The Rifle [Hardcover]

Gary Paulsen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 31, 1995

This tough, thought-provoking novel for young adults takes deadly aim at the oft-quoted notion: “Guns don’t kill people, people kill people.” With subtle mastery and precision, Paulsen’s novel challenges the idea that firearms don’t become instruments of destruction and murder until they are placed in human hands--The Rifle makes it clear that guns do kill people. “For readers willing to think about this issue, for those looking for ways to introduce the debate, there is no better vehicle than this short, engagingly written story of one rifle and its fatal impact on one modern boy.”--School Library Journal

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 5 Up?This novella focuses on a specific weapon crafted during the Revolutionary War. At the book's conclusion, set in 1994, this rifle still functions and performs as it was designed to do. Paulsen, who can create vivid portraits of individuals in relation to specific places, takes the focus off the people here, although they remain distinct characters, and puts this object?a rifle?at the core of the story. Although he seems to be saying that people don't kill people, guns do, this message is not sustained. The circumstances seem so unique and the love of weaponry so strong that the anti-gun theme is fatally weakened. For anyone whose mind is made up on this issue, this book will probably not change it. However, it could lead to intense discussion and exploration of how our society has evolved into its present gun-loving culture and into the intense anguish and human cost we collectively ignore as we continue our love affair with weaponry. For readers willing to think about this issue, for those looking for ways to introduce the debate, there is no better vehicle than this short, engagingly written story of one rifle and its fatal impact on one modern boy.?Carol A. Edwards, Minneapolis Public Library
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Gr. 7^-9. In his latest novel, Paulsen explores the history of a flintlock rifle, meticulously describing the skill and artistry of gunsmith Cornish McManus as he spends months creating a gun both beautiful and "sweet" (meaning accurate). Using his usual spare style, Paulsen describes the rifle's use in the Revolutionary War and follows its story into the twentieth century, when it is exchanged by a scathingly depicted gun fanatic for an Elvis-on-velvet painting, and ultimately ends up killing a teenager, Richard, in a freak accident that occurs without human intervention. The omniscient narrator, who speaks in an ironic tone reminiscent of Kurt Vonnegut, details the events small and large (943 baseball games; finding a genetic cure for heart disease) that Richard missed by dying prematurely. Paulsen's message is clear and cutting: a machine made for killing, no matter how lovingly crafted and benignly kept, remains a machine made for killing. Susan Dove Lempke

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 12 and up
  
• Hardcover: 112 pages
• Publisher: Harcourt Children's Books; 1st edition (October 31, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0152928804
• ISBN-13: 978-0152928803
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (87 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,123,461 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Gary Paulsen is one of the most honored writers of contemporary literature for young readers. He has written more than one hundred book for adults and young readers, and is the author of three Newberry Honor titles: Dogsong, Hatchet, and The Winter Room. He divides his time among Alaska, New Mexico, Minnesota, and the Pacific.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Absurd premise, December 5, 2007

By 

W. M. Scott (Houston, TX United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Rifle (Paperback)

Paulsen is a good writer, and I enjoyed several of his other books. This book, however, is based on the most absurd idea -- that being that the powder charge in a black powder rifle would still fire after decades. Paulsen shows that he has little knowledge and less care for the facts, but he clearly has an agenda...

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Not worth the time it took to read it., May 31, 2010

By 

R "B" (MI) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Rifle (Paperback)

I did like the description of the making of the gun, I thought my son might like this book because of that. Then the propaganda starts.
The people who like the gun or any guns are portrayed as stupid, callous individuals , (obviously never to have checked the gun to see if it held a ball was not to bright.)
Fear mongering (your neighbor could have a gun on his wall that will kill you), This book is aimed at preteens and teens.
I will not be buying it ,(read a library copy), or recommending it to my son or anyone else.
I didn't realize Gary Paulson was into propaganda.
The cryptic ending where the gun is almost human waiting to inflict more harm was pretty annoying.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Bait and Switch -- An Anti-Gun Tract, May 17, 2009

By 

David Baker (Phoenix, AZ USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Rifle (Paperback)

I started off enjoying this book, and ended up wanting to throw it in the garbage. Since it came from the library, I couldn't do that. So I'm writing this instead.

After lovingly describing how an 18th-century gunsmith created a "sweet" rifle, then showing its heroic use during the Revolutionary War, Paulsen begins the process of deconstructing his own narrative. He feints to the right and makes you believe that HE believes the old canard that guns are essentially tools of freedom. Then he feints to the left and shows his true colors.

When a near-impossible twist of fate -- the accidental firing of a flintlock weapon that had been loaded over 200 years before -- results in the death of a young boy, Paulsen concludes that guns are evil, and cause nothing but pain and misery.

If readers REALLY want to know about the role of guns in civilized society, they should instead read either of John Lott's books, "More Guns, Less Crime" and "The Bias Against Guns." Lott is an economist who fills his books with facts, not fiction.

My wife brought this book for me to review for the school library. I will definitely give it a thumbs down. Unfortunately, it's probably the perfect addition to any public school, which is (of course) a "Gun Free Zone." (And by "Gun Free Zone," I mean that anyone but a law-abiding citizen is free to walk in and begin executing people at will, with no fear of retribution from lawfully armed citizens.)