The violin is known to be one of the most difficult instrument to learn how to be. Not only that, the violin takes a lot of time energy and money. But it does come with numeral benefits. It has been proven on numeral occasions that it is beneficial to learn how to play the violin. I have found four different types of benefits that are associated with learning how to play the violin.
2. Mental Benefits To play the violin you must have the capacity to multitask physically and mentally. You must multi-task mentally so that our brain can tell the rest of our body what to do. In the case of beginning violinist, they must learn how to play a note in tune with the music while learning how to properly hold the violin. Multitasking is not as easy as 1,2,3. In order to accomplish the skill of multitasking, students will break down things to be able to focus on one certain thing at a time. As they practice the individual parts, they will slowly start to practice two things at the same time. In the end, they must be able to read the music sheets, move their fingers based on the notes written down, move the bow at a certain rhythm and old the violin in a certain way. If they succeed in doing so, they will accomplish the art of multitasking. This method will also teach the students how to approach problems. By breaking down the problems into manageable goals, it increases the ability to focus on more than one thing at a time which can increase the percentage of success. Our memory skills improve the longer we play instruments like the violin. As soon as you physically start to learn a new piece of music, your brain slowly starts to memorize the pattern of the notes and the rhythm of the tune. The longer you play the violin, the easier it becomes to memorize new music pieces. By doing so, you will notice that it will become easier to remember other details in life. 3. Emotional Benefits Playing the violin gives you the ability to increase and connect to certain emotions. The most visible increase in a violinist’s is in their self-confidence and respect. Learning the violin is very hard! You must be motivated to practice at least once a day. An important key is to keep a positive mindset, especially during the beginning process of learning how to play the violin and learning pieces of music. It is very easy to create a negative mindset when it comes to learning a piece. The more mistakes you make, the more you become conditioned to think negatively. Especially when you go days on days practicing the same piece over and over without any noticeable improvement. Then, one day, everything starts to fall into place. Beyond self-confidence, playing the violin creates a deeper emotional connection to their surroundings. Musicians and audience members can create a special connection when it comes to listening to music. People who don’t necessarily play a musical instrument are more prone to get emotional attracted to a song by its beat or by its lyrics. People with a bit more experience in the music district get attracted by the technicality shown through the playing of the music. But, everyone gets impacted by the main emotion portrayed throughout the entire song. When a song is more up beat and talks about the sun and ocean, you automatically think of a sun day during the summer on the side of a beach. Music creates a higher level of joy in the lives of musicians. 4. Social Benefits Learning the violin gives you the opportunity to enhance your social life. In my personal experience, playing the violin gave me the opportunity to create connections with people outside of my normal circle of friends. While attending numerous group practices and shows with the same people, you slowly get to know one another. It is also useful to create a good bond with your teacher. By doing so, it will provide a confidant and emotional support system for the students. My teacher, David McPhee, not only encourages you to try your best, but also sees the potential that one has and applies their strengths to teach each individual student. Of course, there are certain violin schools that play at a more professional level, which can give them the opportunity to travel the world and meet people from different cultures. With the McPhee’s, we perform at local shows. We have performed for numerous weddings and funerals, and we perform yearly at the Maxville Highland Games and other local fairs. Since I learned how to play the *fiddle, it has given me the chance to connect with my Scottish and Irish roots. * A fiddle is the proper terminology when you play country, Scottish and Irish tunes on a violin. The term violin is most common when a violinist plays classical music. I am truly thankful to have had the opportunity to play this magnificent instrument. Playing the violin with the McPhee’s has given me the chance to live many wonderful experiences. Whether it is as simple as making someone smile with your music, or shedding some light on a sad situation, the violin can bring joy to all in different ways. Even though I had to stop taking my violin lessons, the violin and the McPhee’s will always have a special place in my heart.
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One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus Book Summary Part 1: Simon SaysOne of Us is Lying is a story that revolves around 5 specific students in high school. The story starts off in detention, Monday after school. But it wasn’t your stereotypical detention. Simon, one of the five students, dropped to the floor after drinking water out of a glass that he had found in the classroom. Simon was having an allergic reaction, but no one could find his EpiPen and there were none left in the nurse’s office. The ambulance finally arrived but, it was too late… Simon did not make it. Two of the four kids go back home, while Nate, the criminal, gives Bronwyn, the brain, a ride home on his motorcycle. For the next few weeks, all four of the remaining students, get puzzling looks from the other students in the school hallways. They get questioned by police officers, interviewed by news crews. All of this while realising, that Simon’s death was not an accident… It was a murder. There has been several posts on Tumblr from the murder themselves, explaining a little bit more into detail the reasons why and the working methods behind Simon’s murder. There is a ceremony in memory of Simon, which doesn’t end well for Addy, Cooper, Nate and Bronwyn, because it finishes with a second trip to the police station for further questioning.
