Animal Dreams

In class I choose to side with the group of students who hated the book.  I feel that hated or loved the book was an impossible decision to make for me personally.  There has never been a book that I have absolutely  hated or a book that I have loved either.  Animal Dreams had a lot of interesting parts but also it had parts that seemed out of place.  Personally I felt that animal dreams was trying to get across the point that one cannot run from their past or life in generally.  Codi is always trying to forget about her past and how she was an outsider.  Since Codi felt and believe this she failed to see that she had been part of the community.  Your past is your past and if you do not like how your past is there is no point in running because you will always be carry inside of you what you are trying to escape from.  The best thing to do is what Codi finally did and that is to go face your demons.  when Codi went back to Grace she first believe that everyone would not like her and that they would still cause her to be the outsider.  In truth Codi was already part of the community and she could not remember the parts of her life in which she was included.  Also through out the book Codi struggles with her father who is losing his mind.  To be this is one of the critical parts of the book because it makes Codi look deeper every part of her life.  Codi is no longer able just to look at her life with no contact to the rest of the world.  Due to her fathers loss of memory Codi has to try to help her father who she believes she dislikes because she thinks he made her an outsider.  I feel that animal dreams had strong themes that made me think about my own life and how at times I have made myself the outsider.  Also reading Animal Dreams I was able to relate to Codi because I also left home.  In part i left for the same reasons Codi did but at the same time I feel that I am different from Codi.  I left home because I because i wanted to get away from my parents but more importantly I want to make my own identity.  Unlike Codi I did not run and turn my back  but rather I ran to move froward with life but will always be looking back at times.  The reason that I supported the group that disliked the book was because i felt that Codi was not being person she wanted to be and she was just complaining and not trying to fix it.  I felt like that Codi knew what was wrong with her life and even how to fix it but she just chose not to.  Overall i liked this novel for its strong themes and characters but there were parts of the novel that i felt did not belong in the novel and seemed out of place.