Rex City

Can a perfect world exist? Nobody knows, but I think that if you choose the people that you will put in your perfect world carefully then you can actually form a perfect society, because what makes a country perfect is the people that represent it. There are so many different choices that one has to make to create a perfect society, but perfect means different things to different people. So, I will try my best to form the perfect society for the perfect people!

As I mentioned before the citizens in Rex city will be chosen carefully by me and my advisors. We are not criticizing and avoiding people that are ugly or mentally or physically challenged or disabled, but we choose people that are honest, which we will prove with lie detector test, they need to be polite with everyone, no matter where they come from, what color they have, how old they are and so on. Next one needs to have ethics and morals, what I mean is that no, it’s not okay to lie, cheat, discriminate, and ignore people or your responsibilities. People in Rex City should have experienced things in their lives, that taught them lessons, and we need one essay from each person that would give a summary of some major events in their lives. No matter how old people are, even if you are 5 you can be mature, so of course there will be babies but from one point on we are looking for mature people that think about others and help others not only themselves. We want our people to have a voice, we will respect each side but we want to be able to hear everyone’s voice, so we expect from everyone to report anything that doesn’t run smoothly. But we want them to speak with respect and because they love their city so much and they don’t want it to get ruined.

There will be no distinction between the sexes, everybody will be mature enough to not disgrace people based on their sex. No, men are not perfect and women are not perfect on their own, to have a perfect society you need everyone to cooperate and work together with respect, love and fairness. We need the mentally or physically challenged or disabled and we need the elderly, and the children. There is room for everyone of course, and whoever doesn’t respect one another will not be permitted to enter Rex City.

There will be voting procedures about everything, but it would be extremely easy so everyone can vote, 12 years old and older, and it will be something done in an everyday basis, it won’t be a big deal since as we said every vice needs to be heard. There will also be public meetings in which everyone will attend, and we are hoping that everyone will want to attend them. There will be a conversation leader in those public meeting because we all believe that communication is the most important thing in the world, so it is a necessary element. No, there won’t be any wars, because they are caused by selfishness and greed, and we don’t want people like that in our society. Disputes will be solved with a peaceful conversation between the “angry” people. We want to solve all problems peacefully without violence.

The laws are simple. All members of the utopia should be excited to join in and they should really love this place, in order to do that they need to really hate the real world and want out of it. All members should be loyal and true to the system. All members must be willing to make this society work. All members will be punished if they lie to the society or act inappropriately. Every member of Rex City will be informed of the laws and they should only join if they are willing to follow them.

Yes there will be a currency called keys. There will be only plastic keys, which will be plastic rectangles 10x5 cm each and they will vary in colors. There will be a pink 2K, a yellow 5K, a green 10K, a blue 20K, an orange 50K, a red 100K, a white 200K, and a purple 500K. Everyone will contribute to the society, one way or the other. Each member will be able to choose a number of jobs they would like to work on, and they will be allowed to work on those jobs whenever they are available. They will be paid according to the job that they do and how many hours they work for. The more you work the more money you get! The people in utopia will not have to pay any taxes, because the government should always be able to support its people that in return support the society itself.

The city will be large, full of parks, trees, playgrounds, and grass with flowers. But there will be only six skyscrapers in which everybody will live in. They will both be 1000 meters tall, and in each skyscraper there will be 1500 people living inside. So our population will be around 9000 citizens. The skyscrapers will be made with all the modern equipment and technologies provided. The six skyscrapers will be set next to each other to form a circle and within the circle there will be a huge round swimming pool, which will be warmed up and covered during the winter time and comfortable during the summer. People in Rex city will not have to pay rent for their apartments, but whenever we notice that there is no respect for what we provide for any member there will be consequences, and we might even have to throw them out.

Inside the skyscrapers, there will be schools, universities and colleges. The kids or anyone that wishes to receive education will get it for free. But for university or college the student will have to pay only 20K per year. People will speak as many languages as they want but they all have to speak English, so they can communicate as a society.

