"Pay it Forward" by Catherine Ryan Hyde

Date: 09 June 2010 20:07:42

"Pay It Forward" is the not the book I read while I had my little internet hiatus (I'm still reading that, but getting there - review to follow soon hopefully!), but was this month's book group book. Amazingly I finished it in a couple of days - well not that amazingly, it's a pretty quick and fluffy read - but amazingly for me anyway as I'm not very good at finishing my book group books! It's the story of a 12 year old boy, Trevor, who has a new teacher at school who sets the class an assignment to do something that will change the world. His idea is to do a good deed for 3 people, and instead of them paying him back he asks them to "pay it forward" by themselves doing a good deed for 3 more people. Along with all this is the story of his teacher (VietNam vet with facial disfigurement but an inspirational teacher), his mum (single mum, heart of gold but with terrible taste in men) and a journalist called Chris who breaks the story of Pay It Forward on national TV. Without wanting to give away the plot, it features love against the odds, an idea that becomes a national movement, tragedy (which I saw coming pretty much from the start) and the schmaltziest and corniest ending you could possibly imagine. Our general consensus in the group was that we liked the book but didn't love it, I won't be rushing to read it again, but am happy to recommend it as a nice light beach read. I remember when we read a Jodi Picoult book a few years ago in the group I said I'd felt like I was "reading a TV movie", and this book was similar in that respect. Actually it was made into an actual cinema film some years ago, with Kevin Spacey and the kid who was in that spooky Bruce Willis film, but I have to say I can't imagine this book on the big screen. Interestingly a couple of the girls in the group had seen the film, and both said that they felt that it was better than the book in terms of creating suspense and building depth of character. I think we all felt that the characterisation in this book was a bit superficial. So, it was OK, but not lifechanging or anything (although apparently there is such a thing as the Pay It Forward Foundation, where people inspired by the book go around doing good deeds and paying it forward. I think the existence of such a foundation inspired as much discussion as the book!). I must say that having book group in BeanScene is an inspired thing. I particularly recommend the sparkly chocolate cupcakes! :D