the+last+song

=T h e L a s t S o n g           by Nicholas Sparks =

Week Five: This week we finished the book. We discussed it, and we had decided that we had liked the book but we thought that it was going to be better. Towards the end the book got more interesting and we did enjoy the ending. We liked the ending because it was very interesting because Ronnie’s dad died and it kept up paying attention. Our favorite question was that where you shocked by the fact that Ronnie’s dad died? We said that we were surprised because when we found out he was sick we never thought that he would die.

-Taylor Kennedy

1) Were you shocked by the fact that Ronnie’s dad was dying? a. We were very shocked when we found out he had very little time to live. We figured there was a reason behind him wanting Ronnie and her brother to visit. However we never expected it to be because he was dying. 2) Do you think if will’s mom hadn’t interfered Ronnie would have never left? a. We think if Will’s mom didn’t get so angry at the party Ronnie would have never felt like she didn’t belong and would never have dumped Will. 3) Did you expect Ronnie to tryout for Julliard? a. We didn’t expect this at all. She was completely set against going to Julliard which surprised us a lot when we read about her trying out. The whole book she said it wasn’t for her and she would never do it, so actually doing it was a surprise. 4) Were you happy with the ending? a. We were happy with it, even though Ronnie’s dad ended up dying. She ended up trying to get into Julliard and got back with Will. We were surprised by the ending which made it even more enjoyable. 5) What would you change differently? a. If we could change something it would be that Ronnie’s dad never died. We wish he was still alive to see her go out for Julliard, and live both their dreams.

-colleen gargiulo

This week we read up to chapter twenty. We had Doritos, Dr. Pepper, and Iced Tea. The chapters were very interesting because she’s asking a lot of interesting decisions in her life at this point.
The questions this week had questions about mostly Ronnie. We discussed Ronnie and Will’s relationship and the friendship between Ronnie and how their relationship was getting worse. We talked about them getting worse because Marcus was trying to control Blaze and Ronnie’s friendship by making Blaze going against Ronnie. -Taylor Kennedy

1) Ronnie and Will have begun to develop a relationship, where do you think it will go from here?
a. Throughout the book we’ve seen Ronnie and Will get closer and fall in love. We know Nicholas sparks likes a happy ending so we think they’ll end up together in the ending. However we think because of Marcus and his jealousy he’ll do something that will ruin their relationship. 2) Together Ronnie and Will have decided to switch off nights where they sleep on the beach and guard the un-hatched turtles. Why do you think they are so constant with protecting the eggs? a. We think its something they can do together and something they both love and care about. In a deeper meaning we think Ronnie is so content with protecting them cause they were abandoned just like she was when her dad left. We think she doesn’t want them to get hurt like she was, 3) What are you thoughts on what happened between Ronnie and blaze in the music shop? a. We think blaze was so high in jealousy that she couldn’t take it anymore. She wanted to do something to get back at Ronnie for attracting Marcus’ attention. We think when Marcus offered the opportunity to get her back she jumped on the chance to get her back. 4) Knowing Ronnie’s past with shoplifting what do you think will happen? a. We think she might wind up in jail. We know she got in trouble for shoplifting before so she’s on probation. We think she may not be able to get out of it this time and the outcome might be bad. 5) Do you think anything not normal is going on with Ronnie’s dad? a. We think the way he’s been acting lately is just because he wants to be close to Ronnie. We think he did get made about the police because he doesn’t want to lose her again. - Colleen Gargiulo

Week Three:
Summary: This week we read up to chapter fifteen. The chapters were more clear because we realized that the previous chapters made the book more interesting because you had to think about it. The questions that we argued about was why do you think Ronnie is so content on protecting the turtles? We said because Ronnie didn’t always have the support she needed when she was growing up with her dad being gone. She wanted to take care of the turtles because she felt it was symbiotic of her father. We had Doritos to eat and propel. This week was a good week. -Taylor Kennedy