Of course there will be free public health and welfare for everyone in Rex City. Medicine will be for free as well and cancer treatments and so on will be treated by experts. There will be no vaccinations, because I am strongly against them and every month each family will receive a packet full of vitamins of all sorts, which each member will have to take to keep them healthy. There will be no fast food restaurants inside the skyscrapers only restaurants that use organic food, just to make sure we stay on the healthy side.

When you walk into one of our skyscrapers you will find of course stores, in which anything you could ever imagine will be for sale or for free, but there will be no packaging for anything so this way we reduce pollution. Everything will be imported by other countries, so we won’t have any factories that produce pollution. Of course except the things that can be made eco-friendly will be made in a “factory” inside the skyscrapers. There will be no cars, trucks, trains, metros, nothing, because everything you need will be inside the skyscrapers, and outside there will be only parks and beautiful rivers. Nevertheless everyone will be recycling, everything will be recycled and whatever we need to recycle we will send it to other countries to recycle it for us. So we plan to have a ridiculous small amount of garbage, which we will send to other countries to either burn or dump in a landfill. Everyone of course will respect the environment and not harm it by any means.

As I said before there won’t be any cars or metros or any of that. People will go from skyscraper to skyscraper or park to park by foot or with these small machines that you stand on them and there are two wheels on them and with a control you turn and move and stop and go from place to place! They will be accessible for anyone, except for children under 10 years old. Their parents will be provided will a two seat “standing-car” and in each machine there will be a place to put your bag or whatever else you want. They don’t use gas or petroleum so they are eco-friendly, and they have batteries that charge in the sun.

Besides big and clean parks, the city will have one giant public pool and some other small ones, there will be rivers with pick nick areas, and all around the city without streets, only sidewalks where the “car-machines” will be able to move on, there will be small open-air cafes and restaurants and cupcake cafes, and bars, and only a few shops, the rest of them will be in the skyscrapers. Also there will be giant movie theaters in the skyscrapers, and ice-skating places. Also there will be art rooms and galleries. There will be music concerts in the public halls in each skyscrapers.

I truly believe that when you provide people for the basic things in life, shelter, vitamins, free healthcare, then you allow them to develop and grow as a society to a higher level. We are hoping that new discoveries will be made and that people will concentrate on developing themselves and the arts. We hope this works, because we are really looking forward on creating the best city ever made!

School of Athens

This is a picture of a painting that when I first saw in class the other day I fell in love with. Something about this painting made me calm and it attracted me immediately. I found it extremely beautiful, but I cannot quite define if it has a religious or a classical theme, because for me the two philosophers in the center of the painting seem like two gods, and the whole atmosphere in the building is so peaceful and welcoming that just isn’t real! This painting was painted by a twenty seven year old artist called Raphael Sanzio. There is not an exact date as to when this painting was painted, but it’s between 1508-1511. He used the technique called fresco, which is basically a very hard technique because the colors cannot blend together, so more layers and different shades of colors will express volume and depth to the painting. The artist used perspective, that makes everything look three dimensional and of course the painting has two basic characteristics that meet the criteria for a Renaissance painting, it has a vanishing point and a horizon. Where the two philosophers are in the center of the painting is the vanishing point and the diagonal lines right below the arcs lead the eye right there and the colors fade as they are further back where the colors at the front are bright. It is a realistic piece but I think that a real school in Athens wouldn’t look so peaceful and harmonious even back then, but he diffidently made it look like a Greek school because the architecture of the building is clearly Greek style.

