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Hmmm I wonder if the writer of Slum Dog Millionaire was inspired by this book in 1996. It is a slow read to start, but the flashbacks pull you in to a wonderfully written story. I could not help noticing a similar format. A View from Saturday has been in my class library for years. However, I just finished reading it.
The book definitely leaves you with the feeling that there was supposed to be a point, that Konigsburg was trying to say something very meaningful, but there actually is no real lesson or message to it, not that I could discern, at any rate. There is no depth whatsoever to them, to any of the characters, for that matter. You would know right from the start that Julian will be tormented and bullied but will become fast friends with Noah, Nadia, and Ethan. What a ludicrous concept.' This is just unfair to children. will win. Besides this, the four main characters-Julian, Ethan, Noah, and Nadia (aka The Souls)-are too perfect. The style of writing is really very inept overall, not just because of the shallowness of the characters, but also because it is simply very clumsily and inexpertly written (as another reviewer has pointed out, if an author needs to put in extraneous notes to tell the reader which character is narrating, the author isn't doing her job). This book reads more like a long, clumsily written fable than a novel.
I know that I have written several angry comments to the effect that people should lose the mentality that children can't do anything and are, without exception, whiny, self-centred brats. However, it is true that The Souls are quite too perfect. For that matter, neither does good writing work that way. (I hate all caps, but this thing doesn't allow me to italicise or underline so that's the only kind of emphasis I can use). I do most heartily disagree with those reviewers who say, in effect, `Seventh-graders talking and listening and not interrupting each other. The plot, insofar as there is one, is pointless, boring, and utterly predictable. And the reason that I say it is predictable is not that, as many have pointed out, the outcome of the tournament which is such a major part of the plot is explicitly stated on the first page. And that really wouldn't be so bad if the point was a good and meaningful one.
It is evidence of singularly childish and elementary thinking on the part of someone who has been around long enough to know better: `I of course want to portray the "good guys" as good, so they will be angels with no flaws. They're almost cartoonish in their shallowness. Seventh-graders being kind. However, there actually is no point.
In short, the plot appears to be just a vehicle, into which very little thought was placed, for the "point" which Konigsburg is attempting to make. In a nutshell, don't waste your time and money on this worthless expenditure of precious resources. The book is also highly confusing at times; it is obvious that not a great deal of pains were taken to make the plot comprehensible. It's predictable because (spoiler alert, as if this book needs it) even if the outcome was not immediately given away, you would still know right from the start that the `Souls' (so they`re the only ones with souls).
The "bad guys" I want to portray as bad, so they will have no redeeming qualities.' LIFE DOESN'T WORK THAT WAY. Ha. You would know because the plot goes exactly the way it's supposed to, exactly the way that the overused children's book formula dictates. Seventh-graders being intelligent.
I came across "The View From Saturday". I cannot give this story a worthy synopsis; it is to noble and intricate for that. When I read the back, I knew I just had to read this book. This is because of the underlying themes, ideas, humorous statements, ideals, and challenges. I am an intense bibliophile who happens to be a freshman in highschool.
However, this book can't be forced upon by a summer reading list or a teacher. It deserves something far greater for its originality. I would say that children and teens everywhere should read this. I began to read this book, and was hooked.
The characters were real, the plotline fresh, the ending (slightly ambiguous) thought provoking. I am extremely busy, but I am always to pause to take time to read a good book. As I said before, this book is a challenge. I am not implying that this book was explicit, or not clean enough for younger readers. Yes, I said highschool. This is because I believe that "A View From Saturday" is a book meant to be read from grades 8 and up.
It's a challenge to examine friendships to see if they are really deep, or just superficial. I can only give my opinion and heart after reading this memorable book.This book was,like I stated before, a memorable book.
This book has been honored the Newberry Award. This book is meant to be discovered.I will end with this,if you are looking for a good read that is worth while and stays with you, then please, read this book.
It is a book that plays across the mind when it is being read, and leaves an imprint on the heart to be felt after. I had read all of the books in our house, and was eye-ing the dictionary with considerable intrest (hey, I was desperate),when I decided to re-examine the family bookshelve for a good read.
It is just that if the messages and heartwarming friendships in this novel are to be realized, they would be recognized by a higher age group. It was touching in a way that many books aren't to highschool students.
I was already intrigued on how the academic team was chosen, why they worked together so well, and what it meant by "the view from saturday". The other 288 reviews have good summaries as well.
The writing is delicate and complex much like a piece of lace held up to a light. Frankweiler--the same year that Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth was selected as an honor book. I loved the cover, read the book, loved it as well. And promptly forgot about it for ten some odd years. At the same time, this story is a timeless one about friendship and journeys big and small. I also did not remember Mrs.
I have a great story about this book: When I was in grade school my class would venture to the public library to get books. I gave up all hope of ever finding it again.Then, when I was shelving books in the children's room, what should I stumble upon but a copy of the very book I had been sure I would never see again.Upon our reunion, I realized even with the book in hand I did not know a lot about it. Konigsburg was a woman until I was reading about her online and discovered that in addition to winning the 1997 Newbery, Konigsburg also won the award in 1968 for From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. But, truth be told, Mrs. Olinski has several good answers about how she chose the four sixth graders for her Academic Bowl team, partly because she always has good answers. The fact that The View from Saturday won the Newbery Award in 1997 completely escaped me (I might have read it before it won, definitely before I knew anything about the Newbery's). On one of those trips, I found The View from Saturday (1996) by E. L.
As the teams compete, short stories are interspersed--one for each of The Souls--to explain how they answer each question and, also, how they became friends.I feel safe in saying, without equivocation, that The View from Saturday is a classic in the realm of children's literature. That never happens with the Newbery. Basil E. Olinski is not entirely sure how she chose her team. And, perhaps most embarrassing, I did not realize that E.
Olinski did not know how she had chosen her team, and the further fact was that she didn't know that she didn't know until she did know.Another mystery is how these unlikely sixth graders became first friends calling themselves "The Souls" and, later, an Academic Bowl team by the same name that beat the seventh grade team, the eighth grade team, and so on right to the Bowl Day championship where The Souls from Epiphany would face off against the older Maxwell bowl team.This story takes place on the day of that championship. I read somewhere that the stories within this book were "jewel like" which I think is a good adjective to end this review with because, really, what more could I add. The fact was that Mrs. Konigsburg. Anyway, I still look back on this book with fond memories even though recent examinations suggest that I might have missed some nuances on my first reading.Mrs.
L. Although I distinctly remembered the cover with a house and four cups of tea in the window, I could not for the life of me remember any other information about the book. Olinski being a paraplegic.
However, intertwining of their lives is in many places so extreme, and appears so often, it becomes a little trite. L.
Basil E. Konigsburg's other Newbery Medal award winner, "From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs.
"The View from Saturday" is written as a reminiscence, with a nostalgic tone so artificially sweet, it is at times nearly too sugary to bear. A better read is E.
Frankweiler." The last sentence of every page break or chapter vies for immense significance but instead gives the book's over-all impression too much sentimentality.The novel itself is structured to bridge several different stories together, so it is appropriate that the main characters find their lives woven together.
"Less is more" is repeated throughout the story, so it's surprising the author did not use the "less is more" approach when writing the coincidences that bring the characters together.It's really not a bad book at all, and the message is very positive, but it's hard for me to fathom that this was really the best children's book published that year.
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