Tenderness [Hardcover]

Robert Cormier (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 2004

Eighteen-year-old Eric has just been released from juvenile detention for murdering his mother and stepfather.  Now he's looking for
tenderness--tenderness he finds in caressing and killing beautiful girls.

Fifteen-year-old Lori has run away from home again.  Emotionally naive but sexually precocious, she is also looking for tenderness--tenderness she finds in Eric.  Will Lori and Eric be each other's salvation or destruction?  Told from their alternating points of view, this harrowing thriller speeds to its fateful conclusion with an irresistible force, and a final twist that will not be easily forgotten.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The path of a serial killer intertwines with that of a teenage runaway who cannot resist his charm. "Readers will stay on the edge of their seats," said PW. Ages 14-up.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal

Grade 6 Up. Cormier is in top form in this chilling portrait of a serial murderer. Eric Poole has progressed from killing kittens, cats, and a canary to parents and unsuspecting young women. Now 18, he has paid for his mother and stepfather's murders with three years of juvenile detention and is ready to continue his "plan." Unfortunately, his looks and shallow charm are as pleasing on the outside as his character is ugly on the inside. The story unfolds through the eyes of two characters: Eric, and the luckless 15-year-old Lori, a runaway who met Eric once when she was 12 and is drawn to him like a moth to the flame. Even when she realizes his guilt, after he attempts to kill her, she can not desert him. The ugliness of the story contrasts with the beauty of the language. Perfectly titled with characteristic irony, a sense of "tenderness" pervades this gripping tale. Where other, lesser writers would have screamed the story in full-blown tabloid prose, Cormier is the model of decorum. No overt blood and gore are needed for this author to terrify his readers. Eric is not an antihero. Sympathy is not so much for the undeserving villain, but for the society that spawned and neutered him. A meaty horror study that's a fine substitute for the anemic, but popular "Fear Street" books.?Marilyn Payne Phillips, University City Public Library, MO
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 14 and up
  
• Hardcover: 229 pages
• Publisher: Perfection Learning (September 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0756936365
• ISBN-13: 978-0756936365
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (97 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,343,289 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Realistically disturbing!, December 22, 1999

By 

Karen (Kentucky) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tenderness (Hardcover)

In this psychological thriller, Cormier takes us on a journey with two young adults seeking "Tenderness" in their own ways. For Lori Cranston, it is the search for unconditional love, security, & respect--concepts she only dreams of as her dysfunctional mother drags her from town to town and from abusive boyfriend to abusive boyfriend. For Eric Poole, the eighteen year old who serial killer who has murdered his mother and step-father under the guise that he has been abused, as well as killing 3 teenage girls for pleasure, " tenderness" becomes the obsession of control that he has over a human life just before he kills. When these two characters come together, Cormier weaves a tale of suspense with an ironic ending neither expected or even hoped for. Although neither character is very likable in the beginning, by the end of the novel, both Lori and Eric are somewhat sympathetic as Cormier subtlely reveals more and more exposition of the character's backgrounds. What is so disturbing about this book is the knowledge that in the real world, there are probably real people who are just as chilling as these two characters. In Tenderness, it's the realism that is so repugnant.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Tenderness-Robert Cormier, November 28, 2000

By 

"alibaby143" (Gorham, ME USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tenderness (Laurel-Leaf Books) (Mass Market Paperback)

Lori Cranston is fifteen years old and has run away from home again. Lori is looking for Tenderness in her life. She finds this tenderness in an eighteen year old boy named Eric Poole. Eric has just been released from Juvenile detention after three years of time due to the murder of his mother and father. Eric is also looking for tenderness, only he finds this tenderness in loving and killing beautiful girls. Lori meets Eric and becomes fixated on him while getting more involved in his life. I highly recomend this book to readers of an appropriate age. Robert Cormier is an author who writes novels for young adults but I think that this one in particular could pass for adult material. Lori is as emotional as most teenagers would be at her age. Unfortunately she has encountered some really horrible experiences that no teenager should have to. Lori feels that she needs someone to hold on to, someone to be her tenderness and give her tenderness. This is where Eric Poole comes into play. She meets him and recognizes him strangely from her past. There is an ironic trust between the two of them and they seem to form a bond. This novel should definitely serve as a warning to young teenagers who are into hitch-hiking and who are undoubtly naive. Many young girls are looking for a little tenderness in their lives and would welcome the invitation. Lori welcomes Eric's invitation without knowing the truth about his dark secrets and this hidden truth serves as a thrilling end to the tenderness relationship...or does it? Will Eric and Lori meet tenderness together or will this thriller end in a twist of fate that will not easily be forgotten?

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Tenderness, April 23, 2006

By 

Jason Ayoub (Toronto, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tenderness (Paperback)

Cormier takes this beautiful word and turns it into something terrifying. Flashing between the viewpoints of two troubled teens, this harrowing novel reads like an assiduous character study, pulling no punches yet somehow engaging the reader's sympathy for these two memorable characters.

Troubled teens are nothing new in young adult literature, but here the protagontists are presented in such chilling detail that they don't really seem to belong to a novel marketed for children at all. Eric is a serial killer and the reader spends about half the novel seeing the world through his psycotic eyes, sometimes even rooting for him as he counts the days before his release from a juvenile detention center.

The other character, Lori, is almost as disturbing. A teen-age runaway, she is at the mercy of inexplicable fixations. She pursues them ruthlessly, with little regard to the consequences or her increasingly disjointed role in society.

In typical Cormier fashion, each of these character's actions are subject to merciless implications. Their inevitable meeting leads to an abrupt surprise ending that is throughly plausible and lingers in the memory like a nightmare. Readers will never feel the same about the word "tenderness" again.