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Tenderness
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From: Carrie Schadle <bz227>
Date: Tue, 5 Aug 1997 15:09:17 -0400 (EDT)
I have just finished reading _Tenderness_ and am honestly unsure of what to think about it.
I am certain that it will appeal to it's intended audience. There is more interest than ever in the subject of serial killers (which I have heard is mostly an American phenomenon-?n this be true??) and kids will surely enjoy the enigma Eric Poole that Cormier has created, mostly by what he has left out, as (I think) Karen Simonetti said. What is interesting is that he has left out things that might give us access to the "why" of Eric Poole because Eric Poole does not understand why he is doing what he is doing, nor does he try to. He is almost operating on some instinct that the rest of us just don't have. It's like trying to understand why a dog chases his tail (or have they figured that out?). I think it is important that Cormier has not made him a character that readers can sympathise with, and maybe this is why. We can't sympathise with dogs, can we?
Lori on the other hand, does try to understand and question why she does what she does,and even though she can't quite figure it out, she does have some inkling that it is linked to the abuse she has suffered. Still, she is, as Eric notices, and I think admires, operating partly on instinct and not quite aware of things. Maybe this is why he allows her to stay and insinuate herself into his life--he feels a kinship to her visceral way of doing things. I thought it was very sad that she died (sorry if this spoils things, but I'm assuming you all have read it), yet felt no sadness at Eric's getting blamed for it, even though it wasn't his fault.
One more thing, there has been a long thread about Cormier's works on child_lit the past couple of weeks and someone mentioned that they thought Eric was a victim on incest. I did not get this, even though I was aware of someone saying this. I thought his memories of his mother in bed were innocent ones, not incestuous ones. Any opinions on this?
Carrie Schadle
******************************** Carrie Schadle Aguilar Branch, New York Public Library bz227 at freenet.buffalo.edu 212/534)30
Received on Tue 05 Aug 1997 02:09:17 PM CDT
Date: Tue, 5 Aug 1997 15:09:17 -0400 (EDT)
I have just finished reading _Tenderness_ and am honestly unsure of what to think about it.
I am certain that it will appeal to it's intended audience. There is more interest than ever in the subject of serial killers (which I have heard is mostly an American phenomenon-?n this be true??) and kids will surely enjoy the enigma Eric Poole that Cormier has created, mostly by what he has left out, as (I think) Karen Simonetti said. What is interesting is that he has left out things that might give us access to the "why" of Eric Poole because Eric Poole does not understand why he is doing what he is doing, nor does he try to. He is almost operating on some instinct that the rest of us just don't have. It's like trying to understand why a dog chases his tail (or have they figured that out?). I think it is important that Cormier has not made him a character that readers can sympathise with, and maybe this is why. We can't sympathise with dogs, can we?
Lori on the other hand, does try to understand and question why she does what she does,and even though she can't quite figure it out, she does have some inkling that it is linked to the abuse she has suffered. Still, she is, as Eric notices, and I think admires, operating partly on instinct and not quite aware of things. Maybe this is why he allows her to stay and insinuate herself into his life--he feels a kinship to her visceral way of doing things. I thought it was very sad that she died (sorry if this spoils things, but I'm assuming you all have read it), yet felt no sadness at Eric's getting blamed for it, even though it wasn't his fault.
One more thing, there has been a long thread about Cormier's works on child_lit the past couple of weeks and someone mentioned that they thought Eric was a victim on incest. I did not get this, even though I was aware of someone saying this. I thought his memories of his mother in bed were innocent ones, not incestuous ones. Any opinions on this?
Carrie Schadle
******************************** Carrie Schadle Aguilar Branch, New York Public Library bz227 at freenet.buffalo.edu 212/534)30
Received on Tue 05 Aug 1997 02:09:17 PM CDT
