"My firkin is your firkin"

I enjoy sarcasm in life and in reading in general. Its something that helps me get through the day or an event. In this case, Sarah Vowell's writing style helped me get through her books, since the material obviously didn't. Of course the first twenty-odd-pages had me confused, and made me put down the book in an instant.  There were so many "John,"s in the book, that my head was getting dizzy. I'm not religious or interested in religious the slightest bit, so this book was a hard read. It wasn't until the connection to Ronald Reagan and the Pequot war, where I actually, "got into" the book.  I don't think I could have made it through the two hundred - forty - eight page book, unless it was for Sarah's unique writing style and input of opinions.


Through the paragraphs of Sarah Vowell expressing herself in the book, you can see that she can be in your face, and try to get you to understand a point through her point of view. She shows her strength, and boldness, though we all know her to make fun of something, or reply jokingly on a statement. For example, when Ronald Reagan was being interviewed by Good Morning America, he told them that, "Homeless people who slept on grates were 'homeless', you might say, by choice." And then I just get a good laugh out of Sarah's comment on the statement, "He couldn't be more right-- I have this fantasy that someday I'll throw off the shackles of my clean sheets and pillow-top mattress and curl up on a subway vent in the rain." When I say chuckle, that remark, literally made me laugh out loud. It was a statement that regained my focus on the book, and kept me reading.


In the average history book, one is overwhelmed with a whole bunch of facts and names, that they easily get confused. In, "The Wordy Shipmates," I was plenty overloaded with such, but Vowell needed to make her writing so long, that I would get reading, and forget what point she was trying to make. Then, I was forced to look back and remind myself what I was reading about. For example was when we met Roger Williams. What a guy. The book went on and on about church and religion, and then went on about Deputy Governor Thomas Dudley and John Cotton, then back to Mr. Williams. Thats when I just needed to put the book down and give my head a break. When I decided to take another look at the book, I needed to reread it, going back 20 pages.


 Though Vowell tries to be funny, and make us get a good laugh about history, she just doesn't know when to go deeper and give us the strait facts of an historic event. I couldn't quite follow a point she was trying to make when she would add her own voice in the middle of a paragraph. Though history isn't an exciting subject to teach, or even read about, I like how Sarah Vowell helps us understand by making connections to the real-world, where we may be able to connect with. For example, was the connection with the Brady Bunch and how the original pilgrims made friends with the indians and they were friends until their land was taken away.