As a teacher of English as a foreign language I truly believe that one of the greatest ways to make my students cherish the language and grasp its scope to the deepest is by prodding them to read, read and read. Yet, I am not much in favour of graded readers, not so much because of their quality. There are graded readers that are undoubtedly well edited and of great help to some students. I started experimenting reading books for young people 10 years ago and since then I have never abandoned the idea of promoting authentic material in my classes. I see that when my students read an authentic (unabridged) novel, they gain confidence and great satisfaction. They say their reading a novel in English (a novel that mother tongue speakers themselves read!) gives them a great sense of achievement, fulfilment. Obviously I do not plunge my students into an ocean of books without giving them any buoy (metaphorically speaking). Quite the contrary: titles are suggested according to the level of English my students have and bearing in mind the overall interests.
I am much indebted to Stephen Krashen’s ideas and books. If I had not read him I doubt I would have ever decided to abondon the safe island of the graded reader to embark on a riskier but greatly challenging vessel.
Why have I not set up a blog on reading in English before? I started promoting extensive reading years ago and I have been using blogs with my students for a while. Well, the truth is that running a blog is timeconsuming and we teachers do not happen to have lots of time. Yet, this school year (2011) was marked by a special event for my 3F class. Thus this blog is dedicated to them. They are the ones that spurred me into creating it. They read the novel “Beautiful Malice” by the Australian writer Rebecca James and then they accepted my challenge of attending a short workshop on how to create a booktrailer. With the help of Andrea Princivalli they created the following:
The writer herself wrote the following e-mail to the students:
Dear Class III F
WOW.
That is absolutely brilliant. I love it! It is Sunday morning here in Australia and I’ve just watched that trailer and I’m sure I’m going to be smiling all day!
Thank you so so so MUCH.
I think you’re all amazingly clever and I’m going to post that on my blog if you don’t mind?
With very warm wishes,
Rebecca
http://www.rebeccajamesbooks.com/
You will read the students’ reactions and comments on the book and on the booktrailer experience.
Since this blog is meant to promote ESL students to read novels in English but also colleagues to use free reading in their classes, I would love to share with you the introductory activity I devised along with two friends and colleagues (Nella and Laura), with whom I share ideas, projects, hopes and sometimes frustrations too. This activity is meant to tickle the students imagination and if possible to spur them into reading the whole novel.
Beautiful Malice
A good book on your shelf is a friend that turns its back on you and remains a friend. Author Unknown
This is another interesting booktrailer what I invite you to watch.
Bye for now.
Cristiana
1-Absolutely yes! I really enjoyed reading the novel. At the beginning it was a little bit difficult because I had to concentrate a lot in order to understand what it was written but then it was just like reading an Italian novel, of course I didn’t understand every single word, but it was much easier than before and I began to appreciate the story. Reading this novel has helped me to learn lots of new words and English idioms, it made me aware of my English knowledge and on the same time I understood what I have to improve and that I have still lots of things to learn. Finally, even if it is a bit stupid, after reading the novel I felt proud of myself because I managed to understand quite everything and I was really pleased of it.
2-In my opinion it didn’t create a stronger bond among us, even if I have to say that we spoke a lot of it in class. When we came back from the Christmas holidays, we were so excited about the novel: everybody expressed her point of view and we compared our opinions. It was nice to speak all together and finding something common among us.
Personally, I spoke about the novel even with friends outside the class, I think because it was such a wonderful and involving novel that I felt like doing that. I was so seized with the story that I had to talk about it and I wanted to make everybody part of it.
3-TEN! It was absolutely pleasant and interesting. It helped me a lot with my English and then it was such a gripping story that I couldn’t stop reading it until the end of the novel.
4-Not really. I enjoyed it of course, but it didn’t change in some way my reading of the novel.
It was a wonderful experience, but I didn’t think it was really linked to the reading of “Beautiful Malice” in English. In fact, we didn’t speak in English during those lessons and we talked more about shooting a trailer than the book. So, while we were joining those classes I didn’t really think about the story of the novel and it didn’t help me to improve my English.
5-It was enjoyable because we learnt lots of new things and we worked all together: it was nice doing something with all the class. Personally, I found it really interesting and it taught me many things. I found out that I really like the cinema and that it is a subject that interests me a lot. The worst aspects of this activity what the fact that it took up a lot of time and so during those days I was very busy. Then I was panicked because I had to compose a melody for the trailer, but I didn’t have so much time and I didn’t know how I would have done it. However, I managed to compose something proper and despite this it was a nice experience.
6-There aren’t any negative aspects of reading the novel in English: it was just amazing! As I have already said, it made me improve my English and I learnt a lot of new words. Besides the story was extremely involving, too. It made me think about important arguments such as friendship, murder, rape and so on. So, it was not only interesting, but also educational.
7-I don’t know if I learnt something about me. Maybe I did, but I’m not aware of it.
Perhaps, as I said before, I found myself interested in cinema and shooting trailers or films and then reading the novel made me feel like reading other books in English on my own, not just when the teacher says that we have to read one. So, maybe it has motivated me in improving my English and in reading books.
8-Well, I think all of us should try to read English books on his/her own because it is a pleasant way of learning English and I would be grateful if the teacher kept on promoting the reading of materials in English because I really enjoyed it and it was very useful.
9-If I were a teacher, I would promote the reading of English books even just for pleasure.
I wouldn’t force my students to look every single word in the dictionary because I think that it makes the reading boring and for me the important thing is to understand the context and then maybe, when you have finished the novel, you can improve your English looking in the dictionary the words that you didn’t understand.
10-I think that a student is more motivated when he/she deals with arguments or topics that regards him/her as a person. For example, in my opinion we were so excited and interested
in this novel because it speaks about friendship, love and it was so psychologically gripping. Besides, the main characters were teenagers so we were more involved.
Then I think that patience and calm motivates a student more than too much strictness. I don’t mean that teachers shouldn’t be strict, but I think that there are different ways of being strict.
In conclusion, teachers shouldn’t underestimate their students, but should help them in learning. And we should try, as students, to be more motivated and to study a bit more, not only when the teachers says to, but also on our own.
Sara Perin
1) In my opinion reading English books has been important to improve the language because I learnt lots of typical expressions and new vocabulary. Moreover, when you read you get confidance with the language.
2) I don’t think reading the same book has created a stronger bond among us even if discussing it together (even outside school) has been a great deal to confront our opinions.
I told my mother about “Face” and “Teacher’s dead” because I wanted to know her opinion on the main character’s thoughts. I must say a long discussion was raised.
3) Eight. The story is gripping, there is a lot of suspance and I like reading.
4) Shooting the book trailer makes me aware of how many aspects and feelings are there in the novel. What I am trying to say is that while we are reading we concentrate on the story and we are not consciuous of what we feel. Due to the shooting we had have to find and analyze things, emotions I have never been consciuous of.
