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Writer's Block: Reconsidering Children's Books - Part 2

Submitted by Vas Littlecrow Wojtanowicz on October 18, 2008 - 20:58

Have you ever gone back and re-read a book you loved as a child only to find it incredibly disturbing now that you're an adult? Like The Giving Tree, for example: a terrifying tale of self-sacrifice or a reassuring story of maternal love?

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Just re-read the The Giving Tree, and it seems more sadomasochistic than anything else. Whether it's disturbing or not, depends on whether you're a parent and/or lover with a martyr complex, are into BDSM or believe in the concept or unconditional love. As a kid, I thought it was bittersweet. As an adult, I find it morally ambiguous and layered with many different possibilities for interpretation.