Reading Log

The new book I started reading is "The Illustrated Man" by Ray Bradbury. This book is a different type of genre than what I would usually read but I am really enjoying it and looking forward to finishing it. The book starts off with the main character meeting the illustrated man, then he is introduced in the story. The illustrated man was looking for a job, he later explains that he cannot keep a job for long because of his illustrations. He later explains how he got his illustrations, it was 1900 and he was 20 years old, he broke his leg, he then decided to get tattooed. An old woman tattooed him, he sat all night while the woman tattooed him, still to this day he wants to kill that woman. The illustrated man explains that his tattoos can predict the future. The illustrations move at night and predict what will happen in the future. Illustrations appear at his right shoulder when he meets someone. It shows there future, how they will look when they are 60, and how they will die. The illustrated man has 18 illustrations going from his neck to his waist line.

Today while I was reading I could picture an old witch tattooing the illustrated man from his neck to his waste line. I could clearly picture this image in my head because it was very descriptive an used great imagery. I cannot connect to any characters yet because I haven't experienced or been through what the character has, I haven't been tattooed so I cannot relate to his experience. So far I haven't had any major difficulties understanding parts of the book, if something is unclear I just re-read the page. I also haven't done anything similar to what the characters have experienced in the book because I don't have a tattoo or have done anything similar to what the character has done. Some literary features of this book are allusion, there is a reference to El Greco and his style of painting in the story. There is also a lot of imagery when characterizing each illustration on the man. There is even a flashback when explaining how he got the illustrations on him. I think the these literary features are effective and have been used properly. Each feature helps me paint an almost perfect picture in my head. The plot of my story is not realistic because illustrations on your body cannot tell the future of your life and the life of others. It is an unrealistic story but is very interesting and exciting. The character that I would like to have as a friend is definitely the illustrated man, he would be able to predict the future and that would be a cool friend to have. The part that I have read today doesn't fit with previous books that i have read because this book style is something different that I have not read in previous books. I cannot connect this book to any others that I have read. I predict that the next section will continue on explaining and introducing the illustrated man and him getting to know the main character better so they become friends. I also think that there is might be an adventure were they go looking for the witch who tattooed the illustrated man. If I could jump into my book right now I would prevent the old witch from tattooing the illustrated man so he doesn't have to suffer. I would kill the witch before she began illustrating him. I would also try to convince him to embrace the gift he has been given and predict peoples future. I could clearly visualize the scene were the witch was tattooing the illustrated man. There was excellent imagery in this scene and it helped me visualize it very well. No event setting or character in this book reminds me of my life because as I said this book is very different than other books that I have read and it is very difficult to compare to real life events.