The Chocolate War

Rating:
Summary: good book- bad ending
Review: I thought this was a great book because it was written in an interesting way with no full story about any particular character. The story showed us how even the most simple of topics can become new and interesting. The author concentrated on showing us a different side of what we consider high-school life. The Chocolate War is definetly a page-turner with a lot of twists I could not stop reading. However, after reading I am the Cheese, I was hoping for another totally unexpected ending. I was so disapointed when I read this ending. I was just left wondering and surprised that the author would just leave me there with an ordinary ending. no twists, turns, or bicycle trips around an institution.

Rating:
Summary: Out of the Ordinary
Review: The Chocolate War was a new experience for me. Beforehand I had only read biographies, historical fiction and fiction but after reading a REAL book like so, my opinions of book selection changed. This novel combined the modern-day life of a high-schooler with the point of view of a man beyond his years. The story told of boy named Jerry who faced the inner demons who have so long kept him from life. He is put up against an underground gang called The Vigils. They tease, terrorize, vandalize, and beat every other being in their all-boy Catholic school. With the help of teachers and staff, this gang remains on top and ahead of the game. While reading this book, I myself wanted to help the hero of the story and give him confidence. Not many books captivate the reader as so I've seen. Robert Cormier took bits and pieces from all eras of time to create a book known to be "timeless". Even though the book may seem to be a vital portion of the learning experience, I must warn any readers of it's content. At times the characters use vulgar language and portray rather "privately" seen actions. I learned from this book that it's contents should only be viewed by mature audiences. For anyone interested in reading this novel, don't take the title too literally. If you are a person who likes realistic novels with a twist, read "The Chocolate War" by Robert Cormier.

Rating:
Summary: Taking a fundraiser a little too far...
Review: At first, Cormier switches characters and settings in each chapter and it is quite confusing. However, within the first several chapters you get used to his unique writing style. The book is good for the most part, great detail is used and sometimes too much. It's realistic and at the same time, not- real teenagers would not be so obsessed over a Chocolate Sale but probably would use the same gestures and treatments as the teens in the book do. The characters are easily likable and the story has plenty of action. The plot could be a bit more interesting and it could have had more of a moral or lesson in the end. Overall, it was somewhat enjoyable but at the same time could have been a lot better.

Rating:
Summary: Do I dare disturb the universe????
Review: The Chocolate War was an exciting book with several surprises, characters and conflicts. The book starts off with Jerry Renault (the main character) trying out for Trinity's football team as a freshman. As I read the first chapter of The Chocolate War I got a sense of how unusual Trinity seemed. The football coach alone was very cruel to Jerry by spitting on him followed by insults of his strength. In this story there are several conflicts. The biggest conflict was between Jerry and the school because of Jerry's assignment by the vigils not to sell his quota of chocolates for two weeks for the school fundraiser. The conflict becomes even bigger when Jerry continues not to sell the chocolates after his assignment was over. The vigils decided that Jerry was defying them and that wouldn't get away with it. Throughout the story Jerry thought only one reoccurring question: "Do I dare disturb the universe?"

Rating:
Summary: A shock and a pleasure
Review: The Chocolate War shocks the reader throughout the book, yet I could read it over and over. When Jerry, the main character, defies what is expected of him all heck breaks lose. Just by not selling Jerry starts a revlution. But it wasn't Jerry's idea in the first place. So why did he go on not selling? And will the hatred lead to something the whole school will regret?

