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Most Helpful Reviews
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Liked It “it was a really good book if you like books about werid and disburing stuff this recommend it to mature teens” see full review » see other reviews » |
Didn’t Like It “The second book this summer from my classroom library that I was disappointed with. Maybe I'm past being able to enjoy books for young adults? This read like a cookbook mystery: take one psychotic boy murderer, add a flaky girl who is obsessed with his image, and stir in a cop who has an...” see full review » see other reviews » |
Newest Reviews
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“Robert Cormier's 210-page realistic fiction thriller "Tenderness" follows the lives of two teenagers: Lorelei Cranston and Eric Poole, a serial murderer. The novel takes place in the present in numerous New England towns, specifically Lorelei, or "Lori", and Eric's meeting place, Wickburg. He is a juvenile delinquent who has just been released, while she recalls him from a specific moment in her childhood where he protected her from a biker gang, thus her fixation on him. Eric is constantly being pursued by an old Lieutenant wanting to put him back in jail for his murders. The two characters have common grounds: their parents. They were both raised improperly without being trained by the adults around them, thus Eric expresses his "tenderness" in different and unconventional ways - killing - and Lori fixates herself on goals with no real judgment. "A part of the body that has been injured is often tender to the touch." The quote portrays the result of the injuries caused by, in this case, parental neglect. The novel was rather raw, vulgar, and confusing as to the characters' intentions at some points, in my opinion, yet the author portrays the mood intended very well.”
Keenan M wrote this review yesterday. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“The second book this summer from my classroom library that I was disappointed with. Maybe I'm past being able to enjoy books for young adults? This read like a cookbook mystery: take one psychotic boy murderer, add a flaky girl who is obsessed with his image, and stir in a cop who has an expected back story that creates his need to "get" the murderer; finish off with a twisted ending that seemed expected to me. I always wondered why this book sitting on the shelf was called Tenderness...now I know, but I'm not sure I buy it. Eric's desire for "tenderness" was never explained enough to satisfy me.”
Wendy Bell wrote this review 2 weeks ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“it was a really good book if you like books about werid and disburing stuff this recommend it to mature teens”
sarah bby wrote this review Friday, November 13 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Terrible”
Paul M wrote this review Monday, October 26 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“This book was creepy but it showed everyone needs to be loved. I liked the characters and the realness it portrayed. There was nothing farfetched or hard to imagine about it. Not the happy ending you always see but a more realistic ending filled with Karma.”
Juli Z wrote this review Friday, October 9 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“This is probably the most explicit of Cormier's novels, in terms of both the sex and the violence. (But I've had the privilege of reading its early drafts and they made the final product seem quite tame!) It's structured almost as precisely as I am the Cheese. It takes a writer of great skill to get the reader to understand and sympathize with a teenage necrophiliac serial killer, even as they understand he must be brought down. Lori was blonde and big-breasted and promiscuous, but she was surprisingly innocent and likeable for all that. Jake Proctor could be seen as the stereotype of an old cop, but he's hardly a cardboard figure. Kudos to Cormier as usual.”
Meaghan G wrote this review Monday, August 3 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“A young girl falls in love with a teen who has murdered his parents and is suspected of killing others. The teen in released from juvie and meets up with Lori who is stalking him on what might be her last day alive.”
readsall wrote this review Tuesday, July 7 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“A terribly fierce novel; I wanted to put it down before finishing it, about a girl with no self-esteem, sexually abused and self-abused, and a serial killer. . Very controversial and difficult to read but high school kids seem to like it.”
Lisa E wrote this review Saturday, June 27 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“A very sad and touching relationship between a lonely young teenager longing for love from anyone and a criminal who just got out of jail for killing his mother.”
Junemarie D wrote this review Tuesday, March 24 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