http://www.google.com/imgres?q=raphael+school+of+athens&um=1&hl=en&sa=X&rlz=1C1_____elCY409CY409&tbas=0&biw=1133&bih=564&tbs=isz:m&tbm=isch&tbnid=viSSKZeuFfqvWM:&imgrefurl=http://www.ancientsites.com/aw/Article/555679&docid=AioPopVUs1UqiM&w=446&h=299&ei=10d7Tp_-CuO50QWnssWjAw&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=553&vpy=201&dur=912&hovh=184&hovw=274&tx=168&ty=83&page=1&tbnh=136&tbnw=179&start=0&ndsp=10&ved=1t:429,r:2,s:0

http://artpuzzlesgallery.com/?School-of-Athens-Raphael-Sanzio

the Visigoths

10/11/401

It was my birthday and I turned 9 years old!!! I was really excited because that day was a special day for my family, since it was my birthday my mom had found wool, and she sew some beautiful coats for us to go to church! It had been two months since she had been telling me that she had a surprise for my birthday and I really looked forward to it! It was extremely hard to find wool these days. But my mom had traded our cow for a sheep and that sheep was all white and clean, so we had shaved it with my brothers and gave the wool to my mom. My daddy was not coming to church with us. Because he was really sick and he didn’t want to wear his nice coat, because he said he would make the coat sick, and every time he would wear it he would be sick all over again, or something like that. It was so exciting though!!! The other girls near my house were rich and they had lots of wool to make clothes with so they go to church often. But my mom said that wool to buy is very expensive and it’s hard to find so we didn’t go to church often. But we said our prayer to God every day and night before lunch and dinner and before we went to bed.

When we were just about to wear our coats me and my three brothers that afternoon, we heard some very weird, unusual and frightening noises outside. And my light-headed brothers immediately run outside. It was the last time I saw all three of them and I love them so much, but mommy says we will be all right. As soon as the boys had left the house my daddy cursed and cursed, he had seen it coming, we were being attacked by barbarians. Daddy got up from the bed and walked over to where I slept with my brothers and opened the secret little door we have on the floor and made me and my mommy hid inside there. We didn’t want to because we wanted daddy to hide with us but he insisted and cursed and insisted all over again. So we hid there with mommy and she cried all the way until we came out. You see, the barbarians that attacked us were kind of light-headed as well. All I know is that they failed, and they were called Visigoths. Daddy was never seen again for days and days, but one day I was running around with my friends and I had seen daddy on the floor, he was looking at me with his beautiful cold blue eyes and I sat beside him and told him the story that he always told me to go to sleep. He looked so tired, and so I put him to sleep. His eyes didn’t close though so I run home and told mommy that we needed to get daddy some eye blankets and she just cried all day and night.

9/11

9/11 A date that brought extreme pain to the hearts of millions of Americans and foreigners. From that day on everybody is aware of the fact that it could be them in that tower and it could have been their mother, their husband or their son. It could have been anyone. That’s what got through every American’s mind and millions of choices that we make every minute might cause us our lives.

Many people have memories of that special day, what they were doing when they heard those devastating news, but I have none. I have no idea what I was doing ten years ago and I didn’t even know what happened I mean, I heard about it like six years ago. I am ashamed about that but back then we didn’t know anyone that lived in America so I don’t think they told me anything. And I don’t remember that here they made a big fuss about it.

I am sure that it affected the lives of so many people positively, because it made them realize how precious each moment is and how we make our own destiny by the choices we make every day. On the other hand it affected everybody’s lives negatively because it started the war of terror which, caused the lives of so many people and the fact that there are wars going on in other countries. That shouldn’t be the case. War is an awful thing and coming from this island I am reminded about it every day.

War, terror, and fear leave behind so much hate. And the problem is that hatred and devastation is all that it brought to everyone. I don’t think it had any other positive effect rather that it made us appreciate life. Because I don’t think that people that come into power have learned from the mistakes that previous politicians and leaders have made, because they keep repeating their mistakes. The fact that the US has nuclear bombs might frighten terrorists so they don’t strike again against the US, but still is fear what we need to keep peace? I thought it was love.

Anyway, even though I don’t know much about 9/11 and even though it didn’t have an impact on my life, it was very uncomfortable to talk about this because I know that most people can connect to this date, and it brings so much sadness, and since I cannot relate to it, I am afraid that I don’t know how to respect it as much as I should.

