mathmarm Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 Yeah, exactly what the title says. I find this book creepy. As in...creepy creepy. I mean...attachment is one thing. Possessiveness is another. We read this book the other night and I just don't think this is healthy or funny or touching or whatever it is supposed to be. I mean...why do you have to crawl across the floor to your sons bed. Why are you lifting and rocking your 9 year old and your teenaged kid when they are unaware? Why not just tell your child that you love them while they are awake? Why are you driving across town to your adult childs home, creeping through his window, crawling across the floor and cradling him while he's unconscious?!?! I told Hubby that I didn't like this book at all and he laughed at me, but I'm serious. This book actually baffles my mind and makes me feel creeped out. I think that a story of a mothers enduring love for her child is a wonderful premise, but climbing through your adult childs bedroom window and crawling across their floor because cradling them while they are unaware is outside of the far-reaches of "healthy" and "normal" in my opinion. Am I over reacting or has anyone else felt like this also? I seriously did NOT enjoy this story and I am never reading it again. Is it just me? Am I over reacting? In case you don't know the story, you can watch it read on YouTube 15 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elfinlady Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 It's not just you. This book is incredibly creepy. My mother in law gave it to us when my son was small. I read it to him once, and after that I made sure it got lost. Notice that while the man has a baby at the end of the book, there's no wife mentioned. Probably she ran away because she was so creeped out by his mother climbing through their window and getting in bed! Also, toward the end of the book, doesn't the old mother tell him he needs to come visit her because she probably won't live much longer? Maybe if she wasn't so darn creepy he'd visit without having to be ordered to. 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Insertcreativenamehere Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 Yes, I think it's creepy! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marbel Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 Totally creepy. We were given that book as a gift when my son was born. I got rid of it as soon as I could. I don't understand the appeal of this book. I do know a few people who love it. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fairfarmhand Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 creepola 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Word Nerd Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 I think you're taking it much more seriously than the author intended. 15 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OnTheBrink Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 I think it's creepy, too. Makes me think of EX and his mother. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aufan Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 At first thought it was creepy but then learned the story behind it. http://robertmunsch.com/book/love-you-forever 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joker Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 Youngest dd loved pretty much all of Robert Munsch's books. I never actually thought much about it until someone posted how creepy it was here (it seems to come up from time to time). We would laugh at it just like we laughed at all his books, but I never thought it was creepy. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pehp Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 I think if taken literally it is creepy!! But I think it's supposed to be metaphorical--that's how I read it. And when I read it like that I get pretty teary-eyed, like a big baby. I think it doesn't help that I lost my mother in 2001 so I get emotional on that point. Mostly I hate the part where the mother calls him and tells him that she's sick and dying and he should come see her. Hello! A good son would know that already! 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean in Newcastle Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 Boundaries! That mother needed boundaries! 11 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happi duck Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 My take, This story isn't meant to be taken literally. It is geared toward engaging children. There is a YouTube with the author narrating that shows that well, imo. To me, it's a message of unconditional love. Even if you're goofy and I say you make me crazy I love you...I love you just like I did when you were a tiny baby. Kids don't always feel lovable and I think this story is silly enough, at least for some kids, to drive home the point of "I'll love you forever". That said, I'm not a fan of the illustrations style-wise. I think the same story with a different set of illustrations might be better received. 11 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrsWeasley Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 Totes creepaballz, even knowing the back story. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pamela H in Texas Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 SUPER CREEPY. I put that book out to the donation pile because I didn't want it in the house! LOL 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SKL Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 You are not alone. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kewb Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 I don't find it creepy but I know plenty of people who do. My kids loved it when I read it to them when they were little. And I still tell them every night when they go to bed "I will love you forever, I will like you for always, and as long as I'm living, my baby you'll be." They are teens and if I don't say it as some point when they head to bed they get a little indignant. We have also discussed how I won't be climbing in through their bedroom window when they move out. I fully expect to have a key. :) 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WagsWife Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 Creepy! I don't like The Giving Tree either... 