Ruby Reviews: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time; the book and the West End show.

Hi everyone! Sorry I haven’t posted in a while, college has just started and I was a little bit inundated with homework and various other things. However, I’ve got a little bit of time now, so I thought I would do another ‘Ruby Reviews’

‘The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time’ is a book I’d been hearing about for a long time. It had quite a substantial presence on the internet, and a few people I knew had read it, but other than that I’d not thought much about it. However, suddenly I’d seen that it had been turned in to a show and everyone was raving about it. Whenever I went up to London, the postersfor itwere everywhere and it just seemed like everyone was talking about it. It eventually became one of those things that I really wanted to see/read but just never got round to it. Then finally, I managed to see it whilst upin London in August, and felt I needed to reach the book straight afterwards.

Despite the fact that I saw the show first, I feel I should talk about the book mainly, so everything makes sense, but I’ll slip my opinions in for the show when I can.

‘The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time’ is a book written by Mark Haddon. It’s essentially the story of Christopher, who is 15 years old, and is believed to have Aspergers despite it never being fully mentioned within the book. When his neighbour’s dog is murdered, he goes on a search for the murderer and ends up finding out a lot more than he was first looking for. I won’t say what, as that would spoil it for anyone who wants to read it.

The book is written from Christopher’s point of view in first person, and Haddon captures the voice of Christopher remarkably well. As I previously mentioned, you can tell that Christopher has Aspergers or a similar condition from the get go, and this is due to Haddon’s incredible writing. Aspergers is a condition that is not often written about, and there are very few Aspergers characters in books. So for Haddon to have written a book where the main character has this condition is incredible enough let alone being able to write from the point of view. He captures the mindset very well by showing the confusion and straight forward-ness of Christopher’s character. He clearly has done an astonishing amount of research before writing, to prefect this character and to make sure the reader can really understand Christopher’s thoughts.

This was also expressed in a beautiful way within the show. The show was a very modern and technical one, with lighting and music being a huge influence, more so than in any other show I’ve seen. They used lighting and sound in a way to make us feels if we were inside Christopher’s mind. For example, one part of Christopher’s personality is that he doesn’t like being physically handled by anyone, and when he does, he lashes out. Whenever this occurred in the show, the lighting would flash intensely, with a white noise sound playing, as if to make the audience feel uncomfortable so they can really empathises with how Christopher’s mind is at these points in time. It works very well, and personally, I found it amazing.

Another thing I found great, which I love in any book, was the complexity of the characters. I hate it when there are specified ‘bad guys’ and ‘good guys’, and I think that when there are, its perhaps because the author couldn’t really be bothered to delve deep in to the characters. The characters I’m really referring to in ‘A curious incident of the dog in the night-time’ are Christopher’s mother and father. At first, it seems very black and white, but as the story deepens, the good-ness and bad-ness of both characters becomes very complicated, but not in a way where it becomes difficult to read. Also, Hodden beautifully shows the struggles of having a child with Christopher’s condition, which can be a touchy subject for many people. However, he does it in almost a comforting way, in order not to cause offense, which I think is very clever.

This was expressed incredibly well by the actors in the show. I thought they were incredible actors and presented the parts so well. It’s rare you get an actor who represents the characters you build in your head so well, but the casting really was incredible. So, I’d recommend going to see the show whilst Nicholas Tennant (Christopher’s father) and Mary Stockley (Christopher’s mother) are still in it, because they really are amazing actors.

If this were any other book, I’d probably comment on the simplicity of the language, because I’ll be honest, the language used was very basic. However, as it is from the point of view of Christopher, this can be excused. I believe the language is probably intentionally simplified, to put across Christopher’s voice in the best way possible. So, the basic-ness of the language can definitely be excused, as it helps the telling of the story.

Other than the minor language thing, I really don’t have anything negative to say. The book is very well written and the show is very well cast. The book is an easy read and easy to understand, yet the story is riveting and you really don’t want to put the book down. I literally read it in a day, after being so excited after watching the show.

So yeah, basically, read the book and see the show! They’re both great in my opinion, which makes for a pretty boring review.

Lots of love,

RubyLauren xx

Sutton Trust Summer School at University College London

As a disclaimer; this is a very UK based post. I’m sure there are similar things in other countries, but I have absolutely no idea about them.

So a few months ago, at around March time, I applied to go on a summer school at University College London (UCL for short), via The Sutton Trust. This was an English themed summer school and I’d been looking at studying English for a while AND doing so at UCL. Somehow, I managed to get accepted and here I am, having just come back from the week-long experience, and I’m about to tell you how fantastic it was.

Now first things first, if you are between 14 and about my age, so 17 and living in the UK, then the Sutton Trust is definitely something that you ought to know about. They fund summer schools from around Year 9 to Year 12, and prestigious universities across England and there’s even one programme that goes to America to visit top universities there. I believe most of them are aimed at people from underprivileged areas, whose parents haven’t gone to university and are successful academically, but I’m not an expert so maybe this isn't the case for all of them. I just know that it was for my summer school. So yeah, basically the Sutton Trust is a very good thing to be aware of. Just Google them to find out more. (That sounded like I’m being sponsored but I promise I’m not.)

It was brilliant. I never thought I’d say that. Just before I went I was terrified and thought I was going to hate the entire week, but knew I had to go in order to improve my chance of not just getting accepted to UCL but also many other universities would be impressed by my attendance.

It was a busy week. We were literally doing things from around 9am until at least 10:30pm with minimal chill time in-between. However, everything we did was so interesting and in most cases, a lot of fun too. 

I probably should mention as well that there were 3 courses going on at the same time; English, Natural Sciences and Biosciences and UCL wasn't the only university running summer schools. This means options are pretty extensive.

