For my fifth reading response, I choose to read the book, The Unquiet Past by Kelly Armstrong. This book is about a sixteen year old girl named Tess and her experiences trying to find her parents.

Summary

Tess is a 16 year old girl that has reoccouring visions. Not just any dizzy, sleepy visions. Full out visions from the past. She sees what happens back then wherever she is. For example, while she was walking in downtown Montreal, she sees what Montreal looked like back then and how the people acted. In the beginning, ( like my other book in this series ), Tess's orphanage unfortunately burns down after a harsh fire. Soon she discovers that since their orphanage had been going down hill all these years, Mrs. Hazelton the matron and the other staff do not have enough money to rebuild their home. Following up to that, the girls soon learn that Mrs. Hazelton was being taken to a elderly home since she was getting very sick and old. With that being said, Tess has no other choice then to go and try to find her family. All that she is given to find her family is a box with an address and a telephone number. Once she arrives in Montreal to her address, she soon finds another person lurking around the old rickety house that she had been sent to. His name is Jackson. In the beginning, Jackson and Tess were not so great of friends but before you know it, Jackson and Tess become very close allies and use each others knowledge to find out where Tess's parents are and why Jackson was lead to the same house as Tess. As they search the old house, they find a hole in the ground that leads to a very scary basement. Inside the basement there were caskets and scratches on the wall. As they continued searching, they wondered if the so called "house" was really a house. In their beliefs, they soon think that the basement was a secret mental hospital or "asylum". With Tess's crazy visions, she sees and hears what was really down in the basement years and years ago so they end up finding out the basement was a secret mental hospital. During their studies, Tess and Jackson have a little fight which separates them for a couple of days. Unfortunately for Jackson, while they were off Jackson had been taken by a man who had seemed to want to know about the studies and testing that went on many years ago down in that basement. The man had been able to hypnotized Jackson and just when Jackson was about to spill their secrets, Tess steps in and saves the day. They soon discover that the only reason they had been sent to that house was because, one of the doctors that was doing the illegal testing on "mental" people, ( including Tess's mother and Jackson's mother) was dying and wanted to tell Jackson and Tess he was sorry for what he accidentally did to their mothers during the testing.

Likes and dislikes

For my reading response in thoroughly enjoyed this book! I enjoyed this book because it always kept me wanting to read more. For example, when Tess and Jackson had gotten into a fight and stopped their studies, it kept me wondering and wanting to keep reading to see if they will make up and continue looking for answers. Another reason I enjoyed this book was because I enjoyed reading about Tess's strong and brave personality. I liked reading about strong and brave personalities because it tells girls to be the very best they can and to not let anyone or anything stop you or bring you down. One thing I disliked about this book was, that there was a lot going on at once which sometimes made it hard for me to input some of the information into my brain.

Connections

In this book, I came across two connections that I will now share! My first connection is when Tess had a scary vision of one of her many fears, being buried alive. I can connect to how Tess was feeling scared because once I had a nightmare where I was being trapped in a box sinking into the ocean. I think I can connect to this moment because Tess and I both had a dream that we were being trapped in a box which lead to both of us being fearful and startled by the scary scene. My other connection is when Tess was being chased by an old man who was trying to give her a ride to a hotel in Montreal. I can connect to this because like my other connection, I have had a nightmare where I have been chased several times where I have escaped the chaser much like Tess did. I feel Tess and I would both be feeling terrorized by being chased by a stranger.

Questions

Whilst reading my book I came across five questions. My first question was, Why didn't Tess save the old man that was trying to give her a ride? I wondered this question because the old man was kindly giving her a ride and she jumped out of the car. The man was chasing her to give her bags to Tess, but she didnt even help him when he fell. My second question I pondered was, How might Tess feel about Jackson lying to her? I pondered this question because she usually does not like it when people act "fake". My third question I had was, What may the downstairs be? I thought about this question because, they had been thinking it was a secret jail, a hospital and then a mental asylum! My fourth question was, Will Tess return to the address the following morning? I asked myself this because once she was kicked out of the house that night, she still did not get the information she needed which made me wonder if she would come back. My fifth question is, Will Tess and Jackson continue researching projects together in the future? I asked myself this question because Tess and Jackson work very well in past projects so that made me wonder if they would keep working together in the future.

Interesting passages!

My first passage I had came across was, - She realized that her words could be interpreted as I've moved past all that other stuff, so she hurried on. "Just because I'm upset over what you did doesn't mean I'd ever want anything to happen to you."- I enjoyed this passage because it also shows one of the times where Tess is in a very forgiving nature. My second passage I found interesting was,- There was a hole in the ceiling, wasn't there? And debris below. If she could pile it and climb- Footsteps sounded on the floor overhead. Slow, heavy footsteps.- I found this passage interesting because it made me wonder who was in the house with Tess, and how would she get out of the basement. My third passage is,- I’m an alien, beamed down to earth until my eighteenth birthday, when my programming will trigger and I’ll take over the world, mwa-ha ha.- I found this passage interesting because it made me laugh and it made me surprised that Tess said this because she is not much of a joking type.

Inference

I can inference that Tess is afraid of whats to come in her future with all of her visions. I can inference this because Tess's visions always get worse and worse and she has been deathly afraid of her first visions. For example, one of her visions was about being trapped in a coffin and she was being put in the ground. I can inference that Tess and Jackson will get back together from fight and finish their studies. I can inference this because Tess has a very forgiving nature and Jackson is usually pretty easygoing. I know that Tess is very forgiving because whenever Jackson makes her really angry, she is always quick to forgive or "make-up". I know that Jackson is easygoing because he goes with the flow with every situation. I also know this because Jackson is easygoing because one of the definitions of easygoing is peaceful which Jackson truly embodies

Predict

I predict that Tess and Jackson will continue to adventure and research many more studies in their future. I predict this because in past experiences, they had seemed to work very well together as partners. That being said, I think they would be smart enough to know to stay together with someone you can work well with. I also predict that Tess will join Jackson at his university. I predict this because, Jackson was always telling Tess how smart of a girl she was and that his university could use some more smart intelligent students to help carryout big studies.I also predict this because I think at the end Tess had feelings for Jackson and she would not want to leave him.

In the end, I would definitely give this book a nine out of ten because I love the style of writing and the awesome characters and personalities that make this book so fantastic! I hope to read all the books in this following series.