Our review of Between Two Kingdoms by Suleika Jaouad focused on chapters one through four (1-4) and pages one through thirty-four (1-34). The itch Jaouad opened the book with garnered much discussion as did the comparing and contrasting of her past relationships with her new love for Will.
We examined several book/chapter/story structures and talked about my use of index cards to lay out many classes/video programs and my book, Eating an Elephant: Write Your Life One Bite at a Time.
Then, we practiced identifying the structure, purpose, and theme in chapter three of Jaouad’s memoir.
To become more comfortable with structure, purpose, and theme, I’ve attached a fillable chart you can use to recognize these three foundational aspects in Between Two Kingdoms.
Patricia, you mention author, Rick Bragg, toward the end of this video. His book Speckled Beauty is on my reading list for this year. I thought you might enjoy listening to this 6.42 minutes excerpt from an interview with Rick Bragg where he reads a scene from that book. Priceless humor! https://youtu.be/ZrwrhrawmeI
One of the things that is keeping me hooked to keep reading this book is the mystery of a physical problem not being fully addressed. The true illness is not being revealed at first. Suleika is answering some of the questions I formulated during the first matter review. What do the chapter titles mean? She answers this question for me each time. What part(s) of the world does the story take place? There are many, and it makes the story complex. What relationships does she have at this time in her life? There are major and minor characters to play… Read more »
Wow, Kit. You got a lot out of that review. I don’t ask the questions even though I almost always read the first matter and the back cover then plunge in. Thanks for the demonstration.