I havent read ender's game. But there is some art critic wishy washiness that I just can't put a finger on when I read this and few of his other pages.
Ender's Game Review
11–20 of 102 posts
Re: Ender's Game Review
#12I can't stand Card's political views. He hates gays and has expressed violent attitudes toward gays. Who knows, maybe his writing is a form of repressed homosexual relief for him. I still enjoyed Ender's Game very much, however. My problem with the review is that it can apply to any fiction that withholds gratification or attempts suspense and has a "super hero" type character. I think of Ender as a kind of super her…
I strongly disagree with his opinions, too; I went to see him speak, and it was a great presentation until the end where he somehow spiralled off into a tirade about gay marriage killing society.
But I don't care. He writes (mostly) great books and he'll keep getting my money so long as he keeps it up.
Re: Ender's Game Review
#13This is a crock. The device of having a despised outsider turn out to be a hero is extremely common not just in sci-fi but in heroic tales generally. And the argument about each chapter being merely a build up to a catharsis could be made about pretty much any thriller.
Re: Ender's Game Review
#14If the book is porn, and the book is full of children, wouldn't that make it... child porn? I don't entirely agree with the argument. The Battle School is supposedly full of overachievers, people who probably "excel at games" compared to their peers back home. They are all used to being top dog, so when you put a bunch of top dogs inside a competitive environment (or really just any long-term living/working situation…
Many of the things said about Ender's Game could also be said about Harry Potter: "...the plot is contrived to make sure that other characters always hate Ender. There is no obvious reason for him to be so despised, at every turn, by his peers: he's a confident guy who excels at games, the kind of guy who would typically be well-liked at school." "Geek wish-fulfillment is not the only fetish on display in Ender's Gam…
I like Ender's Game as well (haven't read Harry Potter), but in retrospect, the characters are a little cartoony and unbelievable compared to what I've seen in "real" literature. We like to read about unreal characters, true, but it makes it hard for the reader to relate to these characters or to the plot they are going through.
I'll say how I've always felt about sci-fi: the universe and the concepts in play are more important than any of the traditional literary mechanisms such as plot, character development, etc.. I feel that this guy is just comparing the character of Ender on the level of the "real" literature I mention above. By those standards, characters like King Arthur or Siegfried are ridiculous charicatures, devoid of any true humanity.
Re: Ender's Game Review
#15Earlier quoted context omitted.
Many of the things said about Ender's Game could also be said about Harry Potter: "...the plot is contrived to make sure that other characters always hate Ender. There is no obvious reason for him to be so despised, at every turn, by his peers: he's a confident guy who excels at games, the kind of guy who would typically be well-liked at school." "Geek wish-fulfillment is not the only fetish on display in Ender's Gam…
I like Ender's Game as well (haven't read Harry Potter), but in retrospect, the characters are a little cartoony and unbelievable compared to what I've seen in "real" literature. We like to read about unreal characters, true, but it makes it hard for the reader to relate to these characters or to the plot they are going through. I'll say how I've always felt about sci-fi: the universe and the concepts in play are mor…
This could also be why Mr. Bonds doesn't like Anime. The hook is the sense of motion, tension, and action that can be conveyed. A lot of the other aspects of Anime shows are bad, however. Then again, you can say the same for any given genre of books or for cinema in general.
Re: Ender's Game Review
#16Earlier quoted context omitted.
Many of the things said about Ender's Game could also be said about Harry Potter: "...the plot is contrived to make sure that other characters always hate Ender. There is no obvious reason for him to be so despised, at every turn, by his peers: he's a confident guy who excels at games, the kind of guy who would typically be well-liked at school." "Geek wish-fulfillment is not the only fetish on display in Ender's Gam…
On an unrelated note, someone should create some type of 'record' thing on the net, where we can actually record all the things that people say 'for the record'.
It's of no use. I've already decided against running for office.
Re: Ender's Game Review
#17My response to Ender's Game upon a re-reading a few months ago, while not as strong as this reviewer's, were certainly not favorable. I am a much more sociable, confident person than I was at age 11 or 12, when I first read Card's writing. Even without knowing as much as I do now about his particularly distateful (to me, at least) political and social views, it was pretty apparent that Card and I disagree on many cri…
I just read his political views, and I guess this is why I never read about authors before reading their books. It's hard not to let personal differences in social views colour your perception of their work - which could be excellent when read without bias. A book should be irrelevant of its author.
agree totally, likewise for music, I try hard to avoid any knowledge about artists I like life, it invariably colors there work in my mind.
I don't think it's possible to create something that is different without being a little unusual. Could anyone work a nine to five job be a good stable citizen and then come home and write a stephen king novel, or an enders game?
Phillip K Dick is an example that always springs to mind, he wrote so many books, and was diagnosed with mental disease. I have read a quote that aliens dictated his books to him, can't track it down now. Where would Hollywood be without an endless supply of phillip K. Dick novels?
Robin Williams has been diagnosed manic depressive, when he take his medication he is no longer funny he has said.
The idea that creativity is neatly pigeon holed without spilling over into the rest of your life, for good or bad, is just as nonensical as that review (I always thought the book was a standard teenage angst sort of thing).
Re: Ender's Game Review
#18This is a crock. The device of having a despised outsider turn out to be a hero is extremely common not just in sci-fi but in heroic tales generally. And the argument about each chapter being merely a build up to a catharsis could be made about pretty much any thriller.
"There is no dramatic tension or genuine excitement about any of these encounters" .. yet he also says
"The disturbing thing about Ender's Game is that Card is a good craftsman of prose; he makes the pages turn, he's an effective manipulator." How do you get readers rushing to turn pages when there's no dramatic tension or involvement with what the reviewer declares "blank" characters?
The reviewer neglects the structure of the academy breeding competition, instead assuming that everybody hated Ender just because he was better than them. The school is a crucible and it's not just Ender that's under pressure. I could go on here, but it seems like the reviewer's distaste for the author's viewpoints has heavily influenced how he read the book and interpreted the themes.
Re: Ender's Game Review
#19This is the second thing I've read from this site that's all "Blah blah blah. I'm so clever. Blah blah blah." Except it takes him a lot longer than three sentences to convey this. Am I the only one who finds this guy to be a pompous faux-intellectual who confuses length with depth.
Re: Ender's Game Review
#20I can't stand Card's political views. He hates gays and has expressed violent attitudes toward gays. Who knows, maybe his writing is a form of repressed homosexual relief for him. I still enjoyed Ender's Game very much, however. My problem with the review is that it can apply to any fiction that withholds gratification or attempts suspense and has a "super hero" type character. I think of Ender as a kind of super her…
Why is this comment downmodded? This isn't digg people.