Tumblr post #1I got the idea for killing Simon while watching Dateline. I’d been thinking about it for a while, obviously. That’s not the kind of thing you pluck out of thin air. But the how of getting away with it always stopped me. I don’t kid myself that I am a criminal mastermind. And I’m much too good looking for prison. On the show, a guy killed his wife. Standard Dateline stuff, right? It’s always the husband. But turns out lots of people were happy to see her gone. She’d gotten a coworker fired, screwed over people on city council, and had an affair with a friends husband. She was a nightmare, basically. The guy on Dateline wasn’t too bright. Hired someone to murder his wife and the cell phone records were easy to trace. But before those came out he had a decent smoke screen because of all the other suspects. That’s the kind of person you can get away with killing: someone everybody else wants dead. Let’s face it: everyone at Bayview High hated Simon. I was just the only one with enough guts to do something about it. You’re welcome. Tumblr post #2Time to clarify a few things. Simon had a severe peanut allergy - so why not stick a Planters into his sandwich and be done with it? I’d been watching Simon Kelleher for months. Everything he ate was wrapped in an inch of cellophane. He carried that goddamn water bottle everywhere and it was all he drank. But he couldn’t go ten minutes without swigging from that bottle. I figured if it wasn’t there, he’d default to plain old tap water. So yeah, I took it. I spent a long time figured out where I could slip peanut oil into one of Simon’s drink. Someplace contained, without a water fountain. Mr Avery’s detention seemed like the ideal spot. I did feel bad watching Simon die. I’m not a sociopath. In that moment, as he turned that horrible color and fought for air - if I could have stopped it, I would have. I couldn’t, though. Because, you see, I’d taken his EpiPen. And every last one in the nurse’s office. About That : Simon's last unpublished postFirst time this app has ever featured good-girl BR, possessor of school's most perfect academic record. Except she didn't get that A in chemistry through plain old hard work, unless that's how you define stealing tests from Mr. C's Google Drive. Someone call Yale...
On the opposite end of the spectrum, our favorite criminal NM's back to doing what he does best: making sure the entire school is as high as it wants to be. Pretty sure that's a probation violation there, N. MLB plus CC equals a whole lot of green next June, right? Seems inevitable Bayview's southpaw will make a splash in the major leagues...but don't they have some pretty strict antijuicing rules? Because CC's performance was most definintely enhanced during showcase season. AP and JR are the perfect couple. Homecoming princess and star running back, in love for three years straight. Except for that intimate detour A took over the summer with TF at his beach house. Even more awkward now that the guys are friends. Think they compare notes? What is the most important passage in the book? The most important event or feeling? Explain.
