2.27k reviews for:

The Giving Tree

Shel Silverstein

4.29 AVERAGE

dark sad fast-paced
challenging emotional reflective sad
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

 | I've heard folks say this is a children's book about an unhealthy relationship. I see the criticism but I'm afraid I have to disagree. A dear friend recommended this, and I have to say this book is about the happiness that love will bring you. The boy takes and takes, but cannot find joy in the end. Meanwhile, the tree finds joy in giving and loving him. In our day of materialistic wealth and self-obsession, this is a simple, beautiful, and powerful reminder of what can bring us true joy, and it's a story I'm glad to share with my son again and again. 

can the tree go to therapy instead of having a victim complex thanks

childhood favorite
reflective

Super Cute

This book was in my TBR for about two years and I'm glad I finally read it! 

I stand by my seven years ago original review (mostly), but this review also made me see a potential different side to this story, which makes it just as sad but slightly less beautiful and slightly more infuriating:

s.penkevich's review


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description

I read this book for the first time a week and a half ago.
I read it to my six-year-old daughter.
I had to turn my head away by the fourth page because I couldn't stop crying sobbing.
It's so frickin' sad. And so frickin' beautiful.
emotional reflective sad fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Know that if you like this book, I think you're a sociopath.

Spoiler"Oh, the noble tree gives everything for the boy!" NO. The monstrous little child is never given the slightest boundaries or the most vague check to his overweening ambition, and stripmines that tree down to a bare stump, which he then sits on.

And if he has learned the smallest thing in his long and crappy life, what he should be thinking is, "It would be so much better if I were sitting in the shade, eating an apple."