ATAR Notes: Forum
VCE Stuff => VCE English Studies => VCE Subjects + Help => VCE English & EAL => Topic started by: Darren on January 18, 2011, 09:52:08 pm
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Ugh. I've spent the entire holiday procastinating over finishing all my four novels for English, that I haven't even got down to completing one. I've only just started The shark net, and the problem I have is not being able to comprehend all the jumble and clutter I'm reading, It's going through my eyes and out my head. What's the point of reading it if I don't even understand the book?
Literally I am begging my brain to read but all the books seem completely impossible to grasp in terms of the plot.. Will it become easier once school starts? I'm freaking out, I might fail english inevitably if I don't even understand these retarded, boring novels that make absolutely no sense.
/end rant I'm sorry I just seriously don't get it. :|
What can I do to help me.. am I meant to take notes? sigh -_-
Anyone have the same problem? I'm not dumb, It's just the novel has such a broad plot.. also yeah, I haven't read for english since year 8.. and sparknotes won't help this time. :|
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How far into the book are you?
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Ugh. I've spent the entire holiday procastinating over finishing all my four novels for English, that I haven't even got down to completing one. I've only just started The shark net, and the problem I have is not being able to comprehend all the jumble and clutter I'm reading, It's going through my eyes and out my head. What's the point of reading it if I don't even understand the book?
Literally I am begging my brain to read but all the books seem completely impossible to grasp in terms of the plot.. Will it become easier once school starts? I'm freaking out, I might fail english inevitably if I don't even understand these retarded, boring novels that make absolutely no sense.
/end rant I'm sorry I just seriously don't get it. :|
What can I do to help me.. am I meant to take notes? sigh -_-
Anyone have the same problem? I'm not dumb, It's just the novel has such a broad plot.. also yeah, I haven't read for english since year 8.. and sparknotes won't help this time. :|
Strange kinda question, but what answers to this post are you hoping to get?
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Like halfway through, but honestly this makes no sense :| Maybe I'll just read it over multiple times. Bleh.
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Ugh. I've spent the entire holiday procastinating over finishing all my four novels for English, that I haven't even got down to completing one. I've only just started The shark net, and the problem I have is not being able to comprehend all the jumble and clutter I'm reading, It's going through my eyes and out my head. What's the point of reading it if I don't even understand the book?
Literally I am begging my brain to read but all the books seem completely impossible to grasp in terms of the plot.. Will it become easier once school starts? I'm freaking out, I might fail english inevitably if I don't even understand these retarded, boring novels that make absolutely no sense.
/end rant I'm sorry I just seriously don't get it. :|
What can I do to help me.. am I meant to take notes? sigh -_-
Anyone have the same problem? I'm not dumb, It's just the novel has such a broad plot.. also yeah, I haven't read for english since year 8.. and sparknotes won't help this time. :|
Strange kinda question, but what answers to this post are you hoping to get?
I know I was slightly ranting :| I was just asking for techniques to help me understand the plot / ideas better.. Like what do you guys do to help yourself understand? Lol. Also yeah. I was wondering if anyone had as complicated books :|
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Um.. just read for half an hour to an hour a night before bed? Just keep in mind that it'll help a lot.
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I don't usually condone this but if you're having that hard of a time, watch the movie and then read the book again. It will help put names to faces and allow you to visualise the plot
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Ugh. I've spent the entire holiday procastinating over finishing all my four novels for English, that I haven't even got down to completing one. I've only just started The shark net, and the problem I have is not being able to comprehend all the jumble and clutter I'm reading, It's going through my eyes and out my head. What's the point of reading it if I don't even understand the book?
Literally I am begging my brain to read but all the books seem completely impossible to grasp in terms of the plot.. Will it become easier once school starts? I'm freaking out, I might fail english inevitably if I don't even understand these retarded, boring novels that make absolutely no sense.
/end rant I'm sorry I just seriously don't get it. :|
What can I do to help me.. am I meant to take notes? sigh -_-
Anyone have the same problem? I'm not dumb, It's just the novel has such a broad plot.. also yeah, I haven't read for english since year 8.. and sparknotes won't help this time. :|
Strange kinda question, but what answers to this post are you hoping to get?
