Sample Book Review on A Highly Unlikely Scenario
Question 1
The first 35 pages of the book introduce the main characters of the book and their specific daily activities. It identifies Leonard as the main character in the book and at the same time explains the boring nature of his job. It also provides a sneak preview about Leonard’s grandfather and the way Leonard treated him while still alive. Also introduced are Leonards son, Felix and his sister. The nature of Leonard’s white room and his separation from the rest of the world is also examined. Celeste, his sister has a tendency of disappearing claiming to have secret book clubs though she always reappears at the required time.
Question 2
The Highly Unlikely Scenario is a book covering events happening in comical space. Leonard, the main character is a customer service agent working for Neesta Pizza. Leonard works from home and answers the pre-listed question asked by numerous customers who frequently call for the service. Leonard spends more time placating most of the irate customers with discount vouchers to a point that his boring life becomes happier. However, this lifestyle is cut short after a call from the 13th century that marks the beginning of conspiracies associated with time travel. The information provided indicates that all elements for light space comedy are in order though the author of the book fails to indicate some of the expectations in the above case. Time travel is actually indicated in the book though the writer does not explain how this happens. At the end, Leonard manages to come out of the white room to save the world (Netzer 19). The white room, in this case, is an enclosed zone away from the happenings of the world. Nonetheless, the book is not clear how Leonard ultimately saves the world from the Cabbalists involved in the story. Leonard’s sisters lock Leonard and Felix in the white room which has been turned into Leonard station with the belief that the room protects them from the happenings that occur in the outside world. On the other hand, Leonard is still haunted by the way he treated his grandfather before his death and attempts to remedy himself bay saving the world and loving Felix, his son. The book provides a first and experience of the comical nature of space and time travel.
Question 3
Isaac the Blind is a denizen of the thirteenth century who is considered as one of the Jewish mysticism persons who taught in the society. Isaac the Blind had various disciples including Ezra and Azriel. It is from this lineage that Leonard grandfather was born into. The hoi polloi in the society largely followed such teachings. The Kabbalah did not respect the teachings advocated by this group as they lacked some key components of their religion that was largely disciplined and esoteric. The clash between the two groups is exemplified later on as the Kabbalah are interested in decimating anyone associated with Isaac the Blind with Leonard being the key culprit since he is one of the male descendants associated with Isaac the Blind.
Question 4
Marco Polo remains one of the philosophers mentioned in the above book. Marco reappears in the thirteenth century and attempts to illustrate themes associated with time travel as well as other themes related to love and pain. Marco Polo was a traveler in the thirteenth century who found himself in the middle of two wars fought by two brothers wishing to expand their kingdom. He had been captured as a slave by one of the two kings though with time, Marco became one of the most preferred figures counselling the king on matters relating to war.
Question 5
Several puns have been used in the above book though some standout. Puns serve to bring out humor in various texts in the process breaking certain cycles of information and provide break points that can be used by the writer. They also make the book more interesting for readers. For example, the pun:
“I don’t need to leave the house, Leonard said, and he didn’t. He was perfectly fulfilled in his White Room, and joyous in his Life Plan, which was to heal clients-in-pain. It was a good life, its pieces fitting together like the double crust on Carol’s Chicken-in-Every-Pot Pie” (Netzer 106).
Question 6
Pythagoras remains one of the oldest mathematician of all time who introduced various concepts with the key one being the Pythagoras Theorem. This theorem is largely built on the fundamental principles of a triangle having an opposite, adjacent and hypotenuse side. The hypotenuse side is shorter compared to when the adjacent and opposite sides are combined. The Pizza eaten by Leonard had this configuration though his sister believed that such principles directly affected their lives in specific ways or methods. The books note that the “pizza shaped according to Pythagorean principles” (Netzer, 9). Ideally, it meant that the Pizza followed the same shape of the Pythagoras theorem. This means that it had a hypotenuse side that was larger than the adjacent and the opposite sides.
Work Cited
Cantor, Rachel. A Highly Unlikely Scenario, or a Neetsa Pizza Employee’s Guide to Saving the World. Melville House, 2014.