Outside Reading Essay

I read The Bonesetter’s Daughter for my first outside reading book and enjoyed it a lot more than I usually enjoy school assigned reading. The story was really enjoyable to read and I found myself getting very close to the characters. There was not much that I didn’t understand about the book, I feel like I read it very well. But when it came time for the essay I struggled. The whole time I was reading the book I caught myself stressing in the back of my mind about having to write an essay about it. And even though I feel like I knew all the main ideas and understood the theme, essay writing is way out of my comfort zone, especially when I am restricted with time. I don’t understand how to get the ideas from a 400-page book onto paper in an hour or less. It is also hard for me to choose which subjects in the book I need to talk about. The prompt starts you out but it’s hard to choose what evidence to use and what commentary makes sense with the prompt. I guess just doing essays more and getting comfortable with them is the only way to improve but it seems like I will never get there.