The Chocolate War [Mass Market Paperback]

The Chocolate War, a fiction book for young adults really gives an idea of what a story is like with sadness, danger, and violence all mixed together. This probably sounds like a bad subway combo but Robert Cormier makes them into a delicious banana split. Every teen should get a chance to read this wonderful novel because it will let them know that they are not alone.
Jerry Renault the main character goes to Trinity High School and has a difficult time attending school everyday. His mother died in the spring and all he wanted to do was make the football team. Life gets worse when the traditional chocolate sale comes up because Jerry gets assigned to say no for ten days by the school's backbone group "The Vigils." He keeps saying no and goes from being a normal kid to the one who everyone is after. After completing the assignment Jerry keeps saying no.
His best friend Goober is the only one Jerry can trust now. He's always there watching out for him although Jerry doesn't know it sometimes. Jerry gets beat up by the school's biggest bully named Janza. Archie was the leader of "The Vigils" who assigned Jerry to say no and for Janza to beat him up. Archie is very clever and is liked very much by brother Leon who dislikes Jerry for not selling the chocolates. They get in on a little thing together and Obie Archie's assistant realizes just how lucky he is to be on Archie's side. Jerry doesn't know why but he's just sick of the tradition and sick of having people assuming what he's going to do next.
Brother Leon wants Jerry to sell the chocolates; in fact he wants the whole school to sell all the chocolates because he wants to win. He gets very angry when he keeps hearing Jerry say no every morning during roll call. He will do anything to make sure Jerry regrets what he is doing to the school. With Brother Leon furious at him the rest of the school takes follow and end up being against Jerry which comes toward a terrible ending.
When Jerry gets caught into a ganged fight he realizes his life will no longer be the same. This is when everything turns to the worst and he can do nothing but roll with the flow. Even though it isn't easy Jerry is going to stick through it until the end.
Goals take persistence and no matter what the risk of danger Jerry is thrown into he is always trying to find a better way around it. He didn't know the only choice he would make would end up ruining the rest of his life. He is alone; who knows if he will survive.
Through the hard times Jerry keeps his head up as best he can with a lost identity. This is why the book could water the eyes and fill the hearts of teens around the world. Every teen knows what it feels like to lose, to grow to, and to press forward.

I feel bad saying that, since the movie CAME from the book; it's just that the movie has more twists and more depth of character development -- particularly at the end.

Brother Leon, for example, comes across as much more wicked in the film, and the supporting cast is more sharply drawn.

I also felt the book suffered from the use of omniscient narrator technique. It seemed to reduce the suspense and focus.

Also, such scenes as the evil gang of little kids are much more effective visually than they are in print.

One of the reasons, I suppose, that I found the movie so creepy and disturbing was because there was this desolated, lonely atmosphere to everything, implying, in a way, that the schoolboys were actors of mythic stature at the beginning of an empty world. Nothing but the Brothers and them. I think this is due, however, to the movie's being brought off on a shoestring budget; I'm not sure the director intended it this way. Whatever the case may be, this thing -- this central excellence of the film, in my view -- is totally missing from the book.

I think the author was going for a kind of William Golding-type idea, but I don't think he succeeds anywhere near as that other author. He depicts evil, sure enough, but it just doesn't seem to have enough grip or intensity to be compelling.

However, on balance, a worthwhile read. Who can't identify with the degrading chocolate sales that every American school -- both public and private -- "invite" their students to participate in?

More development of the reader's sympathy for Jerry, the central character, would certainly have helped.