Blueberry Review
Written by Sarah Wagner
The “Blueberry Review” is the Interlochen Times’ book review column, where students share their thoughts on their latest reads. To select students for these interviews, a Google Form was sent out in the Provost News asking students about memorable books they’ve recently read. The form also asked students what genres they are most interested in. Fiction, fantasy, sci-fi, and romance were the most popular genres, though students read a great variety of books new and old.
A NOTE TO READERS – Be aware: the following interviews may include mild spoilers.
Bleak House by Charles Dickens
The Interlochen Times spoke with Leila Topi, a senior majoring in Classical Voice, about Bleak House. This 1853 novel by Charles Dickens tells the story of a young woman named Esther Summerson after she is drawn into a never-ending court case in search of answers about her past. The novel is a commentary on the inefficiencies and injustices of the British legal system, as well as a love story.
Sarah Wagner: What attracted you to this book?
Leila Topi: I love novels from different countries, especially in the classic literature genre, and I've read a lot of Russian literature, so I wanted to try something more traditional to what you read in school.
SW: What would you say this book is about, in a few sentences?
LT: It's about a really complicated court case, and the people involved in the court case become intertwined with a noble family and the people around them. That’s my best summary of about 900 pages. The house is very bleak. And someone spontaneously combusts, if that’s interesting.
SW: What were your initial impressions of the book, and did they change as you read?
LT: That we as readers were going to get these characters very well and they were going to be fleshed out, and that it was going to be a very slow-burning character-focused plot, and I was not disappointed. There was a lot more talk of the dreariness of the British legal system than I expected.
SW: Whose perspective is the book told from?
LT: Half the story is told from Esther Summerson's perspective—that's the main narrator—but then you have these sections that are almost in a third-person narration where you get away from the first-person narration of Esther and see the lives of other characters.
SW: Were there any characters that you disliked and why?
LT: Sir Lester Dedlock annoyed me a lot, and so did Mr. Tulkinghorn. A lot of these rich, powerful men in the book are just very clueless.
SW: What are your thoughts on the writing style?
LT: For me it’s quite easy to read; I really like this writing style. It gives a really nice individual voice to each of the characters.
SW: What did you like most about the book or writing style?
LT: I like how it includes people of all socioeconomic classes and considers both the really poor and the really wealthy. I also like how it plays this balance really nicely between keeping you intrigued with the characters and throwing in a total plot curve ball now and again.
SW: Did you learn anything unexpected from reading this book?
LT: I don’t know how much of it is historically accurate and how much is the story Charles Dickens came up with, but I did not expect to hear as much about how the courts worked in the 1800s.
SW: What were your biggest takeaways from the book or parts that you found most impactful?
LT: A lot of the most impactful parts are the things I cannot say because of spoilers. Charles Dickens does not shy away from describing difficult thought patterns or difficult situations. For example, the main character gets really sick and changes her appearance, and to hear her inner monologue after that is very interesting.
SW: Why should other students and people in general read this book?
LT: It's an excellent study of the English language and an excellent study of society as a whole. Even if it's not our society and our time period, it gives you a sense of how things have worked in the past, and I think the bureaucratic system can show us something about our own system.
SW: What do you think is the biggest message that the author is trying to convey?
LT: I think it's that the court systems are too slow and ineffective, and in the process they're ruining people's mental health and affecting them in ways where people don't want to take things into the courts even if they should.
SW: How many plot curveballs can fit into 900 pages?
LT: Someone could throw in a plot curveball every page and then there'd be 900 of them, but this one has maybe five that are major.
Watership Down by Richard Adams
The Interlochen Times is excited to share this interview with Callie Kleinman, a sophomore majoring in Viola Performance. We spoke with Callie about Watership Down, a 1972 adventure novel by English author Richard Adams that tells the story of a group of rabbits on a quest in a dangerous world. When a young rabbit named Fiver gets a premonition of danger coming to his home warren, he and his brother Hazel gather as many rabbits as they can to set off in search of a new home. Along the way, they face threats from humans, predators, and hostile rabbits. Watership Down is more than a survival story about rabbits—it is an exploration of freedom, tyranny, leadership, and community.
Sarah Wagner: What would you say this book is about, in a few sentences?
Callie Kleinman: This book is about a group of rabbits who escape their warren before the land is used for farming. Tractors are about to come and rip up the land, and so they leave. Along the way, they face predators and other rabbits who are not that friendly, and they try to establish their own life on the hills. They make allies along the way of different species like birds and mice, and they end up with their own warren and families.
SW: What were your initial impressions of the book, and did they change as you read?
CK: It gives children’s story, like most people would think that it’s meant for children, but it goes deeper than that. The rabbits are very human-like, so you can take a lot of lessons about friendship, leadership, and how to navigate a tricky world.
SW: Whose perspective is the book told from?
CK: A rabbit named Hazel, who is the main leader. He kind of grows into being a leader, but it’s cool to see that transformation.
SW: Were there any characters that you disliked and why?
CK: Not really because all of the characters are so complicated. It’s well-written, so I can’t be mad at them that way where I’m mad at the author, and they all have good parts to them, so I can’t be mad at them for that.
SW: Was the book fast-paced or more slow-moving?
CK: Slow.
SW: What are your thoughts on the writing style?
CK: The writing style is very poetic, I would say. There are so many elaborate metaphors. Also, each chapter has a quote from these really old-fashioned texts. Some of them are in different languages. If I’m in the mood for it, it’s a fun puzzle to try to figure out.
SW: Did you learn anything unexpected from reading this book?
CK: I learned a lot about rabbits, because it was pretty realistic. The author did some extensive research before he wrote it. The cool background is that the author made up the story as he went. He was in the car with his daughters and they asked him to tell a story, so he told the story. In future car rides he continued the story.
SW: Who would you recommend this book to?
CK: Someone who’s into reading. Someone who has a lot of time and patience and likes nature, and can appreciate a good story.
SW: What do you think is the biggest message that the author is trying to convey?
CK: There’s more to something than meets the eye. There’s more to rabbits than meets the eye. There’s more to nature than meets the eye, if you only care to look.
SW: How would you rate the book from 1-5 stars?
CK: 3.7 stars
The Interlochen Times looks forward to continuing the Blueberry Review in future issues. Be sure to complete the book interview Google Form when it appears in an upcoming Provost News for a chance to be featured. We can’t wait to see what Interlochen students read next!