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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26022 Posts |
Posted - 07/11/2013 : 11:49:27
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With the movie coming out in a few months (the actors are far too old), interest in Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game is on the rise. Will Wildman of Something Short and Snappy is slowly posting a gigantic deconstruction of the novel. I've read the book a couple/few times, but when I was much, much younger and less wise. Thinking about it now, I could see a few issues myself, but Wildman points out many, many more (and he's not even halfway through the book as I write this). All while trying to praise Card's writing skills.
Edited to add: SPOILERS BELOW!
This link will take you to all the postings so far (in reverse chronological order), but I thought I'd link to the individual posts in correct order, too:
- Chapter 1, part 1, in which Will inexplicably follows in the style of the terrible decisions that have gone before
- Chapter 1, part 2, in which we immediately give up on all reasoned morality
- Chapter 2, in which the villainous Peter Wiggin fails to be as horrifying as our hero
- Chapter three, which is much less terrible than previous chapters, or maybe I'm just getting inured to it all
- Chapter four, in which Ender Wiggin becomes the blatant reader-fantasy-insert
- Chapter five, in which Ender SHOWS THEM ALL and Will says 'whatever' a lot
- Chapter six,
part one, in which ZERO GRAVITY RACISM saves the day
- Chapter seven, part one, in which we just don't understand Ender's FEELINGS
- Chapter seven, part two, in which everyone gets naked
- Chapter seven, part three, in which middle schoolers are just too old to keep up with the young folks
- Chapter eight, part one, in which Jjjjeeeewwwwwws
- Chapter eight, part two, in which things are very briefly not awful
- Chapter nine, part one, in which blogs are taken seriously
- Chapter nine, part two, in which alternative interpretations abound
- Chapter ten, in which Ender rejects redemption and loses his boyfriend
- Chapter eleven, in which we get down to the WINNING
- Chapter twelve, in which Our Hero gets his second kill
- Chapter thirteen, part one, in which Ender tells the truth
- Chapter thirteen, part two, in which Graff ruins everything again
- Chapter fourteen, part one, in which Mazer Rackham doesn't replace Graff soon enough
- Chapter fourteen, part two, in which the plan works perfectly
- Chapter fifteen, in which the victims blame themselves
- Introduction, in which we contemplate empathy
And Speaker for the Dead:
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- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail) Evidently, I rock! Why not question something for a change? Visit Dave's Psoriasis Info, too. |
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H. Humbert
SFN Die Hard
USA
4574 Posts |
Posted - 07/11/2013 : 16:55:22 [Permalink]
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Oh, this looks fun. Looking forward to digging in when I get the time. Thanks for all the links!
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"A man is his own easiest dupe, for what he wishes to be true he generally believes to be true." --Demosthenes
"The first principle is that you must not fool yourself - and you are the easiest person to fool." --Richard P. Feynman
"Face facts with dignity." --found inside a fortune cookie |
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On fire for Christ
SFN Regular
Norway
1273 Posts |
Posted - 07/13/2013 : 00:43:02 [Permalink]
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yeah yeah yeah, why do people keep spinning out the same old tired criticisms of this book? It wont stop it being popular. The protagonist is smart, misunderstood and always in the right no matter what terrible things he's FORCED to do. That theme will ALWAYS be popular with nerdy introverts and semi-autistic-wannabe-savant outcasts everywhere, we're all aware of the shortcomings and shallow appeal of the book. I wish some of these critics would stop trying to make a name by bashing something popular. Why can't they do a critique on "Man of Steel" instead, that movie was enormously overrated. |
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Edited by - On fire for Christ on 07/13/2013 00:45:25 |
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26022 Posts |
Posted - 07/13/2013 : 05:10:21 [Permalink]
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Yeah, yeah, yeah, people shouldn't do things you think are boring, they should do things other people might find boring instead.
In this case, a literary critic should become a movie critic, so that instead of bashing a popular book, he'd bash a popular movie. |
- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail) Evidently, I rock! Why not question something for a change? Visit Dave's Psoriasis Info, too. |
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On fire for Christ
SFN Regular
Norway
1273 Posts |
Posted - 07/15/2013 : 22:02:07 [Permalink]
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The problem isn't that it's boring, the problem is that it's completely unoriginal and therefore redundant. |
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ThorGoLucky
Snuggle Wolf
USA
1487 Posts |
Posted - 07/15/2013 : 23:27:02 [Permalink]
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I enjoyed Ender's Game...before I knew the author was wacko. |
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26022 Posts |
Posted - 07/16/2013 : 03:12:46 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by On fire for Christ
The problem isn't that it's boring, the problem is that it's completely unoriginal and therefore redundant. | Not to some of us. Perhaps the real problem is that the original, non-redundant deconstruction hasn't been publicized as widely as possible. |
- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail) Evidently, I rock! Why not question something for a change? Visit Dave's Psoriasis Info, too. |
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Siberia
SFN Addict
Brazil
2322 Posts |
Posted - 07/16/2013 : 13:52:37 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by ThorGoLucky
I enjoyed Ender's Game...before I knew the author was wacko.
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I enjoyed and still enjoy it. Yes it's shallow and flawed but it is fun, or was when I first read it. The wacko-ness of the author does not affect (much) my enjoyment of the work. That said, f*k OSC with a pole. |
"Why are you afraid of something you're not even sure exists?" - The Kovenant, Via Negativa
"People who don't like their beliefs being laughed at shouldn't have such funny beliefs." -- unknown
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26022 Posts |
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26022 Posts |
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26022 Posts |
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ThorGoLucky
Snuggle Wolf
USA
1487 Posts |
Posted - 08/12/2013 : 17:05:20 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by Dave W.
... (the actors are far too old) ...
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Welcome Back Kotter extreme of too old? |
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26022 Posts |
Posted - 08/12/2013 : 18:04:26 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by ThorGoLucky
Welcome Back Kotter extreme of too old? | The kid I saw in the trailer looked between 10 and 12, so about twice as old as the character in the book. |
- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail) Evidently, I rock! Why not question something for a change? Visit Dave's Psoriasis Info, too. |
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26022 Posts |
Posted - 08/18/2013 : 18:50:56 [Permalink]
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Ha!...Card successfully predicted big-name bloggers, sockpuppets, the end of the USSR, and the continued popularity of vitriolic jingoism. He completed failed to predict facebook, lolcats, upvotes, or blog deconstructions. I think we all know which have had a bigger impact on the social role of the internet in the world. |
- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail) Evidently, I rock! Why not question something for a change? Visit Dave's Psoriasis Info, too. |
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26022 Posts |
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26022 Posts |
Posted - 09/09/2013 : 05:30:07 [Permalink]
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Ooops:So this post is a week late because I thought I forgot my book at home while in Hawaii, and only discovered too late that I had actually packed it more securely and secretly than I remembered. |
- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail) Evidently, I rock! Why not question something for a change? Visit Dave's Psoriasis Info, too. |
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