Ok -- so I returned the Julia Franck book to the library 3/4 read (and overdue to boot -- a 3$ fine and I did not even like or finish the book). If someone knows what happens to the boy left in the train staion feel free to fill me in -- but since at p. 279 Helene was not even pregnant with him yet I had to give it the heave ho. Perhaps it would be a better book were I not so tired. I exchanged it for David Grossman's new book To the End of the Land. I suspect it will take more brainpower than I have in the last week of classes; we shall see.
And if you want to follow a funny/exasperating set of posts over the worst children's book in the world (The Giving Tree) then go to Andrew Sullivan's blog: http://andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com/ It took a while for my view of this as a dangerous piece of blather about a child getting everything to the detriment of the poor tree comes out in the comments. And my few readers will, perhaps, be relieved that I shall stay silent about the Giving Tree and Jesus.
And tomorrow is Passover -- I can post on reading the Haggadah.....
Okay, I need a better link here--I couldn't find the original Giving Tree post, just several posts reinterpreting the book positively because THEY are the givers (including one mom of a kid newly diagnosed with autism, and I thought, "First, please find the school district interventionists who will provide free services, and second, please read some Eva Feder Kittay!")
ReplyDeleteI think this was the original post:
ReplyDeletehttp://andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com/2011/04/the-best-childrens-books.html
but I am not so savvy with tracing down these things in cyber-space....
This reader would actually like to hear your views on The Giving Tree, please [Hi, Dr. Curtis! It's Patricia Maples. I took a few of your classes (as many as I could!) waaaay back in 2005-2007ish] Do you have any idea how long I've waited for you to start blogging? Hope all is well. You know, you should add a "reading list" page to this blog. A recommended reading type of thing. Because you don't already have enough to do....
ReplyDeleteHey Patricia -- The Giving Tree -- I hate it! the kid is mean and selfish and the tree just gets sucked dry - so if it is about parenting then it teaches kids to be little shits who let their aged parents die alone. If it is about friendship then the tree is the worst of all enablers. And if it is about god -- well then you got me there. But I presume god has some sort of continual re-growth of tree limbs capacity that challenges the very premise of the tale!
ReplyDeleteUm, yikes, that grace post was weird, in part because the reader seems to have missed the whole point about the tree getting all destroyed in The Giving Tree.
ReplyDeleteAt some point remind me to show you how to make live links in your comments.
See, I'm commenting on the blog! I just wanted to note that The Giving Tree made me feel a lot of anguish and anger as a child. I hated that book, largely because I felt really, really terrible for the tree. I spent the entire book sympathizing with the tree and hating the protagonist, and then a couple of weeks after reading the book being depressed for the poor tree. I believe I received it as a gift, and every time I see it in a bookstore I think about how it was one of my least favorite books as a child.
ReplyDelete