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I just had to say this. I read Enders Game at a young age. How young I can't remember but I do know from them time I was young my appetite for reading was big.
My senior year in high school I decided to take the Sci-fi class that was offered for the fun of it. I ended up helping the teacher teach a lot of it. The teacher wanted us to pick a book read it, then stand in front of the class to tell others about it.
So, this big football player that hates to read gets up there, and his face absolutely lights up. He says "the book I read was Enders Game". He then looks at me and says "Did you read it?" and I told him yes I did. I've never seen somebody become an absolute super nova of shear joy like that before. He started gushing about how much he loved the book and wondered if there were more.
I have yet to run into someone that doesn't absolutely love the book and the series. It's so immersive and so life touching.
Anyway. I just felt like sharing that story. That football player's face will always be engraved in my memory with the love of this book.
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My mom didn't like it, she read it on a business trip and she picked up the sequels for me, though i'd already read them, she read it home on the plane ride, Dad said she didn't put it down. she said it was disturbing, a young boy at the age of 6 killing another child and then again at age 8 or 9
I think she was afraid i'd be influenced. Posts: 46 | Registered: May 2003
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I can see a parent's concern over reading EG, but that would be a stereotypical motherly defense mechanism kicking in. Those of us who read it in our youth connected on so many levels. Others have to reminisce about how their childhood was and connect in that manner.
All said and done, EG is amazing in many ways, not just one!
P.S. My son is 7 and we are reading though Enders Shadow then EG next each night before bed!
Posts: 1870 | Registered: Mar 2003
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My mom read everything we did just so that if we wanted to discuss it or ask questions we could.
She even had to sign a permission form for me to go to the adult book section to find things to read because I was bored of childrens books. I skipped over a lot of the 'kid' reading that others did and went straight into 'tougher' things.
*Please excuse the pathetic spelling. I've been on low IQ forums as of late and have gotten lazy it seems.
My dad had the same reaction to Ender's Game. I had been pestering him to read it for years, and he finally gave in during a huge blizzard that kept him home from work. He said that he thought it was very well-written, but that it disturbed him overall. However, he was fascinated by the idea of a "Speaker for the Dead" (both his parents have passed away recently), so he went out and bought Speaker right away. He couldn't even wait for me to get home from college for the summer so he could read my copy. He loved it, and is now hooked to the series. Posts: 1635 | Registered: Aug 2002
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I first read Ender's Game while in college, and it didn't do a whole lot for me. I found it okay, but only that. The friend who recommended it asked me to give OSC another chance, so I gave Speaker for the Dead a try, and loved it. I appreciate Ender's Game more now than I did then, but there are definitely books by OSC that I enjoy more. When I introduce people to his work, I usually start with 7th Son.
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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After reading Ender's Game, I was disappointed because I thought I would never read a book that I would like more (Yeah,I liked it that much). Then I read Speaker for the Dead; same reaction, but I thought it was even better. Then Xenocide, and I stopped thinking about being disappointed, though still thought it was the best book I had ever read. Then the finale: Children of the Mind. I have never read a more truely inspiring and well written book before, and will probably never read one as good, so I plan to read the series again. That's me.
~Morpheus~
[ May 30, 2003, 12:25 AM: Message edited by: Morpheus God ]
Posts: 30 | Registered: May 2003
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I read Ender's Game when I was 15 or so and it took me years to convince my mom to read it, when she did her reaction was, "You read this!" She had a long list of complaints about it. Including that Ender was too young, it was unrealistic and she believed it be fanatical writer predicting an apacolypse. I disagreed heartily and tried to explain some of the points I thought she had misunderstood, but we ended up agreeing to disagree.
Posts: 349 | Registered: May 2003
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quote:Low-IQ forums? That's kind of funny coming from someone whose name means "knowing."
Let me start by explaining "low IQ forums". I'm a gamer and gamers (not all but many) tend to be extremely lazy on grammar and spelling. (Something that still grates on my nerves.) They even get into arguments about whether or not it is necessary to spell correctly or to use proper grammar. That is how most "flames" start among them and end up with shutup n00b or calling each other carebears or a variety of k3wl d3wd speak. I have been immersed in these kinds of boards and chat rooms for years and have fallen into the habit of not using all of my vocabulary so I don't get the responses of 'huh?' since I also wrote articles for these people. Now don't get me wrong. There are many very intelligent gamers out there thankfully, but most of them avoid forums like the plague.
As to the origination of my name. That is an irony. I originally created a poem during my high school days to go with a drawing. It was a character I created called Sachant. The name was a derivative of Sadistic and Enchantress. Thus, Sachant. It wasn't until later that I learned it meant "knowing" in French. (I took German in High School and Russian in college. I never touched French. ) But wait! There's more to this ironic tale.
My first full MMORPG (massively multi-player Role-play game for those not knowing the lingo) I took the last name Velg`larn. It's from the Drow language that was developed from RA Salvatores Drizzt Novels. It was the fad to use this language in names and speach among dark elves. (See the geekness showing?) The word means Assassin and that was the role I played. So she became "Knowing Assassin".
What makes this even more ironic is the fact that I in fact did know everything that was going on within the game and out and have continued that trend ever since. (Again more geekness here.) I had spies everywhere and could coerce information out of anyone. It's an interesting skill I've obtained.
Playing mmorpgs gives me a chance to step into the very shoes of a character I have created within a storyline and improv with others. It stretches the imagination a lot.
I'm sure this is far far more than you wanted to know, but I felt you might find the irony in the name and how it came about.
No, I'm not all that young either. I'm going on 31 in August and met my husband on line playing that very mmorpg. I have a daughter nearly a year old as well.
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d3wd 1 c4n f33l th3 l33t 633k 3m4n4t1n6 fr0m j00 forums like that? sounds like pure MT jargon, i avoided that forum like the plague. But the art forum was quite enlightening.
