Literature list VWO 6 English and summaries of all books. Learn these summaries and save the long reading work. The books covered in the summary are: The help, Fat kid runs the world, The Great Gatsby, Paper Towns, Hideous Beauty and The Cement Garden
1. The help
2. The great gatsby
3. Paper towns
4. Hideous beauty
5. Fat kid runs the world
6. The cement garden
1. Tell us something about the relationship between the main character and his/her
father/mother/brother/sister/etc.
The book doesn’t give us (the reader) a lot of information about the relationship between
Aibileen and her family. However there is some information about her and her son, (…).
He died a few years ago and Aibileen loved him very much. She still cares for the
children of her employer like they’re her own. Miss skeeter plays a slightly smaller role in
the book. Her family seems very controlling, they don’t really understand her ambitions
and they’re more focused on getting her a husband.
Nick only ‘writes’ about how he moved away from his family to pursue his career and went to
war later on. The book does focus on his cousin Daisy. Daisy lives close to Nicks new
neighboorhood. I feel like the relationship between Nick and Daisy is very complicated.
He cares about her but since he hasn’t seen her in a long time he seems like he doesn’t
really know how to act around her.
I have to look through Paper towns to say something about this book. What I do remember is
that Quentin’s parents don’t really understand the way he acts. Q is really worried about
Margo and his parents believe it will be alright and that the police will handle it. Q
however is much more worried and even thinks about Margot having commited suicide.
From all the books I’ve read, Dylan has the most difficult relationship with his family. At the
beginning of the book Dylan has recently told his family about him being gay and about
his boyfriend Ellis. His parents don’t react violently, but later on in the book the truth
comes out. His parents tried to bribe Ellis to stay away from Dylan, and even though they
won’t admit it, they are kind of homophobic. When Dylan finds out about this he moves in
with a friend and at the end of the book he is in therapy and tries step by step to forgive
his parents.
… (forgot the name)s mother died and he lives alone with his father and brother. His brother
ignores him and even told him to commit suicide. His father... he doesn’t understand why
he is friends with... (also forgot the name)
In ‘the cement garden’ the father of... has already died, and their mother dies in the book.
The children do not want to go to foster care, so they pretend their mother is still alive
and hide the body in the basement. Throughout the book Jack and Julie start to act like
the father and the mother.
2. Do you think the title fits the book well? Why (not)?
I think the title fits the book very well. The book has many pages and it is hard to sum it up in
one title, but the whole book revolves around the lifes and the work of the black help in
jacksonville (missisipi).
I also think the title fits this book very well. The book revolves around the mysterious Jay
Gatsby. He gives abundant parties, there are a lot of rumors about him going around but
few actually know who he is and what is real or made up about him.
, This title is a little bit more difficult to understand but I still liked it. It takes a while to figure
out what paper towns are and what they mean, and it doesn’t really sum up what the
book is about, but that is also one of the reasons I wanted to read it. Then, at the end of
the book, when the main character finally figures it out, it all seems to make sense and it
is actually one of the best titles the author could think off if you’d ask me
In hideous beauty the title is nearly never mentioned, however it made sense after I was
done reading it. The title hideous beauty was used for a place, literally or figuratively, for
your deepest secrets. For Dylan it was a small abandoned church in the woods which no
one else knew about (except for Ellis later in the book). For Ellis it was his sketchbook.
After Ellis died Dylan gets certain pages mailed to him. Those pages help him figure out
what happened to Ellis and why he was acting the way he did shortly before he died.
This title is a little bit less deep and has a bit more humour to it. The main character is
depressed and sees himself as ‘the fat kid’. He is focused on what other people think
about him. That is why when he does something, he accomplishes something, he fails at
something et cetera ‘he writes’ (in the third person) fat kid... at the end of the book he
has learned to worry less about what others think and he focuses on himself. At that
point he says ‘fat kid runs the world’
The cement garden has a double meaning. It refers to the body of their mother which they
burried in cement in the basement, and their actual garden. Their father wanted to make
it a project to get rid of weeds and so he wanted to cover the garden in cement. I think
this title fits the book less well. Although it’s clear for me why the book has this title I
found it disappointing compared to what I expected.
3. What was the worst thing that happened to the main character?
Her son died
I think the worst thing that happened to Nick is when gatsby died (or when Jordan broke up
with him), but the book focusses less on Nick and more on Gatsby, although I think that
the moment when Gatsby died was also the worst thing that happened to himself.
This one is more difficult. I think that it isn’t really something that happened, but more about
what happened in his mind. I think that he moment he thought about Margot being in
danger, being lost or even being dead is the worst thing that has happened to him. When
he sees Margot again she is fine so his fears weren’t true. I still think that the moment
when Margo dissappeared was the worst thing that happened to him.
The worst thing that happened to Dylan was when Ellis died.
The worst thing that happens to Troy was when his mother died
The worst thing that happened to Jack was also when their mother died (and their father)
4. Where is the story set? In what way does that differ from your world?
The help is set in the 1960’s. It differs from my world in the way that people are being treated
more equally. Although there is still a lot to improve and change (--> black lives matter
movement), black and white people nowadays are more equal than back then.
The great gatsby is set in the 1920’s. This differs even more from my world. I think the
biggest difference I noticed was the way women were treated in the book. They were
much younger compared to their husbands and the way men talked about them
reminded me more of children than adults. There are also differences in the technology
they used (vehicles, communication...) and the fact that alcohol was forbidden at that
time.
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