I saw God Once When I Was Little

Let me start off by saying four things:

01. This book (and the series as a whole) is a favorite of both my dad and my younger sister. They are both in love with the story and its characters; they could fan over it for hours. My dad isn't much of a reader, but he stuck with these books. My younger sister reads everything and proclaims this to be her favorite novel, ever. They both plan of seeing the film.
02. I am painfully aware of Mr. Card's prejudices and pass statements in regard to the LGBTQIA community, marriage equality, and even minorities. However, I was determined to try and not let my disagreements with his views cloud my judgement on the novel.
03. I am aware that this novel has won several awards and is considered a classic and a favorite by many. I'm also aware that those that disagree with the praise the novel has received are often called names and told they are 'closed minded' and 'not seeing the big picture', among other things. I disagree with that: you are allowed to not like something, even if you understand it.
04. I listened to the audio book of this, which was recorded in 2004/2005. One of the things I found most interesting about it, was the last forty-fifty minutes of the recording. It was Mr. Card (or maybe someone reading his afterward from the novel) discussing how Ender's Game started as a short story in the late 1970s and how he had to go and back a novel out of it, so he could do as he wished with the second novel in the series. He also mentioned something that I think is interesting: he cleaned up the language in the novel, because he wanted it to be read by children his son's age. (9-15 year olds) Despite so many claiming that Ender's Game is an adult novel, it seems Mr. Card envisioned it as a novel for preteens and teens.


Now on to my spoiler-filled thoughts/review:

( So Ender is Jesus? )

So how do I rate it?

( rating )

books!

This summer was going to be all about reading novels and writing stories. It didn't quite work out that way. I rarely wrote and I only read four novels. :(

I thought I'd share a bit about the two novels I enjoyed this summer. (I liked the other two, but. . .they are by Haruki Murakami, so, yeah)


( The novels )



Other two -

Dance, Dance, Dance: by Haruki Murakami follow surreal - and they are surreal - misadventures of the unnamed narrator protagonist. Quite suddenly he finds himself compelled to return to the Dolphin Hotel, a seedy place where he once spent time with an unusual lover. A lover whose name he never knew. The unnamed protagonist is guided by strange dreams; dreams in which is lover and an odd man appear. The dreams lead him to two very different mysteries. One is more about being and reality. While the second is very real - it involves the murders of call-girls, his middle school classmate turned "pure" actor, a clairvoyant teenager, a one-armed poet, and a receptionist whose found another world via the elevator in the Dolphin Hotel.

Hard-boiled Wonderland and the End of the World: also by Haruki Murakami. The story is split between parallel narratives. The odd-numbered chapters follow "Calcutec," a human data processor/encryption system who has been trained to use his subconscious as an encryption key. The even-numbered chapters follow a newcomer to 'the End of the World', a strange, isolated walled Town depicted in the frontispiece map as being surrounded by a perfect and impenetrable wall. (I found the even numbered chapters much more interesting) Residents of the town are told they do not have a mind, though it is hinted that their minds are merely suppressed. Toward the middle of the novel, the two storylines converge, exploring concepts of consciousness, the unconscious mind and personal identity.