5) I loved shooting the trailer for three reasons: the first is the one I’ve just said above; then I liked very much the team spirit that it has created; in conclusion I found out new shooting technique or ways to work which really interested me. I loved this project!
6) Readingin English is important to know new words and to improve the language. I do not think there are negative aspects, reading never hurts anybody.
8) I think you should continue to promote English reading because it is useful for school and
even for us as people.
9) If I were a teacher I would show my student some English films or inform them on a topic
that interests them and then discuss about it and do some work on it. I found the workshop
on Global Warming very motivating.
10) I think studying only grammar kills the motivation to learn.
Adua Dalla Costa
1)I think that reading novels in English in their original format is a really good way both to increase motivation and to improve your English. Fist of all I learnt new words and even typical expressions, which may be useful in everyday life. Moreover, I think that “reading for pleasure” makes you more involved in the task and makes you forget that it is just homework to do, increasing consequently your motivation. In fact, personally, I really enjoyed reading the book that were asked me to read, because I felt like I wanted to do it and nobody obliged me.
2)I haven’t spoken about the books with people outside school, maybe because nobody read them and I think it’s better and easier talking about them with somebody who knows what you are talking about. Although I didn’t speak about the books with people who didn’t read them, I often spoke about them with classmates, even without the presence of the teacher. For example last summer I often talked and shared my opinion with some classmates about “Face” and “Teacher’s dead”, and I believe that this has somehow created a stronger bond among us.
3)I enjoyed reading “Beautiful Malice” in English 8. In my opinion it was a really good book and reading it in English maybe is even better than in Italian. Perhaps the negative part is that English is not my mother-tongue and so I can’t understand every single word, but I think that little by little you get accustomed to it and you don’t even realize you are reading in a different language from yours.
4)I don’t really think that shooting the book trailer has changed my reading of the novel, but in my opinion it has been really interesting seeing with some images the book we read. Everybody, while reading, imagines some scenes in his mind, and so sharing with other people your feelings about it and getting to know other points of view has been really great.
5)In my opinion the best aspects of shooting the trailer were first of all that we got to know different interpretations of the book and it’s quite interesting to understand that the same book doesn’t have necessarily the same meaning for each of us. So seeing the result of different opinions put together is really enjoyable. In addition spending some time all together has been really funny and created a stronger bond among us. Honestly I can’t find any negative aspects.
6)One of the positive aspects of reading the novel in English is that you have the possibility to improve a lot your vocabulary, learning new words and new expressions. Of course you can’t understand everything, and this may be the negative aspect, but while you go on reading you get accustomed to it and you almost forget you aren’t reading in your mother-tongue. Moreover, I think that reading the book in its original language is better than reading a translation of it, which may change the real meaning of some expressions and so the real meaning of what the author wanted to say.
7)From the novel I got the message that if some people have a specific behaviour, that maybe at the beginning we don’t understand, lots of times it is because of their past, because of what they have been through. So we should all learn not to judge immediately, but try to understand the reason why someone does those things, because appearance can often deceive. As a student I learnt new words and I had the possibility to improve my English. From shooting the trailer I understood that, even if it is the same book, we all have different opinions and interpretations. For example not everyone enjoyed the book and getting to know other points of view, different from mine, has been really nice.
8)In my opinion promoting the reading of authentic materials in English is a really good way to motivate students. I think that in this way the student can improve his/her English, learning new vocabulary, while doing something he/she likes, just reading a beautiful novel.
9)I think motivating students to learn more is really difficult. If I were a teacher of English I would try to make the lesson as interesting as possible, maybe trying to involve in some way my students. I think nowadays lots of students aren’t really motivated, because they don’t find interest in what they do, but they do something just because the teacher has asked them to. So I would try to make them understand that studying has to be a pleasure and I think giving them novels to read is a really good way to do it.
10)As a student I think that some things, such as some grammatical exercises, “kill” the desire of learning, probably because you do them mechanically and you aren’t really involved. Of course they are an essential part to learn English; anyway I think that other things, like for example reading poems or novels, are better to motivate learning. Another thing that in my opinion kills the desire to learn is giving too much homework. I think that in this way the student will feel too much pressure and he/she will end making all the work superficially, because he/she doesn’t have the time to concentrate on everything. So I believe it’s better giving less work to do, so that the student can concentrate and obtain a better result.
Valentina Lupieri
I think the promotion of reading for pleasure or free reading has helped me with my English because it had dragged me into the real English, not only the one which is taught at school. Another thing that I'd like to say is that some years ago I had teachers that made us not only read books but also look up every single word we didn't know in the dictionary. I think this way kills the pleasure of reading because it doesn't permit you to be completely involved.
I don't think that reading the same book has created a stronger bond among classmates but I have to say that we have talked about it. It has raised up loads of considerations that we have shared. I haven't spoken about it outside school because from my point of view in this case it's possible onlt after everyone has read it.
I enjoyed reading the novel “Beautiful Malice” from 1-10, 10, because in this way obviously the emotions and the feelings the writer wanted to communicate are clearer. In addiction, although the language was easy, I felt very pleased because I understood everything without the need of looking up words in the dictionary.
Shooting the booktrailer neither chenged my reading of the novel nor enhanced my desire to read in English but I'd like to say that was a great experience, althought at the beginning I wasn't very convinced, because of the highly-stressed period.
The best aspect of shooting the trailer, from my point of view, was the process of identifying the feeeling we felt and then find images and music in order to communicate them to the viewers. I can't find any kind of negative aspect, maybe the fact that not everybody did the same contribution becaus of the bounds we had, but it doesn't really matter!
Reading the novel in English, from my point of view, has only positive aspects. As I've already said, you can feel better what the writer wanted to communicate, you can learn expressions commonly used, you can prove and also improve your English.
I think I didn't learn anything about myself but I've tried to identify with the characters and it was a bit difficult with Alice.
Yes, I think the teacher should promote reading of authentic materials in English because people who are really interested would immediately think about it.
I'd like to say that last year I really appreciated when we read “The boy in the stryped pijamas” and after watching the movie we compared them because it wasn't the same old work, or better still, it was an alternative way of working! If I were a teacher I would prepare classes about topics that are closed to y students.
Keep on talking about reading, students became reluctant when teachers promote it to them, because of the fear of having to work hard on the boring “scheda libro”. A solution could simply be a class discussion about the issues raised up in the book.
Silvia Salvador
1. I think that reading something in the original “format”, is better than reading something changed to simplify the reading. Most of all if we are students and we need to learn new words. But the only way to say that a certain book has helped you promote your English, is to read the book lots of times, underline new words, find their meanings. And this is what I did with “Beautiful Malice”, and so I can say that, yes I learn new words and expressions.
2. I think that in class, also to facilitate the work together, with the teacher, to compare the attitudes, ways of thinking is better to read the same book in class. I always speak about books that I read because I like opinions, and because in this way I can understand if I had understood the content and the message of the book.
