Raffi Barsamian

Raffi Barsamian
Crewel
Gennifer Albin
Dystopian
Just Right
1233 of 4823

1. I am currently reading, Crewel, by Gennifer Albin. In this part of the book the main character Adelice Lewis has just unintentionally killed her only friends sister. Pryana and Adelice are both in training to become Spinsters. Themselves and other training Spinsters  have been on a tour of the Coventry where they will live and work in for the rest of there lives. They have visited three rooms on the tour so far, the entry level room (where they handle rationing food), then the enter the (weather studios where they we've certain amounts of precipitation fall throughout each sector), but in the last room is where the most gifted spinsters work( this room is the Emergency Department, it makes sure no accidents occur in the Western Sector). But then they are taken up a very long staircase, to the top of the building. They are greeted there by Maela who is in charge of training all new Spinsters. The room is filled with looms. Maela has prepared a pretest to see the new spinsters ablates. The test is to search for which of the new Spinsters can feel for weak areas in the strands. Each thread represents the life of a person and many strands represent a location in each of the sectors. Many attempt and fail, some destroying large areas of a sector by cutting more than one strand. Then it was Adelices turn, she felt every thread but the only weakness was so minuscule. She explained to Maela that she did not need to cut any of the threads because they weren't weak enough to cut. Then Maela was furious Adelice did not cut the thread. Maelia proceeded to take the razor and rip a large section of the thread. Melia knew what she had done, she had destroyed the school where Pryanas' sister attended. Adelice was held accountable for this, not only was she upset at the fact she murdered innocent children, it was the sister of her one and only friend.

2. I am so thrilled with this book. I can say with confidence that this is my favorite book I have read. the reason why I am so into this book is because it really doesn't relate to me at all. The main character is a girl who lives in a fantasy world. I'm a boy who lives on earth. Adelice is a sixteen year old who has a set life, and I'm a fourteen year old who is still in middle school. It couldn't get more different. Gennifer Albin does such a great job of keeping the reader guessing and wanting to go farther into the book. She does this by keeping the book so concise, there's no point in the book so far where I have been bored reading. Before Adelice was captured, you could almost hear her thinking because her thoughts were so deep. I find it so herd to comprehend why Adelice didn't tell her parents she passed her testing. this was the sort of guessing the author creates for the reader.

3. The main theme I've noticed in this book is man versus society. This both shows in characters and the plot.  Adelice is constantly being told what to do because of the way her government works in the world of Arras. It seems like she is just a robot under a governments power. Adelice has only two paths to take, a secretary of a man, or a spinster at the Coventry. When a girl of Arras reaches the age of 16 she is able to become one or the other. Since Adelice was born with the natural ability to weave her destiny is to become a Spinster. This theme also is prevalent in the plot. Life isn't determined on how healthy you are its determined by a thread. The spinsters job is to see if a thread is weak or strong. If your thread is strong the longer you live, if you have a weak thread that's the end of your live. This is the case for every one in Arras, and no matter what there is no way out.

4. My favorite character is Adelice. the only reason her life is completely turned upside down is because of her natural talent. She was born with incredible ability to weave. But she doesn't give up.  Once she gets to the Coventry she could have easily gust gave up and purposely been killed but she has to live with her special ability. Although she will never see her family ever again she still knows that she must live out what she was meant to do. Adelice is also my favorite character because she knows what is right. She knows that being a Spinster is not all it is cracked up to be, it means controlling the world all by a cut of a razor. When Adelice stands up to Maela when she cuts the large area of strands, Adelice stands up to her. She knows what Maela did and she was furious with her actions.

5. Maela is by far my least favorite character because she is such a terrible person. First of all she has been a Spinster for a very long time which ultimately means she has no soul. She takes the life of innocent people every day. When she took the life of all of the school children, I felt upset myself. How could someone do that. Adelice knew she did not need to cut any of the threads but since Maela is such a horrible person she cuts more than necessary. Not only did she kill innocent children, she took the life of a new Spinsters sister. I wished Pryana had blamed Maela instead of Adelice because it was in no way her fault. Melia is such a cold hearted person, I hope all Spinsters don't end up like her especially Adelice.

6. My prediction is that later in the book Adelice will get to see her sister and mother again. I predict this because Adelice is such a clever person. She found out that the windows in the rooms are extremely hi-tech screens. I have a feeling that Adelice will find a way out of the Coventry. Even though the Coventry cannot be escaped from Adelice will find some way some how.