During the days, we’d have around 4 hours worth of lectures and seminars. On the English course, we did a different text each day. Our 3 texts were Beowulf,Paradise Lost by John Milton and Beloved by Toni Morrison.  If you didn’t know, lectures are where you are pretty much sat down and talked at, where as seminars are much more group-based and interactive. Those lectures and seminars were thoroughly interesting, and although sometimes I’d get lost in the lectures the seminars would soon bring me back to understanding what was going on.
They all gave me a way of understanding texts and much more of a university standard, which I feel will help my chances greatly when it comes to both applying and going to university.
We also had various talks about the cost of going to university and how the admissions process works which included personal statement writing, which I found very useful as I’ve discovered, writing a personal statement, is not as easy as it looks.

We also had to do a presentation at the end of the week. I hate presentations and I always have done, but the week at UCL has actually dramatically improved my opinion of them. I’ve always been shy and it’s always been the case that I know the information but I’m never able to say it out loud, which is not only frustrating but also somewhat holds me back. We had to do a presentation on one of the three texts we’d studied and we could do it on whatever we liked regarding that text. My group chose ‘Fortune, Identity and Transience in Beowulf.’ I’ll be honest, to start with I had no idea what that even meant, but as I got through the week I understood it more and to the point where I actually felt confident I was presenting something that I knew a lot about. My group’s presentation ended up being super successful and although we didn’t ‘win’ best presentation, we still got super good reviews from everyone. His presentation, I feel, has built my confidence massively. I managed to present complicated ideas confidently and in a way other people understood, and that was a real step forward for me.

Although there was a HELL of a lot of work involved in the summer school, we also got the chance to have the most incredible treats in the evenings which were completely paid for. We got a river boat cruise on the Thames and a trip up the Shard on the Tuesday. We were so lucky to have such a clear day because we could see for miles.We went up to the 72nd floor, watch which point the corners of the building arent there. There is literally wind blowing in. It's incredibly scary but incredible. The next day we went to see ‘The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time’ at a West End theatre and that was almost indescribable. It was astounding. The production, the acting, the story itself; all bloody fantastic. It was so good I bought the book when I got home and read it in a day. (I’m going to do a review at some point, so keep your eyes peeled). We also got a bowling alley rented out for us on the last night, where there was karaoke and free pizza; what more could you want?

So; the things we did were amazing. Both the academic side and the evening side of it. However, I met the loveliest and most supportive people. From the adults who organised it, to the student ambassadors who were constantly there for us to bug with questions (Shout out to my group leader Tam who was both hilarious and informative), to my fellow students themselves. I couldn’t have asked for better people to share my time with. There were people from all around the country so no-one knew each other so we were pretty much all as nervous as each other, it turns out. The girls on my floor almost made waiting of the showers bearable and the people in my presentation grouped couldn’t have been more supportive with my confidence. I’ve got some people I met on Facebook so we can check in with each other regarding all sorts of university matters, and if we’re incredibly lucky then maybe even meet again back at UCL next September. Never let the fear of meeting new people stop you from doing things like this; everyone will be in the same boat as you, so no-one is hostile or bitchy. They were all just damn nice people. 

That was my summer school story. It’s a bit long but honestly I could have talked for thousands of words longer, but I didn't want to bore any of you who this has no appeal to. I would advise everyone who’s going in to Year 12 next year that can get the grades to apply to one of these summer schools. You will definitely not regret it. Plus, if you do hate it, it’s still a damn good thing to have on your personal statement.

Feel free to email me or leave any questions in the comments if you want to know more:)

Lots of love,

RubyLaurenxx

View from the Shard .Pretty cool, right?

A Day Trip to London.

On the 8th of November, I went on a day trip to London with my family. I'm very lucky with the fact that it's only  a train ride away from where I live so it didn't take too long. We went up to London to see 'Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red' which is an art installation dedicated to fallen soldiers, at the tower of London, but I'll explain more further on in the post. However, we also went on a general stroll around the city. So here is my day, told via photos and (probably badly explained) captions...



We got off at London Bridge station, which means we had to walk along the river Thames to cross Tower Bridge to get to the Tower of London. It was a grey, cold day, as most autumn winter days in England, which you'll probably see in all the pictures.

 
Large poppy on HMS Belfast, which is a military ship turned museum on the River Thames, next to where we walked along.

Crossing tower bridge. As you can see from the ground and multiple coats, it had been a bit rainy, but that's nothing abnormal in England.

Then we got to the Tower of London to see 'Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red'. Basically, it is an art exhibition of 888, 246 ceramic poppies in the moat of the tower. The significance is that 888, 246 is the same amount of soldiers that died in the first world war,and this year was the centenary. By the time I post this, the exhibition will have started to be taken down) from the 11th November. Which is why we went up on the 8th, as almost all of the poppies will have been positioned by then, as more are added every day until the 11th. Anyway, it was absolutely STUNNING. The sheer number of poppies doesn't hit you until you get there, which makes you realise the devastation from the first world war.There were massive crowds surrounding it, however most people didn't mind, as it was brilliant to see so many people having such an avid interest in both art and history. I haven't got the best photos from the best position, but you can get the idea of the exhibition.

Incredible, right? I still can't really comprehend the sheer number, it's so overwhelming!


Anyway, that's about the end of my post about London. I would definitely recommend going to see the poppies whilst they're still there in large numbers, which they won't be for long!

Thank you to anyone who's read my first post on this travel blog and I'm sorry if it isn't perfect, as I'm just learning to do this properly! Feel free to comment any questions or advice for me!
Thank you and see you soon (I guess??)
Ruby x