Robert Cormier Books

Cormier has always written wonderful characters. His books have always been invitations to walk with them through their personal torment. This is not a happy book, his books never are. You get a sense of strength having gone through the same tragedies as the main character. Its a warm embrace into a cold world.

Eleven-year-old Darcy Webster, caught between girlhood and adolescence during World War II, makes her first friend ever when she meets Kathleen Mary O'Hara, and their relationship blossoms until Kathleen Mary mysteriously disappears. At the same time, Darcy's father is reported missing in action. All this, plus Kathleen Mary's "baptizing" Darcy, brings her to a painful spiritual crisis.

Other Bells for Us to Ring is beautifully written but it raises many issues about God, miracles, growing up and alcoholism.

There are some beautiful passages where Cormier has blended words into a lovely picture.

It had wonderful characters. I felt like I was walking with Darcy through her personal tragedy. This is not a happy book, but I got a sense of strength feeling like I had gone through the same tragedies as the main character.

The most moving part in the entire story was when Darcy looked to an old nun, Sister Angela for help and wisdom, who explained the beauty of life and faith to her. I found this part amazing and extremely moving. I really got something out of it. Sister Angela's words were inspirational to me they really explained God to me. I knew who he was and everything. But I have never really understood things until I read what she said to Darcy.

I thought there would be a happy ending. I really did. It was happy at first, when I learned that Darcy's father was safe and sound, but in the next chapter when I learned what happened to Kathleen Mary, all my expectations came down with a great and glorious crash. It was powerful when John Francis showed up and gave Darcy the news. I thought that the giving of the doll gave me closure. It was a sad ending but yet it wasn't. It is quite hard to explain.

Overall this is a powerful book. It is truly exceptional.

As her father moves the family to an army town Darcy makes a new friend in an otherwise strange setting. She and Kathleen Mary become inseparable, best friends forever, and begin a journey of friendship that exposes Darcy to the Catholic faith. One day Kathleen Mary is gone and Darcy's father is missing in action. Darcy seeks out the help and wisdom of an old nun who explains the beauty of life and faith to her. As Darcy struggles with the loss of friend and father her newly discovered knowledge helps her through. This is a beautifully written story, one that is probably best suited for ages 11 and up. There are some beautiful passages where Cormier has blended words and imagery into a lovely picture.

I am not religious and I'd rather stay away from religion. When I read the back of 'Other Bells for Us to Ring' I thought: oh know, a sappy religious novel. But I read it anyway, because I trusted Robert Cormier not to disappoint me with a sappy religious novel. Religious it was, sappy it was not! I've never been particularly interested in Catholicism and never knew much about it, but I learned a lot from this book and feel all the better doing so. Both Darcy and Kathleen Mary O'Hara are exceedingly likeable characters, particularly Kathleen Mary, who was in my eyes a younger version of Amy Hertz from Robert Cormier's novel 'I am the Cheese.' I thought there would be a happy ending. I really did. It was happy at first, when I learned that Darcy's father was safe and sound, but in the next chapter when I learned what happened to Kathleen Mary, all my expectations came down with a great and glorious crash. My father, when he saw me weeping, muttered about an 'adolescent mood swing.' I just kept sobbing. Why do good people have to die? Why?

This is a book out of the ordinary for Cormier, but up to par to say the least. He takes a break from writing wonderful young-adult fiction and compiles his writing from his columns in newspapers around the country. These short stories range from his memories as a child to his memories of becoming a parent and grandparent. He relates the feelings that all of us feel in the words that most of us wish we could say. This book will touch your heart and soul.

Opening this book is like opening a window into the life of author Robert Cormier. We find out about his childhood memories, favorite movies, family interactions, and travels. We see Cormier the journalist, who wrote every one of the columns in this book on deadline while juggling the responsibilities of also being a newspaper editor. The columns made me laugh at one turn and cry at the next. He has a way of finding something extraordinary in the everyday details of life. This is a perfect book to keep by your bed to savor over time. I find myself returning to it over and over again. The introductory comments by Cormier's wife are refreshing and give a glimpse of the wonderful relationship they seem to share. Fans of Cormier's work ought to enjoy this book as much as those who are not familiar with his other work. I'd highly recommend that everyone treat themselves to "I Have Words to Spend".

I really enjoyed the book 'I Have Words to Spend'. I am very interested in Robert Cormier and have read most of his books, but Words to Spend showed a side of him that I never knew. Did you know that he once went through the car wash at 50 miles an hour, that his favorite word is cellophane (pronounced slowly: cel-lo-phane), or that he worries because his handwriting looks like that of a schizophrenic's? Reading this book was like looking through a window into the life of Robert Cormier, my mentor, author extraordinaire. I can just hear the words being spoken in his old, leathery voice, enthralling me with every page. One of these days I ought to go down to the Fitchburg Library and read the rest of those columns...

