The Chocolate War

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Summary: Book Review of The Chocolate War
Review: The Chocolate War is a novel that can relate to the real world. A freshman named Jerry Renault decides to refuse to participate in Trinity's fund-raiser, selling chocolates. At first everyone is on his side, but eventually hey decide to show school spirit and sell the chocolates. This novel shows how Jerry deals with the school and a gang known as The Vigils. He needs confidence and strength to survive. Throughout the story a life lesson is taught: standing for what you think is right will not always end happily. People are going to go against you one time or another. The characters used in this story sort of represent those that live around us. There is always going to be evil and someone standing for what they believe. Despite the book being interesting and having a true theme, there are problems. Those that read this book should be read by young adults or those older; for many unnecessary words, events, and behaviors are used. I think that the story is hard to follow because the point of view changes, and unimportant characters are always mentioned where there is no need for them. I personally did not enjoy the book, but others may prefer this type of literature.

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Summary: A Classic Tale of Good &Evil is found in The Chocalate War
Review: The Chocolate War marks Robert Cormier's entrance into the young adult area of literature. This novel is a coming of age story about a young boy, Jerry Renault, and his mission to stop the tyranny of Archie Costello, the leader of a secret society, the Vigils. His crusade begins as a small act of disobedience when he refuses to sell the chocolates in the annual school wide chocolate sale. It ends when the Vigils start a chain of events that will inevitably lead to Jerry's or their own societies destruction.

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Summary: Chocolate War
Review: This book is very different from any book I've ever read.This book teaches important life lessons. Also, this book has a very good theme. But, the way Cormier writes is very confusing because he changes the point of view every chapter. This takes away from the book because half the time you're reading you don't know whose eyes you are seeing through. Except for the very end this book is very boring , and almost nothing interesting happens until the last 3 chapters. This is one of those books that you will put down, and never want to start reading again. This book is also not suitable for younger readers because it has some graphic images, and swearing. I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone unless you love Robert Cormier, and read every one of his books. In conclusion, this book teaches wonderful lessons about life and has a good theme, but the book is so boring and confusing that even the great theme can't make this book great.

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Summary: A great novel with a twist
Review: The Chocolate War takes a well used plot, a teenage boy living in a private school, and puts a twist on it. In fear of growing up to be like his boring father, Jerry (the main character) tries to stand out. There are many people against him including the cruel and dark Vigils. Jerry simply wont give in. The ending was a big surprise, completely unexpected. If you want something a little bit different, I would recomment buying this book.

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Summary: My review of The Chocolate War
Review: This young adult book is very interesting and shows the truths of real life. In Jerry's attempt to be different he opens a can of worms by messing with the wrong people. This is his attempt to be true to himself, which is spoiled by the Vigils attempt to ruin him. The end is sad(...). Chocolate War is very realistic and unfortunataly, I'm sure these problems arise in many schools.

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Summary: Masterfully Structured and Unique
Review: The Chocolate war is a simple book about a secret society within a trinity school. Cormier uses excelent wording throughtout the book. It discusses the cruel intensity of secret societys within private schools. The main charecter Jerrys mother recently passed away and has to go through a lot in order to keep himself in one piece.

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Summary: Defying the Universe
Review: Jerry Renault enters high school unaware of the evil power in his new school, Trinity. This excellent novel demonstrates the consequences that occur when Jerry tries to be true to himself and obey only his own laws. Since the outcome of this is very realistic, "The Chocolate War" is an interesting novel to read. READ IT!!!!! IT'S GOOD!!!!!

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Summary: Our Review of The Chocolate War
Review: The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier is a book about a boy who experiences dramatic events in his first year in an all boy catholic academy. We found this book to be rather depressing, although it was also very realistic and entertaining. This book is worth reading once, but a little too dull and drawn out to be read a second time.

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Summary: Wasn't that enjoyable, but it makes you think.
Review: I will begin by saying that i did not enjoy reading this book. I read it for an extra credit assignment in Language Arts, which was to find out why some schools ban the reading of this book.
the Teachers were corrupt, the Vigels were really mean, and everyone else were sheep.. including Jerry until he decided to "stand up" to the vigels.
What was good about the book is that the Hero does infact make very big and very stupid mistakes, proving that he is in fact human. i didnt get the impression that Robert Cormier was trying to Diss Catholisism in this book, it was more... dissing humans in general.

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Summary: Misunderstood book
Review: before I get to the heart of my review. I want to make three points.
First, books, like life, can be depressing--get over it before you read this novel. If reading a work of art that isn't all "warm fuzzies" upsets you, how do you deal with Sept's events--or do you just ignore them also? Also learning to deal with "evil and hate" through a work of literature can at least give some footing when we encounter "evil and hate" in real life.
Second, Cormier did write a sequal to this book in which Jerry does continue on, and I think Jerry becomes very impowered through pacifist resistance--VERY TIMELY.
Third, as for religious symbolism in the novel, there are subtle overtones and the whole Catholic thing just happens to be Catholic--it could happen in a public school just as easily. Also Cormier never intended to create a pure religious allegory with this book; Jerry's behavior is an allusion to Jesus Christ, not an exact match. The book's writing style--it reads well, and Cormier has a lucid prose style that even the most hesitant readers can get through.
Book's characters--some might seem more static and flat than others, but Jerry is a fully developed character who has a legitimate motivation for what he does. His willingness to sacrific a lot for principals might be a bit too much for some people, but then again truly principled people in real life are hard to come by as well.
Credibility of people getting emotional about the School selling all those chocolates--this part might be the biggest stretch at credibility in the entire novel, but just think about all those times in history in which a complacent population has let aweful things happen (i.e. Germany in the 30's, pre-civil war America, pre-settled West America, etc. . .) Also this book is timely about the danger of being too complacent--during the next year as we go to "war" against terrorism, observe how U.S. protesters are treated? Cormier writes this book as a warning that just going with the flow because it is easy may not be right--if this isn't timely and appropriate for teenagers to read what is. Also if you think about all the things that people do get upset over (i.e. watch some of the jerks who will have to deal with airline delays in the coming weeks; or parents who become insane at a bad little league call), getting violent over chocalates isn't too far fetched. Realistic Setting-think back to high school; think about how people who acted a little different were treated; Cormier might be a bit extreme here, but if this isn't timely (i.e. student shootings, violence, etc. . .) what is?
Bottom line is that this book isn't pretty, but Cormier has managed to write a young adult novel that may be considered quality literature for adults as well.