The most important passage in the book is when Simon dies Monday after school in detention. Detention started off like your stereotypical Breakfast Club detention. Bronwyn, the brain, Addy, the beauty, Nate, the criminal, Cooper, the athlete, and Simon, the outcast, all walk into detention Monday after school. They are told to sit down at a desk and right an essay on why you shouldn’t have your cell phone in class. All of a sudden, two cars crash into each other outside on the street. Simon takes a class of water from the tap in the classroom, all of a sudden, he drops on the floor, barely breathing. Nate realizes that it’s an allergic reaction, tries to find Simon’s EpiPen but doesn’t succeed. Cooper runs to the nurses to look for extra EpiPen but can’t find any. An ambulance finally makes its way to the school but isn’t able to save Simon. Simon’s death is the most important event since the book revolves around the mystery of Simon’s death. In my opinion, Simon’s death would be the conflict in this storyline because if Simon wouldn’t have died, there would be no story to tell. If Simon hadn’t died, all five students would have left detention and would continue living their lives exactly like they did every single day of their life. Simon’s death has brought upon those four students a whirlpool of emotions. A day doesn’t seem to go by without them being questioned by a police officer, interviewed by an anchorman or accused of murdering Simon. In certain cases, there has been a positive outcome of this confusing situation… others haven’t been so lucky. Even though Bronwyn and Nate are polar opposites when it comes to… Well pretty much everything, Simon’s death seems to have sparked a complex relationship between the two. Addy and Cooper, on the other hand, haven’t been as lucky. Addy had to confess to Jake about cheating on him since she didn’t want him to hear it from a Tumblr post… Which is understandable. Cooper as been accused of taking steroids to improve his pitch for the MLB draft. Before Simon’s tragic death, Cooper had baseball scouter approaching him from right, left and center. But once the rumors of him supposedly taking drugs got out, most of the Universities and Colleges started to pull back their offer. It’s ironic since, Bronwyn, Addy, Nate and Cooper are the only ones who have not been exposed or made fun of on Simon’s app. In what ways are you like any of the characters? Explain. I believe that Bronwyn and I are similar in many different ways. Bronwyn is a young girl who dedicates her entire life to her education. She has grown up in a high-class family that cares very deeply about their reputation. She is a very quiet girl who has very little social life apart from her mathletes meetings. She is the type of girl who would much rather stay at home, lay in bed, watch some tv or read a good book. She cares very deeply about her younger sister, Maeve, who previously had cancer. Simon had once written a blog about Maeve and some bad decisions that she made at someone’s party. She was caught flirting with a guy who was already spoken for. She also drank irresponsibly and end up being sick by the end of the night. Through out the book, Bronwyn stretches the limits of her comfort soon. Nate encourages her to do things that she wouldn’t necessarily have done before Simon’s tragic death. We both take our education very seriously. We both spend nights after nights studying for a test that we know we are ready for just, but we want to make sure that we understand every single detail of information. Our families and our education are the two most important things in our lives. We don’t have the need to have a boyfriend. We do have a social life, but we would much rather curl up with a book in bed or watch tv at home alone. If you could step into the book, what's the first thing you would do? First of all, if I could step into the book, I would make sure not to get detention. Detention was the beginning of all the troubles and drama. I think Addy, Nate, Bronwyn, and Cooper would agree with me. I would also keep my distance from Simon since he seems to ruin peoples lives with the things that he posts on his app. The first sentence in the book explains a bit more the type of things that Simon would write about on his gossip app. “A sex tape. A pregnancy scare. Two Cheating scandals. And that’s just this week’s update.“ - Bronwyn (page 3) Simon would write about any drama going around the school or secrets that you would like to keep hidden. I would try to stay clear from any drama or problems in the school which would be very difficult since high school is mainly composed of drama. Drama is inevitable… You’re in a building with a bunch of teenagers who are dealing with a whole bunch of different emotions. Now that I think of it, I think I would be better off being homeschooled. Part 2: Hide-and-SeakAfter being interrogated over and over again by several police officers, three out of the four of the Bayview Four get lawyers. Nate barely has enough money to pay the bills for his house let alone a lawyer. With some lawyering advise, Bronwyn was encouraged not to talk to Nate anymore. Nate gives Bronwyn an extra flip phone and they call each other every night. Addy gets exposed for cheating on Jake. Cooper talks drafting strategies with his baseball coach to try and minimize the steroids rumours. Nate called all his drug suppliers to tell them that he would stop dealing. Bronwyn tries her best to ignore all verbal attacks about her cheating on her chemistry test. After numeral phone calls, Nate begins to have very serious feelings for Bronwyn. Addy gets verbal and physical hatred from who she formally called her friends. And has a hard time finding who she truly is. A third Tumblr post was released by Simon’s murderer. The police station is now starting to question the Bayview Four at school with the help of the school principal. Bronwyn’s little sister, Maeve, hacked into Simon’s library account which then also gave her access to his app “About That.” One day, after school, there was a couple of news vans lined up waiting to interview the Bayview Four. Nate and Bronwyn escape to the mall without being seen while Addy and Nate weren’t as lucky. Addy cuts her hair to change her appearance and to feel more like herself. A fourth Tumblr post was posted on the Internet. Cooper breaks up with his girlfriend. Bronwyn and Nate kiss at Marshall’s peak. Bronwyn gets called to the police station to answer question based on an old post that Simon wrote about Maeve. Nate’s mom, who everyone believes is dead, shows up on Nate’s front porch. Addy goes to Jake’s house to talk. And Cooper goes to see Kris to get away from the news vans and they kiss.