3. My mark is 8. Read “Beautiful Malice” helped me discover a different type of book from what I usually read, that involved me a lot. I usually read romantic books and “Beautiful Malice” isn’t a romantic one, instead it is a book that speaks about family, friendship, love, teen problems, all things that can interest me personally.
The title itself is curios, you think to find twisted stories, difficult stories and this is the case throughout the novel. Only in some parts I found it a bit boring, I would delete some parts about private strories and I would speak about the problems of teens also in a general way.
4. My reading of the novel has remained the same, at the end the story was the same and then with the trailer we only had to review it. But surely this way of working has enhanced my desire to read in English because now I like to think to create my trailer, my view of the story, my characters, my setting, now that I have learned I want to try do it myself! And so yes, now I’m more interested in reading in English.
5. The best aspects were first of all learning to make a book trailer , learning not only about the technical aspects but also about cinema, TV, books, trailers, ways of working in the cinema and all the aspects that we have to know to create a good work. Then the fact that the class was together and I see a close-knit class, we helped us, we played, we joked, we were very collaborative, willing to work for all the things that needed to be done a good job. Perhaps the worst thing was time.
6. There aren’t any negative aspects, it was really beautiful!
7. By reading the book I learnt that before you trust a person I have to know him, to frequent him, the first impression is never the right one. I have to help my friends, sometimes I have also to take risks for them, but most of all, real love, come form family. By making the trailer instead, I understood what working hard means, I had to overcome my timidity, speaking easly. I learnt to collaborate, to stay with my class, to listen to the others thoughts, to learn also from the others.
8. Yes, I think the English teacher should promote the reading of authentic materials in English but I also think that we can see films and discuss about them as we do for a book. We can also listen to more music also together and from the texts of songs we can learn new words, sure all of this have to be connected with the programme. Anyway I like literature so much and the way we study it.
10. As a student I think that motivation is give by the teacher, subject but most of all from us and our love for the subject, the pleasure to study it, if we haven’t got this we can’t study. What “kills” our motivations are bad marks!
Irene Pellegrini
1. I like reading so, from my point of view, I think that reading helps you always, because by reading you can learn a lots of things, also from different people. In this specific case, in my opinion reading English books has helped me improve my English, in every single page I found new words and I tried to learn them. Reading books in their original “format” allows you to understand more the writer and his way of writing. In the “original” books there are also a lot of everyday language, so you have a really precious source.
2. Maybe it hasn’t created a stronger bond among classmates, but certainly we have spoken about the book many times, we have compared our opinions, and we have discussed about them. Also at home I have told my relatives the plot of the book I have read, especially I have told about “Beautiful Malice” because that book involved me a lot, and I wanted that also my parents or my friends to read it.
3. 9, in my opinion it is a wonderful book; I like mystery books, where there are investigations and in this book I have found all that I like. A fantastic plot, the characters are really well described, also in their psychology, with the twist in the tale and all the elements that make you stay sitting on the edge for the whole reading. The writer discloses the truth to you little by little and this creates suspance.
4. Shooting the book trailer was a fantastic experience; I learnt to know the story better and some “hidden” aspects of it. This has permitted me to know some things about the way the trailers are shot, but this hasn’t enhanced my desire to read in English.
5. Shooting the trailer is a beautiful way to know how a trailer is made, all the little particulars that for me before weren’t important; it takes long to shoot a trailer.
6. The best aspects are that you can read a story in the original language, not in traslation, you read the story as the writer wrote it.
8. I’d like to read some newspapers in English, in my opinion this could be a good idea; or some articles about themes that your teacher wants.
9. I would read the students some passages of my favourite books, and I would explain to them what a book can give you. Then I would have different books to read, from different genres, so that the students could decide what genre they love better.
10. In my opinion a student sometimes thinks that he could do other things instead of studying, for example having a nap, surfing the net, going out with is friends so, this kills motivation; we know that studying is important for us, for our future, but we sometimes “forget” this.
Silvia Fedrigo
1) – Yes, I think that reading for pleasure has helped me very much improve my English and my motivation.
First of all because having some “suggested books” is very useful for students: in fact the teacher can suggest books suitable for the level of English of her./his students, not too easy but even not too hard. This puts the students in the condition to learn something from books: word, expressions, tradition of a population etc. that can be very useful for them.
For example I noticed that many new words or expressions that learnt came from the books I have read and it has improved my motivation of learning English.
2) – Yes, reading the same book has created a stronger bond among us, because we have shared the same experience, the same feelings: we have felt tenderness, hate, love, anger, confusion, sense of revenge. We have lived the life of Katherine, Alice, Robbie, Philippa, Mik and the other characters.
We have also spoken about it without the presence of the teacher and personally I have told the plot of the book to some friends of mine (I have also lent the book to a friend), because it was so involving that I was completely caught up on it.
3) – I enjoyed 10/10 reading Beautiful Malice in English first of all because I find it fascinating reading a book in its original language (in this way the shades of the language, the peculiarities of the words are not lost with the translation); then I think that at our age it is very useful reading a book in English, since it allows us to learn the expressions people use in their daily-life and not those you find in school-books.
4) – Yes, I think that the fact of shooting the book-trailer changed my reading of the book because it has presented me the story from a different point of view: analyzing the plot, the actions of the characters, their psychology and mind-set let you “play” with them and their roles in the story. For example Rachel in the book trailer acquired importance, while Robbie and Philippa, who are fundamental in the book, didn’t even appear in the trailer.
On the contrary, I don’t think that the book-trailer has enhanced my desire of reading English, but only because of the fact that we have worked on it in Italian.
5) – The best aspects of shooting the trailer were the deep analysis of the book we made, the stronger bond it has created among us, the possibility to express our creativity (for example the decision to give more or less weight to a character or the emphasize only some traits of a character’s personality) and the possibility for us to know something more about the world of communication, publicity etc.
In my opinion the worst aspect of shooting the trailer were the fact that we had to do it after the school time and do some work on our own, but I think that this inevitable if we want to create a good work.
6) – The best aspects of reading the novel in English were, as I have pointed out, the fact that learning new words or expressions in a particular context is easier and more dynamic than doing it in a ordinary way and the fact the reading a novel in its original language is always better than reading a translation because we can appreciate every shade of the language.
In my opinion there weren’t negative aspects.
7) – Reading “Beautiful Malice” and shooting the book-trailer made me proud of myself, of the work I have done: reading the book in particular made me feel satisfied because I have worked hard in order to understand the book completely, to memorize new words, to analyze the characters etc.
Moreover, I have learnt that every one of us has many shades of personality, that even the most beautiful person has a cruel trait in his character and even the cruelest one has something good. I think that the reflection on this made me more aware of these aspects in my character.
8) – Personally I must say that I like almost all the activities you have prepared for us till now, because they were creative and varied. I think that reading books in particular has been very useful for us and for our English. So I’d like to go on reading some books in particular those like “Beautiful Malice”, realistic and involving, that can make us reflect on the world and the people who surround us.