This book, as noted by another reviewer, is first cousin in spirit to LaFontaine's classic Caddisflies. The material is well researched and takes the reader through the science, ultimately tying this information in with how to productively fish mayfly patterns. Having this volume on your shelf along with Caddisflies is a great start to building a serious angler's scientific library.

This book by Malcolm Knopp and Robert Cormier is destined to be a fishing classic. The pair has provided research and usable information on maylfy identification, insect behavior during their life stages, imitative patterns and fishing technique pointers.

I have modified my fishing techniques to match the behaviours noted in the book.

I have also found it very useful in making flies that work on hard fished eastern waters.

The first book I know of that combines practical entemology (geared specifically to the angler) with up-to-date patterns, and methods of fishing them. The nearest thing to it in spirit is "Caddisflies". Should be in every serious flyfisher's collection!

Are you searching for answers to some of the most common questions as well as some difficult ones. This book will do it for you. You won't want to put it down and you won't want it to end. It can become your daily companion. It is the kind of book that you can pick up and turn to any page and find something enlightening and uplifting. It will be the best book on your nightstand.

It is marvelous. The clarity with which it is written is all too rare in spiritual writing today. Fr. Cormier has given us an amazing work: one with insight and depth as well as humor and challenge. As a member of a theological faculty, I see this book as a wonderful asset to religious studies, as it does not descend into jargon or imprecision, but always says what the author means, and the things that he says are well worth hearing.

I've read all of Robert Cormier's young adult books, but I didn't know what to expect of this, one of his few books written for the adult audience. It was pretty well-written, I guess. Alph LeBlanc is dying of lung cancer. He knows and his family knows, but they are in denial; trying to hide it from each other. Alph is in his late fifties and has a wife and some grown children. The book covered a lot of stuff: his love for his kids, the tragic death of his three-year-old daughter, his feelings towards his family in general, memories of his life. It was pretty gloomy, but I guess that's to be expected -- I mean, the book was about death and dying. All in all a good book, though I prefer his young adult ones.

I first read this in High School and have been looking for a copy for a while.

This one is a good little read to take you away from it all - I like it.

I was assigned to read The Bumblebee Flies Anyway for class in 7th grade. And I have loathed it ever since. As I am now in college, it is difficult for me to remember specific details, but I will try to define why Barney and I never got along.

There was something tremendously fishy about the entire premise to begin with (a voluntary patient at a hospital for the terminally ill?). I was unable to like any of the characters, save perhaps Mazzo, one of the only somewhat honest characters in the book. I deplore the symbolism and sentiment behind the premise of 'going out with a bang'. I cannot abide people who lie to themselves, no matter the circumstances.

And let us not forget the irony. The very, VERY twisted irony with which TBBFA ends with.

I'm afraid to say too much, and so I am afraid that I am being too vague.

There are some books that, although I couldn't stand them, I believe they should be read, such as Lord of the Flies. But TBBFA was merely another enforced exercise in 'make them think, make them realize there's a world, make them start to care.' Most middle school assigned reading is. However, TBBFA reached new lows with its sheer depravity of an ending.

In truth, the only reason I was kind and gave it two stars is because of the language. It was very well-written.

Better that we had stuck with the Giver. Even Ayn Rand would have made better reading.

This is one of my favourite books ever. It makes one think and leaves one feeling more knowledgable after reading. I was pleasantly surprised upon realizing that I enjoyed this tale. Barney goes through so much and the ending leaves you breathless. If ever you want to be proud of reading a book and understanding it, try this one!

Barney is a teenager at a special clinic for experimental drugs and treatments, and mostly only adults are there. In one ward, though, are teenagers who are terminally ill. Barney is the only one who isn't extremely sick. All of those here have chosen to come and take experimental drugs, in the hopes that the research done on them will someday make new medications possible. The ones here will not be saved by the research, though. It is certain they will all die.

Barney isn't sure why he is here. He is not terminal and he can't remember where he came from. Some of the other patients don't like him at first because he isn't dying like them. But he is eventually able to make friends. From time to time Barney has a strange and frightening dream of driving a car, going out of control and being about to hit a girl stepping off of the curb. He can't remember any more than that, but is horrified by the dream.

Then the doctors at the clinic begin doing some experiments with Barney's memory, and things get very strange for him. There are only a couple of things he does know for sure. One is that he wants to help his peers, whether that means finding a way for Billy to use a telephone, making Allie feel a part of things, or getting Mazzo his one last ride in a car. The other thing he knows is that he is in love with Mazzo's twin sister Cassie, who comes to visit him in the clinic. Despite knowing these things, though, Barney knows very little about himself. Will he be able to find out more about his past and his identity? Does he even want to know?

