Paul Jennings-a Dozen Bloomin' Roses Review
Quirky Indeed
A Review of Paul Jennings’ “A Dozen Bloomin’ Roses”
Paul Jennings’ “A Dozen Bloomin’ Roses” is an effective and well written short story. It is part of a larger text called Quirky Tales which is part of the “Un” series written by Paul Jennings. It is a ghost story that may mistake for a sad romance as it contains death, shyness, unrequited love and bullies. The author uses a device called misdirection which makes you think one thing deliberately. Along with this, Paul Jennings’ effective use of language techniques leaves the reader with a striking imagery in their minds. But the things that stand out most for me are Paul Jennings’ clever use of characterisation and the interesting storyline.
The story is written in first person, who is described thoroughly at the start of the text. “..I have a black belt in judo and if I do say so myself I am quite good in a fight.” “Fight” and “black belt” associate with “strength” and when we think of “strength”, we immediately assume that the character is a male. So who is this “mysterious” character?
I believe that aspects of “A Dozen Bloomin’ Roses” associate with “Karma” which is why the main theme of the text is “if one is to do something bad to another, the same will happen to them.” Or simply”what goes around comes around!” The story begins with a boy named Gerald, who is caught looking through the flower shop owned by Jenny who is the boss of our narrator.
Gerald is forced to enter the shop under pressure and reluctantly buys a dozen roses. Powerful verbs and adjectives such as “shy”, “red”, “shivering”, ”frozen mouth” and “twitching”, allow us to imagine an extremely nervous boy. The simile “he looked around like a hunted rabbit” is an example of Paul Jennings’ effective language techniques. It s because of these sentences that we feel pity for Gerald; “this great big wave of redness swept down from his ears, down his neck and for all I know right down to his toes.” While Gerald buys roses
A Review of Paul Jennings’ “A Dozen Bloomin’ Roses”
Paul Jennings’ “A Dozen Bloomin’ Roses” is an effective and well written short story. It is part of a larger text called Quirky Tales which is part of the “Un” series written by Paul Jennings. It is a ghost story that may mistake for a sad romance as it contains death, shyness, unrequited love and bullies. The author uses a device called misdirection which makes you think one thing deliberately. Along with this, Paul Jennings’ effective use of language techniques leaves the reader with a striking imagery in their minds. But the things that stand out most for me are Paul Jennings’ clever use of characterisation and the interesting storyline.
The story is written in first person, who is described thoroughly at the start of the text. “..I have a black belt in judo and if I do say so myself I am quite good in a fight.” “Fight” and “black belt” associate with “strength” and when we think of “strength”, we immediately assume that the character is a male. So who is this “mysterious” character?
I believe that aspects of “A Dozen Bloomin’ Roses” associate with “Karma” which is why the main theme of the text is “if one is to do something bad to another, the same will happen to them.” Or simply”what goes around comes around!” The story begins with a boy named Gerald, who is caught looking through the flower shop owned by Jenny who is the boss of our narrator.
Gerald is forced to enter the shop under pressure and reluctantly buys a dozen roses. Powerful verbs and adjectives such as “shy”, “red”, “shivering”, ”frozen mouth” and “twitching”, allow us to imagine an extremely nervous boy. The simile “he looked around like a hunted rabbit” is an example of Paul Jennings’ effective language techniques. It s because of these sentences that we feel pity for Gerald; “this great big wave of redness swept down from his ears, down his neck and for all I know right down to his toes.” While Gerald buys roses