Introduction
The intention why the author wrote this book isn’t very clear. In my opinion it is that she tries to show what can go wrong with a teenage girl and what the attitude of a boy is towards this. Tom Palmer found the thrown-away diary of Hannah and he started to read it because he wanted to find out where she lived so he could give her diary back.
While he was reading he came across things about which he had a different opinion or totally different points of view. For example, how Hannah treated Nat. Tom just couldn’t understand why girls were acting in a different way from boys, and by reading her diary he came to respect their ways more.
With Hannah it went downhill. She fell in love with a teacher who only wanted to have sex with her, but she kept believing that he loved her as well. This could be because of her family who have her less attention when her sister Grace announced that she was going to marry. Hannah wanted love, but she didn’t get it from her family so she tried to get it from her English teacher.
If you are a parent you should always give your children enough attention and give them a chance to have a good talk with you, otherwise bad things can happen.
Plot Summary
When Tom Palmer finds a discarded diary, he doesn’t feel too bad reading it. He is fascinated. The diarist, Hannah, writes about the attraction she feels for the English teacher at her school. But she also mentions glimpsing a ghostly figure of her own self as a down-and-out. Tom worries about what has happened to her and tries to find her, even if only to give her diary back.
Setting
Notting Hill Gate is one of the main thoroughfares of Notting Hill in London, England. Historically the street was a location for toll gates, from which it derives its modern name. At Ossington Street / Kensington Palace Gardens, the Bayswater Road turns into Notting Hill Gate, continuing westward until it turns into Holland Park Avenue, just before it reaches Ladbroke Grove.
Holland Park’s History:The district was rural until the 19th century. Most of it was formerly the grounds of a Jacobean mansion called Holland House. In the later decades of that century the owners of the house sold off the more outlying parts of its grounds for residential development, and the district which evolved took its name from the house. It also included some small areas around the fringes which had never been part of the grounds of Holland House, notably the Phillimore Estate (there are at least four roads with the word Phillimore in their name) and the Campden Hill Square area. In the late 19th century a number of notable artists (including Frederic Leighton, P.R.A. and Val Prinsep) and art collectors lived in the area. The group were collectively known as "the Holland Park Circle". Holland Park was in most part very comfortably upper middle class when originally developed and in recent decades has gone further upmarket. It is now one of the most expensive residential districts in London or anywhere in the world, with large houses regularly listed for sale at well over ten million pounds sterling. A number of countries maintain embassies here.
Holland Park is a district and a public park in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, in west central London in England. Holland Park is widely regarded as one of the most romantic parks in London, due to its abundant wildlife and secluded hideaways.
Holland Park has a reputation as an affluent and fashionable area, known for attractive terraces of large Victorian townhouses, and high-class shopping and restaurants.
(www.wikipedia.nl )
Characterisation
Main Characters
Tom Palmer is a curious teenage boy and his (girl)friend is Cara. When he started to read the diary he couldn’t stop and had the aim of finding out where Hannah lived and is very absorbed with it. He is a kind and understanding boy and accepts someone else’s beliefs, but he does have an opinion when it is about right or wrong.
Hannah Townsend is a 16 year old girl who really needs attention, if not she does the wrong things but she can’t see that herself. When one of her two sisters (Grace and Ruthie) gets married she gets in a little depression and searches for love and warmth from others, in this case her English teacher who teaches at the Lady Collier’s school in London. It was, of course, also an option to get a boyfriend but she just broke up with Nat because she thought that all boys just wanted to have sex. She could be sometimes quite naïve.
Other Characters
Geoffrey Sinclair teaches English classes at the Lady Collier’s school in London and is having an affair with Hannah Townsend. He is married to Jenny and has two children, but needs a young girl to have sex with. He knows how to manipulate other people very well.
Cara is a very good friend of Tom Palmer and they do have a relationship. She knows Tom very well and realised that something was going on when Tom was reading Hannah’s diary.
Nat is the boyfriend of Hannah and he isn’t very understanding.
Analysis
Genre
The genre is love and also a kind of detective story. Most of the book is about her teacher and Hannah can’t get him out of her head.
Tom is trying to find out who she is and where she lives. It is actually a book with two story lines.
Themes
The themes are therefore relationship (love), obsession and detective work.
Symbols
Hannah represents a very large group of teenage girls who get in trouble like wrong boy friends, drugs alcohol etc.
Conclusion
I haven’t seen nor heard other opinions about this book, but I think that the book is original in the way the story happens/occurs and the sudden stop of the diary. That was the end of one story line, but the story line of Tom searching for Hannah went on. At the real end the they both come together; Tom finds Hannah end everything is fine.