I liked watching Barney in his journey to help others and to find out about himself. I thought Barney's secret was interesting and unexpected, and I also liked reading about Cassie and her problem. However, at the end of this book I was still a little foggy on what exactly had happened with Barney, and why.

The Bumblebee Flies Anyway by Robert Cormier is an excellent book for teen readers. While the setting and situations of an experimental medicine clinic may be unusual, teens can easily identify with the patients and how they are a society of outcasts. Barney, along with his friends Billy, Ali, and Mazzo, have become ostracized due to their illnesses and each identifies their predicament in an independent manor. The intrusion of Cassie into their society brings a sense of the real world into the Clinic. The result ends in a rather unusual ending that might confuse some readers, but the basic premise will still remain appealing. The adolescent readers of this novel will find Barney's medication and Cassie's special relationship to her twin brother Mazzo conversation worthy thus making the novel an excellent choice for middle school and high school classes in which the teacher is wanting to provoke discussion. The Bumblebee Flies Anyway is also an excellent book that any age will enjoy.

This is a very different format for the author, but very readable. Anyone who has grown up in Massachusetts will surely recognize Frenchtown as Leominster. I could personally relate to the setting, sights and smells portrayed in this short, unique book. It was a nostalgic trip back to my hometown after being away for 50 years.

I really enjoy Robert Cormier's novels. I've read several of them and enjoy the Monument, Frenchtown setting particularly of some of them. I also like YA novels in verse, Hesse's "Witness" and Koertge's "Shakespeare Bats Cleanup," for instance, are terrific. Other reviewers here have quoted the first four lines of the book: "That summer in Frenchtown/ in the days/ when I knew my name/ but did not know who I was./ Perhaps I would have liked Eugene's story more a few years later when he did know who he was. This was uninvolving. Cormier's heroes tend to be lonely and loners, observers as Eugene is, but he's so very cut off.
I imagine I will *love* the next Cormier novel I read.

FRENCHTOWN SUMMER is brilliant. Where other free verse novels
seem to be words thrown together in quick, uneven fashion,
this one (like OUT OF THE DUST and JUDY SCUPPERNONG) has
heart, poetic language and story. Robert Cormier has succeeded
in giving us real, solid, amazing literature.
Page after page is an easy, quick, yet worthy read.

Frenchtown Summer is a book written in verse form. It is written from the point of view of Eugene, a 12-year-old, and tells the story of his summer living in Frenchtown, hence the title.

I was disappointed in this book. When I first saw it, I thought since it was short it would be very easy to read. This book was 113 pages long, but it took me 4 days to read it, which is sad since usually I finish books in this format in a day.

This book has no plot. All it is is this kid telling about different things that happened in his summer. The only thing close to a plot is him feeling separated from his family, especially his father, and then at the end he finally feels close to him. But that is just a minor part of the story, the rest of it is just descriptions of random things. The first few chapters aren't too boring or anything. They set the stage and setting for what seems like a good story. But then the rest of the chapters pretty much just describe random things. All of those random chapters are tied together slightly, but not enough to make it a good story.

If you are looking for an action-packed story, find another book. Even if you are looking for a book that describes a 12-year-old's summer, there are better books out there. If you are looking for a good book of poems that tells a good story, tying in the random chapters really well, there are also better books out there. Try Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse or What My Mother Doesn't Know by Sonya Sones. If you are looking for a book that you can finish fast and read easily, don't be misled, this isn't one of them. This book just doesn't have that element that good books have that keep you wanting to read more. Sure, it's not the most boring book I've read, but it's sure one of them.

The way the verses are written isn't bad. They are actually written pretty well. This is a talented author, but this book isn't one of his best.

This book was chosin in a book club at my school as the next book to read. I thought when I first saw it that it was small so it would probably be pretty boring, but easy to read. After I had begun to read it I found that it was anything but boring. Many different things occur that are mysterious or hard to understand. After reading the book within a couple of hours I had a couple of questions that lingered in my mind about it, with several different answeres that I could think up. When we were all done my club hada group discussion and answered some of those questions. I reccomend this book just because it is so mysterious yet easy to read. ~4 stars~

This has been so inspiring and a joy to read. The short chapters are easy to absorb. Hope to see more of Father Robert's works SOON!

Finally a book that people of all religions, races, and ages can relate to. This book has become my instruction manual for life. Often people feel that they ask God for guidance and he doesn't seem to be answering them. This is not true at all. Through this book you will find the answers you are looking for. You will learn that God has given us many things to help us get through life one day at a time, you just have to look for them. My copy of this book is filled with post-it notes that mark the sections I need to constantly refer back to. With all honesty I can say that this book has changed my life and when ever I am in a rut I can turn to it to remind myself of God's plan. I recommend this book to anyone who wants a better life through faith and have given it over and over again as a gift.

