Sophie`s Choice- Piece by Piece

1. The book that i chose to do was Sophie`s Choice by William Styron. The book was published in January of 1992 and there are 562 pages. 
2. I chose to read this book because of the historical element and the insightful summary that most of the websites gave. The websites that I read had many very powerful points as to what the book was about. if the book is as good as these websites have outlined, then i think i will have read a book that i would read over and over and again. I think that this book will be very interesting and worth my while.
3. So far i think that the book is a bit boring and is focused on the topic of critiquing books a bit too much. This section of the book seems to drag on and on and it is a bit lengthy. As i keep reading a bit farther than the narrator`s job, the book is a bit more interesting. You get to start understanding and getting to know what the main characters home and personal life is and i think that it is starting to pick up.
4. I have not had much time to sit and read large chunks of the chapters, so I have read the first 15 pages of the first chapter. In my opinion the first few paragraphs make or break a new book. I am slowly reading the book so that I can take in every detail and comprehend what I am reading. 
5. So far we learn that the main character works for a publishing company called McGraw Hill and that he previews manuscripts that new authors send in. He works for $0.90 an hour and does not seem to like his job very much. He seems to be very hard on the author`s and does not publish very many books because he just does not see the spark. He lives by himself and lives in a very small apartment smack dab in the middle of a fake stereotype. The author says that he is lonely and only has one window in his whole apartment, that when he looks out he sees the picture perfect couple next door. He says in the beginning that apartments in Manhattan are expensive, so he had to live in Brooklyn. So far the author seems very tired and irritable. He sets the mood as very standoffish and he could be irritated very easily. He has a sense of feeling sorry for himself and that he just does not want to be lonely anymore. I have noticed that he pays close attention to the couple next door, which he describes the wife as ``astonishingly well-proportioned blonde wife``, he seems to admire this women more than sexually and this could potentially be fore-shadowing
6. I think that the author is trying to show themes of relationships and that they can develop in even the most crooked and awkward of situations. I think that he is trying to say that no matter what a relationship has to start somewhere and that you never know what the future holds. 
7. Secondary sources that I have found are the ones of materialism, like Abercrombie and Fitch. This to the author symbolizes something that is perfect and high class. The reader is supposed to identify what this brand is and it should be something that sticks out to them. The brand Abercrombie and Fitch has then clearly been out for a while and in this time frame represents a definite meaning for the reader and the main character alike. You as a reader are also supposed to recognize the publishing company McGraw Hill. If this is the same publisher as today then it is the same publisher that makes textbooks at schools. From what the author says a very well known and credited firm.
8. The passage in the book that speaks to me so far is the passage that the main character writes about Gundar Firkin`s manuscripts. He goes on to say that this is the longest response he had put out to any other review. To me in this section shows a different side to the main character. It shows a very caring and sensitive side to the author. It shows that the main character really does take into consideration the feeling and the things that new author`s have to say. It could simply be the fact that he feels a connection to the author or he felt sympathy for him. But for me this passage really symbolized a different side to the main character simply because of the way that he wrote this passage. He took the time to write about this one and did not shove it along to get it out of his face like he did the rest of the manuscripts. I liked this passage because it showed the caring and sensitive side to a hotshot reviewer.