Deppilf (read to understand)

Actually it's Flipped, the story of two kids grwoing up from the second grade to the end of grade eight. This is a story I used to read over and over again when I was younger. Bryce, a blonde boy with blue eyes moves across the street from his worst nightmare, Juli. Not only is she annoying and living behind him as a shadow, she just does not know how to take a hint. Then in every other chapter we see the novel's viewpoint from Juli's point of view. She thinks Bryce has dreamy blue eyes, and one day he will have the courage to come up to her and give her a first kiss. Well from his point of view that will never happen and he did absolutely everything to avoid her. But she thinks that he is just to shy to talk to the exciting self that is Juli, but the reader knows that this was not the case. Grade eight comes, and suddenly things get flipped.

A Strange Man

Things get more complicated by the fact that many, probably most, of Henry's ventures in time are more unexpected. Henry turns out to be known to the Chicago police as a odd man who likes to walk around in alleys with no clothing on. His co-workers in The Newberry Library think of him as a strange guy who occasionally disappears but usually leaves a pile of clothing behind. Henry learns to steal clothing form clothes lines, pick pockets, defend himself from attackers, and break into any sort of locked building. He gets pretty good at this, and actually ends up teaching his young self (whom he occasionally visits) how to do these things. That's how far I have gotten in the novel, but things seem to be getting more and more difficult.

An Untimely Encounter

Luckily for Henry, all this travelling in time takes him to a meadow in the woods just out of sight of the Michigan home of this cute, smart, little girl named Clare. This is a meadow in which Clare likes to play alone. The first time the strange 30 something year old naked man appears out of nowhere in the meadow, she is young enough to not be put off. These encounters had a bit of a relationship to develop. Eventually, they fall in love (actually, she falls in love with him, he is already married to her). Since he always travels around in time, he has figured out most of the times he will arrive in the meadow. Accordingly Clare has a list of dates and times, and makes sure there is a stash of clothing, food, and drink for her him.

Controlling Time?

Henry meets his wife Clare Abshire, when he is 28 years old, in 1991. She is a few years younger. They get married and are very much in love until one of them eventually dies. Now this may sound kind of boring, but there's more. He is from a humble background consisting of two artist parents, and she is of a very wealthy background with a father who is a lawyer and a neurotic mother. Her family lives in Michigan, in a big house in a wealthy space. The actual interesting part is that Henry has an unusual disorder that causes him to occasionally travel in time. It is hard for him to know when the time travel will happen, he cannot stop it or control it, though he learns that certain things make it less or more likely to happen. He gets a bit sick, dizzy, then suddenly he is somewhere else and, and at some other time with nothing, no clothing, no possessions, only his intelligence.

Two Different Goals

On the one hand, he was moved by his own troubled childhood to vow that he would be a good father to his children. On the other hand, a flashy red Ferrari caught his eye one day, encouraging him to adopt the goal of becoming a stock broker in order to earn enough money to buy his own Ferrari. The two goals aren’t incompatible, but Gardner doesn’t mention any tension he may have felt between his selfless love for his son and his more superficial financial goals. Never giving in to despair, Gardner made an huge transformation from being part of the city's invisible poor boy to being a powerful figure in its financial district. More than a memoir of Gardner's financial success, this is the story of a man who breaks his own family's cycle of men abandoning their children.

Underpriviledged

Chris Gardner went from an underpriviledged childhood to become a wealthy stock broker and entrepreneur, and managed to deal with single fatherhood before it was culturally accepted. His memoir, Pursuit of Happyness, spends a lot of time telling that difficult childhood and his change to the military and to time spent working in medicine. The story got more interesting, when Gardner is living in San Francisco determined to raise his son and succeed as a stockbroker, even though he never went to college.

A True Pursuit

An inspiring true life story was the novel of the Pursuit of Happiness, which depicted the story of Chris Gardner. Chris Gardner’s life story is impressive. Despite having never gone to college, and after a period of being homeless, he became a huge successful stockbroker and wrote his memoir, Pursuit of Happyness. It’s not surprising that Hollywood turned his story into a film starring Will Smith. He dealt with an abusive stepfather, and a poor upbringing. Pursuit of Happyness tracks this unforgetful, poor to rich story, including his unhappy childhood and his adult progression through a few different careers.