Why did I like/dislike the text?

This text has had its ups and downs in Catch. Tim has went through a lot the last couple of days and it is all so overwhelming to him. He finds a girl he works with and he likes this girl a lot. Her name is Helena and Tim and her do not necessarily get along right away. Tim just toys with her at first and then it becomes something more when she sees Tim there. They talk all night and go home together. The next day at work we find out that they slept together that night. It kind of builds from here and they are talking all the time, hanging out, not being seen together or seen at all for that matter. His mom calls his friend Denny asking where Tim was and he said Tim was at his house. Tim was fortunate that Denny did this for him. Helena has to watch a house and Tim goes over there and stays with her and they went shopping together for food and run into Tim's brother. He sees them and kind of makes fun of those two together. They go about their night and Helena falls asleep on Tim because she was so mad about his brother she drank too fast and passed out. Tim had an orientation the next day and didn't call Helena. This whole part interest me because It sounds so much like a high school affair kind of thing. No one quite is sure what is going on and they just manage not to be seen and then they finally do. I also thought it was weird how they met at a bar and thats where they hit it off at. Tim later finds out that his brother and Helena slept together all in high school and thats why she can not continue the relationship with Tim because she has hurt way to many people.

• Discuss your ideas about the main character(s). Is the character worthy of praise or criticism? Why?

I think Tim Temples is a great character in this book. It helps show what the life of a teenage boy is like in a small town in Illinois. The main character is just assumed to be automatically going to University of Illinois just because his brother did. Also he was assumed to be playing baseball somewhere in college without even thinking about his options. Tim really does not know what he wants to do or even go to college. He sees that his brother has been ruined by going to college to play baseball. He got into partying and lost a step in baseball. He just really does not know what he wants to do and he receives all this praise of being a Temple. He is not worthy of any of this because he has not really worked hard for any of it and just kind of expects to get it all handed to him and he will get all the answers without trying. I do not think that Tim will amount to anything of a college baseball player. I think all the talk about him moving on after the high school life will die down and he will just settle with staying in Mattoon and working at the plant for the rest of his life with the horsemen. I do not think that Tim has pursued anything in baseball and has not put fourth the effort to be a dominant player. In my eyes he is mediocre but is looked upon as being good because it runs in the blood. Until he works his butt off and proves himself I do not think that he deserves any of the praise he gets just because of the last name he has.

• What is the strangest part of the text?

The strangest part of the text in this novel so far is about why Tim's gang is acting so weird around the boss at work. The "Horsemen" is the gang that Tim hangs around and all of his friends work with him. He has grown up with these kids since he was little and the way they act around his boss is not the way that they normally act around him. They all like to party, stir up trouble, hit on girls, hook up with girls and just live the teenage life. But after seeing how they all work around each other it was weird to me about how they change that much around the boss. Tim seems to get along fine with the boss and has no problems what so ever. Later as you read, you find out that they are kind of afraid of the boss and do not really know what to think of him. Tim likes to hit on the secretary of his boss and just screw with her head. Tim later finds out that she graduated with his brother and that is why she is not very fond of him. She is real snippy and kind of always walks around like a bomb. She could go off any minute but Tim finds fun is bugging her hoping to get lucky is the way i take it. This book is very interesting and the life of a teenage boy is very well explained throughout. I just thought it was weird how the Horsemen acted differently around the boss than Tim does. I found out that Tim only works there for the summer, next two months but his friends have to work there for about 10 more years.