Wednesday, March 29, 2017

Week Twelve Prompt:

Reader's Advisory Matrix
Buffering: Unshared Tales of a Life Fully Loaded by Hannah Hart

1. Where is the book on the narrative continuum?
Highly narrative (reads like fiction)

2. What is the subject of the book?
Celebrity memoir involving faith, growing up, mental illness, and coming out. 

3. What type of book is it?
Memoir style collection of narrative essays

4. Articulate appeal
  • What is the pacing of the book? 
    •  It reads very quickly.
  • Describe the characters of the book. 
    •  The main character is the author Hannah Hart. She is a YouTube cooking celebrity. Her character is sincere and easy to relate to even if you have not been in her situation.
  • How does the story feel? 
    •   Sincere, heartfelt, open, sometimes cringeworthy
  • What is the intent of the author? 
    •  To share her experience.
  • What is the focus of the story? 
    •  She is detailing her life from childhood to the present as she dealt with a bipolar, negligent mother and realizing that she is a lesbian.
  • Does the language matter? 
    •  Yes, in a way. Hannah is young and her writing reads like a friend or a blog.
  • Is the setting important and well described?
    •  The setting is not necessarily important; her story may have been the same no matter where she was located as a child. As an adult, the setting of California and New York are more important because you can see how she was able to make a career. Either way, most of the locations are well detailed. 
  • Are there details and, if so, of what?
    •  She details her mother's mental illness in great detail throughout the story, from when she was a child to an adult trying to find help for her. For example, she visits her mother's home and goes into almost grotesque detail about the amount of cockroaches and dirt layered in the house. 
  • Are there sufficient charts and other graphic materials? Are they useful and clear? 
    • None
  • Does the book stress moments of learning, understanding, or experience?
    •  While this book is in no way a learning guide or tutorial, Hannah clearly wants people to understand her experience and have sympathy for those living with mental illness, as her mother was. 
5. Why would a reader enjoy this book (rank appeal)?.
1. Learning/experiencing                   2. Pace               3. Tone

4 comments:

  1. Sounds like an interesting read. What audience would you suggest it for?

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  2. As far as age groups, I would say it is good for older teens and up. It definitely has a millenial feel. If you have watched Hannah Hart or like memoirs or are interested in mental illness, I would give it a read. I'm not a huge non-fiction reader and a friend suggested it; I finished it within two days.

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  3. Great prompt response! You do a great job writing informative and concise answers. Full points!

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  4. Just now noticing that we did the same book for this week! Love Hannah and of course loved her book. She has been through quite a lot, and I related a lot to her story.

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