So...how dark is dark?

The question that many historians have is should the dark ages be called dark or medieval ages? Or middle ages? No one really has the correct answer but I strongly believe that when new ways of torture were invented and when people starve to death or get sick or die however way is possible is not really a bright age, is it? There is nothing darker than death and all that took place during that time was different ways that people died. Let’s see what types of tortures and what the barbarians did to the poor people, and finally see the effect the plague had on the people.

There were many types of new tortures, you see emperors, priests and all sorts of powerful people enjoyed watching people go through extreme pain and finally die. But I am sure that all the people that had to go through tortures could only dream of dying since some tortures could last for three days or more! The stretcher for example was a large table in which the person laid on and got tied on it. Then the table would expand and the person would stretch and until death comes, all of his muscles, bones and all sorts of insides will be torn apart. When a person was accused of being a witch they had a special way of finding out if it was true or not. They tied their hands and feet together and threw them in a lake if they came out on the surface of the water it means that they were guilty because the water resents them so they were executed but if they sank it meant they were innocent, but they died anyway since they sank! There was also the breast ripper a special tool designed to rip and tore apart the breasts of a guilty woman, which was usually guilty of conducting abortions or adultery. Lastly if you didn’t get enough there was the impalement which was a sharp pole which was pushed from the bottom upwards through the victim’s body. The worst part is that it was a slow death it took up to 3 days even more for the victim to die. All of these tortures were being enjoyed by various emperors as a source of entertainment.

Barbarians, Goths, and Vandals during that time were a bit poor and bored so they decided to seize some countries, take some money, some gold and some food so they can have some fun! They went throughout Europe, east and west and basically destroyed it by all means. They destroyed important buildings, works of art from the Roman times, and in general important elements of each countries’ cultures. There wasn’t any education for the people they had to eat one another to survive since the barbarians put Rome in a total lockdown so no food entered the city and the people starved to death.

Finally the plague that was the final kick in the face to the Roman empire and in other countries, killed almost the entire country about 30% of the total population died, 100 million people! The plague had the following symptoms, it began with sudden high fever, the chills, vomiting, increased sensitivity to light and after three days of those symptoms there was extreme pain in the groin, the armpits, and then behind the ears. Following tumors are formed all over the body and violent muscle spasms come before death. There was no treatment for this plague and there had to be a total lockdown of the country so the disease wouldn’t spread although it managed to spread to two other countries and wipe out one third of the population. The emperor Justinian got infected too and even though he was one of the few that managed to survive, but he remained sick in the brain and he turned completely paranoid.

The dark ages are not only dark, they are pitch black dark ages to me! There wasn’t anything bright about tortures or starvations. I believe they should be called dark ages because they are the times that people don’t want to be reminded of or to even think about, they should be kept in the dark and humanity shouldn’t be proud of them by all means.

The Summerhouse

The book that I am reading is called “the Summerhouse” by Jude Deveraux. Two years ago I read “The return to the Summerhouse” and I absolutely loved it so I had to read the first one too. So the story which I have only began today talks about these three beautiful young girls that have met on their birthday at the New York DMV where they went to all get their licenses. That day was as I said for all three girls their 21^st birthday and they were put by the man that works there to sit together and wait until he did mistakes on their licenses to keep them waiting. Apparently he liked the view, one of them Leslie was a dancer and had a body to die for; the second one Ellie was cute and sweet and was ready to take over the world with her art, lastly Madison the most beautiful girl in the planet earth that wanted to try her luck in New York as a model. Nineteen years later Ellie, turned out depressed and her therapist begged her to go with these two women to her summerhouse so she can spent her 40^th birthday with them, since she had no one else. As the girls meet for the first time they start competing who had the worst 19 years and who is the most miserable.

