So Stephenie Meyers's new book The Host is out and I'm only in chapter 1 but IT IS WEIRD. It's for adults and really sci-fi-esque. My sister says its good if you can get through the first three chapters. Any made it that far yet?
I just finished reading it last night!! I tried to go slow and make it last longer. Once I got halfway through I could NOT put it down!!! My husband was a bit put out that I wouldn't put it down and talk to him. I would just keep moving rooms until I was done. It is a great book and I would recommend it to everyone!!! P.S. Even though it may seem slow in the beginning it really helps later on. Have fun reading Angie you'll love it!
I really liked it too. The beginning is admittedly slow, but once it gets rolling it's smooth sailing. I have mostly spoiler-y comments, so I'll just leave it at that!
Hi, this is Angie's friend from college again. I just finished "The Host" and thought I'd go ahead and post my Goodreads/Shelfari review here. Have a good day, Angela ------------ Stephanie Meyer is good at creating a new world that readers are curious to understand and explore. The Host is not one of those stories that leads up to a big, final battle in which the “good guys” defeat/conquer/overcome the “bad guys”. This is a relationship driven story. It’s about an alien that comes to understand love more deeply – from motherly love, to friendship/family love, to romantic love. The story is appealing because most of us can relate to feelings of being a misfit, and the deep desire to belong, be accepted, and to be loved.
Ways The Host is similar to the Twilight series: - Both stories have a group of outcasts in hiding trying to survive - The main character’s internal struggle over who to be loyal to - The main character’s struggle with gaining the trust of the outcast group - Symbolism of the eyes. In Twilight the eyes tell about a vampire’s diet; in The Host, the eyes indicate whether a person is human or alien - The non-human characters’ physical dependency on human bodies. In Twilight the vampires need mammal blood. In The Host, the aliens need sentient host bodies. - The non-human characters’ (vampires & aliens) potential for “immortality” - The non-human characters’ (vampires & aliens) don’t get the same opportunities as human in experiencing a parent-child relationship
Potential discussion questions: - How much of “who we are” is our Body and how much is our Mind? - The story explores how an alien soul controls the host body. The story shows how humans have some kind of intelligence/mind/spirit that is a separate entity from their body. We learn through the story where the aliens’ souls come from, but the story doesn’t talk about where human spirits comes from. The author has religious beliefs, but she doesn’t bring any of that into her writing. However, this story does present the opportunity to discuss the origin and potential for human spirits. - Even though we don’t have aliens taking over our bodies, what other entities are trying to influence our thoughts and behaviors? Some examples would be the news media, advertising, political campaigns, parenting methods, educational slants, etc. What about something like the devil as portrayed in C.S. Lewis’s novel “The Screwtape Letters”? - Many of the characters in this story have a hard time separating Melanie from Wanda. The characters looked at Melanie’s body and had a difficult time recognizing the two different entities inside. Compare and contrast this to how we often look at outside appearances. How do prejudices about beauty, age, race, gender, health, etc., affect the way we view the person on the inside? - What does it mean to “be human”? - Who “owns” a body? What ways did the story explore different definitions and types of ownership over a body? - What some examples about how the characters where affected by their ability (or inability) to see things from other people’s perspectives. - Are there some ways in which Earth is a better place because of the Souls?
3 comments:
I just finished reading it last night!!
I tried to go slow and make it last longer. Once I got halfway through I could NOT put it down!!! My husband was a bit put out that I wouldn't put it down and talk to him. I would just keep moving rooms until I was done. It is a great book and I would recommend it to everyone!!!
P.S. Even though it may seem slow in the beginning it really helps later on. Have fun reading Angie you'll love it!
I really liked it too. The beginning is admittedly slow, but once it gets rolling it's smooth sailing. I have mostly spoiler-y comments, so I'll just leave it at that!
erin
Hi, this is Angie's friend from college again. I just finished "The Host" and thought I'd go ahead and post my Goodreads/Shelfari review here. Have a good day, Angela
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Stephanie Meyer is good at creating a new world that readers are curious to understand and explore. The Host is not one of those stories that leads up to a big, final battle in which the “good guys” defeat/conquer/overcome the “bad guys”. This is a relationship driven story. It’s about an alien that comes to understand love more deeply – from motherly love, to friendship/family love, to romantic love. The story is appealing because most of us can relate to feelings of being a misfit, and the deep desire to belong, be accepted, and to be loved.
Ways The Host is similar to the Twilight series:
- Both stories have a group of outcasts in hiding trying to survive
- The main character’s internal struggle over who to be loyal to
- The main character’s struggle with gaining the trust of the outcast group
- Symbolism of the eyes. In Twilight the eyes tell about a vampire’s diet; in The Host, the eyes indicate whether a person is human or alien
- The non-human characters’ physical dependency on human bodies. In Twilight the vampires need mammal blood. In The Host, the aliens need sentient host bodies.
- The non-human characters’ (vampires & aliens) potential for “immortality”
- The non-human characters’ (vampires & aliens) don’t get the same opportunities as human in experiencing a parent-child relationship
Potential discussion questions:
- How much of “who we are” is our Body and how much is our Mind?
- The story explores how an alien soul controls the host body. The story shows how humans have some kind of intelligence/mind/spirit that is a separate entity from their body. We learn through the story where the aliens’ souls come from, but the story doesn’t talk about where human spirits comes from. The author has religious beliefs, but she doesn’t bring any of that into her writing. However, this story does present the opportunity to discuss the origin and potential for human spirits.
- Even though we don’t have aliens taking over our bodies, what other entities are trying to influence our thoughts and behaviors? Some examples would be the news media, advertising, political campaigns, parenting methods, educational slants, etc. What about something like the devil as portrayed in C.S. Lewis’s novel “The Screwtape Letters”?
- Many of the characters in this story have a hard time separating Melanie from Wanda. The characters looked at Melanie’s body and had a difficult time recognizing the two different entities inside. Compare and contrast this to how we often look at outside appearances. How do prejudices about beauty, age, race, gender, health, etc., affect the way we view the person on the inside?
- What does it mean to “be human”?
- Who “owns” a body? What ways did the story explore different definitions and types of ownership over a body?
- What some examples about how the characters where affected by their ability (or inability) to see things from other people’s perspectives.
- Are there some ways in which Earth is a better place because of the Souls?
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