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THE MIRACLE OF INNOCENCE: A BITTERSWEET, UNFORGETTABLE NOVEL ABOUT A TWELVE-YEAR-OLD CHILD WHO CHANGES THE WORLD. The
buzz is big for this heartwarming, funny, and bittersweet story
from Hyde. A quiet, steady masterpiece with an incandescent ending.
An
ordinary boy engineers a secular miracle in Hyde's winning second
novel. Her Capraesque theme-that one person can make a difference-may
be sentimental, but for once, that's a virtue. An
uplifting, tear-jerking, and inspiring modern fable with an extremely
appealing young protagonist. Hyde
makes the unbelievable seem possible in a beautifully written, heartwarming
story of one boy's belief in the goodness of humanity. With
a book that promotes such an inherently fascinating idea, it seems
almost unnecessary to mention that the book is well-written, that
the characters are interesting and complex and flawed and real.
You start out rooting for the "good guys" and end up rooting for
everyone. "Pay It Forward" is enjoyable reading, and as a bonus,
it will get you thinking outside of its pages, as few books do.
"Pay
It Forward"--a book poised to become a phenomenon--is a well-designed
confection that author Catherine Ryan Hyde has executed with abundant
skill. If you ever had a yen for the utopian, you will have a sweet
time with this heartfelt fable. |
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An
extraordinary tale that, like its young protagonist, just might change
the world. Big things are expected of this book (there was already a
movie deal in the works before its release), and with good reason. Pay
It Forward is a delightfully uplifting, moving, and inspiring modern
fable that has the power to change the world as we know it -- which
would be a wonderful phenomenon indeed.
BookPage, February 2000
[Hyde's]
fable speaks to the hunger so many of us feel for something to believe
in that can give us hope.. If the success of Harry Potter suggests that
many of us yearn for magic, Hyde's book delivers an even more profound
vision of what it may be: The simple magic of the human heart.
-The San Francisco Chronicle, February 6, 2000
Following
on the heels of her critically acclaimed debut novel, "Funerals for
Horses" (1997), Catherine Ryan Hyde has crafted another affecting tale.
It is one sown with promise and the innate goodness of humankind. Hyde's
meticulously wrought, restrained prose keeps sentiment at bay while
at the same time imbuing "Pay It Forward" with a transcendent power
to move. "Pay It Forward" shores belief and nourishes hope.
-The Arizona Daily Star, February 6, 2000
The
story is a quick read, told with lean sentences and an edge.. Hyde pulls
off a poignant, gutsy ending without bathos.
-Los Angeles Times, February 16, 2000
I cried
at the end of the book, and I'll cry at the end of the movie, starring
Kevin Spacey, Helen Hunt and Haley Joel Osment.
-Jane Magazine, March 2000
Simon
& Schuster is betting a lot on "Pay It Forward" and so far the book
is living up to expectations. The Book of the Month Club has taken it,
and Kevin Spacey, Helen Hunt and Haley Joel Osment are making the movie
for Warner Bros. And you can see why, for this is a powerful narrative
with an idealistic idea grounded in familiar characters.
-The Chicago Tribune, March 3, 2000
The
philosophy behind the book is so intriguing, and the optimism so contagious,
that the reader is carried along with what turns out to be a book that
lingers long after the last page is turned.
-The Denver Post, March 5, 2000
Hyde
has a talent for ferreting out dark crannies in the human soul where
insecurity, loneliness and despair dwell, and for ever so gently training
the light of redemption and awareness upon them. [Her] emotional compass
never wavers.
-Book, March/April 2000