While I was reading today I could very easily picture the moment where Ellie entered last the summerhouse and found her two guests under a tree talking quietly and drinking lemonade. I don’t know, but it reminded me of the way I would love to be, I love lemonades and I love to sit in the shade and it was very easy for me to get the picture. Also Ellie before going out to join them, stood behind the window where they couldn’t see her and studied each woman carefully, describing them with lots of details and trying to feel better about herself because she isn’t the only one looking bad. I could very easily imagine her staring and studying the two women that she once admired, but turned out to change as much as she did. I like studying people too and if I could I would sit around all day around a bunch of people and just watch them.

I can connect with Madison the most from the three girls. Ellie was describing the story that she told them, and Madison had a boyfriend all through high school and they had made a plan to go together to college and then get married. But her mother was diagnosed with cancer so she didn’t go to college and 4 years after her once boyfriend came back with a fiancée! I can relate to that because, I myself feel like I found the love of my life and I know it sounds stupid but for me this is it, and even though I know that we won’t go to college together or get married, I don’t want to have any other boyfriend and just like Madison, I give everything to him without waiting for something in return. And I think that, just like Madison lost him forever, I will someday too, and I kind of understand why she had so much pain in her eyes.

The part of the book that I have most difficulty understanding is when the girls talk about marriage, I really don’t understand what they mean by being bored with each other or why they don’t get excited with their husband anymore. I mean, when I hear women saying that their husband doesn’t touch them anymore or that they got bored of each other or that they cheat and stuff, it really bothers me, because I think that when you are crazy for someone and you got to see their bad and their good side and you love them for the bad and the good, then how can you stop loving them and having fun with them? Also I find really interesting relationships between two people, ‘cause just like you can never predict what the human mind could come up with, you can never know someone completely, there will always be something that will surprise you, and for me that’s what a marriage has to rely on, those small beautiful things that your other half might do and surprise you. The unknown is always exciting and either is bad or good everyone likes it, isn’t that why married people cheat? Because they know each other too well, so they don’t get excited with each other after some time. That’s what I really can’t connect with.

Something that I “do” that reminds me of the characters is that I have two best friends as well, and I feel so confident with them and I can tell them everything. And sometimes when we don’t meet for a while, we sit down and we compete which one has the worst news! Also when Ellie was feeling awful that she had the worse 19 years of her life but then she felt good because the other girls did too, I do that sometimes too. When I have really bad news or when I have a problem with my boyfriend I run to my two best friends and when they tell me that they had that problem before or that they heard other girls having similar problems, then I feel much better, because I don’t feel like my relationship is abnormal!

The writer uses a lot of imagery, she describes everything in so much detail that sometimes I get annoyed because I really want to find out what’s going on but everything is moving too slowly. But on the other hand I enjoy the details; I can create a better and more complete image in my head. For example when Ellie was describing Madison: “This one was beautiful, so beautiful, in fact, that Ellie had to blink a couple of times to be sure she was seeing correctly. The woman was at least six feet tall and she was quite thin, but thin in a way that made you want to look at her. And she was beautiful. No, there had to be a term that didn’t sound so run-of-the-mill. There were lots of women who were beautiful, but this one was…was… Well, she was perfection” pg. 26. In this passage the writer uses a lot of repetition, hyperboles and imagery. She was exaggerating about Madison’s beauty a bit too much! Another literary feature that she uses is allusion: “Sort of like Goldie Hawn.” pg. 32. This is a reference to a well known person outside of the story.

The plot of my story is very realistic, I mean it’s very common for girls and women to be in groups of three, and to talk about their problems and their lives together and give their condolence to one another, for some unfortunate events. But for other exciting events they laugh and celebrate together. Also there are many women who give up their lives just to please and look after a man that says he loves them but it’s just using their kindness for his own good, just what Madison’s husband did to her. And I know that many women have been accused for their success by their husbands just like Ellie, when she used to be a best seller writer, her husband made her extremely guilty about her success. So I think that every woman can relate somehow to one of these three women.

