4Real Forums: Caution - Ever by Gail Carson Levine

Oh, Dearest Mother, Sweetest Virgin of Altagracia, our Patroness. You are our Advocate and to you we recommend our needs. You are our Teacher and like disciples we come to learn from the example of your holy life. You are our Mother, and like children, we come to offer you all of the love of our hearts. Receive, dearest Mother, our offerings and listen attentively to our supplications. Amen.

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Topic: Caution - Ever by Gail Carson Levine

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JodieLyn
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Posted: Oct 12 2009 at 6:49pm \| IP Logged

We've been reading books by Gail Carson Levine and quite enjoying them. I read fast enough that I can mostly read ahead of my 12 yr old. And while most of the books have been given good recommendations here or by others I would trust, it's a genre that while I personally enjoy it, I also distrust it.

And Ever by Gail Carson Levine falls into that distrust. It's a fairytale story.. about a demi-god who falls in love with a mortal and brings her to immortality. Rather greek myth-ish in the main.

BUT the main character has a god "the one the all" that is talked about as an uncaring god, that would allow the sacrifice of an innocent because the one character promises to sacrifice the first person that congratulates him on his wife's recovery, if his wife would just recover from her illness.

And so the singular god is is talked down, considered uncaring with some possible links to Christianity though not obvious retellings of Bible stories, there's enough there that brought them to my mind. AND the main female character is left searching for her one god and not finding him even as an immortal.. that she would go and search 1 month out of 12 for him.

Not un-recoverable, but I feel depending on the age of the child and where they are in their standing with God and the Church, that it could bring up doubts that weren't there or feed into ones that are.

I would likely have let my 12 yr old who doesn't have many doubts about her faith read it, and talk about it with her so that we can draw the line between the fictional one god and the real God and how and why someone might find reason to say such things.

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JodieLyn
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Posted: Oct 12 2009 at 7:41pm \| IP Logged

I forgot to say that it was my daughter (the 12 yr old) who, when I told her that there were problems with the book and we'd need to talk about it before she could read it, suggested that she wait until she's older for that book. So it's in the pile to go back to the library without any of the kids reading it.

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Jodie, wife to Dave
G-18, B-17, G-15, G-14, B-13, B-11, G-9, B-7, B-5, B-4

All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.
-Sir Walter Scott

Paula in MN
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Posted: Oct 13 2009 at 6:30am \| IP Logged

Thanks for the heads up Jodie. Several of the kids in our co-op are reading this and my dd10 mentioned borrowing it from the library.

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Paula
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