The Taking Tree: A Selfish Parody by Shrill Travesty
My rating: 5/5 cats
so i was waiting until the gods of media mail delivered david’s (yes, belated) birthday copy of this book to him before i wrote my own review. i know my reviews are a secret joy to him, and i didn’t want his view of the book to be tainted by my keen critical eye. i also figured it was his duty to review it first.
you see, david’s review of the giving tree is quite legendary, don’t you know? like, golden age legendary. much like the aurora borealis, it can only be seen on certain nights, when the moon is full and the wolves are snug in their dens, and then—in a twinkling—it is gone again, but all who have been fortunate enough to catch a glimpse of it are never the same afterward. “did you see that?” they ask each other, never sure if it was imagined…in some cultures, reading david’s review of the giving tree is a rite of passage, when little boys become men. but those little boys are shit out of luck, because right now, that review is in the wane of its cycle.
and now—irony of all ironies—david’s review of this book has also gone into hibernation. david kowalski, you are running the very real risk of becoming entirely apocryphal.
and if i may be one-more-time-name-dropping before we get to the actual review, may i just take this moment to say that ariel is not a mermaid but an angel sent here from heaven to give me books, even when i don’t come right out and beg for them. she is a delight.
so, the giving tree. i gave that book 5 stars cats not because i think it is an awesome story, but because it is so spectacularly manipulative and it teaches little kids how to be sociopaths, but masks it underneath some scratchy drawings, and that it has been in print as long as it has without people being up in arms about this leaves me awestruck and twitterpated. i don’t care how you are reading it (popular interpretations are a mother’s selfless love for her child—giving up all she is made of for him to succeed, or as a spiritual parable about the turn-the-other-cheek philosophy that gives and gives despite being taken advantage of, or as a terrifying tale of inequality and battered woman/tree syndrome in an emotionally unequal relationship), it is a shitty, shitty situation for the tree. come on, tree—haven’t you been following my reviews??
this is like a bizarro shel silverstein book, where the tree has a backbone, and even though that stupid kid manages to get a lot of shit over on the tree, at the end, there is comeuppance.
i love a good revenge story.
i love the illustrations, i love the playfulness, i love the little back-cover joke; this book is a real freaking joy to me. this is a perfect gift for anyone who can be amused.
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