Tumblr post #3(p.131)Did you think I was joking about killing Simon? Read it and weep, kids. Everyone in detention with Simon last week had an extraspecial reason for wanting him gone. Exhibit A: the posts above, which he was about the publish on About That. Now here's your assignment: connect the dots. Is everybody in it together, or is somebody pulling strings? Who's the puppet master and who's the puppet? I'll give you a hint to get you started: everyone's lying. Go! Tumblr post #4(p.183)The Mikhail Powers Investigates site has thousands of comments about the Bayview Four. (Kind of a dull name, by the way. Would've expected better from a top-ranked newsmagazine.) Some call for jail time. Some rail about how spoiled and entitled kids are today, and how this is another example of that. It's a great story: four good-looking, high-profile students all being investigated for murder. And nobody's what they seem. The pressure's on now, Bayview Police. Maybe you should be looking a little closer at Simon's old entries. you might find some interesting hints about the Bayview Four. Just saying. About That: post about Maeve(p.202)News flash: LV's end-of-the-year party isn't a charity event. Just so we're clear. You'd be excused for thinking so, though, with frosh attendance at an all-time high.
Regular readers (and if you're not one, what the hell is wrong with you?) know I try to cut the kids some slack. Children are our future and all that. But let me do a little PSA for one new (and fleeting, I'm gonna guess) arrival to the social scene: MR, who doesn't seem to realize that SC is out of her league. He's not in the market for a puppy, kid. Stop with the following. It's pathetic. And, guys, don't give me that poor-little-thing-had-cancer crap. Not anymore. M can put on her big-girl panties like anyone else and learn a few basic rules:
Let's card at the door from now on, okay, LV? At first it's funny, but then it's just sad. If you could be related to a character, who would it be and why?
If I could be related to a character, I would be related to Nate. If you put aside the lifestyle that he lives in and the crimes that he has supposedly committed, Nate is a very caring guy. For example, one day, there was a group of interviewers waiting in front of Bayview High School to interview all four students possibly involved with Simon’s murder. Nate sneaks Bronwyn and himself out of school without having to deal with paparazzi. He only offers a ride to Bronwyn because deep down he has feelings for her. Another good example would be when Nate eats supper with his mom. His mom was a drug addict and abended Nate and his alcoholic father. His mom has seen Nate and Bronwyn together when she first showed up on the front porch of their grungy, old house. Nate’s mom questioned Nate about his relationship with Bronwyn. As simple a question that is, Nate became very angry with his mother because he didn’t want to ruin the one good thing in his life. Since the beginning, Nate has not been one to show his emotions very often. When someone that he cares deeply about is in pain or is hurt, he will do anything in his power to make things right… even if that means doing something illegal. Sadly, Nate is known to sell drugs to able to pay all the bills that he’s parents should. But, he’s dad is always passed out drunk and his mother is known existent in his life. She was heavily into to drugs, left Nate and his dad to go to rehab and never came back. Nate soon accepted that he’s mom was most likely dead. Nate has to take care of his father and his broken-down house. Those are to things that a senior in high school or any kid for that matter should not have the responsibility of. That is why, I believe, Nate would be a great big brother. Has the book helped you in any way? Explain. The book has helped take advantage of every moment of my life because it could easily be taken away from you. When I pass away, I would like to be remembered as a good person who as made a difference in the world. I want people to have something positive to remember me by. This book motivates me to live my life to the fullest because there is no way to know what may happen in the future that can have a huge impact on our lives. What connections are there between the book and your life? Explain. In a certain way, there are connections between every character in the book and my life. First of all, the struggle that is being a student in high school. In high school, you have to maintain a good note average in all of your class. You need to have a good social life, if not you get called a loner or a loser. You need to look, act and dress a certain way no matter your social ranking, if not people judge you. People would have to think carefully before doing something in case that Simon could write a mean post about it on his app. The brains (Bronwyn) have to hang-out with the brains. The jocks (Cooper) and princesses (Addy) have to hang-out together, and “criminals” (Nate) are forced to be alone since everyone is to scared to hang-out with them. They can’t hang-out with people who aren’t accepted in their friend group because it’s not cool. For example, when Addy was abandoned by her group of friends because she cheated on Jake with TJ. Cooper was frowned at for trying to sit down and talk to Addy. People tend to hide their true identity to get