Pay It Forward
by Catherine Ryan Hyde
Now an international best-seller and one of the most famous modern books, Pay It Forward started with the author’s guilt. She was in a bad part of town, and she had thoughts she was less than proud of when she saw two black men running towards her car. It turned out her car was on fire and they saved her life. By the time she had finished answering the firemen’s questions, her rescuers had left the scene. She never knew their names, never saw them again, and never thanked them. Thus created a body of work with do-gooders, small events changing lives, and extremely kind, selfless black characters.
If you’ve seen the movie, you’ll be a little surprised by the novel. Kevin Spacey’s character is a black man, his left arm is crippled, and he only has one eye. Personally, I felt the author’s characterization of Rueben (Eugene in the film) was unrealistic. Arlene, is written to be ignorant and extremely lowlife. She doesn’t use correct grammar, she’s an alcoholic, and has notoriously bad judgement with men. Raised in a small, white town, she probably has picked up some prejudices throughout the years. And yet, miraculously, when she meets the teacher of her son, she immediately overlooks the color of his skin, his severe burns, his bad arm, and his eye patch – only seeing his inner beauty? I can’t imagine that happening in real life.
I also didn’t like the format of this novel. Each chapter is told by a different character’s perspective, and in between those sections, a news report or journalist’s article is included, treating the story like a documentary. I understood the author’s intention, but it constantly took me out of the story. The “vignettes” of each character paying forward three good deeds felt like they were either pulled from Sunday school or a mere desire to prove the author’s point. Nothing about this story felt organic, which is a shame. It’s a very famous story with very good intentions, but it just isn’t written very well.
I’ve never met anyone who actually “likes” the end of this story, from the novel or the movie. So while I don’t actually recommend either one, if you feel compelled to, read the book instead. It’s a lot easier to detach yourself (and you’ll need to) from a nondescript child on the page than the adorable Haley Joel Osment on the screen.
If you’ve seen the movie, you’ll be a little surprised by the novel. Kevin Spacey’s character is a black man, his left arm is crippled, and he only has one eye. Personally, I felt the author’s characterization of Rueben (Eugene in the film) was unrealistic. Arlene, is written to be ignorant and extremely lowlife. She doesn’t use correct grammar, she’s an alcoholic, and has notoriously bad judgement with men. Raised in a small, white town, she probably has picked up some prejudices throughout the years. And yet, miraculously, when she meets the teacher of her son, she immediately overlooks the color of his skin, his severe burns, his bad arm, and his eye patch – only seeing his inner beauty? I can’t imagine that happening in real life.
I also didn’t like the format of this novel. Each chapter is told by a different character’s perspective, and in between those sections, a news report or journalist’s article is included, treating the story like a documentary. I understood the author’s intention, but it constantly took me out of the story. The “vignettes” of each character paying forward three good deeds felt like they were either pulled from Sunday school or a mere desire to prove the author’s point. Nothing about this story felt organic, which is a shame. It’s a very famous story with very good intentions, but it just isn’t written very well.
I’ve never met anyone who actually “likes” the end of this story, from the novel or the movie. So while I don’t actually recommend either one, if you feel compelled to, read the book instead. It’s a lot easier to detach yourself (and you’ll need to) from a nondescript child on the page than the adorable Haley Joel Osment on the screen.