Roar Book: Monkey Bridge by Lan Cao

5-4-3-2-1

5.Comments:

• My heart goes out to Mai because she had lost her mother; they supported each other and loved one another.
• I am glad that in the end Mai was able to go to college and further educated herself.
  
• Though Mai's mother died in the end I still feel like the ending was very good.
• This book has taught me a few things about my country that I never knew about.
  
• I would totally recommend this book for others to read; it's very intriguing and mysterious.

4.Questions:

• Where was Mai's mother's funeral?
• Did Mai attend the college that she had interviewed for?
• What was Mai's mother's last words?
• What does "supernatural ears" mean?

3.Vocabulary:

• Unexpendable: essential; absolutely required
• Lustrous: having luster; shining; luminous
• Silhouette: a two-dimensional representation of the outline of an object, as a cutout or configurational drawing, uniformly filled in with black, esp. a black-paper, miniature cutout of the outlines of a famous person's face

2.Literary Terms:

• Simile: "One wrong move, one wrong move, and the entire mess can just disarrange itself and collapse like a hundred pieces of flying metal for the whole world to see." (page 257)
• Simile: "Outside, a faint silver of what only two weeks ago had been a full moon dangled like a sea horse from the sky." (page 260)

1.Overview Sentence:

• The end of the book; Mai's mother had passed away and Mai went off to college.
  

Roar Book: Monkey Bridge by Lan Cao

5-4-3-2-1

5.Comments:

• So the "diary" was put intentionally put in the drawers for Mai to find and read.
• The secret (s) was very surprising and shocking.
  
• Mai's grandmother and grandfather did what they had to do in order to save their family; that takes a lot of pride and bravery.
• Mai's grandmother sacrificed a lot including her body; something that I don't think I can ever do.
  
• Uncle Khan used Mai's grandmother so she can do something that his wife couldn't do which to give birth to a child; I think that is unbelievable and sick.

4.Questions:

• What is a strategic hamlet?
• What caused Mai's mother to have five miscarriages?
• Why was Uncle Khan's wife unable to give birth?
• Where did they dump Uncle Khan's body?

3.Vocabulary:

• Recede: to go or move away; retreat; go to or toward a more distant point; withdraw
• Pungent: acutely distressing to the feelings or mind; poignant
• Corrugated: to draw or bend into folds or alternate furrows and ridges

2.Literary Terms:

• Direct Characterization: "...Baba Quan was a devoted husband, a father dedicated to an uncomplicated life...a farmer who tilled the land with patience and idgnity." (page 229)
• Simile: "...the karma that has pursued our family like a hawk chasing a prey." (page 251)

1.Overview Sentence:

• A letter to Mai that had exposed the secret that Mai's mother was hiding from her.

Roar Book: Monkey Bridge by Lan Cao

5-4-3-2-1

5.Comments:

• Mai's imagination of how her grandfather might have died a violent death was very cruel.
• I have eaten mango ice cream before but i ate it in Vietnam; I did not really like it though.
• I have never tried pig feet before and I don't think I ever will.
• I have tried sweet and sour fish soup before; I don't really like it but there is another kind of soup that is very similar to the sweet and sour fish soup which sweet and sour shrimp soup (I like the shrimp soup better).
• Some food that Mai's mother made sounds very good; I would like to try them.

4.Questions:

• What is Cao Dai?
• What is tripe stew?
• What does FDA stand for?
• What type of ao dai did they order (there is more than 1 type)?

3.Vocabulary:

• Rendezvous: an agreement between two or more persons to meet at a certain time and place
• Subversive: in an attempt to overthrow or cause the destruction of an established or legally constituted government.
• Curlicues: A fancy twist or curl

2.Literary Terms:

• Imagery: "...scraping the sweet golden flesh of a ripe mango into a blended mix of milk, cream, yellow rock sugar, and vanilla ice cream." (page 216)
• Simile: "...I could still feel the aftershock of the concoction, a sharp smarting sting like Japanese horseradish." (page 223)

1.Overview Sentence:

• Mai and her family is celebrating Tet; describes what they do on this holiday.
  

Roar Book: Monkey Bridge by Lan Cao

5-4-3-2-1

5.Comments:

• I can somewhat understand how Mai's mother is feeling (she misses her husband but cannot see him yet); worried and anxious.
• There was a section where Mai blamed her mother for her separation from her father but I feel like she shouldn't blame her mom; Mai's mom did what she had to do for Mai's sake.
• I did not know that you have to drive to Canada to make a call to another country
• Michael is very heroic because he saved an American Special Forces unit.
• Mai seems very paranoid about Bill.