1) why do you think Ronnie is so content on protecting the turtles?
-We think because Ronnie didn’t always have the support she needed growing up with her dad being gone she wanted to take care of the turtles in ways she wasn’t taken care of. While her dad didn’t always over see everything in her life, she wanted to help protect and nurture the new born turtles. 2) What are your thoughts on Marcus and Blaze? -We think Marcus is a bad influence, we think he has no cares about anything or anybody beside himself. We think he has control over the people he hangs out with, including Blaze because he has no cares and will do whatever he wants with out a second thought. We think Blaze is so needy for someone to care about her, that when someone gives her the slightest attention she’ll rely completely on them. 3) Do you think Marcus will do something to ruin whatever is going on between Ronnie and Will? -We think that whatever kind of relationship will form with Ronnie and Will, whether it be friendship or romance, that Marcus will do something. Marcus seems like the type of guy who won’t stop till he gets what he wants. Right now, Marcus wants Ronnie. However with Ronnie and Will getting closer, Marcus will get envious and try to come up with a plan to get Ronnie. 4) Why do you think Blaze lets herself get pushed around by Marcus -Like we said in question two, we think Blaze is very reliant on people. Since Blaze doesn’t have a close relationship with her mom she relies on any one who will let her. With think because Marcus let her get close to him and hang around him she decided he was her number one person in her life. When you have a number one person in your life you want to do whatever you can to make them happy. This is what Blaze does, she does what ever Marcus wants in order to get the little attention from him, that she does. 5) What do you think will happen next in the novel? -We think as the relationship between Ronnie and Will gets closer, Marcus will do something drastic to sabotage it. We think he might involve Blaze as well since Ronnie and Blaze are fighting at the moment. -colleen gargiulo

Summary:
This week we read up to chapter ten. The chapters were confusing as we discussed on Friday. We liked that the chapters we read were detailed but we thought the words were complicated. The chapters weren’t as exciting as before, these chapters weren’t as attention grabbing. The questions we had were based on the prologue what do you think the church fire has to do with everything, including her dad rebuilding the church? We thought that since blaze and her friends played with fire. So it might have something to do with fire. We questioned the Ronnie’s trust in blaze. We said that Ronnie shouldn’t really trust fully in blaze because their friendship could go downhill. The questioned that we liked the most was that what do you think will happen next? We thought that the bonds with grow stronger in the book. -Taylor Kennedy

Questions
1) what are your thoughts on ronnie’s dad and brother helping to re build the church? -We think because this is where he grew up that its very close to his heart. With the disaster that happened we think he wants to give back and help the church like the church helped him growing up. 2) based on the prologue what do you think the church fire has to do with everything, including her dad rebuilding the church? -We think since blaze and her friends play with fire balls that they may have something to do with the fire. Their also known as troubles so it could be because of the cause of the fire. 3) what do you think about ronnie’s trust in blaze? -We think she shouldn’t fully trust Blaze. With the people Blaze is friends with, their friendship could leave to something bad or dangerous. -4) where do you think Ronnie and Will’s relationship will go? -We think because of the troubles their having now will make them have problems in the future, but because of the information on the back we think they may fall for each other. 5) what are you predictions of what will happen next? -We think Ronnie will grow a closer bond with everyone in the book and then be disappointed when something bad happens and backfires on them. -colleen gargiulo

Topic of the Week
The topic for the past week was language. In "The Last Song", the language Nicholas Sparks writes with is modern. Every sentence is very understandable and easy to read. He uses very descriptive words so it is easy for the reader to visualize everything and picture what is going on. -jaryn pitkowsky

Summary
This week we read up to chapter five. We agreed that our favorite chapter was chapter three. We thought that our favorite part so far was when Ronnie goes to the volleyball game, this is our favorite part because this is when she first meets will and blaze and it later introduces you into the story. The chapters one, two, and four were not as exciting as the third. For the questions we had if you were in Ronnie’s position how would you feel having to spend the summer at her dads house. We answered that since the harsh past with Ronnie’s family that we wouldn’t want to be there. We would want to spend time with him because it would be the first time we saw him in three years. But also that it would be a little uneasy and awkward because you don’t know what’s going on in his life and he doesn’t know about her life. This was our favorite question because we thought we could relate to this question. -Taylor Kennedy

Questions
1) if you were in Ronnie’s position how would you feel having to spend the summer at her dads house? · Going on what happened in the Ronnie’s past with her family and dad we wouldn’t want to be there. If my our dads just packed up and left we would have some resentment towards him to. Especially if the first time we saw him in three years we had to spend the whole summer with him. 2) How do you like Nicholas Sparks style of writing, each Chapter in a different characters feelings/point of mind, but still in 3rd person? · We think that since each chapter has its own character to it. The chapter is set more in what that particular character is doing and feeling rather then the whole book sticking with just one character. This way you get an idea of everyone in the book. 3) What are your thoughts on Ronnie giving up the piano? · We think she gave the piano up as if she was giving up on her dad. Her dad taught her everything she knew when they were together. When he left for good she gave up the piano for good. We think it might have been revenge towards her dad. 4) Do you think you can relate to Ronnie? · We think we can relate to wanting to rebel against our parents and not always fitting in. However non of us have experienced our parents divorcing or being “the new girl” so we cant be sure we know what she’s going through. 5) where do you think Ronnie’s new friendship with Blaze will go? · We think since Blaze is really the only person Ronnie knows they will stick together, help each other grow, and become close friends. -colleen gargiulo = =

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