I would like to have Madison as my friend, even though some girls wouldn’t want to because she is pretty and all the guys would like her, but she is more than pretty. Usually pretty girls are stupid and snobbish but she is a truly kind and nice person and I really like her. She helped her mother when she had cancer and she left behind her education and her boyfriend, just to nurse her sick mother. Not many girls would do that, especially is they were beautiful and head cheerleaders! But Madison has a heart and she has ethics and morals and doesn’t judge people from their appearance. I would like her to be my friend so I could have advised her to not leave modeling and go back to that jerk, Roger, who gave up on her when she was looking after her mother. I would advise her to go back to collage when her mother had died and I would give her enough money to be a doctor just like she always wanted and I would advise her to find a good guy like her, that would love her for how good she is and then for how pretty she is!

In the next section I read I think that Ellie will tell her story in more details and then later Leslie will. But I cannot predict what’s going to happen when they all tell their stories; because this author always surprises the readers and I can never predict what’s going on next. But I do hope that Madison will quit smoking all day long, because she is getting uglier and older from smoking, and I hope that Ellie will do something to lose the extra weight she gained. Also I want Leslie to divorce her snob husband and rebuilt her summerhouse.

If I could jump right now in the story I would sit beside the girls, sip some wine and listen to their stories, I would ask a lot of questions, and I would not make them feel bad for what they have been through. I don’t think they won’t someone to feel bad and sorry for them, I think they just want someone to listen to them. Also I would push Ellie to write all of their stories down and make more bestselling books with their stories. Since so many more women are going through what they’ve went through by that they can give to other women the power to change and lift their heads up and do something for themselves.

Chances by Jackie Collins

My book is called “Chances” by Jackie Collins-my favorite book writer. In Chances we see the two main characters of the story grow up and change completely just by taking chances. The first main character is Gino which grew up and got beat up by his father, but left in a very young age and started his dangerous life. He started making money by stealing cars and working for the mafia. But what he never forgot is where he came from, and whenever he saw anyone getting abused the same way he was, he would risk his life just to save them. That’s how he got himself so many loyal friends-one of them Costa which if it wasn’t for Gino, he wouldn’t be who he is today. Gino got very rich by investing his money with the help of a very important friend he had. The other main character is Carrie, a beautiful black girl, who got used by her own grandmother after her mother died. Her grandmother and her uncle used her as a prostitute, leaving her to starve, until one day the grandmother died and she had to go in the streets alone and make a living on her own. Whitejack a black man that owned a whorehouse took her and compared to what she used to live like, he gave her heaven. Carrie wanted to make money and be rich and have power, and as she reminded herself all the time- once a whore always a whore- she used her only way to make money even if she was only 14. Then Whitejack started to give her drugs and so she became a drug addict. One night she fainted in a party and Gino saved her by not allowing Whitejack to take her back, Gino kept her in the hospital.

While I was reading today I could very easily picture the huge classy party Gino was invited. Since the party took place in 1928 and I know form American History that during that time, liquor was illegal; I can understand why Gino was the one that imported illegally the liquor for the party hosts-which paid him a lot of money. Carrie was taken by Whitejack to the party with two other whores, so they could give a very entertaining striptease. But Whitejack gave Carrie heroin and cocaine, so when she went up on the stage, she fainted, and instead of laughing like everybody else, Gino took the poor naked girl and took her in one of the bedrooms. He called for a doctor, but he could tell from the marks on her arm that she was a drug addict. The writer used too much imagery on this scene, since it was a turning point for one of our protagonists. Then I could very easily picture Gino putting his coat on her young body to cover her up and taking her to the hospital.

I can connect with Gino in my story, because he cannot stand it when something unfair is going on. I am that way too, if I see something wrong happening to another person I won’t just sit there I will help them or do something. He is such a good man; he helped so many people when they wanted help, either by giving them money, or by simply setting them free. Unfortunately I cannot connect by any other way with my characters, since they do more extreme things and they live through things that thank God I didn’t have to go through.