accepted and liked by certain people. That way no one has the chance to judge the real you. Part 3: Truth or DareThe second part of One of Us is Lying finished with Copper visiting his boyfriend Kris, Addy visiting her ex-boyfriend Jake, Bronwyn being called back the police station and Nate’s dead mom coming back from the grave. Part three of One of Us is Lying started off with Nate’s mom trying to get back into her son’s life. She was back into their house and was trying to have conversation with Nate’s dad. Seeing as Nate’s dad is always drunk, the conversation ended very quickly. Nate then stormed out and found his way to Bronwyn’s house where he explained why he lied about his mother’s death. A few days later at school, Mikhail Powers, the anchorman for the local news channel, was interviewing students at Bayview High. The attacks for Simon’s murder become more intense every day, so the Bayview four start to have interrogation meetings to figure out who Simon’s true killer could be. During one of the Bayview four meetings, they all suspected that Janae knew information based on Simon’s murder. She was known to be Simon’s only friend and acted very suspicious when Nate, Addy, Cooper or Bronwyn would talk about Simon’s murder. Addy started to gain Janae’s trust since she would always be there to cheer her up when she was down. After one of the Bayview four meetings, Addy invited Janae to her house to try and get some unknown information about Simon that could act as clues. Cooper was called back the police station because they found evidence that someone changed Cooper’s paragraph on Simon’s original post about the Bayview four. This interrogation revealed Cooper’s sexual identity. Cooper is forced to come out to his family and gets bullied at school by his previous friend group. Bronwyn explains to the Bayview four that she and another girl in her class were working on a school project together. Simon had asked them when the due date was, and they had given him the wrong date which brought down his grade. Bronwyn and Simon were in a tide race for valedictorian. After this situation, Bronwyn had a big advantage on Simon. The morning after Bronwyn and Nate talked on the phone, Nate was arrested for Simon’s murder. Bronwyn, being the good girlfriend that she is, calls Eli Kleinfelter, a lawyer from Bayview Police Department spokesperson, to help Nate in this complicated situation. Bronwyn convinces Eli to become Nate’s lawyer but he asks her to step back and to not put her nose in this interrogation. By doing so, this will give Nate a better chance at escaping the charges. At another Bayview four meeting, Bronwyn asks Cooper to look further into the car accident that happened the day of Simon’s death. Cooper then asked his friend Luis’ brother, who works at a car repair shop, to look and see if any of the cars involved in the car crash appeared at the garage. We then find out that Nate was arrested because the school received an anonymous tip saying that he had hidden drugs in his locker. Since this is an illegal act, the school contacted the police station. Some police officers searched Nate’s locker and house and found Simon’s EpiPen, the laptop used to write all the Tumblr post from Simon’s murderer and the cellphones used to send the Bayview four to detention. Bronwyn, Addy and Cooper have another Bayview four meeting to look for any clues in the Tumblr posts written by Simon’s murderer. Addy then finds information in one of the posts that she told Jake but that didn’t really happen. With that information, Jake appears on their watch list. Bronwyn confronts the owner of one of the cars in the car crash She then discovers that Simon had paid them to crash their cars together for a “prank.” Later on that day, the Bayview four have yet another meeting together. They create a list with all the suspicious clues. As they try to find Simon’s true killer, Kris, Cooper’s boyfriend, suggests that maybe the killer was Simon himself. They also believe that Jake is Simon’s accomplice since someone had to continue the drama for Simon. Cooper drove Addy to Janae’s house because she didn’t want to believe that Jake had anything to do with the drama of Simon’s suicide mission. Janae confirms that Simon killed himself and shows Addy a paper with Simon’s manifesto. Janae then explains the entire planning process of Simon’s suicide mission. She explains that Simon was depressed for all while before he killed himself. Simon convinced Jake to be a part of his plan while informing him that Addy had cheated on him with his friend TJ. He explained to Jake his plan and told him that he could blame the entire thing of Addy as an act of revenge. Seeing as Janae was in charge of planting the laptop, cellphones and EpiPens in Addy’s locker and house, she couldn’t execute the task because she grew very fond of Addy. She previously thought that Addy was a princess but was reality very kind. So she decided to blame Nate since his locker and house was always unlocked and was the most believable target. Janae then explained why Simon targeted each Bayview four. He thought that Bronwyn had told him the wrong due date for a project to be able to have an edge on him when it came to choosing who would be valedictorian. He targeted Nate because Simon thought that he had a chance with Cooper’s ex-girlfriend but discovered