Thread: Ender's Game - thoughts

Ender's Game definitley changed my outlook on science fiction, and even modern writing as a whole. Granted, I was in the 7th grade, and just starting to learn of this wonderful thing called 'writing,' and the power I read in that book sticks with me to this day. It probably isn't the best book I've read anymore, maybe not my favorite, but I'll always cherish it as my first great literary experience.

Originally Posted by SKHargan

Hi all. I just finished Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game, and was stunned. The entire novel builds up to a singular theme that in the end is explained so incredibly beautifully I can't begin to match it. I wanted to cry, and I'm not an especially emotional person. I just sat for a while, thinking, reflecting. I get deeply affected by books, and this one definitely caught me. Before reading this I had read part of Ayn Rand's We the Living, and came away with a similar message.

That is, that life is utterly sacred. To start over from zero, from nothing, to go back and begin it all again, teaching each other and our children that life is to be revered and worshipped... To grieve when it is lost, weep when it isn't lived, anguish when it is wasted... That a life is unlike any other, that each is individually sacred and precious and that nothing can take away that sanctity. That life is worth living, that it is never to be squandered but always to be cherished and loved...God, that we knew just how sacred life was! It would bring us to tears, weeping over moments lost and at the same time rejoicing for moments to come.

Those are my thoughts, disjointed and confused as they may be, and I needed to share them with someone.

-Shawn

Ah, yes. . . the great Orson Scott Card. He is definitely one of my favorite authors. . . make sure you check out the rest of the Ender quartet! Also, you MUST read his Shadow Series (the story from Bean's point of view), which is just as good, if not better.

A random quote from Xenocide that I liked:

“Free will doesn’t exist. Only the illusion of free will, because the causes of our behavior are so complex that we can’t trace them back. If you’ve got one line of dominoes knocking each other down one by one, then you can always say, Look, this domino fell because that one pushed it. But when you have an infinite number of directions, you can never find where the casual chain begins. So you think, That domino fell because it wanted to.” p. 384

“Even if there is no such thing as free will, we have to treat each other as if there were free will in order to live together in society. Because otherwise, every time somebody does something terrible, you can’t punish him, because he can’t help it, because his genes or his environment or God made him do it, and every time somebody does something good, you can’t honor him, because he was a puppet, too. If you think that everybody around you is a puppet, why bother talking to them at all? Why even try to plan anything or create anything, since everything you plan or create or desire or dream of is just acting out the script your puppeteer built into you.
So we conceive of ourselves and everyone around us as volitional beings. We treat everyone as if they did things with a purpose in mind, instead of because they’re being pushed from behind. We punish criminals. We reward altruists. We plan things and build things together. We make promises and expect each other to keep them. It’s all a made-up story, but when everybody believes that everybody’s actions are the result of free choice, and takes and gives responsibility accordingly, the result is civilization.” p.384

Have fun reading.

Actually... I hated the Bean series . I liked Ender's Shadow OK, but I didn't like the drastic changes made to characters and events. Since then I've felt the books have gotten progressivly worse, with Shadow Puppets striking me as just plain stupid. How many times can the man use the word "babies" in one book? The dialogue was so bad, so not what I've expected from OSC, that it actually made me really sad reading it.

However, on a related subject, has anyone read OSC's Alvin Maker series? I've loved every one of those books.

Really? I liked the Bean series. Oh well, I guess it's not for everyone. But I have yet to read the Alvin Maker series. They look great! I'll have to check them out. . .

Originally Posted by Creative_Insanity

Really? I liked the Bean series. Oh well, I guess it's not for everyone. But I have yet to read the Alvin Maker series. They look great! I'll have to check them out. . .

Yeah... some friends of mine liked 'em (the Bean series), and some hated them. I just happened to fall into the second catagory.
But, yeah... Alvin Makes rules (even though the covers look like cover illustrations from those trashy romance-porn novels featuring fabio, and I guess titles like "Heartfire" really don't help the comparison).

Yeah, I wasn't too excited about the cover art, but hey. . . don't judge a book by it's cover, right?

So, so true. Both in the figurative sense that it's always used in, and the literal. Crappy books can have pretty covers, and vice versa.

Indeed.

I Read Ender for the first time in Elementary School, 4th grade. I have been a fan of Orson Scott Crad ever since. Patwatch is definately amoung the best fiction books I've ever read.
As for Hatrack, I was there for a while, but the young writer's forum turned so cruel, petty and immature. It was tragic. When I first found the site, they had a lot of talented young writers, some increadible fiction, but within a few months, the quality dropped unimaginably. I still visit every once and a while, if only to lurk around, reading stories...

I did not enjoy Enders Game. Maybe because I read it for school (in which I hate being force to read books) but usually I like sci fi. I liked some of the technological concepts the book offered and speculated upon at some points, like the ships that could tear planets apart with gravity beams and what not---that was cool. I'm gonna read it again though, and probably end up buying the whole freakin' series.