I had not read The Chocolate War since it came out originally! Yep, I am dating myself... I had forgotten most of it. While some of the descriptions clearly show the era in which it was written, the themes are universal.

There is no clear "happy ending" for all involved. Jerry, as the "underdog with a heart", doesn't come out on top; Archie isn't punished for his actions; Obie doesn't finally triumph over Archie and become his own man. The tension is so well written that I was uncomfortable the entire time I was reading it.

The thing I loved the most was that, even though it was written 38 years ago, I could absolutely see teens (mostly boys I think) relating to it today. Robert Cormier's writing doesn't pander to what people think teens would read. He doesn't play down language or use "easy" words. He bolts headlong into the story and never looks back. ( )

There isn’t much of value in Robert Cormier’s The Chocolate War. The plot (and the “chocolate war” itself) is nothing but a MacGuffin. The characters are archetypes with only a thin skin of dialogue stretched over their skeleton. When the reader is told a character is amazing and leagues above other humans in innate skill and ability, it's reductive. Show me, don't tell me. This doesn’t even begin to deal with the fantasy-like elements of a secret society running a high school

But the moments of Jerry's longing for his dead mother and explosive resistance to not living out his currently unknown dreams is effective. Robert Cormier is clearly a man who has lost, yet retains his dreams. Too bad this single scene appears early in the book and fails to connect Jerry’s actions to his dead mother and dreamless father. I understand what Cormier is going for, but come on, to “dare to disturb the universe” by not selling chocolates? T.S. Eliot's pearls thrown before swine.

In the end, the villains remain villains and the heroes end bloody or powerless. Is this the way the world is? In some ways, yes, but in other ways, absolutely not. “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.” My major problem here is I've read several books that do what The Chocolate War fails to do. Infinite Jest gives us real high schoolers with cruelty, love, doubts, and fears; The Lord of the Flies give us the brutal humanity. ( )

Not my cup of tea. ( )

4/10/22

Boy what a page turner! Very disturbing book with no happy resolution. ( )