Pay It Forward

Rating:
Summary: LOVELY BOOK FROM COVER TO COVER
Review: "Pay It Forward" is a wondeful feat by Ms. Hyde in displaying the worth of the everyday person. A thoughtful idea from an innocent child who has bore emotional pain all his youth comes to light, and gives hope to a nation starved for an answer. "Paying it forward" is the concept of doing a favor, a sacrifice for 3 people regardless of the personal cost. Twelve year old Trevor conceives this plot as an answer to a geography assignment. His odessy of carrying this concept through makes this book hard to put down. We meet a variety of flawed but forging characters; his mother Arlene struggling to stay afloat and sober; a geography teacher scarred by wounds inside and out from Vietnam, and a multitude of others who play into the well designed plot. This is a beautiful book that may be panned by cynics, but for those of us aching for a kinder world this read aspires hope.

Rating:
Summary: What's wrong with being Utopian?
Review: I loved this book, but was not going to take the time to review it--but the last review about it being "overly utopian" ticked me off. In the movie, the teacher tells Trevor that the class thinks he's come up with an overly utopian idea. He says, "So?"

I'm on his side.

Also, I wish people wouldn't review books unless they have read them carefully. In the movie Trevor is 11. In the book, when he makes that comment about Chelsea Clinton being "a major babe" he is just a day or two shy of his 14th birthday. And it never says the world is perfect and there is no greed. Also the book starts with the gift of a 2-year-old Acura, where in the movie it's a brand-new Jaguar. In the book the boy helps an old lady with her garden. How can anyone say the favors in the book are outrageous and unbelievable compared to the movie? I don't know what book "Overly Utopian" read, but it wasn't the Pay It Forward I read.

Please, people, it's okay not to like a book but be fair and get your facts right.

Rating:
Summary: One of the most uplifting stories possible.
Review: Like other reviewers, I am a cynic. Like other reviewers, I saw the cover and it interested me. I came back from lunch and looked up the title and, after reading the synopsis, ordered it immediately despite a stack of books at home just waiting to be read. I finally read it yesterday. Amazing how such an uplifting message can be delivered in only a couple of hours. Despite my innate cynicism, I finished the book wishing that something similar would happen -- and believing that it could. As the book points out, the idea is not "random acts of kindness". They are not random. It is spending your time looking for people that you can help -- and then asking them to pay it forward. And you help them despite your feelings to the contrary -- as in the case of Matt and Sidney G., or the original gang member Chris interviewed.

I started a tradition a couple years ago of buying some of the best books I read that year for friends and family, so they would have their own copies to pass on. This year, I am already considering buying everyone the same book, just because it was so wonderful and carries such an incredible message. I only wish that other readers had reacted more like the adults of the book, rather than Trevor's classmates -- seeing the possibilities and responsibilities that come with paying a kindness forward, rather than questioning whether people can actually live based on an honor system.

Rating:
Summary: I'm really giving this 4 1/2 stars
Review: Okay, firstly, I command you to forget the movie ever existed. Done that? Good! Secondly, a warning- this is NOT a book for cynics who insist on being cynical.

Pay it Forward is a wonderfully refreshing novel about a boy in his early teens who decides to change the world. The characters are vivid and real- I found myself sympathizing with every one of them and really believing they were real. It's a fast read- if you've got some time on your hands and are determined to do so, you can read it easily in one sitting- the plot moves quickly and rarely ever slows down. It's sentimental, but not Hollywood sentimental, which is what the movie ended up being.

Hyde's style is crisp and terse, sometimes overly simplistic. This is a book that elementary school kids can read, it's that easy to understand, but this is also a book that older audiences can appreciate for its message and the inspiration it offers.

Rating:
Summary: A great read!
Review: Pay it Forward is one of my favourite all time books. I was so annoyed when a saw a reveiw written by a certain person called Steven, whoever he is, who said that Pay it Forward was unrealistic.
It is a wonderful book packed with imagination, cliffhangers, humour and even tragedy! The ending had me crying! You get to know the characters so well, that it almost makes you want to scream when anything bad happens to them!

Rating:
Summary: An interesting premise
Review: Reuben St.Clair is a horribly disfigured Vietnam vet. He's also a teacher beginning at a new school in Atascadero, Ca. In his class he has Trevor McKinney, a somewhat intense loner of a a fourteen-year old. The last major character is Trevor's mother, Arlene. She also has her flaws being a recovering alcoholic. Into this mix Reuben throws a simple yet difficult class assignment. He asks the kids to come up with one idea that is simple enough for one person to implement but that will change the world for the better. Trevor comes up with the idea of "Pay It Forward." Do good deeds for three different people but instead of having them pay him back they must pay it forward to three more people. The book then follows various people and how they're affected by these simple deeds.

I found the book compelling. The writing was clean and the characters were well done. They drew you into the book and kept you reading. The one thing I did like was that this was not treated as some sort of magical idea that immediately transformed everyone it touched. Jerry the junkie remained Jerry the junkie, but he did try to pay it forward. It's a good book, an interesting book, and above all an uplifting book. It may not be great literature but it is certainly worth the time spent reading it.