I had a big Newbery week this week. I read two of the Big Guns: Jacob Have I Loved (1981) and The Giver (1994). Both books are known for being provocative and emotionally intense. Whatever. I'm an adult - I'm pretty sure I can handle whatever Newbery throws at me.
Not so much.
Jacob Have I Loved was not really the traumatic one, but it was fairly emotionally ravaging. I've been dreading it because of my much publicized dislike for Katherine Paterson (author of Bridge to Terabithia) and I was expecting a manipulative, emotional bloodbath. Which it kind of was. But it was exquisitely written and the story is beautifully told.
(On a side note, I remember a bunch of girls checking it out from the library in 2nd grade because they thought with a title like that, it must be a steamy romance. It isn't. The title is a scriptural reference to Isaac's twins, Jacob and Esau, and the book tells the story of two twins on a remote island in the Chesapeake Bay during WWII.)
While I wasn't really fond of the characters (I'm not sure we're supposed to be), I loved how the rocky, windswept setting is almost a character itself, it's such a crucial part of the book. I cringed and winced at every terrible turn our heroine's life takes, but was satisfied and uplifted at the unexpectedly sweet ending. It was, I am reluctant to say, a near masterpiece.
That said, this book is not so much for the kids. 12+ at least.
But enough about Jacob Have I Loved. Next I read The Giver. Really, this is a very good book. But again, I think I just can't see it through a child's eyes and therefore it rapidly went from provocative and troubling to utterly horrifying in the last three chapters.
I really loved almost all the book. It's like Our Town meets A Brave New World meets The Hunger Games. It's the kind of book that would have blown my mind and got me thinking in a whole new way if I had read it as a child. Our hero lives in a tightly controlled Community where all choices have been eradicted. We watch him gradually question the rules that have shaped his life until
***SPOILER ALERT****
he discovers that all elderly, less-than-perfect infants, and rule breakers are not Released from the Community, as he has been raised to believe, but are really being euthanized. In one horrific scene, we watch in grim and painful detail as our hero's father kills a newly born infant. Seriously, I thought I was going to throw up.
The book rapidly concludes in the next few chapters as our hero escapes the Community with his toddler brother who was to be "Released" the next morning for insufficient development.
The next few chapters are agonizing as the two boys begin to slowly die of starvation and exposure before they are able to find help. Which they do, I think? The book wraps up so suddenly in the last paragraph, that it actually left me wondering if they found help or if it was just a metaphor for their deaths. Very unsettling. Or thought provoking, I guess you could say.
I know I'm a big... well, baby when it comes to babies. It does not help that Sam is the same age and matches exactly the physical description and temperment of this child. Also, he has the same name as my dear friend's little boy, a child I am very attached to. Pretty much, I closed the book and burst into tears. And cried for a long time. You can ask Jared - I was totally pathetic! It was so embarassing. I have read a lot of books and consider myself a fairly objective reader, but I have never done that before.
I am starting to wonder if I am at a disadvantage reading these books as an adult. They are not the same books to the twelve year old reader as they are to me. Am I even reading the book as the author intended it to be read or do my experiences and adult emotions inform my reading so strongly that my interpretationsare way off base? I wonder.
Luckily, not all the books are like these two. And, having had twelve hours to digest my feelings for The Giver, I can say it is a powerful book and I'm glad I read it. I think it fully deserves the award and would be interested to hear from anyone who did read it when they were younger or whose children did.
I am currently reading The White Stag (1938) which should be delightfully dull in comparision. Now on hold at the library: The Story of Mankind (1922) - the very first winner -, I, Juan de Pareja (1966), and Hitty, Her First Hundred Years (1930).
Thank goodness the random number generator didn't give me Bridge to Terabithia for next week.
9 comments:
Aagh, babies in danger get to me in a whole new way since I've had E. I probably would have bawled too.
I missed my chance to read a lot of kids' classics when I was the appropriate age (For instance either of these Newbery books or Catcher in the Rye) but I was one of those kids who was read a lot of age-inappropriate books. The two stand-outs were Flowers In The Attic when I was in 4th or 5th grade and Sophie's Choice when I was in 6th grade. A lot of Sophie's Choice went over my head but I still remember crying and crying.
I'm really enjoying this series, btw!
Thanks for validating me, Faith! I really, really appreciate it. Watching the baby die in Benjamin Button was like a horror movie for me.
And thanks for enjoying the series. I know those posts are waaaay too long! :)
Yikes! I just realized you said Flowers in the Attic. Did you do okay?
Now that I've had my own baby out of incest, I bawl even more at Flowers in the Attic.
If it makes you feel better, the (horrific) sequel to the Giver lets you know they both survived. Read Number the Stars next. It'll make you immediately feel better about Lois Lowry.
I know, right? The die-cut covers on those V.C. Andrews books sucked me right in! (Jan was reading them and I stole them out of her room.)
Hi Gwyn,
The Giver is one of my favorite books, but let it be known that I really like depressing books for some reason. I think I read the Giver when I was young but it pretty much was only a story to me then. Reading it a few times in the last couple of years has given me so much to think about. There are so many themes there, it blows my mind. (It also reminds me of Logan's Run :)) Anyway, I wish I had something profound to say about it but I just wanted to say I really like it and I'm glad you thought they were rescued at the end. I could never figure that out, so I'm going with your interpretation. Have you read/re-read Witch of Blackbird Pond yet? I loved that book when I was younger. Also, I, too am a BTT hater and I think I bawled during the movie.
I also like this series, Gwyn. I'm really enjoying your take on these books.
Tracy mentioned a good point: to kids, these are just stories. They have too little life context to be horrified.
I just let Jane read Hunger Games, and I warned her, "there's a girl who gets her head bashed in with a rock." I'm really afraid of head injuries, so that part was gruesome to me. But I think Jane hasn't spent much time considering the implications of a serious head injury. She wasn't afraid or wierded out by any part of that book.
i think i read the giver before i had kids. i definitely can't reread it now. yeah, intense. but i might have to try jacob again, now that i know where the chesapeake bay is! i don't think i really got it when i was younger.
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