1. Where would you classify this book, in terms of genre? Does it strike you more as science fiction or as dystopia?
Science fiction, for sure. I guess I think of dystopia as more . . . EVERYTHING is bad, but it seems like a lot of the world was going on as normal. That the threat of the buggers didn't change the world as much as the "something" in dystopians usually do.
2. Ender's Game was first published in 1986. Do you think it's aged well? Certain aspects, such as the Russians being the primary enemy, are certainly dated. Did that impact your enjoyment of the novel?
It DOES seem dated. The Russian thing wasn't a problem for me (I think I'm willing to accept anyone as an enemy in the future), but some of the technology seemed dated, which threw me a bit. But then, sometimes I jump around genres so much that I start wondering why characters in historicals don't just use their cell phones. :P
3. What did you think of the characterization? What did you think of the Wiggin children, of Ender's friends, and of the IF officials?That'
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Oh, that's a good point - it does seem like everything I think there was a point made of his isolation, but I also think he chose to accept it? He told himself it was better that way. (Then again, he was practically a baby - but I don't really think of him as a baby, young as he was.)
I didn't think the kids came across as kids enough either. Ha, I just read that.
Graff's sense of humor really entertained me. All his, "Do I get a raise? Oh, just a medal, huh."
That's true - it seemed like they just went on the offensive, although the little the book mentioned about the Second Invasion made it seem like Earth had drawn an unprovoked attack. What I did like, though, was Ender piecing together the videos and trying to figure out how on earth the humans had won against the buggers.
The running theme about choice was kinda murky through the whole novel. Was he or wasn't he accountable? It was a question that was brought up but never really resolved.
See, his accepting his isolation didn't come across to me. It came across to me that he accepted what they were asking him to do, but not the isolation. And yes. He seemed to agree that the buggers needed to be destroyed, but he still . . . didn't know what he was doing. And the people in charge decided that he COULDN'T know what he was doing. So while Ender wasn't completely without choice, he didn't have many choices. Or good choices.
And yeah. The invasion was unprovoked, but it also seemed pretty clear that the problem was lack of communication? That that was why the buggers had to be destroyed because they couldn't . . . talk things out or anything like that.
It also seemed like the world had been at war and accepted the threat for a while, so he was conditioned to hate them, fear them, and consider them the enemy - which made his wanting to know them pretty surprising.
And the structure of the Battle School in general seemed to indicate a real lack of choice, didn't it? They just put Mazer on a starship for twenty years so he'd be alive when they found their future commander, never mind that all his family died while he never got any older. I wish there had been a little more about who exactly was calling the shots - that's a really unfair decision to make about someone's life. And also that pilot who flew them to Eros, the one Graff told would have to stay until the war was over. (Lucky for him, I guess, it was over in about two years.)
Yeah. Though I wonder if they'd ever have communicated if they'd figured out how the buggers actually spoke - mind to mind? The bit with the game and the giant was creepy.
YES. There was so much high handedness and I don't think I was sold that this was all necessary, you know? The Battle School, Mazer, the pilot . . . why did that have to be done? Why did it have to be done THAT way? And what made Ender THAT special? (It would've also been nice to see him fail some because YOU LEARN FROM FAILURE. And, in fact, I think failure is an essential lesson for gifted kids.)
I also didn't totally buy the game and the giant thing. HOW could they do that? Read Ender's mind from there? And, if they could do that, couldn't they have found another way to communicate BEFORE they were destroyed?
You know what's funny? I didn't like it, but I kind of understood it. I don't think it was necessary, and I think that what their actions led to - the assumed destruction of an entire intelligent species - was touched on, which was nice. I really liked that Ender wrote that book in the end, and that people read it. (Yeah, I did want Ender to fail. At least once! One thing Ender's Shadow does is present Bean as someone smarter than Ender.)
I have no idea! It was interesting, too, that their scientists had no idea what was happening in the game - that's an eerie way to address technology. But yeah, it was kind of like they accepted their eventual destruction.
I guess I just . . . wanted those questions dealt with. (Oh! That's really interesting! But I don't think I'll read it.)
Ahhh YES. Shouldn't they have at least TRIED to figure out what the computer was doing? :P I guess that was another thing about this book: No one really seemed to know what they were doing?
Science fiction, for sure. I guess I think of dystopia as more . . . EVERYTHING is bad, but it seems like a lot of the world was going on as normal. That the threat of the buggers didn't change the world as much as the "something" in dystopians usually do.
2. Ender's Game was first published in 1986. Do you think it's aged well? Certain aspects, such as the Russians being the primary enemy, are certainly dated. Did that impact your enjoyment of the novel?
It DOES seem dated. The Russian thing wasn't a problem for me (I think I'm willing to accept anyone as an enemy in the future), but some of the technology seemed dated, which threw me a bit. But then, sometimes I jump around genres so much that I start wondering why characters in historicals don't just use their cell phones. :P
3. What did you think of the characterization? What did you think of the Wiggin children, of Ender's friends, and of the IF officials?That' ( ... )
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I didn't think the kids came across as kids enough either. Ha, I just read that.
Graff's sense of humor really entertained me. All his, "Do I get a raise? Oh, just a medal, huh."
That's true - it seemed like they just went on the offensive, although the little the book mentioned about the Second Invasion made it seem like Earth had drawn an unprovoked attack. What I did like, though, was Ender piecing together the videos and trying to figure out how on earth the humans had won against the buggers.
The running theme about choice was kinda murky through the whole novel. Was he or wasn't he accountable? It was a question that was brought up but never really resolved.
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And yeah. The invasion was unprovoked, but it also seemed pretty clear that the problem was lack of communication? That that was why the buggers had to be destroyed because they couldn't . . . talk things out or anything like that.
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And the structure of the Battle School in general seemed to indicate a real lack of choice, didn't it? They just put Mazer on a starship for twenty years so he'd be alive when they found their future commander, never mind that all his family died while he never got any older. I wish there had been a little more about who exactly was calling the shots - that's a really unfair decision to make about someone's life. And also that pilot who flew them to Eros, the one Graff told would have to stay until the war was over. (Lucky for him, I guess, it was over in about two years.)
Yeah. Though I wonder if they'd ever have communicated if they'd figured out how the buggers actually spoke - mind to mind? The bit with the game and the giant was creepy.
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I also didn't totally buy the game and the giant thing. HOW could they do that? Read Ender's mind from there? And, if they could do that, couldn't they have found another way to communicate BEFORE they were destroyed?
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I have no idea! It was interesting, too, that their scientists had no idea what was happening in the game - that's an eerie way to address technology. But yeah, it was kind of like they accepted their eventual destruction.
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Ahhh YES. Shouldn't they have at least TRIED to figure out what the computer was doing? :P I guess that was another thing about this book: No one really seemed to know what they were doing?
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PS: How's the new job???
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