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The Giving Tree-the most depressing book?

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Dalek

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I never read this as a kid, but apparently my daughter read it this week in 1st grade and it really upset her. On a whim today in a bookstore I picked it up and read it-and it pretty much devestated me. What a downer.

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Holy hell. My mom just bought this for my daughter. I read it 2 days ago. It made me instantly depressed. My daughter is 8 and asked to read it for bed. We did with my wife in the room. again all of us were sad. We explained to her what the book was trying to convey but it is awful. That boy is a douche. That is the only real story there.
 
I honestly can't remember if the book itself is actually depressing but "The Fall of Freddy the Leaf" is nearly iconic in its status as a children's book explaining death.
 
Nathan_Drake said:
Holy hell. My mom just bought this for my daughter. I read it 2 days ago. It made me instantly depressed. My daughter is 8 and asked to read it for bed. We did with my wife in the room. again all of us were sad. We explained to her what the book was trying to convey but it is awful. That boy is a douche. That is the only real story there.
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No lie man-I was standing there in Target all choked up with tears in my eyes. My wife walked up and was like "what the hell happened???"
 
I remember this book from when I was younger. Apparently it's one of my mom's favorite books that she used to read to me when I was a kid. It might be sad and/or depressing but it's just an allegory for what a parent does for their child. They will do anything for their child no matter what, even if it means there is nothing left of them. That's why the tree was always happy; because the boy was happy. So I don't really see it as sad or depressing but I understand where some might get that interpretation.
 
Nathan_Drake said:
Holy hell. My mom just bought this for my daughter. I read it 2 days ago. It made me instantly depressed. My daughter is 8 and asked to read it for bed. We did with my wife in the room. again all of us were sad. We explained to her what the book was trying to convey but it is awful. That boy is a douche. That is the only real story there.
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Its a metaphor

Lets stop fucking stripping down every square foot of the earth
 
Wikipedia has a lot of good food for thought on this:

The most-discussed interpretation of the book is that the tree and the boy have a parent-child relationship, as in a 1995 collection of essays about the book edited by Richard John Neuhaus in the journal First Things.[21] Among the essayists, some were positive about the relationship; for example, Amy A. Kass wrote about the story that "it is wise and it is true about giving and about motherhood," and her husband Leon R. Kass encourages people to read the book because the tree "is an emblem of the sacred memory of our own mother's love."[21] However, other essayists put forth negative views. Mary Ann Glendon wrote that the book is "a nursery tale for the 'me' generation, a primer of narcissism, a catechism of exploitation," while Jean Bethke Elshtain felt that the story ends with the tree and the boy "both wrecks."[21]

Many writers harshly criticize the book for the way in which it depicts the relationship:[22]

Totally self-effacing, the 'mother' treats her 'son' as if he were a perpetual infant, while he behaves toward her as if he were frozen in time as an importunate baby. This overrated picture book thus presents as a paradigm for young children a callously exploitative human relationship — both across genders and across generations. It perpetuates the myth of the selfless, all-giving mother who exists only to be used and the image of a male child who can offer no reciprocity, express no gratitude, feel no empathy — an insatiable creature who encounters no limits for his demands.

Critics of the book point out that the boy never thanks the tree for its gifts.[23] An editor with Harper & Row was quoted as saying that the book is "about a sadomasochistic relationship" and that it "elevates masochism to the level of a good."[3]

One college instructor discovered that the book caused both male and female remedial reading students to be angry because they felt that the boy exploited the tree.[24] For teaching purposes, he paired the book with a short story by Andre Dubus entitled "The Fat Girl" because its plot can be described as The Giving Tree "in reverse."[24]
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I literally read this for the first time a week ago. Don't know what would've happened if I'd read it as a child.

Actually yes I do, thanks The Snowman.
 
It's one of the best books ever written. Shel Silverstein is a genius and under appreciated.

I've got it on my self sitting right next to War and Peace.
 
Read this a lot as a child, went back to it within the last year and it destroyed me. I love it but man it's depressing.

And for the love of god I wish that fanfic didn't exist.

EDITL Since this is a Shel Silverstein thread, I may as well add something many of you may not know. He was great friends with Johnny Cash and is the writer of the song A Boy Named Sue, check out this awesome performance on the Johnny Cash show
 
I think this book is a metaphor for a mother/child relationship. Not meant to illuminate how dickish the boy is, but rather how loving the tree is in its sacrifices. Women don't literally kill themselves to provide for their children, but many sure as hell feel that way.

Now go call your mother and tell her you love her.
 
biggersmaller said:
I think this book is a metaphor for a mother/child relationship. Not meant to illuminate how dickish the boy is, but rather how loving the tree is in its sacrifices. Women don't literally kill themselves to provide for their children, but many sure as hell feel that way.

Now go call your mother and tell her you love her.
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Same here, when I read it I thought it was about how much your mom does for you.
 
A few weeks ago on Bates Motel, Norma yelled this at a guy,

"Parents do not have needs. You ever read the book The Giving Tree? It's about this tree and this kid keeps coming and taking stuff from it his whole life until there's nothing left but a stump. And then the kid sits on the stump. That's being a parent."

And it was a great scene.
 
I thought it was about learning to limit how much of yourself you give to others because if you put your entire being into pleasing someone who only sees you as a means to an end then you'll end up as a small fraction of your former glory, having lived your entire life trying to make others happy at the cost of yourself with no friendships or bonds or anything else to show for it.

I mean, you could say it's about putting others above yourself, but it doesn't exactly turn out well in this book.
 
I love Shel Silverstein. He was one of the few poets that got me into poetry when I was younger.

Where The Sidewalk Ends>>>>>>
 
i had no idea about this book and picked it out randomly from the bookshelf to read to my kindergarten class a few months back.

at the end of the reading, i faced a room of glum faces. then one 4 year old boy held his hand up and asked "why didn't the boy say 'thank you'?"

best book ever.
 
Hearing about the book always makes me think of when Landry referred to it in Friday Night Lights to describe to Tyra how he felt she treated him.
 
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