4.Questions:

• What are are corianders uses?
• What were the two medals that Mai's grandfather received?
• Where is the monkey bridge?
• What country is hui money from?

3.Vocabulary:

• Sinews: the source of strength, power, or vigor
• Syncopated: cut short; abbreviated
• Amalgamation: a consolidation of two or more corporations

2.Literary Terms:

• Metaphor: "As the administrator, she's considered the guarantor of the pot." (page 193)
• Simile: "We were like two distinctly different shapes that would come together to form an amalgamation of common and at the same time competing truths." (page 209)

1.Overview Sentence:

• Mai is trying to contact her grandfather but is unable to succeed.
  

Roar Book: Monkey Bridge by Lan Cao

5-4-3-2-1

5.Comments:

• I use to do the same thing Mai did (read her mother's "diary") but instead I read my older sisters diary.
• Mai's mother consider Mai before anything as I read in the ninth chapter; I believe that most parents put their children first on the list.
• I did not know that they had Ovaltine drinks back then; I use to see commercials for the drink.
• My mother was just like Mai's mother because they both got married at a young age.
• Vietnamese people tend to think that girls should get married before anything else; getting a good husband is very important to Vietnamese people.

4.Questions:

• Where is Guam?
• What are sampans?
• What are sweetmeats?
• Is Newtonian a place? If so, where is it located?

3.Vocabulary:

• Monsoon: the seasonal wind of the Indian Ocean and southern Asia, blowing from the southwest in summer and from the northeast in winter
• Phlegmy: one of the four humors of ancient and medieval physiology, thought to cause sluggishness, apathy, and evenness of temper.
• Pewter: any of various alloys in which tin is the chief constituent, originally one of tin and lead

2.Literary Terms:

• Simile: "My grandfather's last day, or what I supposed to be his last day, in Saigon lingered like a lantern on a gray, motionless night." (page 164)
• Imagery: "...the molten fluidness of the rice fields, the graceful sanctuary of a covenant, and the blinding purple of bougainvilleas." (page 168)

1.Overview Sentence:

• Mai secretly read her mother's "diary" for the second time.
  

Roar Book: Monkey Bridge by Lan Cao

5-4-3-2-1

5.Comments:

• I have recently learned about the guerrilla tactics in which the book had mentioned.
• Mai was very nervous for her interview which is very common and natural.
• Amy Layton was very nice to Mai; she joked to make the atmosphere less tense.
• I have never heard about the Year of the Water Buffalo before.
• I think Mai's mother was right about education; it is very important and is needed.

4.Questions:

• When was Mary Lyon born?
• When did Mary Lyon pass away?
• When is the Year of the Water Buffalo?
• Is the Water buffalo a zodiac? If, so what are the other zodiacs?

3.Vocabulary:

• Litany: a ceremonial or liturgical form of prayer consisting of a series of invocations or supplications with responses that are the same for a number in succession
• Asphalt: any of various dark-colored, solid, bituminous substances, native in various areas of the earth and composed mainly of hydrocarbon mixtures
• Cloistered: secluded from the world; sheltered

2.Literary Terms:

• Imagery: "...plan limestone painted a crusted yellow with a brick courtyard surrounded by a wrought-iron fence on a wide boulevard lined with French villas and old tamarid tress." (page 127)
• Direct Characterization: "a tallish woman in her early thirties ... she had tinted blond hair." (page 124)

1.Overview:

• Mai is attempting to attend college but first she had to do an interview with Amy Layton.
  

Roar Book: Monkey Bridge by Lan Cao

5-4-3-2-1

5.Comments:

• I wish that I will get to learn about the Paris Peace Accords of 1973 in my history class.
• Mai seems to think as an adult even though she is about to become an adult; she look at things from different angles.
  
• Mai's grandfather have a lot of tales to tell just like my grandmother.
• Mai's grandfather is very heroic.
  
• From the sixth chapter I can tell that Mai and Uncle Michael are very close even though they are not blood related.

4.Questions:

• Where is Tan Son Nhut Airport located in Vietnam?
• Where is Can Tho located in Vietnam?
• Who or what are GIs?
• What were the guarded compounds?

3.Vocabulary:

• Decipher: to make out the meaning of
• Monotone: a vocal utterance or series of speech sounds in one unvaried tone
• Grotesque: odd or unnatural in shape, appearance, or character; fantastically ugly or absurd; bizarre

2.Literary Terms:

• Simile: "It was as if all of America were holding its breath, waiting for a deceased body, ravaged and fatigued, and now all too demanding, to let go." (page 98)
  
• Simile: "...sending metallic flashes that rotated like a typhoon across the sky." (page 99)

1.Overview Sentence:

• Mai describes the conditions in Vietnam as it gets worse.