Rating:
Summary: The Chocolate War, A Truly Great Teenage Style Novel
Review: It was almost time for the biggest event of the year at Trinity High School, the chocolate sale. There is one problem, they had to sell twice as many boxes as the past year, and for twice the amount of money. The head of the school, Brother Leon, asks of Archie Costello and the Vigils' help to sell that much chocolate. Archie assures Brother Leon of his support, and agrees to help sell all of the chocolate. The Vigils are a group of students that don't officially exist, although everybody knows they do. They have all of the power in the school, whatever they want to happen, happens. For a strange reason, it is like they have a power over the teachers also. What they mainly do is pick children, usually lower-classmen, to complete one of their assignments. Although Carter, a popular athlete, is the President of the Vigils, the true leader is the Assignor, Archie Costello. Archie is very slick, he is always two steps ahead of everybody he is talking to, and nobody can ever deceive him. The first assignment within the book is assigned to a freshman called Goober. He is assigned to sneak into room nineteen, Brother Eugene's room, when everybody is gone. In his room Goober is to loosen every screw in his room to where it will fall out if anything touches it. Likewise, the assignment is completed. The next morning everybody comes into room nineteen and the disaster occurs. All of the desks collapse, even when a book is placed on one. When Brother Eugene enters the room, he hurries to his desk, and that collapses also. He is a wreck and is never seen again. Of course, Goober feels bad about what he has done. When it is finally time for the chocolate sale, Jerry Renault, another freshman, gets a note in his locker to attend the next Vigil meeting. Jerry is assigned to not sell any chocolates for ten days. Each day, when Brother Leon calls the roll call to see how many boxes of chocolates have been sold, Jerry replies "No." He refuses to sell the chocolates. Once his ten days are over, he continues to refuse to sell the chocolates. This is not a problem at first because the whole school is selling chocolate, except for Jerry. After a while, people begin to think about what Jerry is doing, and decide that they will not sell the chocolates either. At first, Archie does not care, but then he remembers that he promised Brother Leon that the chocolates would be sold. Archie now has to go to work, and indeed he does. First he has to make selling chocolates the thing to do; he has to make it cool to sell chocolates, which he does. Now jerry must sell the chocolates, which won't be as easy as making it cool to sell chocolates. Read the rest of the book to find out if Jerry ends up selling the chocolates, and what Archie does in his endeavor to make Jerry sell them. Also, you will find out what happens after the chocolate sale, which is very surprising.

Rating:
Summary: The War of Wars
Review: The biggest event of the whole year at Trinity High School is the annual chocolate sale. Each student was to sell twenty-five boxes of chocolates, for one dollar each. But this year was different, with Brother Leon running the school and ordering 20,000 boxes of chocolates, each student was to sell fifty boxes of chocolates worth two dollars each. In order to get the job done, Brother Leon relied on a secret student organization called, the Vigils. The Vigils were run by the president, John Carter, an athletic senior on the boxing and football teams. The man who was really in charge though, was Archie Costello, a mischievious senior with many sneaky ways of getting people into trouble. He was the one who made all of the decisions. His job as the assigner was to assign kids to certain jobs. These were not ordinary tasks though. They were not easy either. In fact, the who "Chocolate War" started by one simple assignment given to Jerry Renault. Nobody dared stand up to the Vigils. Jerry Renault was a freshman who just moved to Trinity High School. His assignment was to not sell the chocolates for ten days, and then recieve and sell his chocolates within the next couple weeks. So every morning, when Brother Leon would do his roll call, every student would report the number of boxes they have sold, but Jerry would just state "No.". Despite Brother Leon's anger when he realized Jerry that refused to sell chocolates, selling chocolates was an optional duty. But when Jerry said no, Brother Leon was shocked because every other student at school sold the chocolates. Jerry was carrying out his assignment fine until the day he was suppose to accept his chocolates. Jerry said no. Soon, word got around the school about the new freshman that was taking a stand against the school, Brother Leon, and the Vigils. The Vigils were worried that kids would follow Jerry's lead and stop selling their chocolates. After all, it was optional. Brother Leon put Archie in charge of getting all the chocolates sold, and that is exactly what he was going to do. Read the book to find out what happens. But there would be other students like Jerry every once in a while to look out for.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Book
Review: This book was a great, realistic picture of what really goes on in the high school world. Maybe it is a little outdated, but the same ideas can be applied to today's world. Yes, this book uses profanity, and yes it is sexually explicit, but it's real, and it is not used in a negative way. Kids hear worse profanity every day at school, so I personally would not stop a 6th or 7th grader from reading this book.

Rating:
Summary: Pretty Good Book
Review: This book has a very interesting story line you become interested in immediately.The plot is a little on the twisted but true side of the socail groups in high school.Like a known but unknown secret society using people to get thier tasks done for them. I will personally recomend this book to anyone who enjoys reading any type of triumph and defeat based book.

Rating:
Summary: Emerging Change
Review: The exhilaration of following the life of a high school student is taken to a new level in Robert Cormier's The Chocolate War. Weaving the characters lives into each other's like water through rapids, Cormier leaves me wondering what will happen next. Jerry Renault, the new freshman at Trinity High School, takes a stand when confronted by the authority of the notorious school gang known as The Vigils. Expected to sell chocolate as a school fundraiser, Jerry catches Archie, the sharp-witted Vigil secretary, off guard when he refuses to sell. Seen as a role model to his fellow students, Jerry encourages his behavior among his peers with this appalling act, forcing Archie to strike back at him with sheer intimidation. The end is twisted and unexpected, but appropriate at the right angle. This book has earned my three-star rating only because of my disappointment due to the sexual content and the immense amount of profanity. Of course, these are matters of everyday life, so I continue to recommend this book for its continuous, vivid plot and relevant theme.