13 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Five More Minutes Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 Absolutely creepy. True story: we received multiple copies of this book for our eldest's birth. I couldn't even re-gift them because it disturbed me so much!! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrsMommy Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 Super creepy! Can't stand it. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanaqui Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 This is a very polarizing book! In my experience, you can divide the world into "people who like Robert Munsch more or less EXCEPT this book" and "People who love this book but hate everything else he ever wrote". Robert Munsch generally has this sort of over-the-top, nobody is THAT crazy sense of humor to his books. Like the kid whose stocks are so dirty that when she washes them, it stinks up the whole river, or the kid who gets pulled over for speeding because her wheelchair is just that fast. In most books it works well. In this one, it falls flat (except for the sort of over naive person who takes it utterly seriously and thus hates all the rest of his work for not being "sweet" enough). Also, it's important to remember that LYF was written after the miscarriage of a wanted baby, so... yeah. Edit: Read link. It's after two stillbirths. That's even more awful. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mathmarm Posted March 30, 2015 Author Share Posted March 30, 2015 Okay, just needed to be reassured that my thinking this book creepy as opposed to endearing wasn't so strange. Now that I feel validated, I suppose I'll go back to work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joanne Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 It is hyperbole and metaphor. It was (and still) has meaning for my family. I mostly think people who are extremely disturbed by it miss the point. That said, I think The Giving Tree is - if you want to be literal - more disturbing. 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JessReplanted Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 The thought of a mom driving across town and sneaking into her son's apartment to rock him is kind of funny. I don't think it's supposed to be taken as something that people literally do. The ending gets me every time. I can't read it without getting weepy. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElizabethB Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 I thought we were discussing "Let Me Hold You Longer," which has a similar creepy/love it divide. I have not actually seen the book in question... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaderbee Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 I really like the book. 😳 I thought it expressed how crazy and endless maternal love can be. Since no sane mom would ever climb through her adult son's window at night it's a way of saying, "I still love you as much, if not more, than when you were little and I could show you I love you by holding you. My love has not diminished even if the ways I express it to you have changed." I'll have to go read that story behind it linked above. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susan in TN Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 I hate the artwork. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean in Newcastle Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 I agree that it is the artwork that makes it creepy. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 It's creepy and I always thought it was uber creepy. But I loved The Giving Tree in childhood. Knowing that the song was sung for his stillborn babies really tears me up, though. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daria Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 I like it, but didn't love it. It's not my favorite Robert Munsch book, that prize might go to Purple, Green and Yellow or Something Good or Where is Gah Ning? or A Promise is a Promise, but I like it. I don't see the book as a parenting guide, just as a crazy exaggerated view of parental love, that fits in with Robert Munsch's crazy exaggerated views of birthday parties and mud puddles and such. I also like The Giving Tree, but only because I don't see the tree as a hero in that story. I think it's a great conversation starter for kids about appropriate boundaries, and is better saved for an age when kids are ready for that conversation. The book that creeps me out is Rainbow Fish. It's supposed to be a story about sharing, but it's really a story about taking someone who is different and tearing them down until they're just like everyone else. I mean the fish is giving away body parts, how creepy is that? 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mimm Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 I love The Giving Tree, but think Love You Forever is creepy. Giving tree is about loving and holding nothing back, Love You Forever is about not knowing when your child is an adult. :p 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaderbee Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 Daria, I agree, The Rainbow Fish is awful. Sadly, it's one of the books the USO gave my DH to read for the kids in a United By Reading video so they love it. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kitten18 Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 It is hyperbole and metaphor. It was (and still) has meaning for my family. I mostly think people who are extremely disturbed by it miss the point. That said, I think The Giving Tree is - if you want to be literal - more disturbing. I agree. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amy in NH Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 We've done this one before! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dirty ethel rackham Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 I never found it creepy. I just took it as hyperbole - an exaggeration of the expression of a mother's unconditional love. I can't tell you how many times I wish I could have gone back to being able to just cuddle and rock my kids as they got so big and their problems got bigger. But, then again, physical affection is my primary love language and it just about killed me when my boys no longer wanted hugs. ETA: But my favorite Robert Munsch book is The Paper Bag Princess. Makes me laugh every time. