I’m pretty sure the term “Modern Classic” was made for a book like Orson Scott Cards’ Ender’s Game, and it’s a wonder it hasn’t made it to more “100 Must-Read” lists. This book was supposed to be on our 2018 Siblings’ Book Club list, but someone had already ready it, which was an immediate disqualifier. I picked it up on my own, though, and am super glad I did.

Two years younger than my own measly 36 years, this relatively young book prophesies the technology of the future (consider the mindless video games, the net, the tablets, etc.) and, more importantly, delves deep into the furrows of human relationships—particularly those of the bully and the bullied, the apparently strong and the apparently weak—all the while couching it inside an impressive study of military strategy. In the Preface to my edition on e-book, Card describes how some literary critics considered his book to be too pedestrian, where children talk like adults and their problems are really quite juvenile. He counters this argument well enough, saying that kids are more mature than we give them credit for, and since the story resonated with so many bullied juveniles (and since his book became a mega best-seller), he didn’t really care a whole lot what the critics said. That was my introduction to Orson Scott Card, and I knew right away I’d like him.

Now, I’m not even really a sci-fi lover, so I was a bit disappointed by the presence of aliens, a distant swarm of ant-like creatures with high technology, a desire for the resources of planet Earth, and a love for their Queen. Since, however, the vast majority of the book is about anything but the buggers (though the threat of their return is always in the back of the characters’ minds), it’s easy to forget even that the story is set in space. The anti-gravity game room seems less like sci-fi and more like future reality, or at least I hope so. The final two chapters, of course, go so far into alien weirdness that any thought of normalcy is quickly dispelled. It definitely is sci-fi, but one I’d read again.

In his Foreword, Card describes the background for why he longed to re-craft this short story on a large scale. From his studies of military history, he learn an important rule of the growth of an army. He writes: “I learned that history is shaped by the use of power, and that different people, leading the same army, with, therefore, approximately the same power, applied it so differently that the army seemed to change from a pack of noble fools at Fredericksburg to panicked cowards melting away at Chancellorsville, then to the grimly determined, stubborn soldiers who held the ridges at Gettysburg, and then, finally, to the disciplined, professional army that ground Lee to dust in Grant’s long campaign. It wasn’t the soldiers who changed. It was the leader. And even though I could not then have articulated what I understood of military leadership, I knew that I did understand it. I understood, at levels deeper than speech, how a great military leader imposes his will on his enemy, and makes his own army a willing extension of himself.” (Orson Scott Card, Ender’s Game, 5)

Besides the supposed military “genius” of this book and its sci-fi appeal, the main aspects of this story that have garnered attention are Card’s careful dealings with childish squabbles that turn into violent bullying. Whether he suffered loneliness and bullying himself I’m not sure, but he certainly knows how to get into the heart of the troubled, frightened, friendless youth. Here are a few examples:

• While crying in his bed on night, Enders ponders: “Thank you for this, Peter. For dry eyes and silent weeping. You taught me how to hide anything I felt. More than ever, I need that now.” (60)
  
• Card also details the quandary in which the Battle School commander found himself as he guided Ender toward greatness: “Graff had isolated Ender to make him struggle. To make him prove, not that he was competent, but that he was far better than everyone else. That was the only way he could win respect and friendship. It made him a better soldier than he would ever have been otherwise. It also made him lonely, afraid, angry, untrusting. And maybe those traits, too, made him a better soldier.” (182)

This is a book for youth and adults alike, and I would definitely put it on my “100 Must Read” list, if I had one. What I wouldn’t put on my “100 Must Watch” list is the film adaptation of the book. I’ve heard Card’s reasoning for wanting the film, to mix both Ender’s Game and Ender’s Shadow in order to capture the perspectives of both characters fairly, but I think the director and producers failed miserably at that task. It’s a worthless movie.

If all you’ve seen is that kid actor’s version of Ender, then you don’t know Ender, and if all you’ve seen is Harrison Ford’s version of Graff, then you definitely don’t know Graff. I would say, though, that if all you’ve seen is the movie version of Bonso, then I think you’ve probably met the real Bonso. The actor and character both were so disgusting, such I-wanna-punch-him-in-the-face people, that I’ve got to give major props to that actor. I hated the character, making that actor the only great thing about the film.

If all you’ve seen is the worthless movie, then I highly recommend you go borrow a copy of the book and enjoy the real thing. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed with this definite modern classic.

©2019 E.T.