The story follows a mother and her son through course of their lives following a theme of how the mother likes to hold her son and sing to him while he sleeps. She holds him as an infant, she holds him as a toddler, she holds him during grade-school.
Here she is, getting ready to pounce on her teenaged son.
The story also makes a point of explaining that she doesn't just walk in, she crawls in like a hungry jungle cat. And when her son reaches adulthood and moves to his own place across town, what does mother do?
She straps a ladder to the roof of her car in the middle of the night and breaks into his house. She comes in through the window and if he is fast asleep she picks him up and rocks him back and forth while she sings.
I heard the orginal version of this book ended with the man mistaking his mother for a home-intruder and blasting her with a shotgun but publishing executives thought it would be even more disturbing if the book ended with the son having a daughter of his own and perpetuating the unhealthy behavior.
A must read.
7 comments:
hahahahahahahahahah
My ex-wife used to LOVE this book and would read it to my daughter all the time. I always thought it was a little weird, but didn't quite put the same spin on it as you just did.
Awesome! I knew there was a reason we're friends.
Perhaps an even better children's book is The Man Who Wanted to Live Forever. PsychoIntern bought it for my kids one year and it was just awesome. It's about a guy who cheats death and lives long enough that everyone he knows dies. The ending is the most awesome ending for a kid's book EVER, but I'm not going to spoil it for you. You'll have to read it yourself.
I can't remember what my favorite children's book is, but psycho also bought it for my son...something about a treasure hunter who goes all over the world, but then he realizes his treasure is in his own back yard.
I have also thought Love You Forever was a little bit odd... creeping on in, I wonder how his wife felt about that...
Ditto...very creepy story about a mother who never learns to let go...Psycho
I think this is one of those "kids" books that is really written for adults. Kids usually find them boring and adults usually cry when they read them. I'm going to admit that I read this book years ago and found it a little touching--sorry hope we can still be friends.
I've never liked this book either. Did I just hear seven sighs of relief?
Hey now, this is one of my favorite books and the Kindergarten kids love it--inluding your son!! And yes, I'm one of those adults that "cry" when they read the story, but you won't find me sneaking in the window of my future son to sing him a song--hopefully I will just be able to sing it to his children, too!
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