Pay It Forward by Catherine Ryan Hyde Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Pay It Forward
Book Review: A Feel Good Novel
Summary: 5 Stars
Pay it Forward is a quick read and feel good novel. Our book club chose it as a break between longer and more complex literature. Although not a humorous book, there were several one-liners that made me either smile or laugh out loud.Book Review: A Plan To Change The World
Summary: 5 Stars
Who would have thought a 12 year old boy would transform the world through a simple yet challenging extra credit school project? I would guess not many people, but it is true. This story is a touching and inspiring example of how hope and forgiveness can transform one's ordinary and even painful life into a meaningful and fulfilling one. The school boy, Trevor begins by doing local good deeds for three people, which turns into a way of being for many people around the country in becoming kinder and doing good deeds for others.If you enjoyed this book, I highly recommend another inspiring book called "WORKING ON YOURSELF DOESN"T WORK" by Ariel and Shya Kane. I have found this book to be a practical and powerful guide for lasting personal transformation in my own life. The Kanes also have some great audio tapes, such as "The Roots of Satisfaction."
Book Review: A Pleasure to Read
Summary: 4 Stars
It is so nice to read a book Ican pass on to my granddaughter.I made the mistake of seeingthe movie first. It was disappointing because I found ithard to follow; although the acting was superb. The book hadso much more that coudn't possiblyfit on a movie screen. So I recommend that parents should buythe book for their boys and girls12yrs. and up.Book Review: A STORY THAT SHORES BELIEF AND NOURISHES HOPE
Summary: 5 Stars
Following on the heels of her critically acclaimed debut novel, Funerals For Horses (1997), Catherine Ryan Hyde has crafted another affecting tale. It is one sown with promise and the innate goodness of humankind.Can our world be changed for the better? Twelve-year-old Trevor McKinney thinks that it can. Cynicism may dismiss this belief as implausible, lachrymose, but Ms. Hyde's meticulously wrought, restrained prose keeps sentimentality at bay, while at the same time imbuing Pay It Forward with a transcendent power to move.
There is aught in Trevor's small town California background to explain his response when a social studies teacher challenges students to ""Think of an idea for world change, and put it into action." The boy devises an ingenious but simple scheme - pay it forward.
In Trevor's words: "You see, I do something real good for three people. And then when they ask how they can pay it back, I say they have to pay it forward. To three more people. Each. So nine people get helped. Then those people have to do twenty-seven....Then it sort of spreads out, see. To eighty-one. Then two hundred forty-three. Then seven hundred twenty-nine. Then two thousand, one hundred eighty-seven. See how big it gets?"
Trevor initiates his plan with Jerry, a homeless man, to whom the boy gives his paper route earnings so that Jerry can make himself presentable and find work. But with his first paycheck Jerry turns into a bar, squanders his hard earned cash, and winds up in jail.
The second recipient of Trevor's good will is Mrs. Greenberg, an elderly arthritic widow. She dreams of seeing her beloved garden well tended again. Trevor spends after school hours restoring the yard to its former verdancy. When she asks the boy how she can pay him back, he suggests that she pay it forward. But Mrs. Greenberg dies.
Deeming his plan a failure, Trevor is further disheartened by a relationship that he hoped would develop between his mother, Arlene, and his teacher, Reuben St. Clair. A more unlikely pair would be hard to find - Arlene is white, a pretty but tough recovering alcoholic who works two jobs to make ends meet. She feels Reuben looks down on her because she lacks education. A "little lightning bolt of indignation," Arlene is so prone to misjudgments that her AA sponsor warns, "Every time you throw a punch, girl, you break your own jaw."
On the other hand, Reuben believes Arlene is repelled by his appearance - he is a black war veteran who lost half of his face in Vietnam. Wounded both physically and emotionally, he is only comfortable in a classroom. In a moment of self-revelation, Reuben discloses, "Any moment that required him to be emotionally helpful, to offer solace or understanding, was a hard moment."
Yet, despite Trevor's misgivings his plan has taken root and is growing, spreading across state lines to Washington, D.C.. An invitation is extended to Trevor, Arlene and Reuben to come to the White House. where President Clinton will present the boy with an award.
Trevor describes that time as "the best, most incredible day," and asks Reuben, "Do you think there'll ever be a day this good again? Or do you just get one of these?"
The answer to his question is found in a sudden, heartbreaking denouement.
Related in alternating narrative voices Pay It Forward is resonate with heart wrenching struggle and hard won achievement, greed and largesse, hope and disappointment, courage and fear - all the stuff of which human life is made. It suggests a utopia impossible to bring into existence, a premise far too chimerical to succeed. Or, is it? Imaginatively conceived, meticulously rendered, Pay It Forward shores belief and nourishes hope.
Book Review: A Story to Remember for the Good It Imparts.
Summary: 3 Stars
The cover of this paperback shows the stars of the film based loosely on this clever book. It is easier to read heart-wrending and impossibly sad situations than it is to watch them acted out on stage or in the movies. The thesis is somewhat changed to Hollywood standards, but on the whole it is worth buying the video as a remembrance of a wonderful book with a magnificent thought of changing America and the world with consideration and manners and "do unto others" we were taught at church as children.
This movie was cute and thought-provoking. The star clearly is Haley Joel Osment who we all loved in 'Sixth Sense' with Bruce Willis. He is still the lovable precocious child who can manipulate the adults to do as he wants and think it was their idea in the first place. Trevor has an unhappy childhood with an absent dad and an uneducated waitress mother played by Helen Hunt, a marvelous actress. His 7th grade teacher, the highly intelligent Kevin Spacey thinks he is playing a game when he directs his students to be do-gooders. Only Trevor takes him seriously. This is the basic pyramid scheme like a chain letter.
The children must do good deeds for three people, who in turn do good things for three other people. These nine must "pay it forward" ad infinitum. It was a game of "do-good"ing which could change the world into a nicer place. The teacher becomes Trevor's pawn in the game of chance whereby Trevor maneuvers to pair him up with his single mom. Both adults are scarred inwardly and outwardly, and Trevor's attempts show how low-class becomes high class.
This was based on the book written by Catherine Ryan Hyde, which was better than the film, as they usually always are. "Pay forward" is the manner of preforming an unexpected act of kindness which multiplies hundredfold. Haley Joel Osment was as superb in this smaltzy film as he was the dead child in 'Sixth Sense.' Ms. Hyde has written other such novels and all are well worth the effort of reading. Watching is totally different from reading and hearing the voices in your mind. It is better to visualize the characters than to watch the individual acting styles of so-called stars who try to outdo each other. Read before you view.