I just finished The Chocolate War, a young adult novel, by American author Robert Cormier. I actually listened to the book on CD, which is narrated by Frank Muller, but has an introduction by the author who explains how he came to write the book. His own teenage son had decided not to participate in a fund-raising candy sale at his school. Cormier says that he and his wife supported their son’s decision and that no repercussions actually happened. But, Cormier says he began to think about what COULD have happened, and the idea for The Chocolate War was born.
In the book, new student Jerry Renault refuses to participate in the annual chocolate sale at his private prep school. Although he tries to stand his ground, he suffers both physically and psychologically at the hands of cruel, intimidating bullies. And in the end, he decides that it wasn’t worth it to “disturb the universe.” The ending is hard to accept because we so desperately want the “good guys” to win, but it is in fact very true to real life. The good guys don’t always win.
Read more about Robert Cormier here: http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/chocolatewar/context.html
The book was also made into a movie which I have not seen but understand that it varies from the book in some key areas but remains true to the spirit of the original text.
The Chocolate War appears on the American Library Association’s Frequently Challenged Book List at #4, just ahead of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn which came in at #5. See the list here:
http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/bannedbooksweek/bbwlinks/100mostfrequently.htm
Please share your thoughts and opinions on this book -- or any others by American authors -- by adding a comment below.
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13 comments:
I first read Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut last summer when I was working as a lifeguard at a neighborhood pool. As you can imagine, I spent a lot more time reading than I did saving people. Once I picked it up, I couldn’t put it down until I had read the entire thing! I really enjoy his books because they seem to flow right off of the page and into my brain. It is almost like I’m part of the story instead of just reading about it. He doesn’t overuse big words or overly explain things. Vonnegut’s books have a unique voice behind them that makes me fearful to set them down.
I have read Breakfast of Champions, Slaughterhouse-5, Galapagos, Jailbird, Cat’s Cradle, and Sirens of Titan. In my opinion, Cat’s Cradle is the best. It takes place on a small Caribbean island called San Lorenzo. John is the narrator and is a writer researching for his book about the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. During his research, John comes in contact with a family called the Hoenikkers. The father is a brilliant chemist, the son is a midget who failed out of school, and the sister is forced to become the mother figure. They all end up crossing paths in San Lorenzo. A progressive religion based on lies is practiced in San Lorenzo and is illegal. Felix Hoenikker, the chemist, creates a substance called Ice-Nine and has the potential to destroy the world. This is a fast paced thriller which incorporates a satirical view of society, and some humor and twists along the way.
I would recommend this book to anyone with some free time who wants to read a great book that will be hard to put down.
I appreciated reading about Cat's Cradle here, because this was my first Vonnegut experience (at age 13), and my favorite for many years. Like Steve Sacro says above, it's a page-turner and a thriller, but I remember also being intrigued by the philosophical dimensions, especially the made-up religion of Bokonon (hope I've got the spelling right here). Vonnegut may seem like "light reading" sometimes, but I appreciate that he deals with big questions with that light touch.
Vonnegut was brilliant, the Mark Twain of the 20th century. The 21st century will miss his satirical observations. The IU Lilly Library has some manuscripts and other materials in its possession. A must see for any fan of Vonnegut.
I don't want to put anyone down, but i'm not sure if I really liked or was into Kurt Vonnegut's book, "Slaughter-House-Five". I guess I thought it was a little confusing, or really I just wasn't into it, but maybe I need to read some of his other books.
I am really happy that our American Literature class chose the books that we were to read in class. Like, "Fahrenheit 451". I am so happy that we read that book, because I had read it before, maybe in high school, I did not understand it at all then when I read it, but reading it now, I thought it was an awesome book and kicked butt. I am also happy that we were to read "The Color Purple". I always wanted to read it after seeing the movie a bunch, but I just never picked it up, this book i pretty good as well!
Hey...sorry I forgot to put my initials on that..Its Jessi W.
As to the comments made about Kurt Vonnegut and his book Slaughterhouse-Five, I have my own take on the matter. At first, I must be honest and say that I was purely reading "for the grade." I knew I would be quizzed on it, and beyond acquiring the answers I had little interest in the books content. I felt that the first half of the book dragged, and was one meaningless event after the other. It wasn't until the "second half" of the book that I began to get drown in. In retrospect, I feel like the first half of the book was meant to build up the understanding of the characters and what developed their inner-character; the second half was used as a psycho-analysis of the characters, as well as an in-depth analysis of the human psyche on a more global level. This aspect of the book fascinated me. When I first I viewed Vonnegut as another "light author" trying to get a chuckle out of his audience, or maybe get a chuckle himself by at times appalling his audience. Though this may be true, it isn't the main focus of the book, like I had come to believe in the beginning. I now feel that Vonnegut used some of this light-heartedness to tackle topics that typically couldn't be mentioned, or understood, otherwise. All-in-all, even after my beginning distain of the piece, it ended up being a marvelous read. I enjoyed it so much that I have gone on to read Vonneguts "autobiography" A Man Without A Country. After reading this piece I'm almost inclined to re-read Slaughterhouse and take another stab at fully understand the book. I hope you all will take a stab at it as well; you won't be disappointed. Thank you for reading. -Nathan J
Hello to all!