I know I was slightly ranting :| I was just asking for techniques to help me understand the plot / ideas better.. Like what do you guys do to help yourself understand? Lol. Also yeah. I was wondering if anyone had as complicated books :|
The only thing I can think of is maybe to watch the movie version of any of the books you have, to help you visualize.
No one on VN can help you read the texts.
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I think the plot will start to make sense the second and third time you read the book
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Don't worry, your not the only one! I am lacking motivation to read my books too.
I usually understand them, but i just find reading school books boring.
I've only read about 15 pages of one of my books.
haha :)
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I know someone who got a 48 in English and never read the texts.
Jokes.. you seriously need to just force yourself to read the novels. Focus on reading the first text response text for now. Don't bother with the other texts - you won't be doing the second context SAC for 8 or so months from now, so there's no need to read every text right now. Set yourself little goals.. I think part of the reason why you're avoiding reading is because the thought of reading 4 texts (deeply) seems way too daunting.. and it is.
Oh and as you read, just keep asking 'why'. Question everything you read in the novel and hopefully you'll be able to make your own judgments on the events and what not.
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Shark Net is an autobiography - just think of it as a collection of stories from Robert Drewe's life. There isn't meant to be a central "plot" for most of it.
What are your other texts?
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Shark Net can actually be a pretty boring and long read for those who aren't necessarily interested in the life and times of the author Robert Drewe. There is no obligation for you to understand the ideas and themes presented by any of the texts that you read during the holidays, and you can always wait until classes start for your teacher to go through them (remember that you will at least know what the content is ie. what happens in the text). Study Guides and online resources can also help depending on how you learn.
If you really cannot bring yourself to finish Shark Net (I never actually finished it either >_>), then I would suggest for you to start reading another text which you may find to be more interesting that you have in your collection, possibly A Streetcar Named Desire if you are doing the Whose Reality? context study. It is better to have finished one text that you understood and found interesting than to have another one just sitting idly 3/4 read on your desk. You may also find that finishing one text gives you enough momentum to go and finish Shark Net!
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You could try downloading an unabridged copy of the audiobook. That way you can listen to it when your traveling or whatever and you won't have to specifically put time aside to read it. Maybe once you get past the initial read it will begin to make more sense. I'm sure that once you start having class discussions on the novel it will help you understand further.
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I know this is not reccommended but how about you read the plot synopis on something like sparknotes to get the general idea of the text, if you need help understanding it.
Also if you have your teachers email, don't feel scared to send one of if you are unsure of something. Being in year 12 is the year you should not be scared of asking for help.
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Yeah I guess I'll just stop reading the shark net until school starts.. maybe it'd help me to comprehend it more.
We're doing whose reality for our study.. so yeah I'll go on to Streetcar named desire :|
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maybe try and read some of your other texts, the idea of reading an auto-biography seems boring..
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maybe try and read some of your other texts, the idea of reading an auto-biography seems boring..
I know right, fuck me dead. I just realised it was an autobiography after reading it, now it slightly makes sense into why the book had an absence of consistency. *Cringe*
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Yeah I guess I'll just stop reading the shark net until school starts.. maybe it'd help me to comprehend it more.
We're doing whose reality for our study.. so yeah I'll go on to Streetcar named desire :|
Streetcar is an awesome play. Pretty much everyone likes it after they read it. Much better than the shark net...while there are murders in the shark net, Robert drew talked mostly about them towards the end of the book
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Yeah I guess I'll just stop reading the shark net until school starts.. maybe it'd help me to comprehend it more.
We're doing whose reality for our study.. so yeah I'll go on to Streetcar named desire :|
Streetcar is an awesome play. Pretty much everyone likes it after they read it. Much better than the shark net...while there are murders in the shark net, Robert drew talked mostly about them towards the end of the book
Yeah! In my experience, most people hated Streetcar, but I love it.
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I only know one person out of over a hundred who did Shark Net in the English exam for whose reality, it was that bad. If sharknet is getting you down, definitely switch books. Streetcar is a great text in comparison.
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I found Streetcar incredibly easy to read thanks to the Simpsons, dunno about anyone else...