Isabel


 * Isabel's Reading Log **

__//**Oliver Twist** //__ **Reading Response pages 1-104** I'm hoping that Oliver won't end up back in Fagin's care because his stay in Mr. Brownlow's home has been the best days of his life, even though he was recovering from a fever. After being in the workhouse, being an apprentice- with more company who disliked him than not- and traveling to London mostly by foot, Oliver really needs the care and compassion he'd been shown at Mr. Brownlow's. Life with him would be much better than that with Fagin and the rest of them, which would be a life of thievery. Oliver is about the same age as my younger brother, but Oliver's been through much more hardships than I have.

**January 26th, 2011** It was a bit inevitable that Oliver ended up with Fagins, Doger, Bates, Nancy, et cetera. I felt really sympathetic to Oliver when they took everything away and how he knew that Mr. Brownlow and the old lady would be upset. I like how even when Mr. Brownlow was told by Mr. Bumble about Oliver's life- exaggerated in the worst way possible- the old lady held faithful and stood up for Oliver. The most recent part I've read about Oliver is when he goes with Sykes and another person to steal something, in which he gets hurt. I was really surprised when Sykes didn't abandon Oliver and instead took him, which would slow their escape. I also became quite amused when Mr. Bumble kissed Mrs. Corney, too.

**February 10th, 2011 ** In the end, it turns out that Sykes abandoned Oliver in a ditch, dying and hurt from the shot. I feel so sorry for Oliver! Fagins and Nancy should never have agreed for Oliver to go with Sykes. Although Nancy was trying to protect Oliver.....

The passage that still has me thinking is the passage in with a woman and a matron are speaking as the woman is dying. The women tells the matron about something that had happened around a decade ago. The woman tells a tale of how she was there when a younger woman gave birth to a boy, than died. The now dying woman robbed her before the young women went cold. She'd stolen the only thing the young woman had. Gold. The "rich gold" that could have saved her life, but she treasured it. The younger woman only wanted clothes to keep warm with and food to eat, but she had to keep the gold safe. The dying woman also tells the matron about how the boy grew up like his mother and she could never forget it when she saw his face. The woman also ways that before the young woman died, she whispered "that if her baby was born alive, and thrived, the day might come when it would not feel so much disgraced to hear its poor young mother named," and "whether it be boy or girl, raise up some friends for it in this troubled world, and take pity upon a lonely desolate child, abandoned to its mercy." The woman dies saying that "They //called// him Oliver. The gold I stole was-" The passage makes me more curious to figure out who Oliver's mom was, and why Oliver would ever feel disgraced to hear his own mother's name. Nobody at the time of Oliver's birth knew her name, so in turn Oliver doesn't know his name.

__//** Sovay **//__  Sovay leads a very interesting life as a young female highwayman, but she isn't a highwayman for the money. A strong, intelligent, adventurous girl, Sovay is wronged by her fiancé, which causes her to dress up as a highwayman and accost his carriage. When he discovers that it was Sovay who shamed him, he admits that their engagement was really in place so that he could get information on her father to expose him as a traitor to England. So Sovay must play the part of the highwayman again to steal a warrant that would've allowed her  fiancé to search her home. Sovay sets off to find her missing father and brother. Everything in her life is now at risk, and she's in danger of losing everything. Her family is threatened, and everything turns to Sovay to help set it straight. A historical fiction novel, this book has its own connections to the French Revolution and the Illuminati. Sovay herself is a very brave young woman who'll do whatever it costs to survive and save her family.