1. What was it about?
The book ''Perfect Chemistry'' is about a girl named Brittany... the as always popular, smart, rich and beautiful girl, who's leader of the cheerleaders team and one day at school she gets to meet a boy called Alex, who is the leader of the gang called ''Latino Blood'', he's not homeless but he's poor, handsome, smart and everyone is afraid of him. She almost crashes with his motorcycle, since that moment they both start getting into each others life... Ms. P, puts them together as lab partners, and assigns a huge project so they have to meet in the library to start it, they always keep on saying they hate each other but what they don't know is that they love each other deep inside. Alex bets with his friends that he can get to have a sexual relationship with her before thanksgiving, so at the begging everything is just a bet, but it ends up the opposite because he makes her fall for him, and he didn't actually noticed it but he fell for her.
2. What did you think?
I really find this story interesting because it changes almost all of the plot as how it usually is used... I mean in other books the girl falls instantly in love with you know ''the BAD guy'' but in here, she keeps on rejecting him at the begging until they both kiss and find out that they love each other. It actually made me jealous because their relationship is like an adventure, they have to snick out from home because Brittany's mother doesn't approve Alex, and they have to hide from society because their relationship is just so not correct, and it makes you want to have a relationship like that one... I mean I personally would like one like that because you get to live your life at the fullest and actually enjoy it, or maybe it's just that I like getting into trouble at home, I don't know. It also made me experience like what real love feels like... You do WHATEVER to be with the one you actually love, and makes you feel secure.
3. Who would like this and why?
I think that anybody, I mean also BOYS... would like this story... it's just an exciting book that makes you keep on reading because you just have like the doubt inside you, that question in your head like ''¿Is her mother going to catch her when she gets back home?'' and ''¿What will happen when everyone know they are going out?'' or ''¿What will Brittany do when someone tells her that Alex only wanted her virginity?'' it's just soooooo exciting to read this books, and it's not all about love that's why I think also a boy would like to read it... It includes gang fights, and drug dealers... all that kind of stuff.
The title of the book and the story have ALOT in common because they start going out because they are partners in their chemistry class and they have to do the project Ms. P assigns them. They are totally different starting from: social class, wealthy, she is American and Alex is Mexican, he is the leader of a gang and she is the leader of the cheerleaders. Isn't it true that when you combine 2 totally different substances... they cause a reaction? I think they should've get married and had a family because they both loved each other so much... it was love at first sight. This book is totally different to all of the others I've read, you always think it's going to be the typical story where you know ''bad boy and good girl'' but not that much you know, it's like they hate each other, but deep inside they love each other. This story can only be understood by being read.
METAPHOR- Music is my drug, the one thing that makes me numb.
- Because it doesn't literally drugs you.
IMAGERY- “He has eyes so expressive they give a hint to more than what he portrays. He’s dedicated to his friends, family, and even his motorcyle. He touched me as if I were made of glass. He kissed me as if he’d savor it for the rest of his life.”
- It makes you imagine his eyes, that with just one look you can see who he really is. He has touched her carefully, as if she could've break. He kissed her gently.
SIMILE- “Oh, God. I'm in big trouble. Because I'm staring. I can't keep my eyes from ogling his chiseled triceps and biceps and every other "eps ' he has. The butterflies in my stomach have just multiplied tenfold as my wandering gaze meets his.”
- She is comparing how she feels when she is with him.
PERSONIFICATION- “Can I run from my heart? It hurts, deep inside my body. And I know I’ll never be the same.”
- She is giving life and a ''body'' to her heart because she is asking if she can run from her heart...
- Tiffany Bracelet: Colin gave Brittany a tiffany bracelet for their first anniversary.
- Designer Clothes: Brittany wears designer clothes that the kids from the south side of town think she wears to show off her wealth. In truth, Brittany wears the clothes to make her mother happy and discovers that half the time she fails to do so.
- Keys: Brittany throws Alex's motorcycle keys into the grass to get him back for stealing her car. Later, Alex throws Brittany's keys into the school pool.
- Pink Bicycle Bell: Brittany places a pink bicycle bell on Juan to retaliate against Alex for throwing her keys into the school pool.
