Book_Report

Carry Me Down I read Carry Me Down by Maria Joan Hyland. This book was recognized for the Man Booker Prize in 2006. I have not read any other fiction novels by her. Maria was born in London to Irish parents. When she was two her family moved to Australia, but a few years later they returned to Dublin. When she was 11 they moved back to Australia settling down in Melbourne. When she finished school she worked for a short time in film and television before completing an Art/Law degree at the University of Melbourne in 1996. M. J. Hyland also wrote How the Lights Get In and This is How. This book takes place in Gorey and Ballymun, Ireland about 50 years ago. The setting is appropriate for this book because it is easier to relate to the problems that occur. For example, John has always wanted to fly on a plane to America, which I’m sure many kids in other countries would want to do. If this book took place during a time period when there was no T.V. or cars it would be harder to relate to the story. However, if this story had taken place during the computer and internet era, John would have had more tools to use to market his talent. It would’ve also made it much easier for John to get in contact with The Guinness Book of World Record’s and Ripley’s Believe it or Not. Four characters in this book are John Egan, Michael Egan, Helen Egan, and Mr. Roche. John is the son of Helen and Michael. John believes he has the ability to detect when people are lying. His goal in life is to be in the Guinness Book of World Records and travel to the Niagara Falls on an airplane with his mother. Michael is a very smart man, but also a liar. He spends a lot of his time reading. He also told John that he never cheated on his wife, but John detected that was a lie. Helen is a very beautiful lady and does finger puppets, which John loves. Once she learns that Michael cheated on her she became sad and her hair started to turn grey. Mr. Roche was a substitute teacher for John’s class when he went to school in Gorey. John liked him a lot, and even told him about his gift. Mr. Roche was the person John could talk to about his gift, he was also the only one who believed John actually had this ability. John Egan is an overly tall 12 year old who wants to be in the Guinness Book of World Records or Ripley’s Believe It or Not for being a human lie detector. He lives in Gorey, Ireland with is mom, dad, and grandma and he attends Gorey National School. One day when he went to school they had a substitute named Mr. Roche. John liked him much better than their normal teacher and Mr. Roche seemed to like John a lot also. When his grandma kicks John and his family out of her house John is mad because he is afraid he will never see Mr. Roche again. The family is forced to move in with John’s aunt and uncle, before being placed in welfare housing in Ballymun. This is where John puts his lie detecting talent to the test. John asks his father if had been sleeping with the prostitutes that live on the floor above them. Michael said no and John determined that was a lie and told his mom. When she found out this was true she kicked his dad out and went into a depression. She told her son that she hadn’t been able to sleep in a few days, so John decided to fix that. He smothered his mom with a pillow until she stopped moving. Once he left the room Helen called the cops and they took John to a boy’s home. He stays there for one night then his mom and dad come to pick him up. Helen has forgiven Michael and they are back together. They move back to Gorey to live with John’s grandma and John is very happy because he likes it better there than the flats they lived in, in Ballymun. When he gets there, Mr. Roche is there to see him. They talk and John lies and says he lost his ability because John’s mom wants him to stop telling everybody about his talent. When Mr. Roche left, Michael took Helen and John to a nearby mansion because John wanted to see a model village that is built inside. He wanted to see this village because he was thinking of making his own soon. After John got a good look his family left and they left for home. The central idea of this book is that John Egan desperately wants to be in the Guinness Book of World Records or Ripley’s Believe it or Not. His mind is set on this goal throughout the whole book, and nothing will stop him. He wants to go to Ripley’s Museum, and then go to Niagara Fall’s with his mom. John wants to go so bad he steals some money from his grandma so he can be a little bit closer to that goal. The author doesn’t use much humor. When she does attempt humor, they are corny jokes. For example, John says, “Fish and chips are good, but the smell is better. I wish you could eat the smell.” This is more of a serious book so there are not a lot of funny jokes or lines. And when there is humor it is usually used when the parents are trying to hide something from John, or when John has made his mom or dad mad and is trying to make them happy again. ” She is tense and nervous; her posture is stooped and her pupils are black and too big.” As you can see in this passage the author uses a lot of imagery and descriptive language to help the reader understand the book easier. Throughout the book this is how detailed the author describes the characters and many other things. It’s easy to imagine what the characters look like because of the descriptions. This makes it much easier to put yourself in the book, and imagine that you’re standing next to the characters. This book is very different than any other book I’ve read in the past. The tension in the story is somewhat similar to the lyrics of a song I have heard by Eminem. This song is called “Kim” and it is about Eminem wanting to kill his wife because he is angry at her. One part of the song is ,“ I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU! I SWEAR TO GOD I HATE YOU.” When John got really mad at his mom he would tell her that he hated her and sometimes he hit her. When John smothered his mom, he was angry but he does not want to kill her. There was also an episode of Criminal Minds where a young boy killed his brother because he simply got mad at him. This is similar to what John felt in his intense anger toward his mom. The thing I admire most about this novel is John Egan’s determination to let people know about his ability as a human lie detector. This determination even broke up his family for a while. In order to achieve this goal, John often made poor choices. John’s will to accomplish his goals is success in my mind. An aspect that wasn’t satisfying is that this book was a bit disturbing. The way that John talks about his mom is as though he’s physically attracted to her, but at other times in the novel he doesn’t want anything to do with her. John is a young man with a lot of things on his mind. Even though he didn’t accomplish his goals his family got back together, and that is just as good.