9 & 10) – If I were a teacher of English I think I’d be criticized a lot by my students because I’d constantly test them out with demanding activities. I must admit that when I read the requests of some works you give to us I am already scared and I think “I cannot manage to do it!”. Sometimes I look at the blank page in front of me disconsolate. But, then, in some ways, I do manage to do it. Sometimes I have to work a lot to do your homework, in particular the more creative ones, but I think that those are the type of things that help you to better yourself. I’m sure that the exercises on the school-books are very useful but the works where I have learnt more are those who had scared me at the first, for example the workshop on climate change, the activities on the books during the summer, the poems and the work on “Beautiful Malice”. I had to commit myself to do them, but at the end they gave me a lot of satisfaction and I still remember many words or expressions of these works as is if I had just memorized them.
The only negative aspect of these activities is the time, because these type of creative works require a lot of time, but in general I think that they are the best way to learn a language.
Erika Capovilla
I don't like reading a book in English very much because I don't know many words, but I can't look up each word in the dictionary because it will take me a year to read the book. Anyway I liked "Teacher's dead". I really enjoyed it. This was not the case with "Face" or "The boy in the striped pijamas". I didn't like those books because of the plot I think.
The last book that I had to read was "Beautiful Malice", a book by Rebecca James. My class and I made a Booktrailer and because of this we spoke about the book even in class with the teacher and without her. I didn't like the novel, because I prefer other types of books. I think that from 1 to 10 I enjoyed reading "Beautiful Malice" about 4-5. The fact of shooting the booktrailer changed my reading of the novel. I loved being Rachel very much. The best aspect of shooting the trailer was that we were there as a class, and somehow we were somehow "friends". I think that the worst one is that not everyone took part in it, but thus isn't really a bad aspect …
From shooting the trailer I learnt that somehow my classmates are similar to me, we like or don't like the same things. Moreover I think that the promotion of reading for pleasure helped me improve my English and increased my motivation because I know that I have so many words to learn. I only think that sometimes, if I don't like the book, I read it very laboriously and sometimes I don't even finish it. As a student I think that doing homework is boring and there are so many amusing things to do in the afternoon. Maybe this can "kill" the desire to learn in a student.
I don't like reading a book in English very much because I don't know many words, but I can't look up each word in the dictionary because it will take me a year to read the book. Anyway I liked "Teacher's dead". I really enjoyed it. This was not the case with "Face" or "The boy in the striped pijamas". I didn't like those books because of the plot I think.
The last book that I had to read was "Beautiful Malice", a book by Rebecca James. My class and I made a Booktrailer and because of this we spoke about the book even in class with the teacher and without her. I didn't like the novel, because I prefer other types of books. I think that from 1 to 10 I enjoyed reading "Beautiful Malice" about 4-5. The fact of shooting the booktrailer changed my reading of the novel. I loved being Rachel very much. The best aspect of shooting the trailer was that we were there as a class, and somehow we were somehow "friends". I think that the worst one is that not everyone took part in it, but thus isn't really a bad aspect …
From shooting the trailer I learnt that somehow my classmates are similar to me, we like or don't like the same things. Moreover I think that the promotion of reading for pleasure helped me improve my English and increased my motivation because I know that I have so many words to learn. I only think that sometimes, if I don't like the book, I read it very laboriously and sometimes I don't even finish it. As a student I think that doing homework is boring and there are so many amusing things to do in the afternoon. Maybe this can "kill" the desire to learn in a student.
Nicoletta Pagura
1- I think the promotion of free reading has helped me improve my English: I've learnt a lot of vocabulary and many useful expressions that are not really often used in class. For example during the reading of "Beautiful Malice" or "Face" by Benjamin Zephaniah I found the dialogs between the characters really helpful in order to learn every-day's words.
2- In my opinion reading the same book hasn't created a stronger bond between us: we talked about it, about how this novel involved us to read every page so willingly. But I think our relationships have remaind the same as before reading it; in class there are grups and there are some people who don't want to be so friendly with everyone. But that's a normal situation to me: we can't be all friends because we're all different from one another!
Personally I really enjoyed speaking about the book outside school with my family members: they appreciated the story and I told them about it because I really liked it, so I wanted to involve them too.
3- Mark: 10. Because first of all, it was a really catching story and it was moreover not excessively difficult to read. I managed to understand everything so I felt even realized because I achived to understand it.
4- In my opinion, shooting the book trailer showed us that we are all different and that everyone has a different idea of what he has read. Our ideas of the characters' physical aspects were completely different, so the book trailer is shaped on our personal thinkings all put together.
5- The best aspect was the fact that everyone has done something good and we collaborated as a class. The worst one was the fact that we didn't have much time to dedicate on the book trailerbecause of the school and of our amount of study.
6- The best aspect was that I improved my vocabulary and I've learnt new expressions. I don't think that reading a novel in English has any negative aspects because in any case you don't waste time but you get the possibility to learn something more.
7- I've learnt about myself that I can manage to organize things and the other's work.
8- I think the teacher should go on with the promote of autentic materials in English as the books we read. In addition I think that watching movies in English may be an interesting activity. Watching movies in class could be a wasre of time but the teacher could give it as an homework and than discuss it in class or do some activities.
9- I really don't know, maybe the students should be motivated by themselves, not from the involving of the teacher. We should find ourselves the motivation to learn for our future.
10- Personally, what kills my motivation is the fact that sometimes I can't achive my aim although I put all my effort in it.
Alessia Testa
Yes, I think reading novels in English in their original “format” is really important because it heps me improve my English. In fact I have noticed that a writer often uses in his novel the same words, so after that, when you have read them 3 or 4 times, you learn them. For example when I read the book “The boy in the striped pygiamas” I learnt the word “FANCY” and “BANISTER” and in the book “Beautiful Malice” I found “OBLIVIOUS”…
In my opinion, reading the same book has created a strong bond among us, because while we were reading it, we always asked one other where we were. We have often talked about the novel and his characters without the teacher, because since the story is very gripping, we identified with some of them and told who we were keen on or who we were not. After reading this book I told my mother the story because she was curious since I said I enjoyed reading it; then I also told the story and lent the book to a girl in 5F, who plays volleyball with me and one day, before training, while we were changing, she asked me which books I had to read for the holiday. So I started telling her and since she liked story of “Beautiful Malice”, I lent it to her.
My mark to the book is 8, because I found some weak elements that are not believable, but overall because I usually do not like reading a book as homework, I prefer reading for pleasure. However, it was a really good book and I am glad that you have chosen it for us. I have found also very useful the discussion that we did together in class.
Well, I liked shooting the book trailer, but I think it has not enhanced my desire to read in English. I believe these things are too different to be associated.
From my point of view the best aspects of shooting the trailer were that we have learnt how a trailer is made and that for the first time we were the protagonists and we acted, drew, wrote, took photos…all the necessary material, that Andrea needed. Maybe the only negative aspect is that though we all contributed to the realization of the trailer, only few of us appeared in it.
