Part 1
I read the book Something Like Fate. The author of this book is Susane Colasanti. The main character’s name is Lani. She is a high school student in New Jersey. She has dazzling blue eyes. She also has a scar on her forehead from the “accident” which she hides with her bangs. She also is brave and caring. Since Lani loves helping the environment, I would also characterize her as being “green”.
She loves everything about being “green”. She recycles as much as possible, is in “green” clubs at school, and more! Lani is in a club at school called Our World. The main goal of the club is to help the earth’s environment be healthier and cleaner. She advises everyone to throw anything they are able to in the recycling bin at lunch time. Her parents have jobs having to do with the environment, so she believes that it is impossible for her not to want to be a part of that kind of life. She believes that it is part of her “fate” to want to help the environment.
Another characteristic I would describe Lani as is that she is caring. She cares about how everybody is feeling and doesn’t want to offend anyone in any sort of way. But at one part in the book, she makes a mistake. She lets out a secret about Blake. When the whole school finds out, which doesn’t take long, she feels very bad. Blake has mixed emotions about the whole incident. He is mad, sad, depressed, relieved, and many more. Lani really cares about his feelings and regrets the mistake she made. Another example of when Lani is caring is when she likes her best friend’s, Erin, boyfriend, Jason. She really wants to see him and hang out with him, but she knows it would be wrong of her to be with him when Erin and Jason are in a relationship. She cares so much about how Erin would feel if she went out with him while they were still in a relationship.
The third characteristic that describes Lani is brave. She overcame her biggest fear! Lani was so scared of swimming because of the “accident” years ago. Jason, Lani’s friend, is a life guard. He is determined to teach Lani to swim. At the moment, Lani is afraid of lakes and pools. She doesn’t like to be submerged in water. When Jason tries to teach Lani, she becomes VERY brave because she goes into the lake a ways in. She is very nervous, but stays calm. Another reason I chose brave as a characteristic that describes Lani is because when she is getting teased at school, she is brave. She stands up to the people that are mean to her.
I the three characteristics that I thought described Lani the most were that she is caring, brave, and loves being “green”.
Part 2
The book Something Like Fate has many conflicts. Lani, the main character, ends up facing most of the conflicts too.
One of the main conflicts is that Erin and Jason are going out together. Erin and Lani think they are going to be BFF’s for life because of what happened during the “accident”. When Erin goes to camp that summer, Lani and Jason get to know each other. When Lani believes she is starting to like Jason, she tries to stay away from him because she doesn’t’ want to be a boyfriend stealer! But Lani can’t resist seeing Jason. When they start getting to know each other more, Jason and Lani realize that they have known each other for a long time! I mean, they haven’t actually been friends or talked to each other, but when they were little, they used to play in the sandbox together at the park by the train tracks. They think that they have so much in common and that they are prefect soul mates. Lani feels horrible and guilty that she is seeing Jason when he and Erin are still in a relationship. Eventually Jason writes a letter to Erin while she is at camp. The letter says that he is breaking up with her because they don’t have that much in common and that the relationship isn’t working out. When Erin gets back from camp and she finds out what has been going on all summer between Lani and Jason, she gets furious! She convinces the whole school that Lani is a boyfriend stealer and she is a bad person. Erin is SO mad at Lani and doesn’t want to be friends with her anymore. She tells Lani that the only way she could forgive her, would be to stop seeing Jason. The major conflict in this situation was that Lani still wants to be friends with Erin, but she also wants to keep seeing Jason. She solves the conflict by deciding that someone else shouldn’t be able to make decisions for her. Lani thinks that it is her fate to be with Jason, or is it? Erin realizes that she shouldn’t be making decisions for Lani either and that Lani should be able to live her life the way she wants. This conflict is an internal conflict.
Another conflict in the book was that Blake is gay, but no one knows except Lani. Blake trusts her very much and believes in her that she will keep it a secret. He doesn’t want to tell anyone because he knows his father would be VERY mad after he would find out. Also, because the kids at school would make fun of him. When Lani lets out the secret, Blake is very mad. The whole school finds out and the students make fun of Blake. Lani tries to figure out a way to solve the mistake she made. Eventually, Blake approaches Lani. He tells her that he is relieved. Now that everybody knows that he is gay, he doesn’t have to worry about telling his father in person because he has probably already heard that news by now. The major conflict in this situation was that Blake’s secret got out about being gay. Lani resolves this conflict by apologizing to Blake for letting out his secret. She tries to stand up for Blake when kids out making fun of him at school too. This conflict is an external conflict.
If I were in either situation Lani was in, I think I would have handled them the same way. Lani didn’t tell Erin that she was seeing/dating Jason while she was away at camp. I think if I were her, I would have written a letter to Erin and explain the situation and ask if that was ok with her.
There were many conflicts in this book. The one’s I just named were the ones I thought were the most important/main conflicts that carried on throughout the book.
Susane Colasanti
