My thoughts on the book

After reading 'Destroy All Cars' I'm actually torn; I liked the theme the book was about, but with the way the protagonist acted reading became a pain with every chapter.
I kinda understand James' dissapointment in goverment and society, but wailing about it all the time, and writing it down in essays in colloquial  language, is something a child would do, not a 17 years old boy.
Another thing which annoyed me while reading the book was James' daydreaming of Sadie. I understand if he still loves her, but he does not have to say it all the time (maybe I'm just as unromantic as a clod, but to be compelled to read about how 'perfect' a girl is, who he actually trys to forget,  is killing the rest of the book for me).

In the end 'Destroy All Cars' was one of the better books I had to read for school, but I would not recommend it, mainly because of the Twilight-like lovestory..

Summary of chapter 4

Chapter 4 takes place at Sun River, a vacation Resort in Oregon.
James' family vacation was a non-planned, last minute idea, which came from James father, which annoyed him, because he knew it was not for the family, but for his working career.
When they arrived in Sun River, James already disliked the Resort from the first moment; all the SUV's reminded him of Consumer Americans.
One night, when James left his little sister Libby in the main lodge and walked to the lodge where his family lived, he had a dispute with his parents about him being unresponsible.
Another day, while James was snowboarding with his family, he thought about another family trip during the time he was together with Sadie, were he wrote a letter to her.
On another night, he ended up with an 8th grade girl in a locker room, and was close to making out with her, but rejected her in the end.
At the last part of the chapter, James realizes he still loves Sadie Kinnel.

There is also a short 'flashback' from James' point of view from the time his father left the family, which explains his later aggressions to him.

Portrait of Sadie Kinnel

Likes: Convincing people into conservation, mainly with her Activist Club in school; the city library and coffee (at least when she was together with James)

Dislikes: not exactly sure about her dislikes. But I think she has a problem with people she can not convince to her opinions/believings

Hobbies: Being active in conservation related actions; reading (since she went with James to the library several times, I believe she is into books in some point)


(I think she is Close to book Sadie, at least in my opinion)



(Source: https://www.pinterest.de/pin/320248223485394764/)

What I would give up

Livestock was one of the major inventions of humanity. It simplified the living of prehistoric men, for they were not longer forced to go out and hunt, when they needed meat, but could butcher an animal of their stock. But with the livestock, pre-humans had to face other problems; they had to provide enough forage and space for the animals to live, also they had to protect them from predators like wolfes, bears, coyotes, etc.
Today we ('first world' people) do not need to protect our livestocks anymore, for most of it lives in mass husbandry. Mass husbandry has only one (in my opinion TERRIBLE) benefit; it produces huge amounts of meat with little of money. At the first moment, that seems to be a good thing for people; even labourer with low payment can effort it.
But mass husbandry has more detriments than mos people think; first of all, the meat which is produced has a terible quality (not only does it lack in a healty fat structure (which is an indicator for healthy meat), it's also 'filled' with varieties of medicine, like antibiotics,which causes immunity to this medicines when they are required. Other disadvantages are caused by the livestock itself; not only are huge areas of nature, like parts of the southamerican rainforest, destroyed, to make space for the livestock. Especially cows produce huge amounts of methane gas, which has a high blight to the ozonosphere.
For me, this are more than enough reasons to stop consume meat which was produced in mass husbandrys; actually, I would stop eating meat of cows at all, for they produce most of methane gas (besides sheep) in the world. (Also, red-meat is, in high amounts, deleterious for humans, which makes poultry and soy-products attractive alternatives.)      
 

The protagonist

As far as we know, the protagonist in 'Destroy All Cars' is James Hoff, a 17 year old high school student, who lives with his mother, sister, and father somewhere in Oregon.
We also know he hates 'consumer Americans' (and their cars) who drive huge cars with high fuel consumption; in his eyes the 'typical' American, who buys everyday something, even if it's just some useless rubbish, needs to drive, 'cause he does not want/like to walk.
James seems to have problems with his family, or at least with his father; he tells us how his father left the family for some time, but came back later, which he highly disagrees with. The main reason for this is how he got closer to his mother, while his father was gone; but when his father returned, his mother gave all her attention to his father, and ignored James.
We also get to know that James already had a girlfriend; Sadie Kinnel, who he already had breaked up with, when we start to read the novel. At this point, we get a short list with reasons James has Problems (which eventually lead to the end of the relationship) with Sadie.
In his essays, both School and personal, he complains about 'consumer Americans' in a highly enthusiastic way, which his english teacher seems not to approve, considering the grades James get for his essays.

So much for now, sorry for grammer mistakes >.>