Similarities between Speak and Twisted

1. Both are set in high school
2. There are clear cliques and a strong social hierarchy in place
3. Both of the stories feature violence against women. Although the act against Bethany in Twisted is not the main conflict it does move the final pieces of the climax into place.
4. One of Anderson's craft moves is to use an ongoing metaphor to show the characters growth and inner feelings. In Speak it was the art project with the trees for Melinda, and in Twisted it is the video game Tophet (Tophet is a Hebrew synonym for Hell, thank you wikipedia). The art project and the video game finish the novel to show the sense of new beginnings and choices for the characters.
5. Melinda and Tyler both try to separate themselves from what happened by giving things names like "IT" and "the foul deed." Anderson slowly reveals more information about both of these things as the book progresses to prolong the mystery.
6. Parents just don't get teens and are self-involved in Anderson's world.
7. Another craft move Anderson utilizes is short chapters and quick scene changes. She does this in Twisted the way she did in Speak to keep the story moving. In a way the short segments of story are perfectly tailored to a younger generation without a long attention span (I'll include myself in this group). I think she paces the stories in this way to create a more convincing teenage voice. I'd have to read one of her historical novels to see if she writes the same way there.

I loved Speak, but I have to admit I was not as enthusiastic about Twisted. Perhaps the male protagonist made it harder for me to relate to his story. I also felt Anderson relied too heavily on very stereotypical writing tricks in Twisted. For example the main character of course has a crush on the wealthy perfect queen bee girl in school, but she comes with the biggest bully brother. Not only was this brother a rich bully, but his name was CHIP! It felt too much like a 1980s John Hughes movie, but it was a pleasant surprise that Tyler didn't end up with Bethany and the final conflict was with his father.
Anderson does write beautifully about dealing with depression and issues as a teenager. I think her books are so popular because so many students do see themselves in her main characters.
I'm just being silly, but some of the high school antics in the book can be summed up by a Tribute to 80's bullies!

First Half of Fever

I just finished reading the first half of Fever 1793, up to chapter 17. Unlike the first book we read, Speak, the characters in Fever 1793 have more distinct personalities as manifested by their actions. In the first book, the characters may not be so distinct because their descriptions came through the one-sided perspective of Melinda, who did not bother to reveal the characters' actual names to the readers.

Some thoughts and comments I had while I was reading the first half of the book:

• Matilda's mom, Lucille, defied the rule of her upper social class status by marrying Matilda's dad, who came from a working class family. Despite what Lucille did, she does not want the same for her daughter. She hopes and pushes her daughter to marry into a wealthier family. 
• The family coffeehouse restaurant is so near to the celebrities of their time. Alexander Hamilton and Dr. Benjamin Rush both had yellow fever but recovered from it. 
• Like Leslie had mentioned, many people treated yellow fever victims like zombies. They were feared, exiled, and buried alive. It was a dark time for the city. People that remained heavily locked up their doors to keep yellow fever and looters out. Other cities did not allow people with yellow fever to even pass through. People were unsure of the cause of yellow fever but they all feared that it was contagious. 
• Grandpa does not have yellow fever but he stated that he has a heart condition? Have symptoms of his heart condition revealed themselves in the past? Will Grandpa make it all the way to the end of the story?
• I think Lucille died of yellow fever, but I hope Eliza, the coffeehouse help and cook, survives the epidemic and that she will come up again in the second half of the book. Also, I wonder if she will meet her friend and crush, Nathaniel again. 
• Due to the circumstances, Matilda will no longer act childish and soon mature and take on bigger responsibilities. She already showed this in the first half of the book by taking care of grandpa when he came under the heat. Matilda reminds me of Esperanza in the novel, Esperanza Rising; both young privileged characters mature under hardships and losses. 

Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793, Philadelphia

Leslie and I are reading Anderson's book, Fever 1793.
Check out a timeline for Yellow Fever.

Here's a link to information of the historical 1793, Yellow Fever Epidemic in Philadelphia:
http://ocp.hul.harvard.edu/contagion/yellowfever.html


Some essential and fascinating facts from the link:

•  Philadelphia was the nation's capital and most cosmopolitan city in U.S. in 1793.
• Out of a population of 45,000 people in Philadelphia during that time, 5,000 people died and 17,000 people fled because of yellow fever. 
• Yellow Fever symptoms: yellowing of eyes and skin, stomach bleeding manifested by black vomit, and organ failures
• Virus vector: infected mosquitoes
• Physician Benjamin Rush treated patients by drawing large quantities of blood from them and administering mercury. 

According the U.S. National Library of Medicine, there is no specific treatment for yellow fever. Prevention from yellow fever is to get vaccinated prior to traveling to endemic areas (South America and Sub-Saharan Africa) and wearing protective clothing, using mosquito repellent, and sleeping with a net.