I think there are no negative aspects of reading the novel in English, because the writer is Australian, so we read it in its original version. I believe this is the best way to read something, because you are in touch with the words that the writer used and not with the ones that a translater used. It would be amazing if we could read every single book in its original format!!!
From reading the book I learn that envying a person because she is cool and lots of people listen to her is not good because it makes you feel less important than her, instead you have to look inside you and look for the beautiful person you are.
Yes, I think the teacher of English should promote the reading of authentic materials in English because in our future we will “meet” articles or texts in the original English version.
+ 10. I think the only thing that could motivate a student learning is making him understand that English is not only a school subject, but it is a means that will help you to learn more about other cultures, that perhaps will help you to become a better person, that could help you to find a good job… Moreover, since Mrs. Rosso has told us that we will do the exchange with the German class, I noticed that I am trying to study more German, because I know that the more I learn and the more I can talk with Jonas (my German's “partner”) about different themes. With this example I do not want to say that you have to organize a trip to the UK to make us learn more, it is only an example. =) In conclusion I believe that the only thing that kills the desire to learn in a student is believing that what we learn at school is only a school subject and it won't be useful in our future.
(ALICE PICCOLO)
9 e 10. Sincerely, I don’t know how I could motivate my students to study more because It’s difficult, very difficult. In fact, I think the fact of having to work hard if you want to learn a language, could kill motivation because nowdays adolescents love the easy way.
1- I think that reading English books in their original format has helped me enter the world of real English, because they're full of everyday expressions and new words. moreover, reading in English makes you better understand the writer's feelings and emotions.
2- I think that reading the same book has created a stronger bond because we had something different and common to talk about, the kind of book was helped this too, because in "Beautiful malice"there are just the same emotions and situations we have as girls.
3- 8, because i loved the book and the way it was written, but it is not the best story I've ever read.
4-I think that shooting the book trailer was an interesting experience from the point of view of film strategies, but it didn't chenge the way I felt about the novel.
5-the best aspect was that of film strategies. the worst the time it took.
6-the best aspect was the presence of typical English expressions and structures. the dialogues were filled with everyday words, completely different from those we usually find in students' books. moreover, i think that reading an English book in English is just like watching a film in its original language. you hear the real voices, you understand every single movement of the actors' faces and bodies. I reckon there are not any negative aspects
7-I'd not say i learnt something: I simply recognised some aspects of my behaviour and some of my feelings: the characters had a lot of different personalities and so it was easy to feel very close to them although it depends on the different stages within the story. from shooting the trailer I learnt how much you need to work to shoot a film. it was also interesting to understand the way music and images involve the viewers.
8-I think that novels are the most useful authentic English material (because of dialogues) but it would be pretty nice to read some specific texts but I know they're very difficult.
9-I think that the best way to involve and motivate students is to go abroad, so they really get aware of haw important it is to communicate. in general. it is important to show students the real use of English, to make them feel the language is useful and full of life.
10-I think that having good results motivates s a student. it is important to see the way in which what you learn helps you in life. thet's why in my opinion learning a sort of "inglese scolastico" does not help you make an effort to study the language.
silvia maglio
Sara Marini
3h
Beautiful Malice
This book face important issues:alcohol,the death of close person,firendship,rivality between friends,malice,hate,revenge,love and others.
Everything is focused on the narrator/charachter Katherine,a 17-years-old girl who moved into a new city because of her tragic past.
Infact,as we can discover in the middle of the novel,she changed city,surname and life because she would not be recognized
because of an event happened in few years before: her sister was raped and killed by a group of guys,after a party.
The two sister were both drunk and Katherine decided to ran away instead of help Rachel.
So her sister died and she live with the giult of not have helped her.
in the new city she finally finds new friends: the beautiful and I-do-what-I-want Alice,Robbie,Philippa and a new boyfriend, Mick, she finally lives her llife.
Everything seems to go well since Alice become aggressive,cruel and really uncaring of the other's feelings.
And the end of the book we discover why and to what extent she will push her nestliness…
The book was pretty brilliant and it took me just little time to read it.
I really liked the suspance that the author was able to create,it is a great way to continue reading!
But I think that the whole story is a bit surreal.Not the issues,but the way they were arranged.
Can the tragedies happen only to Katherine?
She caused the death of Rachel,she feels that her parent do not love her as before,she found a new friend,but she is the evil himself,she is pregnant and alone!
Everything to her!!!
In my opinion the author could have divided the different "problems" in differnt protagonists or stories,in this way the book would have been a little more realistic
After all I really enjoied this novel,the charachter are very well described and easy to image,the issues are problem that we have all
to face.
Reading this book was easy, even if I did not know all the words,exiting and smooth (scorrevole)
Great novel!
In my opinion “Beautiful Malice” is a book that faces countless aspects of life that we have to live with every single day. The main themes are three: the way that Katherine has to overcome her own past which includes her sister’s murder, her new life in a new city where, at first, she knows nobody and in the end the consequences of a wrong friendship. The novel begins narrating the story of Katherine Patterson, a seven-year-girl, who moves from Melbourne to another city in Australia changing her name so that no one could recognize her. She only wants silence around her, she wants to be anonymous, but one day at school she meets Alice, a beautiful girl of her age, and they become friends, really close friends. Initially their friendship seems a strong one, a sincere one, even with Robbie and they three become all together a formidable trio. But Alice hides a so dark secret that anyone can imagine. Reading the book, you can understand Katherine’s past: she had a sister, Rachel; one night they went together to a party and Rachel has been drunk. So Katherine decided to accept a lift from a few boys, but something went wrong. They closed Katherine in a dark place, raped Rachel and when Katherine escaped they murdered her little sister. A bit at a time Alice shows her malice and her cruelty. She accuses Katherine for the death of Rachel until Katherine decides to ends their friendship, but it’s not as easy as seems. When Katherine meets Mick and gets pregnant, Alice begins to persecutes her always saying that Rachel die for her fault. In the last pages of the novel you understand that Alice has something to do with the murder: she is the sister of one of the attackers and she blames Katherine for what his brother has to face. I really liked this novel because it makes you realize that there is no way to escape from your own past, you have only to face the truth not trying simply to erases from the mind. I think that “Beautiful Malice” teaches something about tragedies that could happen to anyone and that there is just a way to overcome something that hurt you: speak with the close ones and live with what happened without remorse because you can’t delete it. So , I think that Rebecca James did a very good work, really!
De Piero Lara 3^H
Beautiful malice: a novel that mixed frienship, love and dread. This is the story of a 17-year-old girl called Katherine who has to change school and move to another Australian country because of a family tragedy. When we read the book we do not understand exactly what kind of tragedy we are talking about, because the novel starts in “medias res” and so we are catapulted inside the story. I understood what happened to Katherine’s family only at the middle of the book due to the kind of narration that the writer, Rebecca James, used. She does not narrate in chronological order but it seems that she divided the novel in three little novel where the main character is always Katherine but one is setted in Katie’s life before the murder of her sister, Rachel; one in the “new” Katherine’s life, in the present, and one some years later.
