The Blind Side by Michael Lewis
From goodreads.com:
The young man at the center of this extraordinary and moving story will one day be among the most highly paid athletes in the National Football League. When we first meet him, he is one of thirteen children by a mother addicted to crack; he does not know his real name, his father, his birthday, or any of the things a child might learn in school such as, say, how to read or write. Nor has he ever touched a football.
What changes? He takes us football, and school, after a rich, Evangelical, Republican family plucks him from the mean streets. Their love is the first great force that alters the world’s perception of the boy, whom they adopt. The second force is the evolution of professional football itself into a game where the quarterback must be protected at any cost. Our protagonist turns out to be the priceless combination of size, speed, and agility necessary to guard the quarterback’s greatest vulnerability: his blind side.
Who would want to be living either on the streets or just going from place to place staying the night? To me that is no way to live and that is exactly the type of life that Michael Oher was living at the beginning of the novel The Blind Side by Michael Lewis. There are three main things that I enjoyed are the theme. The second is the way I really got a sense of who Michael Oher really is, and the third is the strong protagonist of the novel.
The first thing I really enjoyed was the challenging theme of the novel. To me the theme is that no matter where someone comes from or what type of life they live they do not have to live that way forever. The theme is very strong and inspiring and reaches out to many audiences not just one set group. I feel that this is one of the best themes out of the novels I have read so far this school year. The main theme to me is don’t give up, don’t ever give up. This novel really inspired me to work hard at everything I do, not only to better myself but to make a good life for myself also. Everyone should just remember that no matter how bad things seem they can always get better if you try to make them better.
The second thing element that I enjoyed was the way I really got a sense of who Michael Oher was. At first he wouldn’t talk hardly but then he really came out of his shell. I think that Leigh Anne Tuohy had a lot to do with this. She was the first person he really talked to and would really listen to. Michael Oher was one of the most surprising students that Briarcrest Christian School had ever seen. He had a GPA of 0.6 and didn’t know any of the things that normal students his age had known for years. When they looked at his records his teachers had basically passed him to get him out of their class. Everyone was shocked by the outcome of Michael Oher’s football career.
The third and final thing that I enjoyed was the strong protagonist. I feel that Michael Oher was the protagonist. He is because he went through a big change throughout the story. He went from nothing to one of the best in the NFL. He went from having a crack addicted mother to being adopted by a rich family who treats him like one of their own. His life changed very much for the better and most of it is because of his new found family, the Tuohy’s. The story behind Michael and his career is absolutely wonderful and really shows how anyone can change and make things better.
Overall the novel was great and inspiring. I enjoyed most everything about it. I recommend this book to anywhere from middle school and up. It is great for all audiences and I think it will open up some people’s eyes and inspire them to do better and make a better life for themselves. The challenging theme, the way I got to really know Michael, and the strong protagonist were the three things I enjoyed most of this novel. Michael Oher is definitely a strong character and his story can really make people think about their lives and think about how to make their lives better. Altogether I enjoyed his novel very much.
Paperback Paparazzi 
Ashton,
I have never read this book, but it is a movie I have watched. Your book review shows what is true about most novel to movie relationships, and that is that you miss a lot if you do not read the novel. I enjoyed reading your book review. You made me want to read the book to find out all the information I have been missing by just watching the movie. I do have a few suggestions that I will list below.
Sometimes, you may need to use more commas to break things up so that a reader knows when and where to pause while reading. This will make for a greater overall reading experience.
In your first paragraph, you begin to list the three characteristics of the novel that intrigued you most. When you are listing, it might be easier for you to list, separating by commas, (you may even want to use a colon before listing) so that it flows more smoothly. In this instance, you could say something like, “The three aspects of this novel that I enjoyed most include: theme, a strong protagonist, and the character Michael Oher.”
This is a suggestion that you can take or leave, but I think that it might be a good idea to omit the area that talks about the novel having the best theme you have read “this school year.” I say this because it tells the reader that you are only comparing/contrasting between books you have been reading this year, which will take away from the credibility of the overall review. Instead, make the review seem like it is not an assignment and compare it to all the books you have read, if you do compare.
Overall, great work. I look forward to reading more of your work.
Kara,
Thank you very much for your suggestions. I will be sure to put the suggestions to work on my reviews in the future. One of my weak points is knowing when and where to use certain punctuation. The movie was great when I watched it previously so it made me want to read the book even more and I am really glad I did. I am also glad I was able to see what I was missing from the movie. So thank you again for your help and I hope to do better on my punctuation usage on my next reviews.
Ashton,
I like this! This is a great movie and movie! Amazing story! I like how you focus on the protagonist idea in this novel. It is different and definitely more advanced. Good job! For some advance, I would definitely “clean-up” your intro. It is such a great story to be writing about so make that intro just as great! The sentences should be clear and concise. Your thesis should almost always be one sentence so maybe think of a way to put all three of your topics in one great sentence! In the body of your paper, try to give some specific examples to support your evidence of the theme etc. I lied the use of the word “element.” That is just a cool word that people don’t use very often from what I see. Remember to have smooth transitions between the paragraphs. You don’t want it to seem that you just put a random sentence there to make it work. For example: you said “When they looked at his records his teachers had basically passed him to get him out of their class. Everyone was shocked by the outcome of Michael Oher’s football career.” it may be better to say something like: “Everyone at the school and his family was excited to know that Michael’s academic progress opened up more doors for him to have a successful football career.” Of course it doesn’t have to be exactly like that, but its an example! Overall you did a great job as always! Proud of you! Excited to see more work from you in the future Ashton!!!
–Christina
Christina,
Thank you I really enjoyed this book, even more than I enjoyed the movie. Thank you for your suggestion about making the transition more smooth I will definitely put that to use. I am glad you liked it and hopefully my next review will be even better. I really appreciate your help and if you think of any other suggestions please let me know. I hope to improve my writing as much as possible. So thank you again!
Ashton,
I also really enjoyed this book and movie. I’m glad that you chose this one to do a book review on. I agree with Christina and Kara with their remarks on your writing so I will try not to be redundant. You are a strong writer and I think that you will only get stronger the more you write. I would suggest that when you finish a paper that you read it out loud. You will hear a lot of your mistakes like misusing a word or correcting punctuation errors such as commas – the need to add or take away. For example, in the introduction, the third sentence says, “There are three main things that I enjoyed are…” You used are here twice. One other line was the introduction line to your third paragraph, “The second thing element…” You could have used either “thing” or “element”, not really both. Very minor problems that could be easily corrected with another proofread. All in all it was a good piece. Keep writing!
Heather
Heather,
I am glad I chose this book too. I must have overlooked the part in the third paragraph and I will be sure to proofread more than once next time. Thank you for saying I am a strong writer and I hope that I will keep getting stronger also. As I told Kara I will definitely have to work on my punctuation because that is not a strong point of mine. Thank you again for all of your help I look forward to hearing more of your suggestions.