 |   Author : SparkNotes Editors Number of Pages : 960 Publisher : SparkNotes List Price: Our Price: $9.00 You Save: $5.95 (40%) Used Price : $1.05 |
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- ISBN13: 9781411400269
- Condition: New
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Product Description
The SparkNotes 101 series is a one-stop course companion or students. Each book in the series uses clear, readable language to explain and analyze the complex works students are reading. SparkNotes 101 breaks down the subject matter into easily understandable components, providing students with character lists, analyses of themes and symbols, plot summaries, and more.
Covers the 150 most-studied works of literature, including character lists, one-sentence summaries of every novel, plot overviews, major themes, symbols, and quotations, author biographies, and historical contexts of each book.
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Customer reviews
A must have for review purposes 
by .. R. Block (Los Angeles, CA United States)
Purchased to review for English CSET. Great review of tons of books and plays.
101 Lit 
by .. T. Stol ()
The glossary in the back was an excellent resource in my preparation for taking the English content area exam for teachers in CA.
A CliffNotes Wannabe or Decent Reference for the Lit Student? by .. Scotman (Mt. Shasta, CA)
I originally picked up SparkNotes 101 to get some clear understanding of some Charles Dickens. However, I had no idea of how thick and extensive this book is!
In one volume, 150 novels and plays. There's so much here that it is hard to list them all in one little review, therefore I will tell you about the pros and cons.
The pros are the extensive list of classic novels and plays. For example, let's look up Moby Dick! We have a brief bio of Herman Melville. Moby Dick in context" "In writing Moby Dick, Melville was influenced by the work of Nathaniel Hawthorne, author of the Scarlet Letter....etc."
A list of Key Facts follows. In this case, the date of publication, the setting, point of view of the writer, the antagonist, and so on.
Then, the extensive plot overview! A list of the main characters of the novel along with their intentions and objectives.
What are the themes of Moby Dick? The dubious existence of fate. The exploitative nature of whaling. And so on. Finally, a list of important quotations from the work. And then the work even explains the importance of the quote, the context of the speaker and what it all means.
Pros: Extensive coverage of all the main classics of literature.
Cons: Not a substitute for reading the original classic works of the respective authors, however, you will go into the classic knowing what's going on rather than diving in cold.
I prefer Cliffs Notes and their respective website, since they actually supply the complete classic work plus synopsis.
Recommended for the reader who wants a summary before diving into the classic novels you really need to read and understand!