The part of my book that I have most difficulty connecting with is the fact that all of these characters grew up in poverty and in some horrible situations, but they made it they were strong and they put some goals for themselves and they made it! But I cannot connect myself with most of the book since it’s all about intrigues, gangsters, money, power, sex, and drugs.

What I did that is similar to the characters of the book is that I put high goals for myself. I decided I want to be an A student and I want to get into Harvard and I will work day and night to accomplish my goals. Just like Gino, he decided he wants money and power, since he grew up with nothing, and he made it, he didn’t kill people he didn’t have anything to do with drugs or prostitutes and he never forgot where he came from and how he became who he is today. Also they never put it down, just like I never do!

She definitely uses shifts! The story starts in 1977 and then we go back to 1913 and then we go to 1977 and then again 1913 and then we change year so its 1914 and then 1977..! It’s very confusing-but in the same time it’s not at all! If you pay attention to the story then everything just melts together and the anticipation that you have about what will happen next grows and grows! I love the way she used shifts it’s like getting in a time machine and you see in front of you the character’s life’s and what they are today and what happened for them to become what they are! She also uses imagery! Lots and lots of imagery- she uses enough details to make the book interesting and exciting and not too much to make it boring and slow! There is always in a turning point in both the character’s lives and because of the shifting we get some foreshadowing. The mood of the book is suspense, money and power! And I wouldn’t say she uses hyperboles but maybe for some situations she exaggerates them, but everything makes more sense and there is more suspense.

Hmm… the plot of my story is realistic- I believe. Things are happening to the characters that I think are not so unlike to happen to real people. From what I hear around me, the world is completely messed up! So I wouldn’t be so surprised to hear that some of these stories are true! What I think is not realistic is the power that Gino had to leave from the house and how much he believed in himself that he would eventually make it. I think that if other kids went through Gino’s awful childhood they would be analyzing it for centuries with their psychiatrist! I am just really proud how strong Gino was to go through those things and come out strong and successful!

I would most definitely love to have Gino as my best friend, because I just love love how amazing he is! I admire his success, everything he has started from 0 and now he is a millionaire. He loves his friends and he is very loyal, whenever something happens to them he is there to help- for example one of his friend’s house got burned and his whole family died- as soon as Gino heard what happened he went there and tried to help his friend. I think he is such an amazing character I swear if he was real I would want to marry him! Also I would want to be Carrie’s friend so I could help her and take her away from Whitejack, because it’s such a shame, she is such a beauty and she is so young she is my age and she did things that most people don’t do in their whole lives! I definitely want to save her, she doesn’t deserve these! Her grandmother was an addict and all she ever wanted was not to become like her grandmother and somebody made her. It’s such a shame! I hope that later in the story things will change for her!

I want to think that in the next section I read Carrie will be sent to rehab and that somebody will save her and that she will manage to make money- not by selling her beautiful body. Also I want Gino to get even more successful and I can’t wait for the moment when his daughter Lucky will be born-which I have read already many books about her!

If I could jump in the story right now I would go to the hospital and take Carrie to a very good rehab place for a year or two and then I would built a big mansion for her, help her get stronger and healthier until she can stand on her feet again and give her a billion dollars so she doesn’t have to work again! Also I would give Gino an award for the kindest person on earth because he helped so many people and sometimes he didn’t get a thank you! I would protect him by any enemies trying to destroy him and I would marry him with Carrie!

The bad neighborhoods that Gino and Carrie grew up in remind me “the House on Mango Street” since Esperanza also grows up in a bad neighborhood! And since this book is the first one of the whole series of the Santangelo family (Gino and his daughter Lucky) everything that I’ve read so far about them makes sense, since I can see how they started.

I cannot think of anything in the book that reminds me of my life, unfortunately. Though the writer engages you in the story so much that you feel like you lived those things with the characters, and you felt the things that they did.