The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-In-The-Moon Marigolds Act 1

Well, I have a story to tell. I read the back of the book and thought "Oh, great." Then I read the introductions thing and thought "Oh, great." again. It was exactly the sort of story I really, really, didn't want to hear. It sounded depressing, it looked depressing, it just was saturated in depressing. I guess the saying "Don't judge a book by it's cover" really follows through, because the cover makes it look much happier than it seems. (This is my thinking after only reading a summary and an introduction). Well, I somehow imagined to myself that I only needed to read this introduction (I don't know why). Anyway, I was bored and thought I'd see what the book was like. So I read a little less than half way through the first act and decided to stop. At this point, I was really sure it was going to be very depressing and something terrible would happen. Then I looked at our assignment sheet again because I forgot the name of the website (figment.com) and I wasn't entirely sure about everything. Then I realized we had to read more than just the introduction. So I started from the beginning and read all the way to Act II. Already in the first three or so pages, I liked it better. I don't know why, but it didn't seem nearly as depressing and I actually think Beatrice is sort of funny. Not when she's trying to be funny, but just the weird things she says. Like when Tillie is trying to tell her about the experiment with radiation and she keeps saying different things about what she's saying. First she says "You better go to school" and then at the end she says "There's no way you're going to school" She just says the strangest things. Ruth is, well I don't know what Ruth is. She seems pretty sneaky, but she doesn't really like her sister. But then there' s the science fair where she comes home super excited about her doing well. I don't really like Ruth. The thing I don't like about this is that it's a play. I keep trying to think of it as a book, but it seems like I would see the whole thing differently if it was just a book. The only nice thing is that you always know who's talking, because the large names before every new speaker.

So my overall opinion is that it actually will turn out to be a better book than I thought. I still think something depressing is going to happen, the sadness ranging from being slightly sad because it happens earlier on, to very sad because it's right at the very end or something. I hope I'm wrong, though, because it seems like a nice story, and Tillie seems so nice.

I really liked the beginning because I can picture it very well. I can see her standing there, talking about atoms and herself. I also like Nanny, although I sort of feel bad for her because she seems so out of everything/why is she still alive. I have this suspicion that Beatrice is really jealous of her, first of all because she's so mean to her, and second of all, she doesn't have to do anything for herself, or others. That's exactly what Beatrice seems to want, to do absolutely nothing and worry about absolutely nothing (even if it means you're blind, deaf, and basically incapable to do anything at all). I also really liked the last few pages of Act I, it makes you think about how they live all the time, and what each person wants most. Although I really didn't want to like this book, I think I do.