Robert J. Cormier has a keen insight into the changing world and hope to cope with it. This book guides you through different challenges that you might face. It is written with words and phrases that you can easily understand, relate to, and apply to every day life. He makes you understand that you are not alone in your life's struggles.

This book is very insipring. It changed by attitude tremendously. I would always get annoyed with people when they did thing that got me upset and after reading the book I realized that people are just being people and you cannot change the world so you must accept and work with it. "NO ONE IS PERFECT".

It was a good guideline for me and I will read it again because there are other parts of it that I can benifit from.

I have passed the book along to other family members.

Fr. Bob's book was written with everyone in mind. It is easy to read and thought-provoking. Each chapter can be read in just a few minutes and yet provides enough material for meditation throughout an entire day.

Questions are raised that, when reflected upon, lead the reader to a better understanding of the real meaning of life. This, in turn, brings about a sense of peace and joy that so many of us seek daily.

I've shared the book with friends, family members and co-workers who are looking for help with their faith. I highly recommend it as a reference book in any personal library.

I am a student from Germany and we had to read the book "After the first death"'. Since I am not a native American it was a little hard to understand for me! This book was great and it helped me a lot understanding what Cormier means

I first read this book a few years ago and was impressed by the author's detailing of Robert Cormier's career intertwined with his novels (much is devoted to The Chocolate War). Well worth reading. Hopefully the author, Patricia Campbell, will write a revised version soon.

This is NOT your typical biography. I read it this morning, expecting it to start out: Robert Cormier was born on January 17, 1925 in Leominster, Massachusetts... Not so! Quite the contrary. The book began intriguingly and held me to the last page. I learned a lot about Robert Cormier, who is my favorite author. I hold him in very high esteem and this book made me love him more. There were also chapters about his books, and the ones about I am the Cheese and After the First Death were very helpful in getting me to understand those two very confusing novels. 'Presenting Robert Cormier' was also very funny at times, such as when it described Robert deliberately tripping and falling flat on his face in front of an audience of high-schoolers so they could see that he was human and not be afraid of him. I can see Robert doing that, and it is very funny. Another thing I liked: the part in the back about the movie versions of his books I am the Cheese and The Chocolate War. Did you know that Robert Cormier himself played a role in one? In conclusion I find this a very interesting, funny, informative book. Well done!

However, this book was fantastic. Seriously, run out and buy it. NOW.

I love unexpected endings. With Cormier, I've come to expect the unexpected. Nothing prepared me for this!

Usually in my reviews, I post a short description, in my own words. I won't this time, as I don't want ot give ANYTHING away. ;)

I read this wonderful book when I was in Grad School for an Adoloscent Literature Class. I read it in one sitting. Not a big deal, but I just didn't think I would get into it. As another reviewer said, it took me by surprise.

This eerie and gripping story is, at first, puzzling but it takes you over. Adam's journeys are almost surreal, until you find out why. (Which I won't give away.) However, I do remember a fairly heated debate in class that this book was too dark for young readers. I disagreed, but I saw their point. Would I recommend it to a 14-year-old? Tough call. But I think I would. But, if you are an adult, I would definitely recommend it.

By Alex Relph, Chad Kerley, Maddie Taylor, Isaac Gomez, and Sky Nichols

I Am The Cheese by Robert Cormier, is an excellent book for both male and female teenagers. A boy's struggle to find the truth about his life, takes him back to a place in the past that perhaps he shouldn't remember. It all starts when he takes a fall on his bike and it all comes back to him. As it may have been confusing at times to switch back from reality to him having discussions with his therapist, it becomes a nice refreshment from a normal story. You go along with the character to uncover his real identity. The book leaves you asking questions which we personally did not like, but does fall in the category of a mystery thriller. It is a good story and his suitable for adrenaline junkies. So read it for yourself!!

Others have described the story nicely, so I'll just add that I read this book nearly 30 years ago, and I have never forgotten it.

I recently read this book for the second time, and I liked it even more than when I was a kid. It's about a boy who takes a bicycle road trip to see his dad in nearby Vermont. The story shifts back and forth between the bicycle journey and his journey with a counselor to discover the truth about his past. Both journeys come to crashing climaxes. There are some loose threads that you will wonder about for days (like whatever happened to Amy Hertz? Was there ever really an Amy Hertz? Why is she important to the story? What does she represent?) This is excellent, young adult fiction. It's like the Sixth Sense in that it is one of those stories that sticks close to you long after you've finished the book.