learned?

Kayla: It reminds me of learning about the Wild West, since it was lawless lands and there was a lot of corruption and violence.

Mila: That is what I thought too. It reminds me of the Wild West since there was a lot of violence and everyone was fending for themselves.

Kayla: Page #102
Mila: Page #70

In our book club discussion Mila and I answered the questions:
- What questions did you have when you finished this weeks reading?
- Did anything that happened in the book surprise you?
- What is the author's purpose for this story?
- How do the setting, plot, theme or character(s) contribute to the effectiveness of the story?
- Does the book remind you of any real-life experiences?
- What would you have done if you were the character?

When we answered the questions in the reflection section we talked about how Mila and I were both confused while reading about all the different characters and how often the point of view changes in chapters. Mila said, "It was hard to me to figure out who was who at the beginning because they keep switching between characters because some characters would become irrelevant like the next page." And then Kayla responded with, "Yeah I also agree because like these old characters from the boat in chapter 1 would pop up like 10 chapters later so I'm like wait this character is relevant now?" We also talked about how we were both surpised that we were able to understand the book later on because in the beginning we were both confused. Kayla said, "In the beginning I was like, 'Oh I dont understand any of this,' but as it went further in the book I started to see normal human English that I understand." Mila then said, "Yeah I agree like it's hard to understand the writing and everything."

In the author analyzer section Mila and I talked about how we thought the author was trying to make the point that the cacao groves were very sought after and there was a lot of violence involved in trying to acquire the cacao groves. We also discussed how the author goes into a lot of detail about describing the setting so much so that it sometimes gets to a point that is annoying.

In the connection section of the book club Mila and I talked about how if we were the character Ester we would have refused to marry her abusive husband and maybe poison him. I also talked about how it's easy for me to imagine the setting the book takes place in because of when I traveled to Costa Rica and Mexico because of the jungle environment I got to visit while I was there.