Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Dinosaurs on the Roof : A Student Book Review

Novel: Dinosaurs on the ROOF
Author: David Rabe
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Year: 2008
Reviewer: Karina Hernandez,Student Library Assistant, Medical Assistant Management Major.

In this first chapter of “Dinosaurs on the Roof” we are introduced to what at first glance seems to be a simple story. Janet Cawley, the main character, is portrayed to be a lonely, athletic because of the description of her running, but surely a person with a set routine. This routine was changed by the appearance of this “Old four door Chevy.” In this car Janet finds a woman familiar to her, Bernice Doorley, her mother old friend. A woman that with the sentence: “Get in. I need to ask a sort of favor, and I can make it snappy,” makes Janet hesitant and inflicts Janet with the feeling of caution.

Janet’s history is revealed a bit to us. She has been divorced and her mother died. Since then she has shown little interest in having people in her life. One way or another she has driven her into isolation, quit her job and avoided her friends. To Janet the visit of Bernice was a mystery, yet in the back of her mind she was preparing to tell Bernice to mind her own business. Just in case she was like everybody else who judged the way she has been living. Bernice was not there to judge her, although she was the type of person who didn’t hold back just to be polite.

Bernice was ready for the “Rapture” which according to her religion was going to happen that night. The rapture she explained is “a matter of Jesus and a bunch of special angels coming to haul some people off body and soul, all the folks who been saved” and she was going to be one of those people.

Bernice asked Janet to look after her animals, and for a woman who had been so successful at getting rid of the annoying people in her life you would think that she would get out it of easily. In some strange way, Janet felt hypnotized, she ended up accepting even though she tried not to.

The chapter finishes on this note: Janet and Bernice on their way to see Bernice’s beloved animals. How can these animals change Janet’s life? Does the Rapture really happen? Are we going to see Dinosaurs on the Roof? What is going to happen to these two characters? We only can find out if we keep reading this very intriguing story.

A Video Game Publisher Creates an App for Investing

Black Ops Entertainment, a video game publisher, released recently a charting application for traders. The app, designed for the iPad user, called iTraderPro, presents their $24.99 charting package in 3D. According to its CEO, John Botti,the buy and sell signals featured on the application will allow users to save.

Featured in Theresa W. Carey's Electronic Investor, Barron's (10/04/10)