What is YOUR fav. Book?

[heathen chemistry]

Well, his sacrifice is very martyr-like, even if it's also triggered by a considerable lack of self-esteem. ("Ah well, I'm useless anyway, and at least you DO have a life. Goodbye.")

The whole character is such a blatant plot device that I fail to feel any compassion for him. His "uncanny resemblance" to the beloved husband, for example, serves no other purpose than to make the ending possible. And that's not what I expect from a good novel. Character traits should be character traits first and foremost, and not primarily plot devices.

orson scott card is a very religious man - a devout mormon with numerous relgious text to his credit.

ender didn't feel useless. he was doing two very different things with various aspects of his personality. there were literally three people for his one soul stretched out across the universe. when nohvina released him, he was free to reclaim one of his bodies his subconscience created thus becoming whole again. there was true devotion to his wife right up until the end. he felt he couldn't leave her but she realized she couldn't keep him. when she released him, it was 3000 yrs of guilt being released. when he assumed the body of peter, he was given the chance to live the life he should have lived - young and happy, not young and guilt ridden. it also gave a chance for jane - a sentient entity to assume a human body - which the book professes as being one of the most beautiful experiences a soul - philote, can have. how is that not beautiful?

 

[Jane_the_Bane]

orson scott card is a very religious man - a devout mormon with numerous relgious text to his credit.

ender didn't feel useless. he was doing two very different things with various aspects of his personality. there were literally three people for his one soul stretched out across the universe. when nohvina released him, he was free to reclaim one of his bodies his subconscience created thus becoming whole again. there was true devotion to his wife right up until the end. he felt he couldn't leave her but she realized she couldn't keep him. when she released him, it was 3000 yrs of guilt being released. when he assumed the body of peter, he was given the chance to live the life he should have lived - young and happy, not young and guilt ridden. it also gave a chance for jane - a sentient entity to assume a human body - which the book professes as being one of the most beautiful experiences a soul - philote, can have. how is that not beautiful?

Wrong novel, my dear, wrong novel. I was referring to "A Tale of Two Cities" by Charles Dickens. But obviously, you read lots of books about people sacrificing themselves, huh?
And thanks, but I don't like books written for the sole purpose of supporting a specific agenda, no matter if it's religious, political or ideological. The message is an essential part, of course, but it shouldn't be the only justification for the story. That's why "agenda-books" rarely - if ever - become part of the literary canon.

 

[heathen chemistry]

i prefer the newspapers, magazines, and comic books, actually. reading novels is just a recent phenomena. oh, and harry potter.