Jpod, a Terrible but Great Story

What is JPod?

Since I started Jpod, I have experienced something from a book that no other has ever allowed me to experience. The best I can describe this experience would be full of confusion due to an unorthodox way of writing. I may not read much, but this book is the first I have read where I have no idea whats going on. The plot seems to revolve around a group of people that are designing a game who all have a last name that starts with the letter "J", but aside from that we follow the life of Ethan Harrison Jarlewski. At work the people have conversations varying from why their boss is making them add a turtle character to a skateboarding game, to what makes them each unique, to why each person should get to be Ronald McDonald's mate or lover. Even while this seems to be confusing, Ethan's personal life that we have to keep up with is just as bad. He goes from helping his mom dispose of a body, to meeting his dad's new girlfriend (who was in the same grade as our boy Ethan in high school), to helping his brother get away with "people-smuggling". On top of that, apparently  anyone assigned to JPod is stuck there and can't get transferred anywhere else. This wasn't entirely explained, it was just stated multiple times for some reason that will probably be just as confusing as the rest of this book.

With the plot changing all the time I think that many more inconveniences will approach the main characters and even the secondary characters since it has already happened multiple times. I think that one of these inconveniences might be their boss changing his mind about the game again or they will get another new boss who will also change their game. Either way I am pretty sure the game changing will happen and cause problems for the Jpod members along with their families. Conflict and unideal situations are what is keeping this book going. It may seem like I am complaining, and I am, but I don't dislike this book. In fact, I probably would have been bored out of my mind reading a book about some guy who made the dictionary. JPod (to me at least) stays interesting while the story changes and half of the pages are random numbers or symbols. It gives off this feeling of curiosity and how differently some people see the world than you do. It makes me want to read more to some degree and aside from the confusing part it seems to be very well written.

The characters in this story all have different personalities, but they seem to play perfectly off of each other. Some range from having weird quirks, to wanting to sleep with everyone, to wanting to be completely average at what they do and so on. Each time a character says something, at least one person has some sort of input on the topic. In fact, it seems like some of these personalities were made with the sole purpose to just being able to say something about what is being talked about. And since there are six people in Jpod, the conversations never get boring. However, I see something wrong with these personalities. I think that some if not most of the members of Jpod are mildly autistic. Their minds go from one thing to something completely random in an instant. It may not end up being true but it certainly seems like a possibility.

Anyone who reads this book would probably see their own opinion written all over it. It is very open in that aspect while still delivering the story it set out to. I see this book showing how we get trapped into a society that we don't even know if we want to be part of. All of the JPod members are against the changes to their game but they don't really try to fight it, in fact they try their best to make it happen. This applies to the real world since many people feel trapped in what they do or don't do. Many people can't find their place in this world and feel like their is no way to change it so they just live out their lives like they think they are supposed to. Even if this book is confusing and annoying at times, it is still worth reading to get your own opinion from. In fact, so far I would say I have enjoyed reading JPod and will probably continue to do so for the rest of the book.

       I believe that grade 12 university English should be required. I encourage this because in order to get into university you should be able to pass a class of that level whether it be English or not. However, English should be known to everyone since most subjects revolve around it. It is also a basic subject that was already taught, so being able to take a grade 12 university level course would show your eagerness and anticipation for future more intense courses.

       English also arguably raises your social skills which could also be another reason why this sort of class would be mandatory.