Reader Response Journal #5

This is my book report for the novel "Sister of my Heart."

Hi everyone, I am Sudha from the novel Sister of my Heart. I play one of the main characters in that novel. I live in a place in India called Calcutta with my mother, my two aunts and my cousin Anju. Anju is from an upper-caste family member while I am the black sheep(outsider) of that same family. Anju and I were born on the same date and since the date we were born, our fathers were mysteriously killed. Anju and I are very close. We share almost each and everything with each other. The turning point was when I turned twelve, I was very eager to know the dark family secret which my aunts and my mother had been hiding from Anju and me till now. So, I asked my aunt to tell me the story and she did. And there I came to knew our father's weren't mysteriously killed instead my father had killed Anju's father for some rubies. And I also came to knew that Anju and I weren't related at all. Since the day I had learned the dark family secret, I felt an embarrassment which I cannot share with Anju. I thought Anju wouldn't be able to handle the secret if I told her. I would spent time alone in my bedroom and ask Anju weird questions which will sometimes leave her confused. After few days, I got over the fact that my father had killed Anju's father. So, on our thirteenth birthday, Anju and I skipped school to watch a movie knowing that we would be in a great trouble if our mother sees us. While watching the movie, I met Ashok. Without knowing much about him, I completely fell in love with him. When we got home, our mothers somehow already knew we skipped school to watch a movie in a theatre and also my mother arranged an early marriage for me because she thought I was falling for a guy from a lower caste family. After few days later, Anju mother got very ill and decided to arrange an early marriage for Anju too. I hated the idea of me getting married to a man whom I had never seen before so I decided to run away with Ashok. But later, I discovered that if I do so, I will ruin Anju's opportunity for a happy marriage. So, I decided to get married to the man my mother had arranged for me. After we got married, we went to separate paths. Anju went to America to live with her husband and I stayed back in India to live with my in-laws.Even though we were really far away from each other, we kept in touch through mails and telephones. After years later, we both got pregnant and I was thrown away from my in-laws house for having a baby girl.I was very upset with them especially my husband who even thought that I should either be thrown away or abort the baby. When Anju heard that I got thrown away from the house, she decided to get a part time job even though it is bad for her own health. She wanted to earn enough money so she can invite me to America to have a better life.
The theme of this novel is that, you could do anything to the person whom you love dearly. Such as in this novel, Anju did everything to earn enough money so she can invite me to America and the way I sacrificed my own love for her happiness.

Evaluation: I think what I did well in this presentation is that I spoke out loud and made eye contact with the audience. I think what I should improve is that I should speak more with enthusiasm and more confidently. I learned a lot by being this character such as love between sisters, sacrifices and what you can do to sacrifice your love or happiness to the other. And, yes it did made me understand the novel better by being one of the character because you can actually feel what the character goes through and understand the theme better.