I say that this is a novel that mixed friendship, love and dread because I think that is wrong or it belittles the book if I say that this is only a detective novel. While I was reading the book I was thinking about what kind of book this is but a cannot find an answer so I think that is an original book because is a mix of a detective, horror and romantic novel. I think that the most frightening part of this novel is the last one when there is Alice, one of the new Katherine’s friends, who starts to shadow Katherine and I was worried, while I was reading, about what could happened to Katie and his boyfriend, Mick, when they decided to go outside for a walk or for a meal because I knew that all the times that they go outside they are told to bump into Alice! I say that this is a romantic novel because many chapters of the book are focused on the love Katherine’s life and because Rebecca James describes exactly how Katherine feels. So Katherine arrives in this new city and lives with her aunt Vivien. She meets Alice that becomes quikly her new best friend. But this new friend is a bit strange because seems to be very open and nice with Katie but seems that she has got something secret that she does not say to Katie. Thanks to Robbie, a close Alice friend who will becomes a close Katie friend too, who explain Katie that Alice was adopted and that she is so rich because her truly mum gives her the money. Katherine thinks that Alice is a faithful friend so she decides to tell her her big secret: how her sister died! At first it seems the best choice of Katie’s life…that turns into hell! Alice starts to behaves very bad so Katie makes new friends and meets the love of her life Mick! I want to reveal a bit of the plot because I want to say that unexpectedly Katie gets pregnant and I love one thing that Mick tells her. While they are talking about the baby and Katie is a bit shoked and she does not know what to do, so they are considering abortion, Mick says “ We couldn’t possibly kill something we’ve made together. It’s our baby. Ours. A bit of you and a bit of me.” Ok, maybe I’m too romantic but I think that this book is not all plain sailing. Personally, I think that there are too may times where there is Alice that bumps into Katie and she says always the same things…that she thinks Katie is a coward due to what she did the murder’s night. So I was a bit bored during the last chapters. Anyway I cried at last because I always identify (immedesimo) with the main character! But this had happened thanks to the way Rebecca James wrote this novel and because the whole story is narrated by Katherine in first person. All in all I like this book because is very tense and even if sometimes I found out boring parts, I could not stop reading because I want to understand what is going to happen and if my guess were right! So I reccomend this book to all the people who love detective novel and the plot of the soap opera “Beautiful”J!
Valentina Porro 3 F
Well, it is difficult to find the right words to describe such an odd novel. I’ll try my best. Frankly at the beginning I found it difficult to go on with the book because the author was so hasty in telling the fact and describing the characters. Well, it seemed to be. It took me five days to arrive at chapter ten: I was always scared of losing some important particulars during the reading. Then I understood the it was just an author choice. Therefore I do not know if this choice was well- made or not. I do not know if I have to hate or love it. So, how Hamlet would say, “This is the question”, “there’s the rub”. I should hate it for one mainly reason, it slacked my reading a lot. I should LOVE it because, just after the beginning it made the book so interesting that I could not help to stop going on with it. This book was just like Alice: you do not know if you should love or hate her. She can be lovable, gorgeous, reckless and terrible at the same time. For this reason I wonder if Rebecca James did it on purpose or not.
Sincerely I was a little bit sceptical about the novel. Just reading the first lines I realized that it was more difficult than the other books we’ve read before. This is another reason because I liked it: it was a sort of challenge between me and myself and I can say with a bit of certainty that I won it. In fact I finished it in about ten days. Must say that this is a little personal breakthrough: actually it took me more time to finish a book in Italian.
Another point I’d like to clarify is the theme alcohol. James uses this issue lots of time when she wants to talk about something bad or mournful. I’ll give some example in order to be more clear. When Alice, let’s say, shows off her Mr Hyde trait, she is always drunk (most of the time in the book). When Katherine’s sister gets raped and murdered she is drunk, as Katherine and the other boys. This brought me to draw this conclusion: maybe Rebecca had some personal trouble due to the alcohol in her family so I would love to read her biography, if it exists. Because it is curious finding out how the author’s personal experiences reflect on her/his story. This is just my point of view, of course.
Eventually there is one more thing I’d love to fix: The choice of the names. We had work out this issue, if I’m not mistaken, when we had read the Zephaniah novel “gangsta rap” and I think that is particularly important. First of all Alice. This is fairly simple because we can surely understand it from the title of the novel: “beautiful m- ALICE”. Well, I think it is so. In fact, at the beginning, it seems that she loves being malicious, as if it was some kind of funny game and lots of people were attracted by her even if she had this behaviour. Than we have Katherine; it could come from the Greek word “katharòs” which means “pure”, “innocent” or “untainted”. And this is clear because it shows off the opposite temper between her and Alice, his innocence and maybe the fact that was her sister to be rapped and not her. Rachel: it comes from the Hebraic “Rahel” and it means “lamb” therefore “docile”, used to underline that she was just a child being deprived from her innocence. These are just a few example that I found but there are a lots of, very interesting, personally speaking.
Last but not least I appreciated the fact of reading this novel: it is reckless, and doesn’t make you sleep at night until you finish it.
P.S.: if you dare me, the finish of the novel wasn’t very effective: it was too quick as if the author wanted desperately to finish it, as if she was scared about what she had just written. Maybe this is just my impression. Thank you.
Zaina Valerio III F
I really appreciate "Beautiful Malice" because it shows that every choice is important and how the life can change when you least expect it.
When I start reading the novel I lost myself in some chapters because when Rebacca James writes of Katie before Rachel's murder at once I didn't understand very well. But when I realized more or less the story I was so intrested and I wanted so bad to see how it would ends that I couldn't stop reading.
From the beginning I understood that Alice had something strange because it isn't normal that a popular girl suddenly wants to become your best friend! Then when she began to behave so nasty and when I discovered that she had a relationship with Robbie' s father and that she called herself Rachel I was really disappointed.
I think Rebbecca James made a beautiul work with the plot because you cannot understan why Alice is so cruel untill the end: there is a nice plot twist! I also like that, when there is a chapter full of suspense, the author interrupt it and begin with another part of Katie's life and I think this is fantastic because I love suspense!
However the only thing that I don't like of "Beautiful Malice" is that it ends too fast; it could continues a little with the story of Robbie and Katherin and the little Sarah. If there is a sequel I will certainly buy it! 🙂
In conclusion I think this novel makes you consider that decisions are important but we can't blame ourself forever because what is past is past and we can't turn it, we can only look positively to the future.
Valentina Paronuzzi 3' F
Let me start by saying that I haven’t been so impressed by a book in quite a while. Here Rebecca James has written a psychological thriller that will grab you from page one. Seriously, the start of the book is excellent. What an opener!
The story flicks between three times – before Alice, meeting Alice and after Alice. Some of the time jumps caught me off guard I’d be so into what was happening and then it would shift to another time and I’d be like ‘oh, what’s happening, oh right ok.” But it kind of suited the book. Haunting and chilling and disjointed as Katherine reveals exactly what happened to her sister and the connection between her and Alice and her struggle to find happiness.