that Nate had slept with her. This all happened before Cooper and Keely dated. Cooper appeared on the hit list because he got Simon uninvited from a girl’s party. And Addy was targeted because she acted like a pretty princess who got everything that she has ever wanted without having to work for it. Addy tried to record Janae and Jake’s conversation when he showed up at Janae’s house but he phone rings. She then runs out of the house because Jake recognised the ringtone. Jake finds her and almost chokes her to death. Thankful Cooper calls the police and saves Addy. They explain the true story of Simon’s suicide story to the police officers, and Nate gets released from jail. Bronwyn tries to talk to Nate, but Nate breaks up with her because of their differences. The story finishes with Cooper and Addy going to watch Bronwyn’s piano concert. Nate shows up in the parking lot and Bronwyn decides to give him a second chance. About That: Post About Cooper(p.249)Everybody wants a piece of Bayview southpaw CC and he's finally been tempted. He's stepping out on the beautous KS with a hot German underwear model. What guy wouldn't, right? Except the new love interest models boxers and briefs, not bras and thongs. Sorry, K, but you can't compete when you play for the wrong team. Tumblr post #5(p.272)Being accused of murder is turning into a monumental drag. I mean, sure, the TV coverage is interesting. And it makes me feel good that the smoke screen I put in place is working - people still have no clue who's responsible for killing Simon. Simon's suicide note(p.321)Here's the first thing you need to know: I hate my life and everything in it. So I decided to get the hell out. But not go quietly. I thought a lot about how to do this. I could buy a gun, like pretty much any a*#? in America. Bar the doors one morning and take out as many Bayview lemmings as I have bullets for before turning the last one on myself. And I'd have a lot of bullets. But that's been done to death. It doesn't have the same impact anymore. I want to be more creative. More unique. I want my suicide to be talked about for years. I want imposters to try to imitate me. And fail, because the planning this takes is beyond your average depressed loser with a dream wish. You've been watching it unfold for a year now. If it's the way I hope, you have no clue what actually happened. All the information the Bayview Four knows
What questions in this book would you like answered?
Karen did very well to answer all of the obvious questions such as who is the true killer, who are their accomplices and the reasons for targeting those four students in particular. But like any novel, there are always little questions found in the background that remain unanswered.Regrouping all of my unanswered questions together, I have found four groups of questions. Jake To start off, Jake was Addy’s ex-boyfriend. They broke up after Addy admitted to cheat on him with one of his friends, TJ. After the break up, Jake and Addy’s old friends were very rude, distant and ignorant towards her. Over time, Jake became nicer to Addy. He invited her to his house so that they could talk about their current situation. When Addy, Cooper, Bronwyn and Nate continued their murder investigation, Addy found herself questioning Janae, Simon’s only friend. Throughout the drama of Simon’s murder, Addy has comforted Janae on numerous occasions. Addy has helped Janae recuperate and adjust with the lost of her only friend, Simon. By doing so, Addy has gained Janae’s trust.When Addy goes to interrogate her, Janae reveals all the information behind Simon’s murder. She explains that Jake has been writing the Tumblr posts and that she implanted the phones and laptop used to write the Tumblr posts in Nate’s locker. Simon revealed to Jake that Addy cheated on him which convinced him to join the pact.Simon’s made a pact with Jake and forced Janae to join. The pact was to continue the drama of Simon’s murder after he kills himself and to put the blame of his murder on one of the Bayview four (Addy, Nate, Bronwyn and Cooper). Because Jake was thirsty for revenge, his only condition was to plant the murder on Addy. The further Jake got into these actions the more obsessed he becomes with the power given to him. While rethinking of the storyline, I wondered if Jake could be a victim of a mental illness. I understand that this story is not real, but it is realistic. If I was the author, I would want my story to be as realistic as possible. When it comes to every day break ups, not many people want to send their exes to prison let alone get revenge on them. Since Jake needed to get revenge on such a high level, I can’t help but think that he might be suffering of a mental illness. Another question that wasn’t answered is why those Jake believe Simon in the first place when Simon told him about Addy’s cheating rumours. The author did explain that Simon and Jake were friends when they were younger, but they haven’t talked in years. How does Jake automatically believe that Simon is telling the truth? Throughout the book, Simon is known to be that one student in school who loves attention and loves knowing all the drama. When Someone writes numeral posts exposing their fellow classmates, they don’t have the appearance of being the most trustworthy person. So why would Jake believe any word that