Customer Reviews

8 PLUS 1 (LIONS S.)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Robert Cormier is best known for his starkly realistic and uncompromising novels about the darker side of life. In "8 Plus 1" we see a gentler Cormier, although some of the stories do have their painful parts. As always, Cormier's writing is superb. An added bonus is the introductions he wrote for each story, in which he writes about how a story came to be written or about some aspect of the writing. This book is great bedside reading, and fascinating for the reader who also loves to write. Cormier's insights and family anecdotes make this book a true gem for Cormier fans.

This is a book that is always well-received by the pupils I teach. It explores relevant issues but doesn't talk at the reader. Instead, we are invited to experience the joys and sorrows of all the characters as they tell us their stories. It isn't as bleak as some of Cormier's others works but there are melancholy undertones in many of the short tales. My pupils love this book as I did too when I discovered it as a bored teenager (or thereabouts). It's a book I can keep going back to and from which I get something 'new'each time . I think there's a little bit of Mike, Holly, Jane and Mr Croft in all of us.

It wasn't the stories themselves that interested me so much as the introductions. I learned some interesting things about Cormier and feel all the better for having read the book. As for the stories, I liked them. They display a Robert Cormier of a very different kind. Yes, he CAN write humor, yes he CAN write happy endings! I have been looking for a weakness but have not yet found one.

A friend had reccomended me 'I Am The Cheese' by Robert Cormier. Not able to find that, I sought my needs in this book, '8 Plus 1', which I found in a second-hand book store.

This book was a God send. As I plan to be an author someday, the added introductions to each story were great, and I think I found one of the best hints for my writing career, and showed me where to find ideas.

Apart from that, the stories are great. Just what teenagers need these days. I highly reccomend this book.

8 Plus 1 is a book that contains nine stories with different plots, characters, and themes. The stories are mostly about families breaking up and/or realizing mistakes. With the very descriptive writing and interesting story line, I was easily engaged into the reading. So much imagery was used that the reader can picture the story in their head. This was the best part about the book. Also, the characters were just like the people in the world today. This helped me to learn that no one is perfect, for everyone makes mistakes. The characters gave me important messages about life. Even though many things about the book were good, there were still unclear parts. I did not like how characters were used over and over again. It was as if Robert Cormier could not come up with any other names. The repetition of names made it confusing. This book is overall very interesting. I would recommend 8 Plus 1 for those that enjoy short stories that tell much about life.

Eight Plus One, a collection of nine short stories for kids, is a very interesting and funny book. Each story had a different theme and idea, and that made the book more enjoyable. Throughout this book I came upon things that I both liked and disliked.
One positive aspect of this book is the collection of introductions before each story. This introduction provides the reader with the origin and reason for each story, and I really enjoyed that. Also, a good part of this book was the funny and sometimes hilarious antics that the characters go through. For example, in the story,"The Moustache," Mike's grandmother constantly makes up stories of things that never happened, which adds some fun to the story. Finally, I liked the repititionof characters in some of the stories. That way, the reader has an idea of who the person's like.
In contrast, there were some negatives of this book that got my attention. First, I thought that in some of the stories there was a lot of "filler," or unnecessary information, which sometimes made the story boring. Lastly, I felt that in some stories, especially "Protestants Cry, Too," there was discrimination of people. Even though in the end the fighting was settled, I believe that maybe those ideas didn't have to be included.
In conclusion, the good and bad things of this collection go to show that this book is recommended for comedy lovers, and may be a good book for all other readers.

This book was composed of 9 heartwarming stories that hit close to home. They were stories that we can all relate to. The characters were strong and were real enough to make an impact. Anyone could place themselves in their shoes. What I liked about this book was that it brought awareness to a world of innocence. Sometimes teens, and even parents, find out things that they didn't know before. Not all of these things are pleasant, but they are issues that need to know about. I really liked these stories because they reflect real world issues that are present in any time. Whether you live in the medevil times, or in the year 2010, these are the straight facts that we all need to know.

Eight plus one is a collection of short stories with similar themes. I would reccomend Eight Plus One for any reader. There are many good features of the book. First, Cromier writes a brief explanation before each story. This is very insightful for the reader,and I learned many of the ideas for his stories come from his family. Another feature of the book is that anyone can relate to the characters. However some aspects of the book are negative. For instance, different characters in different stories share the same names. Another negative aspect of the story is that it has no flow because the stories are so short. I would reccomend Eight Plus One to any reader looking to enjoy a short book.

I enjoyed the book "Eight Plus One" by Robert Cormier. It taught many lessons about everyday life. I thought it was interesting that Cormier took people he knew from his life and made them fictional characters, as well as with the events that took place in the stories. The book was rather confusing because many of the characters were the same in each story. This made it difficult to differentiate between the stories. This book is a good one to read for young adults because it teaches many lessons about life that are easy to interpret and understand. Also, many of the characters are young people who learn something about their parents or elders in the end. Each character had an "epiphany." I thought the book was slow because it seemed that each story was pretty much the same-young and old have trouble, young learns something about old and develops new understanding, or vice versa. The book contained no suspense or action, which usually appeals to the younger readers. In conclusion, the book "Eight Plus One" by Robert Cormier is a good book to read when learning about life.

8 plus 1 is a very well known book by Robert Cormier. This book is intended for young adults. Cormiers draws from his past life experiences to come up with his fictional yet realistic characters and plots. For instance he uses the Depression as a setting for many of his stories. The stories include everyday and sometimes sensitive themes for the growing generation, like stereotyping and prejudice issues. Before each story, Cormier uses an introduction to each story to give a general backround. By reading this book, I have gained a stronger sense of life through his character's problems and solutions. These interesting and ever maturing characters with their suspensueful plots kept me constantly intertwined with the story. The following are less desirable qualities about the book. For the fact that Cormier uses the same characters for some of his stories, it makes it a little confusing. Also some other events that he uses for his plot are offensive or perhaps shocking to a more sensitive viewer. Overall, Robert Cormier uses themes that involve regularly occurring problems that previous authors dared not venture.