When we are introduced to Katherine, she has suffered a great trauma in her life, and so when the beautiful and popular Alice insists on befriending her, she doesn’t resist, despite her reservations and the warning signs right from the start that Alice may come with more than a few problems of her own. I found the depiction and the dynamics of their friendship fascinating and very believable. Of course, this is not just a friendship gone wrong. This case is extreme and there are very dark elements at work here. Both girls have their secrets. Alice made me uncomfortable right from the start of the book. I guessed her darkest secret about half way through the book, and when I did I knew she would stop at nothing to get revenge on Katherine. She’s unpredictable and downright scary at times. This is a friendship which never sits comfortably with the reader, and an ominous feeling pervades from the start of the book. Alice is very menacing, unhinged, and some of her actions from stalking to downright horror will give you chills.
I loved Robbie and Katherine’s friendship and I really liked the way the author developed the bond between these two lost characters, not a hint of sexual feeling, not right until the last few chapters, when Katherine is dating Mick and maybe, just maybe, Robbie realizes what he’s lost, even while he’s struggling to accept the truth about Alice.
I admire the author for her capability to be able to portray a character like Alice, such a chillingly captivating villain. It is impossible to put a “good” or “bad” tag on her, because I completely understand why she’s doing the things she does. I felt the conflict in her character; her desperate longing for attention, her inability to look beyond the circumstances of her own life, her need to be everything to everyone in her life – these are the classic traits of someone with abandonment issues, and when you think about it like that, she feels less evil, and more… disturbed. Yes, she has some kind of Narcissistic Personality Disorder and is the absolute perfect example of a sociopath. We find out later on that Alice’s brother was involved in Rachel’s murder and Alice (blaming Katharine) has been hell bent on revenge. Her behavior towards Katharine can be blamed on that. Her behavior towards Robbie however…
Alice knows that Robbie is in love with her. She constantly leads him on, then goes and has sex with another man. One of those men being Robbie’s Father!
Does she sound like a bitch? She is.
Beautiful Malice revolves around the concept that one bad decision can change your life, cost you the thing you love the most, and define you forever if you let it. Katherine has the courage to overcome this, while Alice doesn’t, with disastrous consequences. The writing style was raw, intense, and suspenseful, beautiful and poetic without sounding like it’s trying too hard. It had a certain magnetism that had you flipping through the pages and it was a little bit “sexy” at times, a little bit thrilling, a little bit chilling, and very, very dark. As you were reading you could feel the weight of each word, and know that every little one was important. The writing alone could have you captivated, but the plot was compelling, too: I was wide-eyed while reading this book into the wee hours of the morning. The air of mystery continued throughout the book and I was desperate to know exactly what had happened. It was impossible to put down. The characters were well formed and described and I could picture them all perfectly. Katherine was a great protagonist with an interesting story to tell. Her constant turmoil over her sister’s death made her feel read and also made a believable impact on all of her decisions. They all seemed so real and I felt totally involved with all of them. I like a book that can take me to another world. I’m not sure why but this book sent chills down by spine. Maybe it was just a little too real, I was so immersed in the book that every time the main character jumped at a noise, I sort of jumped, it’s like I was there too. This is sort of a good thing, but I felt a little freaked out too.
I think a little more detail could have been given on some events, particularly Katherine’s life before the death of her sister and I felt sad when I finished the book because I was still left wanting more. But, at the same time, I was pleased that the book ended on a hopeful note. With all of the heart-wrenching drama intermittent throughout the book, it was nice that the ending hinted towards Katherine having a safe and happy life.
I recommend Beautiful Malice to everyone, even older readers as it has that cross-over feel and because of the more sinister underpinnings of the story. I don’t think this book should be confined to YA at all.
I know this book will be one I won’t forget!
Annagiulia Nadin 3H
Sara Grande 3^ H
Beautiful Malice
This novel is about very different problems that nowadays are very fequent in the life of the 17-year-old teenagers: alchol, sexual violence, dead, sense of guilt, gravidance and friendship. Katherine is the protagonist and she lost her sister that who had suffered sexual violence. Katherine lives with the guilt all her life because she believes that if it had not escaped even the guys who raped would not have killed her. That evening, both girls had drunk but Rachel had been drunk and drugged by the boys. So this book is to reflect on what does the alchol and to trust strangers, and reminds us of how many times have we been told by our parents not to accept anything from strangers.
Katherine after the death of her sister decides to change city, life and name. Knows Alice, who appears to be very open and kind but sometimes behaves like a “bitch.” She also knows Robbie, Philippa and Mick and becomes friends with everyone and slowly reveals to all the “secret”, her sister’s death. Robbie is a very sensitive guy and is good friends with Katherine and is in love with Alice but she doesn’t love him. Philippa does not trust Alice and confess it from the first time to Katherine and Mick,Philippa’s brother, is from the first moment in harmony with Katherine in fact he will be er boyfriend and she will get pregnant by him and then they will try to build a family but Alice will destroy it. The frendship between the 2 girls begins to enter into crisis. Katherine is disappointed in her behave when she gets engaged with the father of Robbie, deceiving him, and want to stop this friendship. Alice does not. It begins to haunt her and tell her that she is the cause of Rachel’s death, she tries to avoid it but it gets worse and worse. One day Alice says she is the sister of one of the boys who had raped Rachel and that Katherine was guilty if he had ended up in prison. The situation degenerates, and Alice, who was drunk, get to the sea and drowns with Mick who had tried to save her. Katherine is pregnant and her child won’t have a father because Alice take him away.
The book teaches us not to trust anyone and that the Alcohol can lead to death, not only if we get in ethylic coma but even if you are no longer able to understand what is happening. is a wonderful book that makes us understand how each person has problems, but everyone deals with them differently.
Beautiful malice, a novel by an Australian writer, Rebecca James that talks about a teenager’s adventure. Just looking at the cover i had the idea of a beach book: in fact, this novel hadn’t a great impact on me and to tell the truth I found it a bit boring sometimes.
First of all I agree with my classmates’ opinion about the feeling that the book is a bit entangled in the beginning because of the frequent flashbacks that made the reading difficult. But all the same I can tell that the plot was easy to follow and a bit taken for granted (self evident): the story, in my opinionm, is obvious, I can almost say what was going on next. It was too static , it develops in colsed places and they are always the same: bar, cafè, Katherine’s or Mick’s house. That gives me the idea of repetition and this situation doesn’t arrouse interest in the plot. Moreover there’s another factor that gives the idea of monotony: the ripetitive fights between Kathrine and Alice. They are always the same, they say the same things every time: Alice is the devil and Kathrine is the helpless victim. During the fights Alice is always drunk. In my opinion alcohol addiction looks like a device with which the writer shows the way alcohol works on Alice’s psyche. She’s no more able to control her “dark side” and even if Katherine is her best friend she attacs her in a bad way.