I am blogging as a student from Professor Starr's American Literature II class. This semester we read seven books the majority of which I had never read before. I've always wanted to try and make reading a constant habit of mine and now that we are at the end of our class reading list, I really feel encouraged to seriously do so.
I have to admit that there were a couple of books that I was not at all excited about reading (Howl by Allen Ginsberg in particular), but at the end of my reading experience I felt glad that I read them. Before and during my read through of Howl, I was a little upset about having to try and pick apart poetry. Although the poem was one of my hardest reads, when I finally reached the end with a big, PHEW, sigh of relief I felt more like I had read a short story of opinion rather than a long poem and that intrigued me! I love the idea of disguising one piece of work as a completely different kind of work although this probably was not Ginsberg's motive. That is just my take on the poem and it ultimately changed my entire feeling of the work.
I am really thankful that I had to read this poem inside of class because we were able to discuss it in length and decipher what Ginsberg was saying as a group. Now when I go back and re-read the poem, I will get a different experience and opinion from my first read through.
-Laurel C.-
This is a response to Nathan J and Jessi W
I agree with your unenthusiastic opinions on Slaughter-House Five. I however, don't seem to enjoy any Vonnegut work. Maybe I'm missing something, or maybe it's the writing style. But I just can't get excited about it. I need a book to fill me up, reach me in my core. His work just doesn't do it. I would put H.G. Wells in this catergory as well. So, I apologize to all the Vonnegut fans out there in cyber-space. Maybe I should try Cat's Cradle. Everyone seems have fond memories of it.
-Kinsey C.
For those of you who are struggling with Vonnegut, I might recommend his short story collection, "Welcome to the Monkey House." One story in particular, "Who am I this time?" is about a man who is very shy in person but becomes full of life and passion only when playing a character on stage with the local community theater. It was made into a (TV?) movie with Christopher Walken and Susan Sarandon playing the lead roles.
I also recommend “Harrison Bergeron” which is particularly funny – Vonnegut’s take on a futuristic society where all people are finally “equal.” I still laugh when I think of the ballerinas with sandbags on their ankles!
Today in class we discussed how religion relates at different levels within the book, Slaughter House Five. Let me preface my comment by first saying that
1) Kurt Vonnegut is a fantastic writer. (no argument possible) and
2) Has anyone read Breakfast of Champions??
In the book Vonnegut relates Billy Pilgrim to Jesus over and over. My question is if Pilgrim is Jesus who does that make
1) The Tralfamdorians?
2) The inn keepers?
3) Kilgore Trout?
4) Montana?
First off the question of who the Tralfamadorians would represent? In the sense that the Pilgrim preaches the messages of the Tralfmadorians, the could be considered God. Of course there is no implication that Pilgrim is their son. Also the Tralfamdorians could just be working for bigger guns up stairs. So, then who do they represent? Are they supposed to represent anyone? Am I reading way too far into the religious implications of this book? Second, I would like to discuss the inn keepers. Clearly, they represent the family who takes in jesus' parents before he is born. Is the inn synonymous with the manger in which jesus was born in? If so who are the wise men that bestow gifts upon jesus? The British men, the inn keepers themselves, the tralfmadorians?
Third, Kilgore Trout appears in every Vonnegut novel I've read. I'm not if he is an anchor for Vonneguts novels or what purpose he serves. Some argue that he serves as Vonneguts alter ego. I tend to agree with this statement. If he is not Vonneguts alter ego I don't really care because Kilgore Trout is one of the funniest and most despicable characters I have ever encountered. He is a disgusting person. It's like the devil took over a famous Sci-Fi writer and then and made him question every historical and unhistorical event to ever happen. Trout is a putrid, stink that Vonnegut cannot clean from his writing. But for some reason the stench of Kilgore Trout is always well received.
Fourth, Montana is one of the characters I threw into the list of characters in question because she is the only other human that is with Pilgrim in Tralfamadore which gives her some distinct sort of importance, although I have no idea what it is. On earth Pilgrim has a wife...is he cheating on her with Montana? If so does this relinquish Montana's chance of being considered in any sort of religious aspect? (mainly that of Mary Magdalen) In the painting of the last supper Mary appears to Jesus' right. Is there any significant point in the novel that could be considered to be last supper'esque, and if so does Montana with Pilgrim during this scene? I thoroughly enjoyed this book (as I do all Vonnegut books) All of his books reek of imagination and creativity...a quality that is often shared by Kilgore Trout...and the books underlying themes are always so perverse and thought provoking.
Joe, thanks for your thought-provoking post above on religion and Slaughterhouse-Five.
How's this for a possible interpretation of the Kilgore Trout character (in this book at least): since he comes before Billy and inspires him, even writing a pulp sci fi book that foreshadows that Trafalmadorian abduction, maybe he's a sort of prophetic precursor, i.e. a sort of John the Baptist. Far-fetched, I know, but your interesting suggestions made me think of this!
I love that this comment is still posted within an Ivy Tech blog.
Joe, Yes, we kept blogs from previous semesters in the archive. And the lit class this semester will be blogging on many of the same books you read when you took the class! Feel free to participate in the new blog for this semester too, especially since probably know the books!
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