Novel

Point Blanc
Anthony Horowitz
Date of Publication: 2001


TEXTUAL CONVENTIONS-
Point Blanc by Anthony Horowitz is a third person, fiction novel written in past tense.

LITERAL COMPREHENSION-
The novel is about a teenage, under cover secret agent named Alex Rider. Alex is sent to an expensive school for rich kids in the French Alps, to find out the mysterious coincidence happening there. He is sent there disguised as Alex Friend, the son of a billionaire. Alex later finds out that the evil Dr Grief is cloning them to take over the world.
The main characters of this exciting novel are Alex rider, Dr Grief, The Friend Family, MI6 Crew, Mrs Stellenbosch, James Sprintz and the other students. It is first set in his home town in England but the scene later moves to the French Alps where the College is. The novel is set in present times around the early 21st century. The main issue is obviously Dr Griefs cloning but Alex soon finds a way to destroy the clones and save the world from Dr Grief's harsh plan.

CONTEXT-
Anthony Horowitz wrote the series of Alex Rider because he was always interested in the MI6 and action. He quotes that when he was a teenager and always wanted to work for the secret service. Anthony Horowitz was inspired by the the first successful clone, Dolly the sheep. Horowitz read about it in a newspaper one day, and this inspired the book Point Blanc.

INTERPRETATION-
What was Dr Grief's childhood/life in South Africa like?
What happened to Alex Rider at the end of the novel?
What happened to Alex Rider's Family?
How many more novels in the series are you going to publish?

SYNTHESIS-
The story is not based on any real events. Although most things in the scenes are possible in real life. Such as where its set, the MI5 service and also what its about could be possible. Alex Rider and all the other characters are only fictional.

EVALUATION-
The story made me feel excited and curious about what would happen next.
At the end of the novel I felt amazed to see how everything fitted together, but I became a bit lost at the end as it seemed quite hard to understand.
Since Alex Rider was a teenager I could relate to how he felt in situations and enjoyment for engaging in something out of his comfort zone.
This novel had many hidden messages behind the story line. I learnt how teenagers are troubled in life because of peers or family issues. For example James Sprintz was a very troubled kid. This was mainly because his father was a very wealthy man and never had time to engage with his son. This made James feel not important so he became rude and bad behaved mainly to attract his fathers attention.
At first when i read the novel I found James very disruptive, rude and aggressive. But as the story progressed I realised that James really was a caring friend that was just a bit frustrated about a few issues.
The snowboarding scene down the hill to find help, stood out greatly in the novel. It was intense and made you unsure how Alex would end up. Especially at the end of the snowboard scene where he escapes Dr Griefs guards but is hit by a train and is later found by MI5 unconscious. Mrs Stellenbosch finds out that he is at the hospital so she goes to get him. The nurse tells her that unfortunately Alex died from the injury over night. At that point I thought the novel was over and felt so confused about how sudden it ended. But in the next chapter Alex wasn't dead. The nurse was a MI5 agent and told Mrs Stellenbosch that he was dead for his safety. Mrs Stellenbosch was then arrested when she left the hospital.
Overall I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and I would recommend it to any teenager who enjoys action and excitement. The novel showed many different themes, such as bullying and peer pressure as well as high levels of action and violence.

CREATIVE-
This novel Point Blanc by Anthony Horowitz would be a fabulous story line for a movie. It is exciting, engaging and has many intense scene that would make this movie a blockbuster. The first novel of this series has already become a movie. People found the movie Stormbreaker very action packed and it was popular within a large variety of ages. Already having the first novel Stormbreaker turned into a movie, this will give Point Blanc the extra popularity to boost it high in the ratings. Although I would advise one scene to be removed from the plot. There is no need for the very first scene where the lives of two billionaires are taken. Instead it can go straight to the scene with Alex Rider. With out the first scene, the movie will be less confusing and it can always be explained easily, later in the novel.

The author aimed this exciting novel at young readers. Anthony Horowitz used themes such as bullying, peer pressure, social issues and of cause action to engage the readers. The novel mainly focuses at teenagers who experience these themes everyday. The main character Alex Rider is a normal high school student that also experiences these themes. Having the main character the same age as the reader gives the reader a stronger knowledge of what the character goes through. Many teenagers enjoy the thrill of adrenalin, so Anthony Horowitz packed the novel full with stunts and violence that Alex fights through.