- Hand Warmers: Brittany and Alex's senior chemistry project is to create hand warmers. Several months after Alex disappeared from her life, Brittany finds a pair of hand warmers in her locker.
I believe the author represents with all of this symbols... how the love between Alex and Brittany starts growing and growing... because with the bracelet, she feels she doesn't need a gift, she wants the memory. Alex is always judging her designer clothes, the keys is like the small private game they've got. The hand warmers is what made them notice each other.
One theme found in Perfect Chemistry is the use of patience. Alex Fuentes uses patience when he waits for Brittany to end up her relationship with her boyfriend and start liking him more. Another example of patience is every time Brittany watches her mentally retarded sister. Brittany needs to take her time when she feeds her and when she needs help with her sentences. Another theme in the novel is love at first sight. Alex and Brittany fell in love with each other when Brittany almost crashed into Alex’s motorcycle. From then on, they spent every second thinking about each other. Another example is when Carmen first met Alex in the summer, she fell in love with him instantly. More small themes in the book is friendship, never be in a gang, the care for family, and bullying isn’t the key. Diversity in Racial and Economic InequalityOn the first day of school, the new principal at Fairfield High School tells Alex that he wants the students to build a bridge between the different races. In Fairfield, the wealthy live on the north side of town and the poor live on the south side, but both sides send their children to the high school. This creates a situation in which many of the students divide up into groups and refuse to let members of the other groups into their own groups.
I guess that the setting in this story is really, really, really important... because, there is the north and south neighborhoods, and besides most of the families care too much about social categories. I think it contributes to the story because you are judged by the place you are raised, and if Alex would've been raised in the North part then Brittany's mother wouldn't have any problem with her daughter being in a relationship with him, and Alex wouldn't be involved in illegal business.
A relationship between Brittany and Alex is like social suicide. When Alex challenges Brittany to be who she really is, she surprises everybody… and gets real. I enjoyed the changing points of view. However, Perfect Chemistry switches the point of view from chapter to chapter, Brittany to Alex, in the first person. I like this concept and I can see how it was necessary to Perfect Chemistry‘s plot so you could take a look into the thoughts and reasons of the two main characters and truly understand them. The author uses two characters to narrate the story and therefore she marks each chapter with the name of the character narrating so that the reader will not get confused.The point of view of this novel works well with the plot because it gets the reader into the main characters and their motivations that might not be obvious with another point of view.
 Brit, I liked her, because she is the only one to know how to be shown as the perfect girl and no weaknesses and accept that things are not as they seem to be. She fights by more than one person and she is not selfish as they tend to be this kind of characters who mutate to pass pages. It is sincere and even innocent without scratching in the stupidity that sometimes these girls have.
Alex although, this character, I really liked him by the type of humor that he had, seemed more obvious his character, because even though it is a band, being the main guy know that the evil is not in him and betrays the truism that does everything to help someone else and we know what will come later.
My favorite character? Paco, a friend of Alex and that even with things that live is a tremendously loyal until the end. His character wasn't really developed.
 Alex and Brittany during their discussion in the door building. Brittany is the popular - rich girl at her school, while Alex is the tough - poor guy. Everyone thinks that Brittany is perfect but her family is always parted, she has a sister with down syndrome, her father is always at work and her mother starts yelling at any time. Alex has no money and he is the leader of a gang.
They both go to the same school and when Brittany is parking her BMW at the school parking lot she almost crashes with Alex's motorcycle, they both get into a discussion when Brittany wants to enter the building. Now they hate each other but what they don't know is that chemistry is what is going to reunite them.
The events connect them because from there their love will begin.The plot twist towards the end of Perfect Chemistry had my eyes welling up. I did not predict it at all and could barely believe the circumstances. It’s just so unfair! This was definitively hard to read… but without this scene, this book would have been unrealistic and watered-down. So I thank Simone Elkeles for Perfect Chemistry‘s authenticity.
| BOOK LINK: http://www.anyebooks.com/22/text/part2.html#chapter2 | I'm starting to read this book for my English exam, I choosed this book because I entered a google page where i found a list of titles and I liked how the name sounded.
LET'S START READING!
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