A Semester in the Life of a Garbage Bag by Gordon Korman – Book Review

Website design By BotEap.comGordon Korman has created composite individuals who can be identified in part as what many students might have seen themselves at one time or another in their youthful development. Sean Delancey has everything a young man could want: looks, brains, personality, and a terrific if eccentric family; everything except a good command of English as a course of grammar, composition and literature. Raymond Jardine, the self-proclaimed garbage bag, manipulated his way into Sean’s confidence by being resourceful, a quality that should have gotten him through any difficulty anyone but Raymond should have been able to overcome. It was the nightmare of his existence that he was blessed with the worst fate any being should have had the misfortune to endure. The heavenly beings at whom he constantly directed his playful humor must have smiled as calamities cataclysmically heaped upon his tortured self as he strove toward the seemingly unattainable goal of spending eight weeks on a Greek island, Theamelpos, where his mother’s presence would have meaning a reversal of fortune. The broken pipes in the bathroom saturate it; his second poetry partner is more beauty than brains; the king of the government project of him is deposited on the due date of the allocation; the obscure poet of his selected for the English project is worse than dead: he is also an inept; and the grand dance turns into an almost flooded riot. The disasters continue relentlessly until the very last page.

Website design By BotEap.comParallel to the catastrophes of Raymond’s odyssey, the thirty-three million dollar system installed at government expense, SACGEN (Solar/Air Current Generation System) functions as if umbilically tied to Raymond’s fateful existence. It is Raymond’s innovative approaches to each of his problems that help him get closer to his goal in the face of impending failure with the help of Sean and the most beautiful girl in the world, Ashley, whose gullibility and naivety allowed Sean’s grandfather to achieve a remarkable grand deception that made his otherwise taciturn life worth living. The supporting characters, Cementhead, Q. David Hyatt, Nikki, Danny, and the flamboyant Leland Fenster, brought endless humor to what should have been a simple and inoffensive semester. The cynical view of government at all levels is portrayed with good humor and marvelous hyperbole, as colossal projects representing energy-saving technological advances are ridiculed as are their irreproachable advocates. The interrelationship of all students working together in spite of themselves provides all those garbage bag, who are just as frustrated as Raymond and Sean, expect there to be something salvageable in any curriculum, no matter how big the challenge.

Website design By BotEap.comAssessment: The story flowed with ease and humor as Sean, Gramps, Raymond and Ashley are brought to life as portrayals of real people doing unreal things that spark creative and imaginative juices to brim with a spicy taste of the unusual. Gavin Gunhold rose from the dead as if he were a viable poetic influence and, in his brief moment of notoriety, absorbed the limelight in his alter ego identity, so that even his meaningless verses became meritorious as literature.

Website design By BotEap.comRecommendation: Any student who feels that they are not creative enough or is in an academic rut can take a break and read this for enjoyment. There are enough images that they can relate to at home or at school that any frustration they feel seems minimal compared to Sean and Raymond. Although they are fictional, they are still part of the learning experience and become as real as the student in the seat next to you. Gavin’s poetry was not that bad. Even unadorned images can have a deeper meaning without scratching the surface.

Website design By BotEap.comTeaching: The story lends itself to investigating parental influences (such as Sean’s) and observing events that can be considered unfortunate. Put into perspective, all events could be viewed as dichotomous choices over which we have some control. Furthermore, history finds rudimentary poetry as easy to write as it is to put honest sentiments into simple words. It also allows you to examine the value of technological advances where simplicity is best.