Solitary: Escape from Furnace
Author: Alexander Gordon Smith
Pages: 112 - 225 (End)
Prompt: What do you like about what you are reading?
Very minor spoiler! (3rd paragraph)
There are two big things that I love about this book that make it better. One of those is the authors descriptiveness and his way of describing things. The second is Alex's mindset in Furnace. There are other things that I like about the book like the plot line, character development, and setting, but I'm only going to focus on the first two.
Something that I love about the author's descriptiveness is how he describes colors. He said the prison had crimson red lights and he also said that the "rats" had charcoal-gray veins. He could have said the red light and gray veins, but he went for a more specific shade, which I love. I love it because it helps me visualize the setting and characters better. I also love that the author uses similes to describe the characters and setting. For instance, he described a rat saying, "His torso looked like a rag doll that had been overstuffed..." which gave me a disturbing visualization, but I believe that was his intention and it worked. He would also describe Alex's pain while running by saying, "...it felt like my lungs were on fire."
I find Alex's mindset very impressive and interesting. Ever since Alex entered Furnace he has only thought about escape. In the first book if he wasn't thinking about surviving, then he was thinking about escaping. When he was thrown into solitary the first thing he looked for was a way to escape. For instance, he ripped a vent in the corner of the cell out of the ground to see if he can escape through there. It took him hours to take it off, but he still tried, which I find very impressive that he wants to escape that bad.
Solitary: Escape from Furnace
Author: Alexander Gordon Smith
Pages: 0 - 112
Prompt: List at least three problems the characters faced? Which was the most life
changing? Explain
Spoiler Alert!!
Alex and Zee faced the same problems in this book so far, so these problems and effects happened to both of them. They haven't face a lot so far, but the three biggest ones were the underground caverns, the mutant prisoners, and probably the most life changing solitary.
The first problem, the underground caverns, stretched from the first book to this one. Alex, Zee, and Gary had to navigate the the dark, cramp, and mysterious caverns for what seemed like a long time. Which slowly tore them apart, making the conditions more harsh. Also, before they started navigating the caves the three got badly hurt from an explosion and sharp rocks and they lost a friend from those two things, even further worsening this experience.
Alex and Zee do get out of their cells twice so far, but it's not safe. A mutated prisoner, Simon, wants Alex to help him and the other mutants. The things is not all the mutants are nice like Simon. The other want human flesh and revenge on the blacksuits, so when Simon takes them out of their cell they could be attacked by the other mutants or the blacksuits. The blacksuits are also mutants which is why I still consider them for this category. I'll let you figure out the difference between the mutant prisoners and the blacksuits by reading the book.
Solitary was the worst of these three problems. Alex and Zee were stuck in a dark, cramp space, they got fed every two days, and they had no connection to anybody or the outside world. The biggest reason why I say this was the worst problem is the fact they had no connection to the outside world. That started to drive them crazy, they couldn't see anything and they heard nothing, leaving them to their thoughts and hallucinations. Though they eventually find a way to communicate with each other. Also, if I remember correctly Donovan told Alex that nobody lasted longer than a week in solitary, Alex and Zee have to be in solitary for a whole month! I think their solitary experience will also be the most life changing because they lost a lot of weight and the hallucinations might affect how they act when they're out of solitary.
