The Chocolate War

Rating:
Summary: A Must Read
Review: When I first read the book, I figured it would mostly be one of the style and personality only towards a guy. But after I got into the book I realized that it set an image for both male and female readers. The book created a tension that one would be able to feel the presence of the characters. The Chocolate War was a book that showed the true events and happenings of a real life history of a 9th grade boy. What really impressed me was that the ending wasn't like the classic fairy tale endings, but the ending of something that would happen. Even though the ending seemed too brutal to even think about, I realized Robert Cormier has a great sense about the issues of the true ending of a life in the Chocolate War.

Rating:
Summary: THe Chocolate War
Review: This book was a chilling reminder of my hellish days of high school. While Cormier does go a tad overboard in getting his point across (ie the Vigils antics), the message was clear that high school really is not what it seems...

Rating:
Summary: I liked it
Review: I would highly recommend this book. I could not stop reading this book. I thought it realy told a lot about human nature.

Rating:
Summary: The Chocolate War
Review: A Book About Reality The Chocolate War was a very good book. It showed reality to a tennagers life. I would recommend this book to any guy between the age of 12-16. I don't believe a girl would understand some of the actions that take place in the book; why, because it shows how guys view things. This book is all about following th in-crowd. When one kid doesn't it messes wverything up. This book has a lot of messages about teenage pressures. Watch how Archie and th Vigils play off of everything Jerry does. The only downfall to the book is the author skips around a lot, but the way he ends the book is awesome and makes up for everything else!

Rating:
Summary: Not a good book for high school student
Review: High-School is not like how Robert Cormier depicts it in his book the Chocolate War. Many people belive that it is a perfect example of how cliquish people can be in highschools. Well let me tell you something, highschool is not anything like that. Highschool does not consist of groups like the Vigils, and in no way does it exist of all students against one over one stupid sale of chocolates. Students are to diverse and they have opinions of their own. Robert Cormier, makes it seem like high school is disrupted entirely by one small student, while all the rest go with the flow. Well, reality check Mr. Cormier maybe you should spend a week in a high school to see how wrong you really were.

Rating:
Summary: Perversions pointless and un-needed
Review: The Book The Chocolate War, by Robert Cormier I found rather disturbing. There were many incidents throughout the course of the book that were irrelevant and just down-right discusting. The author made many refernces to women in a derogotory sense, which made me as a female feel degraded and uncomfortable. On more than one occasion Robert Cormier irrelevantly included more than one of the students pleasuring themselves whether it was at home or in school. These actions do not belong in a book that is read in school. It teaches to do wrong and think like a perverted man.

Rating:
Summary: Great Book!
Review: On January 17th, 1925 Robert Cormier was born. He grew up in Leominster, Massachusetts, a small town in the central part of the state. As a youth, he was an avid reader and always dreamed of becoming a writer. He grew up in a large and loving family during the depression. After graduating from a Roman Catholic parochial high school, he attended Fitchburg State College, for one year and then dropped out. In 1848, he married his wife Connie, and moved back to Leominster. He worked as a newspaper reporter and columnist for the next 30 years. Robert and Connie raised four children in their Leominster house. Robert Cormier continued to write, but never made a serious attempt to publish any books. He published his first book in 1960, titled Now and at the Hour. Since then he has written fifteen books, fourteen of them fiction, and one a collection of his newspaper columns. Some of the most popular books he has written include The Chocolate War, I am the Cheese, After the First Death, and Beyond the Chocolate War. He has been labeled as a romanticist, a realist, and an optimist. He has won many awards for his journalism and novels such as the "Margaret A. Edwards Award," the "Best Book for Young Adults Award," and the "Best of the Best Books Award," from the American Library Association. Robert Cormier has also won the "Outstanding Book of the Year Award," presented by the New York Times for The Chocolate War. He has also received numerous other awards and merits. Robert Cormier is still alive today, enjoying his hobbies of reading and writing. Sometimes his books are described as written for young adults, but readers of all ages enjoy his work. Robert Cormier writes of both good and evil in his novels. However, his unusual style of description and themes have caused criticism among the public about The Chocolate War. Many parents and reviewers believe that the book is too negative. Cormier believes that people are used to the 30-60 minute television programs that end "happily ever after." He writes more from a realist perspective in The Chocolate War. He believes that the graphic ending of this book is more realistic, because life is not always happy. The following description is taken from the book preface, because it is the most carefully written and does not give away the most thrilling parts of the novel.

Stunned by his mother's recent Death and appalled by the way his father sleepwalks through life, Jerry Renault, a New England high school student ponders the poster in his locker- Do I dare disturb the universe? Part of his Universe is Archie Costello, a leader of a secret school society, the Vigils, and master of intimidation. Archie himself is intimidated by a cool, ambitious teacher into having the Vigils spearhead the annual fund-raising event, a chocolate sale. When Jerry refuses to be bullied into selling chocolates, he becomes a hero, but his defiance is a threat to Archie, the Vigils, and the school. In the inevitable showdown, Archie's skill at intimidation turns Jerry from a hero to outcast, to victim, leaving him alone and terribly vulnerable.

The plot is very intriguing and uses graphic writing that is shocking to read. "The exhilaration of the moment vanished and he sought it in vain, like seeking ecstasy's memory an instant after jacking off and encountering only shame and guilt." This quote is when he is thinking about his mothers painful death. It is one example of Robert Cormier's shocking language. Through out the book he uses profanity, derogatory sexual comments, and talk of masturbation. All the language however, is common throughout high school, but is usually not commented on. The theme of The Chocolate War, is brought out by the question, "Do I dare disturb the universe?" The whole story is about falling into the trap of conformity. Conformity rules the world and there needs to be someone in every society to break conformity. An example of the theme is the book. The book is breaking conformity by having a graphic unhappy ending. Critics of the book are mostly people that are only content with happy endings. The ending of the novel is one reason why The Chocolate War has been banned by number of elementary and junior high schools. Everyday we have to choose whether to conform or not. Robert Cormier's writing style is easy to read. For the most part he uses vocabulary that is basic and at a high school reading level. He does not use large, complicated, "beat around the bush" wording and is straight to the point, utilizing easy to understand similes and metaphors. His writing style is very true. He writes just the way my high school acted and talked. The Chocolate War is an great novel that can be enjoyed by people of all ages. It depicts high school life, so people in high school can relate to the story, and people out of high school will understand the story because they have experienced it. The novel has many twists in each chapter that will pull anyone in, so you want more. The Chocolate War will have pulled you in so much by the end, that you will be craving for more. I guess the next thing to do is to read Beyond the Chocolate War.

Rating:
Summary: Very Good and Original
Review: The chocolate war was a very original and very good book. It was like a book I have never read before. It was pretty suspensful and had a lot of detail. Robert Cormier has a very good method of getting a characters personality out to you. It was a very good book

Rating:
Summary: I fell asleep four times while reading!
Review: If you have problems fallaíng asleep read this book! It is extremly boring and without good story. Unfortiunly we had to read this terrible book at school and discuss every single interesting(?) detail. It is only nearly interresting at the end and yet very confusing all the way through. The characters are week and no one except Jerry is standing up for their opnion. BAD! I really wouldn't recomend this book to anyone except for someone with total lack of other hobbies.

Rating:
Summary: I did not like this book at all!
Review: I thought that this book was not so interesting. The author went off into to many different directions, and never stayed with the same situation. Also, the book didn't really get interesting until the end. The end of the book was really messed up, it didn't really make sense. Also, I thought that the story didn't seam to have a lot of thought put into it, thats why it was so boring!