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JFSinIL Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 But but but....I've got my ladder..... 14 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matryoshka Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 There was a reason that guy had to wait to start his own family till his mother was in the nursing home... 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenny in Florida Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 Nope, you are not the only one who thinks it's creepy. I find it extremely disturbing. I also dislike The Giving Tree and Rainbow Fish. None of those books have messages I found healthy for my children. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justkeepswimming Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 Creepiest. Book. Ever. Written. {{shiver}} The mere thought of dh's mom climbing through the window to watch him sleep. OMG It's just not right. 😠2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Storygirl Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 This is a very polarizing book! This has been true ever since it's publication. Some love it, some hate it. I distinctly remember when I first read it in the late eighties. A friend handed it to me and said I had to read it, because it was such a great book. I didn't share her opinion. But many do, and that's okay. It's been popular for decades for a reason. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanaqui Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 If you take the time to learn about the author, why and how he writes his books, some of you could perhaps understand it better. Fortunately, my son and I understand hyperbole and we always had a good giggle reading it. Sometimes you have to delve a little deeper below the surface of things; isn't that a part of learning how to read literature of all types? I wouldn't let a rottweiler babysit my child, either, but I'm able to understand the gist of that book for toddlers, without being repulsed or scared that the dog will do any harm. Did you really mean to suggest that everybody who disagrees with you about this book basically doesn't understand hyperbole? 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean in Newcastle Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 If you take the time to learn about the author, why and how he writes his books, some of you could perhaps understand it better. Fortunately, my son and I understand hyperbole and we always had a good giggle reading it. Sometimes you have to delve a little deeper below the surface of things; isn't that a part of learning how to read literature of all types? I wouldn't let a rottweiler babysit my child, either, but I'm able to understand the gist of that book for toddlers, without being repulsed or scared that the dog will do any harm. How . . . demeaning. People can not like a book or the way it was written without being stupid. Of course we understand hyperbole. 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Negin Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 I never liked it and yes, I do think it's creepy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Negin Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 I also dislike The Giving Tree and Rainbow Fish. Me too. I think I once read in "Honey for a Child's Heart" or maybe it was a C.S. Lewis quote or something, that books such as these often appeal to adults, but really don't appeal to most children. I never liked The Giving Tree at all. The Rainbow Fish ... I could take it or leave it. My dc never cared for any of these. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eternalsummer Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 agreed, creepy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TechWife Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 If you take the time to learn about the author, why and how he writes his books, some of you could perhaps understand it better. Fortunately, my son and I understand hyperbole and we always had a good giggle reading it. Sometimes you have to delve a little deeper below the surface of things; isn't that a part of learning how to read literature of all types? I wouldn't let a rottweiler babysit my child, either, but I'm able to understand the gist of that book for toddlers, without being repulsed or scared that the dog will do any harm. Well, I have learned about the author and I still think it's creepy. I don't think it's a healthy message to be sharing with children, no matter what their age. It isn't healthy behavior, yet it is presented as completely normal. It is a message that does not need to be reinforced. The author could have developed a much healthier story line with which to share the verse that has such personal meaning to him. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MiMi 4under3 Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 Totally creepy... BUT I still cry at the ending every time. :sad: :crying: 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mamaraby Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 Beyond creepy. Even creepier with my MIL's inscription in the front. You can explain it any way you want, but it's still creepy. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marbel Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 Yeah, thanks to all who said I (and others who don't like it) are too stupid to get it. Hyperbole doesn't work everywhere. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DawnM Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 We've done this one before! Oh, we need Audrey! Satanic symbols and homophobia! Audrey, where are you???? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kathryn Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 Completely creepy and I know the story behind it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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