Reader's Journal-Fiction

#9                                                     Reader’s Journal                                             10/24/11

Dear Mrs. Zrihen,

            I have been reading the book Diagnosis Death by Richard Mabry. The genre of this book is mystery. Mystery is a subgenre, which falls in the category of fiction; it is a book that includes secrets or crimes to be solved. 

There were many passages that sparked my interest while reading this book. The passage I chose out of the many was located on the first few pages, in the prologue.“She stood by his beside and waited for him to die. Outside the room, the machines and monitors of the ICU hummed and beeped, doctors and nurses went about their business, and the hospital smell--equal parts antiseptic and despair— hung heavy in the air. With one decisive move she flipped the switch of the respirator and stilled the machine’s rhythmic chuffing. In the silence that followed, she imagined she could hear his heartbeat fade away. She kissed him and exhaled what passed for a prayer, her lips barely moving as she asked for peace and forgiveness— for him and for her. She stood for a moment with her head bowed, contemplating the enormity of her action. She pockets the empty syringe from the bedside table and tiptoed out of the room.” I chose this quote because it was the first thing I read when I first opened the book and it gave me a feeling of already being hooked! It also left me with an interest and suspense feeling, making me want to finish the book and find out what lead that to happen! The quote is significant to the book because it gives the reader a strong mystery to solve. Also, by reading this passage, you can already tell that the author is a good writer, who has dropped the reader into a scene in only the first sentence!

            There were many strategies I used before, during, and after reading this book. Before reading, I skim and scanned the covers, titles, and other text features that caught my eye. Because of doing this, I became interested in the topic and the cover of the book. Also, I determined if the book was “just right” for me by doing all 10 steps, located in mini lesson number five. While reading, I gathered literary elements on a sticky note so that it would be easier to write my readers journal when I was done reading. Also, I tried to visualize the text by making mental pictures of what I was reading. I was able to do so with the help of the vivid descriptions the author provided. After reading, I made inferences and drew conclusions about the information I read. Also, I critiqued and discussed the book with myself so that I can reflect on the book and write my readers journal.

The tone of this book was suspension and mysterious and the mood was also to feel curious and a little bit of depression. I’m not sure, but I think there is no theme or moral in this book, but it is possible for me to still be able to identify what it is when I’m closer to finishing the book. The author’s purpose was to entertain the reader with a fictional story and the authors perspective was objective, and unbiased because the author has no opinions. The point of view was written in third person limited. This means that the narrator only knows the thoughts and feelings of only one character. The pattern of organization is climatic order because the author chose to organize the book by taking the reader from the least important idea to the most important one.

            There weren’t many characters in this book but so far, Dr. Elena Gardner is the main character and she is a protagonist. Also, Dr. Elena is a round and dynamic character because she is described in detail with who she is and with everything she does. Two foil characters that were introduced so far was Dr. David Merritt, who was a protagonist and a resident physician in one of the busiest obstetrics programs in the southwest and Mark, Elena’s husband, who has passed away. These were the only characters that were introduced in the book and I hope to meet more characters after I finish it.

            The only settings that have taken place in the book so far were Elena’s house and her hospital: St. Paul Hospital. There were no social or weather conditions stated in the book yet.

            Since I didn’t finish reading the book yet, I am only up to the books exposition in its plot structure. The exposition is only a couple short chapters in the book. It explains how miserable Dr. Elena was because her husband has just passed away. For example, in the book, Elena says, “That’s me. I wanted to crawl into the coffin with Mark. At that point, my life was over” these few words describe how depressed Elena was and how much she loved her husband, Mark. The conflict is Man. Vs. Man. This is because Elena is really against herself because she has to really get over her loss and move on with her life instead of being depressed and ruining the rest of it.

            In my short reading, surprisingly, I identified many lines of figurative language! One out of the many I found was: “Outside the room, the machines and monitors of the ICU hummed and beeped. In this sentence, the figurative language I found was personification because it’s giving the machine a human feature (humming). Also, the cover of the book: “Diagnosis Death” is alliteration. “But after, I almost had a meltdown” I consider this sentence being a hyperbole because she is clearly exaggerating and will not actually have a meltdown. Also, a simile I found was in the following sentence: “the evening dragged on as Elena worried about the problem like a kitten with a ball of yarn. Finally, another personification, being “she closed her eyes and watched her eyes and watched the images march across her brain.”

All in all, There were many response starters I have used throughout this readers journal…this is great book so far and I hope it will continue to be as good as it is now throughout the rest of the book. So far, I recommend this book to teens and young adults because the book talks about mature situations that others might have a hard time understanding. Also, it uses a large variety of vocabulary words. So far I rate the book an 8-10 because it kept me hooked the whole time! Also, the book makes the reader want to read further and further into the book to solve the mystery! I’m looking forward to finishing the book!

Love,

Joelle Ben-Nissan