Books I Loathed discussion

67 Books Every Geek Should Read To Their Kids Before Age 10:
"Childhood passes so quickly, as we’re reminded in Shel Silverstein’s The Giving Tree. Kids will appreciate the nurturing and reassuring story, while parents will try not to get choked up reading about sacrifice and love in this tale of the human condition. It’s difficult to think of another book that sums up parenting as well as this classic story."

I saw the book and thought "NO!"
Then I read the syrupy description and wanted to puke.

If this is your idea of parenting, you're doing it wrong.
It's like the disgusting "mom is the person who, when seeing there's only three pieces of pie left, promptly announces she doesn't want any" or something like that. Because she has never thought of sharing a piece.

Anyway, I hate this book. I hate the boy. I even hate the tree for being such an idiot. Well... it's a tree, so it doesn't know better. But it should. It's a f-ing tree! :-D

It's not nurturing and reassuring story, it's a story of exploitation, selfishness, greed, sucking kind people dry, taking, taking, taking, for no good reason, never giving anything back. The "sacrifice" is meaningless.
Love isn't "I'll give you everything you want, just don't cry!!!"

I know what Ketutar wrote is now almost 2 years old, but it has stuck with me because I have this extreme distaste for The Giving Tree and couldn't really figure out what made me hate the story so bad. I came back to this thread today because my daughter's second grade teacher did this thing where she had her friends randomly pick numbers that corresponded with the kids in her class. She then told her friends if that number was a Male or Female child and the age so the friend could buy a book for the child. My first thought was, "Are these kids reading with their eyes and brains, or with their genitals and feelings about sex? Because their gender or sex shouldn't matter in book giving." But that is a lesson for the teacher to learn about children and how they will read and love anything, not about what ended up happening. When the books came in and the children compared what they received, a lot of them were sent The Giving Tree. Many of the people sending the books thought it was a good idea because it taught the children that a parent gives so much of themselves to their children.

DID THE PEOPLE WHO THINK THIS BOOK IS GOOD EVEN READ THE SAME ONE THAT I DID? The tree gives because the child will take no matter what. The boy is manipulative and never matures to the point that he can provide for himself. He is like a child who doesn't even try to stop living off of mommy and daddy and takes all they have until they die miserable but he doesn't see how he has made them that way. Eff that guy!

What really rubs me the wrong way is the subtle message that this is the way all females are supposed to be, if they want to be loved and be thought of as the right kind of woman. She must give of herself until there's nothing left of herself, until maybe she can't even remember wanting anything for herself, and that's okay. It is a terrible message to send subliminally to a little girl. I hate that book.

Yes, Violet! I felt like I needed to explain more to my daughter that this wasn't how to treat people or how to allow people to treat her than my son needed for an explanation. Women are not doorsteps. We do not deserve to be treated as such!

Ketutar wrote: "67 Books Every Geek Should Read To Their Kids Before Age 10:
"Childhood passes so quickly, as we’re reminded in Shel Silverstein’s The Giving Tree. Kids will appreciate the nurturing and reassurin..."

Wow! I've not read The Giving Tree, but your passionate review inspires me to!