As far as the characters are concerned I can say that Katherine is shallow, self pityng and weeping. I don’t like her behaviour at all: she never reacts when Alice attacks her and she enjoys to be a victim. Not even people around her try to change this situation: they behave in the same way of Katherine. To tell the truth I have to say that I prefer Alice because she’s more determined though she is just under the effects of alcohol. I would like to say something also about the solution the writer gives to Katherine’s problems: she gets involved with Mick and in the time span of a month she’s already pregnant. I don’t think is a good example to give to teenagers: getting pregnant at seventeen is not something to be happy about or a solution to psychological problems.
In the end it was easy to read and it was confortable lying in bed while reading it.
Rossetti Elisabetta 3F
I was not to sure of what to think of this book, starting from its title “Beautiful Malice” and the cover, this is not a book I would normally choose to read. At first my doubts were confirmed, the book was slow and it didn’t really have a story line, or as I eventually found out, it wasn’t reveling enough of it to maintain my attention. I wanted to know more about this seemingly friendly girl, Alice; I wanted to see what would happen with Robbie, a character I liked since the beginning for his honest kindness towards the protagonist, Katherine.
The motives Alice had to become Katherine’s friend soon had me feeling skeptical about her (soon I’d find out that she had her reasons for wanting to befriend Katherine, to the destroy her). Why would the most beautiful and popular girl at school want to be best friends with the mysterious new girl? But I wished that somehow this could be possible, for Katherine, who was with out a doubt, scarred.
As the book went on, I started hating Alice more and more… For how she treated Robbie, how she had terrible mood swings and only cared about herself.
I hated her when she found out about Rachel, Katherine’s little sister who had been murdered. I hated how she violated the privacy of Katherine’s family, without deserving it.
I started noticing that I couldn’t put this book down when the writer, Rebecca James, started leaving the main story, happening in the present, to go back to the night when Rachael was killed, I was finally happy to know what had happened, but disgusted with what those boys had done to her, and what they could have done to Katherine.
I loved the suspense of this book, which kept me going, and I found myself wanting to know what crazy thing Alice would do next and when Katherine, and Robbie, would stop forgiving her.
I was intrigued when Philippa stepped into the story, finally making Katherine understand what a horrific person Alice was. I found comforting the fact that Katherine had her.
I was shocked many times by how far Alice would go to be so mean, so nasty. I think the “best one” was when she dates Robbie’s dad and called herself Rachel.
During the first part of the book I always wished Katherine could have someone to count on, someone to be there for her; Philippa was a good fit at first but I was ecstatic when Mick came into the picture. So good for Katherine, making her feel loved, when she found out she was pregnant he didn’t leave .And for being there when she finally ditched Alice!
But I should have know this would not have lasted for long, I knew Alice wasn’t going to give it up. And in fact she did not.
I was so sad when Mick died, Alice had token away the only thing that was important to Katherine, left her with know choice but to raise little Sarah on her own. But at least Alice was finally gone.
The book ended in a way that left me reassured for Katherine’s future but I also wanted to know more, wanted to see what would happen between Robbie and her. I was happy to know Katherine stopped thinking it was her fault Rachael died, even after being told otherwise by Alice many times, I was happy to see she hadn’t completely ruined her.
So I would say in the end I enjoyed this book a lot, more thank I had expected, and in my opinion Rebecca James did a wonderful job creating this story line, even if I was not immediately impressed. I will definitely be looking for other book from this author.
Virginia Nichilo, 3’F
“Beautiful Malice” by Rebecca James is the mix between a detective story and a love story, where the main character is a 17-years old girl- Katherine. This girl has so many secrets which she wants to hide and defend. She is really scared after all the events that have happened with her family, with her little sister Rachel. She decide to change her school, name, city…and all her life. She won’t be Katie Boydell, she will be Katherine Patterson!
Personally I like this type of books, when you can think and try to understand who is who, and why the characters make the choices they do.
The structure of Rebecca’s story is particular because it seems to be divided in three independent parts. The present with her daughter Sarah, the past with her sister and her boyfriend Will and her “new” life with many conflicts, true love, friendship and obviously Alice…the friend and enemy, lovely girl and evil at the same time. This girl is so different in every situation!
At the end all Alice’s friends would leave her alone, would hate her for all the evil that she did and would be happy that she is dead!!! It’s so wrong but Alice deserves it!
As regards to alcohol, I can notice that the viewpoint of narrator is absolutely against it! In this book all bad things that Alice did or other characters did happened when they were drunk. Like tragedy night and all times when Alice did something malicious.
The story at first was hard to perceive because the writer creates the original construction of chapters and it was fastidious to jump from one theme to proportionally opposite. Sometimes it was really too boring. That’s why the first 70 pages took me one week to read them, but when I finally understood the story I read it in one day. The book was so interesting that it took all my attention, I was so interested to know the end that I didn’t notice that it was about 3 o’clock in the morning.
Honestly the end I didn’t like! It was too short and seems that James had only one page in disposition to finish Katherine’s story….as for me she must describe her life with more details because at the end Katherine is happy or not?
Beautiful Malice is a concentration of feelings, psychological insights, and unpleasant events, divided by some happy moments. It is a book that can teach us a lot, And I found it hard to stop reading it! The best part, in my opinion, is the central one, where many things are explained, and where the story proceeds in a rhythm not too fast but with a plenty of suspence. The book begins somehow too abruptly, and I think the author wasn’t good enough to make it look appealing. The final chapters proceeds so fast that seems that the author wanted to get out of this book as faster as she could.
Rebecca James put a particular attention to the introspective characteristics of the characters, and I liked very much this way of describing, in fact we are able to understand the majority of the character’s feelings and thoughts. Everyone seems to be transparent, with the exception of Alice: in fact we are only able to capture the exterior behaviour of her. I tried to put myself in alice’s shoes and I almost felt sorry for her condition, because she is a solitary person and her life is devastated, and I think this is the cause of her self-destructive behaviour.This book deals with important issues that should not be silenced, such as alcoholism, rape, rebulding a life after a strong shock, the consequences of unreasonable actions, social disadvantage, and many youth problems. I found somehow interesting the relationship between Katherine and her family. Katherine went to live with is aunt in a new city, and its parents moved permanently in their country house. I personally would have liked to stay much closer to my parents and try to release all the inside anger. Although the shock and pain of losing a loved person, and the guilt is bigger than you. However a fact that has aroused much curiosity in myself was the conversation between Katherine’s mother and Alice, after which the mother was very happy and more relaxed than the recents months. I really wanted to know what Alice has said to her.
The only unpleasant thing I found was sometimes the repetitivenes of few words in the author writing, and the excessive presence of unlikely tragedies ( the death of Mike was really devastating) and Katie seems a living magnet of unfortune. But in the end I can say that it is a book I read with pleasure and very smoothly. I would recommend it both for a light and a involved reading.
Elena Ghersetti 3F