I never thought of telling mom she should read Speaker, but she's nearly picked up Ender's Shadow a couple of times which i've prevented because i dont think it would improve on her impression of the storyline. But she loved Enchantment. So she didn't pester me to read other things.
~Brock
Remember: Amateurs built the Ark, professionals built the titanic
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Well, Sachant, I'm glad to see that the terrible grammar and usage of those boards didn't rub off on you too much. Posts: 9945 | Registered: Sep 2002
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really cool story, Senchant, in spite of the fact that I afraid to say my brother didn't like Ender's Game. Perhaps more miserable yet is that this selfsame brother has read many thousands of pages of war history books and historical war novels, and he thought Ender's Game was, believe it or not, tactically unimaginative.
Posts: 1103 | Registered: Apr 2002
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Unlike my forum name which is neither thoughtful, nor impressive Noeman, I totally agree about Seventh Son. It was my first and I'll never forget it. I loved Ender's Game, though I was told I wouldn't like it because I'm a girl. I made everyone I knew read it. But, and that's a big BUT, I don't think it is appropriate reading for young children. Sure many children with excellent reading skills and high IQ's can read the book, but the content is not for young children. I guess I don't understand how Ender's Game would be helpful to young children as they deal with life issues. Certainly there are better means. ... which I'll have to think about.
That's the very reason my mom was disturbed when she saw the new "Young Adult" cover of Ender's Game. She thinks the book should only be read by mature readers, and the new cover makes it looks like a kid's book. I can see her point, and agree that Ender's Game isn't necessarily for all children, but I can also understand the marketing benefits of the new cover.
Posts: 1635 | Registered: Aug 2002
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-Hobbes-, are you really new, or are you Hobbes with two "-" at the beginning and end of your name?
Posts: 4229 | Registered: Dec 2002
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LOL Alucard, scary enough I have almost looked into Klingon because it's a language. I love learning languages and seeing how they interconnect. It's fascinating. I also learned that if I wanted to Role-play with others of the kind that spoke Drow, that it was important to have the dictionary on hand.
Shadowbane is the same way. So far I've run into three different 'languages' that have been created for use in the game. Two are languages for racial types and one is for a type that worships a certain kind of Goddess. The first is a race called Irekei who are desert dwellers similiar of a sort to the Ael (sp?) of Jordan's Wheel of Time series. The next are for elves and much has been taken from Tolkein and other sources. The other is for nature lovers basically who can change into animal forms such as bear, rat, wolf or bird.
Needless to say my current job would go easier if I could communicate with them in their own way.
Thanks for the kind words all on the origination of my name. I really appreciate it. Someday when I find the poem that I wrote when I was 16, I may post it. It's very basic.
I think something like Enders Game (to get back to the topic at hand) should be read using your best judgement of the child that will read it. I was an extremely sensitive child that could make nightmares out of things like Cinderella, yet, Enders Game was fine. Of course I was also going through that strange move to a new place outcast phase and it gave me someone elses life to comiserate with.
There was one incidence that wasn't fine. I read Piers Anthony's Bio of a Space Tyrant at the age of 14. I was not prepared for the rape depictions at all. My brother who was 19 at the time did not warn me and my mother didn't know until later on. She always trusted my brother to know what books were appropriate for me or not. However, this is one time he didn't realize how much it would affect me. That one is a definite don't touch for even adults that don't appreciate that sort of story telling. Don't get me wrong, I like Piers Anthony. I just didn't care for that book.
Posts: 103 | Registered: May 2003
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quote: I was an extremely sensitive child that could make nightmares out of things like Cinderella
When I saw the Disney movie at age four, I cried and hid under the seat. I later yelled at my mother for taking me to see such a scary movie.
It's a good thing I didn't read the Grimm's version until I was a teenager. The whole chopping off toes and heels to make the shoe fit would not have gone over well with my elementary school self, never mind the pigeons plucking out the sisters' eyeballs.
Hmmm. Somehow I think Ender's Game would have disturbed me far less than "Cinderella" as well, had I read them both in elementary school . . .
(By the way, welcome to Hatrack. )
Posts: 3801 | Registered: Jan 2000
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I am very much disturbed by the marketing of Jordan's Wheel of Time series to young adults, that disturbed my when I read it in 8th grade and I was old for my age. detailed torture descriptions are NOT appropriate for children!!
Posts: 4655 | Registered: Jan 2002
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Sachant...I know what you mean about being young and checking books out of the adult section of the library. I was 7 years old when I started doing that, and the librarians didn't know how to react. I'm kind of surprised that you had to have a signed permission from your parents to do so, however. It probably has something to do with the difference in our ages - I'm a bit older than you are, as I will turn 47 in August. It seems like as time passes, libraries get more and more nervous about letting kids see anything. Bookstores, too. It amazes me that I was able to buy The Lords and the New Creatures (Jim Morrison's first published book of poetry) without a problem when I was in junior high. Some of the poems in that collection are definitely on the erotic side, although probably not near as much of a big deal now as they were then, in the early seventies.
Anyway, what the librarians did was make me read something to them out of one of the adult books I wanted to check out. Then they (there were two or three of them there; I guess I attracted a little attention) made me explain what I had read in my own words, so that they could see if I really understood what I had read. When they say that I did understand what I was reading they let me check out the books, and they never gave me a bad time about it again.
Well, that isn't exactly true. Fast forward several years, to about sixth grade - maybe seventh. I wanted to read Rosemary's Baby. They just put their foot down and wouldn't let me check it out of the library. So, I just sat there and read it in the library. And that's what I did for two or three years, until they got over that problem.
Posts: 2454 | Registered: Jan 2003
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But the art forum was quite enlightening. 