comes out of Simon’s mouth. Simon Throughout the book, Simon has always been the first to know what drama is going on in his fellow schoolmates lives. He would use that as advantage to expose people for his own pleasure. Simon wasn’t the most popular guy at school. He created multiple enemies because of his post on his blog “About that”. I can’t help but question how the most hated student in school is always the first to know about all the drama. Usually, rumours get passed around by friend groups. Since Simon isn’t friends with the majority of the student at school, how does he get the information? More specifically, how did he know that Addy cheated on TJ? Addy hooked up with TJ when he first moved to Bayview during the summer. They meet on the beach and hooked up at TJ’s beach house. How could Simon know where TJ lives if he didn’t even know who TJ was in the first place. Another question about Simon that, I believe, wasn’t answered is why the need to expose everyone’s secrets on his blog “About That.”Simon has always been the type of person who loves the attention. But exposing people's personal issues and secrets on a website will not give you good attention. By doing so, you’re more at risk of being jumped by people then making friends. True, bad attention is still considered attention, but Simon always tried his best to be a part of the cool kids group which consists of the jocks and princesses. While doing research for Simon’s murder, Bronwyn’s little sister, Maeve, was able to hack into Simon’s library computer account. Maeve goes to the library every day before and after school. She has seen Simon log into his library computer account to work on his blogs. Bronwyn, Nate, Addy and Cooper were called to the police station to be questioned based on an unpublished “About That” post that exposes a secret for each of those four. After being questioned, Maeve hacked into Simon’s account the see if there were any other unpublished posts or secrets that Simon was trying to hide. While doing her research, Maeve discovered that Simon had a violence-loving alter ego online. On posts discussing about school shootings, Simon would write comments encouraging people to do more school shootings and saying that the victims probably deserved it. Personally, I believe that this information was not very necessary. If it was, I would suggest explaining the situation a bit more and explaining why he has a violence-loving alter ego. The police officers The police pop up here and there throughout the book for Simon’s murder investigation. But they didn’t seem to be the smartest police officers. In numeral situations, the police officers have made questionable decisions. When the police discovered a “About That” post exposing the Bayview four, Cooper’s secret was changed. Simon had written that Cooper was supposingly using steroids to improve his pitch for baseball. But, the original post exposed the fact that Cooper is gay. The police officers discovered the switch of words and called Cooper in for questioning. They suspected that Cooper had hacked into Simon’s account and had changed his secret. If Cooper had access to Simon’s account, wouldn’t he have erased himself from the post in general?Shouldn’t that make it obvious that Simon wasn’t the person who edited the post. During Cooper’s questioning, the police officers pressured Cooper into revealing his sexual status. Since Cooper had not come out yet, his lawyer questioned whether or not the police officers would keep this information private. The officers explained they have to keep their information confidential, but rumours have a tendency to find their way around the town. When he got home after his questioning, Cooper came out to his family. The next day when he went to school, everyone already knew his secret. The only way that his secret could have came out would be by his family or the police officers.His dad would be the one reveal his sons secret because he is bias when it comes to different sexual status. The only way that this news could have traveled would be by members that the police station. Isn’t it against the law to share someone’s personal information when it comes to police work? The police officers had a tendency to interrogate Nate more than the other three students because he is the only one out of the four that had a criminal record before Simon’s murder. At the beginning of the investigation, the officers had searched Nate’s house and locker at school. At the end of their search, they did not find any evidence connecting Nate to Simon’s murderer. But a few weeks later, they receive a second warrant to search Nate’s house. During their second search, the officers find, at Nate’s house, the laptop used to write the Tumblr posts and the cellphones used to send the Bayview four into detention. Wouldn’t the officers question the fact that they didn’t find these items during their first investigation? The two boys from Eastland High While Simon, Addy, Cooper, Nate, and Bronwyn were in detention, there was a car crash in the street outside one of the windows. Little did they know it was all a part of Simon suicide plan. Simon had convinced to teenage boys from Eastland High to crash their cares into one another for $1,000 each. When they questioned why Simon wanted them to crash their cars together, he convinced them that it was