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A review by lmckensie
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
5.0
Having just finished this book for the fifth time, I thought it was about time I wrote a review.
Ender's Game is, quite simply, my favorite book. I first read it at about age twelve. On the first read-through, I was transfixed by the character of Ender. As a gifted child on the verge of exiting childhood, it was extremely resonant, and as a third child who sees herself as an amalgam of her older siblings, I can't say that I didn't see echoes of Ender in myself. The older I get, the more I stray from this reading, but the fact remains that Ender is an amazing character. His ability to walk the fine line between empathy and complete, destructive understanding is masterful.
This quote, in and of itself, is an astonishing picture of empathy. It's something I've chewed on for a long time, and think I will be chewing on for a long time to come.
It would be impossible for me to describe the many reasons I love this book. It has so much to say: about loneliness, about ambition, about burdens and guilt, about the cruelty of history, about the ways people use one another, for better or for worse. It saddens me to know that many people will never pick up this book because of political controversy, because I truly believe that it has something fundamentally important to say about humanity and, ultimately, about compassion. I think I'll be reading Ender's Game for years to come, always getting something new out of it.
Ender's Game is, quite simply, my favorite book. I first read it at about age twelve. On the first read-through, I was transfixed by the character of Ender. As a gifted child on the verge of exiting childhood, it was extremely resonant, and as a third child who sees herself as an amalgam of her older siblings, I can't say that I didn't see echoes of Ender in myself. The older I get, the more I stray from this reading, but the fact remains that Ender is an amazing character. His ability to walk the fine line between empathy and complete, destructive understanding is masterful.
“In the moment when I truly understand my enemy, understand him well enough to defeat him, then in that very moment I also love him. I think it’s impossible to really understand somebody, what they want, what they believe, and not love them the way they love themselves. And then, in that very moment when I love them.... I destroy them.”
This quote, in and of itself, is an astonishing picture of empathy. It's something I've chewed on for a long time, and think I will be chewing on for a long time to come.
It would be impossible for me to describe the many reasons I love this book. It has so much to say: about loneliness, about ambition, about burdens and guilt, about the cruelty of history, about the ways people use one another, for better or for worse. It saddens me to know that many people will never pick up this book because of political controversy, because I truly believe that it has something fundamentally important to say about humanity and, ultimately, about compassion. I think I'll be reading Ender's Game for years to come, always getting something new out of it.