I finally made it through reading all of Avalon High and all I have to say is that the second half was much less annoying to read than the first. Something about having less to do with a teenage girl being all mushy towards a teenage guy and more of an actual plot seemed to make it much easier to read.
Also, at this point I'd hope everyone has gotten done with the book, if not, this post may contain spoilers and should be read at your own risk.
After listening to Dr. MB about the bits of the poem at the beginning of each chapter I decided to pay closer attention to them and tried to actually tie them to what was going on in the chapter. Really the only one that I ended up caring about was for chapter 26. My mind has a habit of thinking about possibly outcomes before they happen and after reading that I was like "Great! I just read this entire book about this love struck girl for her to die and all that." I was not at all thinking that it was just going to break her out of the role she was thrust into, even though she denied it for pretty much the entire book, and be the Lady of the Lake instead. I wasn't expecting that at all, though it did make for a much more happy ending than I had predicted. Maybe I'm just a pessimist or something?
As for the whole Mr. Morton being Merlin thing, as soon as he said he was going to Tahiti I just thought about The Sword in the Stone and Merlin going to Bermuda.
All the other characters being who they were seems pretty obvious and not need to be talked about (other than Elaine, but if you read the book you know who she is, too).
Having not gone to a traditional high school at all, and getting to skip over most of the drama that comes with it. Much of this book that I feel like I should have related to just wasn't there for me. Maybe that contributed to my struggle to get through it?
Well, the reading is done, discussion will help, and then on to more Arthur!
Post 3 of 5
Just like you, I read the pieces of the poem at the beginning of the poem and was for sure that Ellie was The Lady of Shallot. Meg Cabot even made the reader think that by adding the poem to each chapter. Meg Cabot never even mentioned The Lady of the Lake until the end of the book. Also, just like you when Mr. Morton said he was going to Tahiti, I thought about the Sword in the Stone when Merlin went to Bermuda. There was also another story where Merlin went to Aruba. And in the story where King Arthur ran for NY Senator, he had a secret passage that led to the Bahamas. There must be something amazing about the Caribbean since a lot of stories mention the islands and Merlin.
ReplyDeleteI got the Tahiti joke as well! Perhaps Cabot was expecting her audience to have seen The Sword in the Stone. It's actually very clever to make this connection, reminding readers of another modern depiction of Arthur.
ReplyDeleteI feel that Cabot put those jokes in there that kids wouldn't get now, but maybe when they have a Arthur class in college, they might get it hahahaha. John, you are lucky and unlucky that you didn't get the traditional high school experience. High school is rough and this book, bar the murderous brother, didn't have as much drama as my high school did.
ReplyDelete