for a prank at school. The two guys calculated the cost of the repairs for the car before agreeing and came up with an estimate of $500 each. So if they go through with Simon’s prank and agree to the $2,000, they will receive $500 each after paying for the repairs of their cars. But why would anyone crash their cars in exchange for money? If they hit each other the wrong, the repair cost can easily escalate to a couple thousands dollars. How could the boys believe Simon? Simon had never met these boys in his life, but yet they trust that Simon will keep his word when it comes to the prank. Also, what kind of a prank is crashing two cars together? The real prank in this situation would be the fact that Simon was able to convince those unintelligent guys to crash their cars into one another. Do you like the ending of the book? Why or why not? Do you think there is more to tell? I have mixed feelings about the ending of the book. On one hand, she did answer most of the obvious questions and I love the path she took in choosing the murderer. But on the downside, she concentrated more on the romance aspect of the story which isn’t the reason why a bought the book in the first place. While reading a mystery novel such as One of Us is Lying, you have to anticipate numeral unanswered questions because not everyone will see the storyline the same way as the author. The author did a very good job at answering the necessary questions for the storyline. Obviously there will be numeral unanswered questions because with every question answered can develop another question. Even though I would have ended the story in a different, she made sure that reveal the identity of the true murderer, who posted the Tumblr posts, why they targeted the Bayview four and who was in charge of creating all of the drama of Simon’s death. Janae revealed to Addy that Jake was the one who wrote all of the Tumblr posts. She also explained that Simon wanted to target Cooper because he was dating Keely, Simon’s crush, and asked Jake not to invite Simon to one of his summer parties. Simon targeted Bronwyn because he was always in competition with her for the smartest of the class.One day, Simon asked Bronwyn when was the due date for one of their class projects. She accidentally gave Simon the wrong date which lowered his class average. Simon thought that Bronwyn did that on purpose to create an advantage on Simon. He also targeted Addy because she was considered the pretty princess of the school how got everything that she’s ever wanted without having to work for it. Finally, Simon targeted Nate because he was the easiest to target in this situation. Since Nate already had a criminal record, it was easy to believe that he would be associated with Simon’s murder. When I began to read the book One of Us is Lying, I never once occurred to me that Simon could be his own killer. The author concentrated on Nate, Bronwyn, Addy and Cooper’s story throughout the drama of Simon’s murder. Since they were all witnesses to Simon’s death, the book talks the most about those four. Throughout the entire book, I suspected the teacher in charge of detention, M. Avery, to have been the murderer. Before Simon was showing symptoms of an allergic reaction, there was a car accident on the road in front of the school. M. Avery, being the only responsible adult on the scene, ran outside to see if everything was okay. During that period of time, Simon began to show symptoms. By the time M. Avery got back into the classroom, the ambulance had arrived at school and took Simon to the hospital. M. Avery wasn’t the most loving teacher at Bayview High which portrayed an evil appearance. That is why I believed that M. Avery was the murderer. If I would change the ending of the book, I would have concentrated more on Simon and Jake’s stories. Don’t get me wrong, the ending wasn’t terrible but the romance story of Bronwyn and Nate was not the attracting point of the book. I bought the book to read about a murder not about a criminal falling in love with a school nerd. If I was the author, I would have explained more in detail the story between Janae, Jake and Simon. Janae explains near the end of the story that Jake was thirsty for revenge after Addy cheated on him with his friend TJ. For Jake’s story, I would have liked for the author to explain, at the end of the story, the process of Jake’s way of thinking.One second he is a loving boyfriend to Addy. He then becomes an angry ex after finding out that his girlfriend cheated on him. Then, all of a sudden, he becomes an accomplice to a murder and is willing to choke his ex to death. I found that we would go pages on end without hearing about him, then all of a sudden, there would be a big jump in his storyline. I wish that Karen would have went more in detail with the relationship of Janae and Simon. The only information given was that they were each others best friends and that Simon threatened to blame his murder on her if she didn’t help create drama after his death. During the aftermath of Simon’s passing, Janae was found by Addy, multiple times, crying in the bathroom. It was very obvious that Janae cared deeply about Simon, but the author never explained Simon’s feelings toward Janae. Did he really like Janae or was he using her for his on good? |
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