The intention why the author wrote this book isn’t very clear. In my opinion it is that she tries to show what can go wrong with a teenage girl and what the attitude of a boy is towards this. Tom Palmer found the thrown-away diary of Hannah and he started to read it because he wanted to find out where she lived so he could give her diary back.
While he was reading he came across things about which he had a different opinion or totally different points of view. For example, how Hannah treated Nat. Tom just couldn’t understand why girls were acting in a different way from boys, and by reading her diary he came to respect their ways more.
With Hannah it went downhill. She fell in love with a teacher who only wanted to have sex with her, but she kept believing that he loved her as well. This could be because of her family who have her less attention when her sister Grace announced that she was going to marry. Hannah wanted love, but she didn’t get it from her family so she tried to get it from her English teacher.
Plot Summary
When Tom Palmer finds a discarded diary, he doesn’t feel too bad reading it. He is fascinated. The diarist, Hannah, writes about the attraction she feels for the English teacher at her school. But she also mentions glimpsing a ghostly figure of her own self as a down-and-out. Tom worries about what has happened to her and tries to find her, even if only to give her diary back.
Setting
Notting Hill Gate is one of the main thoroughfares of Notting Hill in London, England. Historically the street was a location for toll gates, from which it derives its modern name. At Ossington Street / Kensington Palace Gardens, the Bayswater Road turns into Notting Hill Gate, continuing westward until it turns into Holland Park Avenue, just before it reaches Ladbroke Grove.
Holland Park’s History:The district was rural until the 19th century. Most of it was formerly the grounds of a Jacobean mansion called Holland House. In the later decades of that century the owners of the house sold off the more outlying parts of its grounds for residential development, and the district which evolved took its name from the house. It also included some small areas around the fringes which had never been part of the grounds of Holland House, notably the Phillimore Estate (there are at least four roads with the word Phillimore in their name) and the Campden Hill Square area. In the late 19th century a number of notable artists (including Frederic Leighton, P.R.A. and Val Prinsep) and art collectors lived in the area. The group were collectively known as "the Holland Park Circle". Holland Park was in most part very comfortably upper middle class when originally developed and in recent decades has gone further upmarket. It is now one of the most expensive residential districts in London or anywhere in the world, with large houses regularly listed for sale at well over ten million pounds sterling. A number of countries maintain embassies here.
Holland Park is a district and a public park in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, in west central London in England. Holland Park is widely regarded as one of the most romantic parks in London, due to its abundant wildlife and secluded hideaways.
Holland Park has a reputation as an affluent and fashionable area, known for attractive terraces of large Victorian townhouses, and high-class shopping and restaurants.
(www.wikipedia.nl )
Characterisation
Main Characters
Tom Palmer is a curious teenage boy and his (girl)friend is Cara. When he started to read the diary he couldn’t stop and had the aim of finding out where Hannah lived and is very absorbed with it. He is a kind and understanding boy and accepts someone else’s beliefs, but he does have an opinion when it is about right or wrong.
Hannah Townsend is a 16 year old girl who really needs attention, if not she does the wrong things but she can’t see that herself. When one of her two sisters (Grace and Ruthie) gets married she gets in a little depression and searches for love and warmth from others, in this case her English teacher who teaches at the Lady Collier’s school in London. It was, of course, also an option to get a boyfriend but she just broke up with Nat because she thought that all boys just wanted to have sex. She could be sometimes quite naïve.
Geoffrey Sinclair teaches English classes at the Lady Collier’s school in London and is having an affair with Hannah Townsend. He is married to Jenny and has two children, but needs a young girl to have sex with. He knows how to manipulate other people very well.
Cara is a very good friend of Tom Palmer and they do have a relationship. She knows Tom very well and realised that something was going on when Tom was reading Hannah’s diary.
Nat is the boyfriend of Hannah and he isn’t very understanding.
Analysis
Genre
The genre is love and also a kind of detective story. Most of the book is about her teacher and Hannah can’t get him out of her head.
Tom is trying to find out who she is and where she lives. It is actually a book with two story lines.
Themes
The themes are therefore relationship (love), obsession and detective work.
Symbols
Hannah represents a very large group of teenage girls who get in trouble like wrong boy friends, drugs alcohol etc.
Conclusion
I haven’t seen nor heard other opinions about this book, but I think that the book is original in the way the story happens/occurs and the sudden stop of the diary. That was the end of one story line, but the story line of Tom searching for Hannah went on. At the real end the they both come together; Tom finds Hannah end everything is fine.
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Zo, jij bent goed in Engels zeg! Heel erg bedankt dat je dit boekverslag op scholieren.com hebt gezet.
16 jaar geleden
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