I was clicking around the other day, and from Annieology I went to Mountain Momma's and found this post about the book Love You Forever.
Now, everyone has their own opinions (you know they say they are like assholes, everyone's got one). Mine are my own. I have read the book and at first I found it lovely. Then..... I started thinking about it. As time went on I became more and more disturbed about it. Finally I decided it was creepy. Really creepy. John Wayne Gacy planting bodies in his basement creepy. Ed Gein having lunch freaky. It's a book for children about a mother and her baby son and follows them through his life and into adulthood and then to the mothers death. She takes care of him and drags him out of bed his whole life to sing a little song to him. Even when he is a big fat adult she does this. Drags him out of his marriage bed even, just to sing this little song. Then she gets all old and sickly and he starts going over to her house and dragging her butt out the bed to sing. Then, she dies.
Maybe, just maybe, my view is altered by the fact that The Crazy is not just an entity adopted into my home. The Crazy has lived with many a family member on my extended family stick. I am waaaaaaaay familiar with The Crazy and quite frankly, it looks a hell of a lot like that book. And it did not end well. Although I guess neither does this book. But I know most normal people love it. Find it sweet and darling and inspiring. A testament to the love of a mother and the strength of the family. Not me. From here it just looks freaky!
So what's my point? Don't got one, sorry. I know, there is usually some payoff for wading through my drivel. Pointless drivel. Better luck next time.
I totally agree. Weird.
ReplyDeleteThank you; that needed to be said. That book is totally freaky. I have always thought I would sound like a jerk if I spoke out about it though. My mother in law bought it for us years ago and I must say I had to raise my eyebrows.
ReplyDeleteAmen, sistah. Glad to know I'm not the only one. I'll take "Good Night Moon" a thousand times over that book. Thanks for linking to my site!
ReplyDeleteI looked at it once in a bookstore - it turned my stomach. Beats me....
ReplyDeleteAnd to read to a CHILD!
I liked it as a child, but I guess I kind of thought of the dragging-out-of-bed thing as exaggeration for emphasis. I never thought that MY mother would be coming to my home when I was an adult and dragging ME out of bed (she doesn't, btw). But then again, I NEVER thought that I would actually be an adult some day!
ReplyDeleteThanks for making me glad I've missed this one.
ReplyDeleteI'll love you forever
ReplyDeleteI'll like you for always
As long as I'm living
My baby you'll be
HaHa... it's been read once or twice in my house ;)
I always found it odd that she would sneak into his house as an adult and he wouldn't even wake up. But my kids don't seem to notice or at least they haven't pointed it out to be strange.
My kids were given this book a couple of years ago by a therapist. It really went untouched after a reading or two, they weren't interested. It is now my 2 year old's favorite book for me to read to her and she goes around singing the song. She does question so much: why does that mommy go to his house? why does that mommy sneak in his room, etc. The worst one: when I say something about her getting bigger, she says "I don't want to get bigger - I'll get old and sick and DIE!" but she keeps bringing it for me to read...
ReplyDeleteI'm with ya!!! Maybe it's us adoptive folk who view the life of a child different??
ReplyDeleteI've never read it, but I've heard some stuff about it.
ReplyDeleteSome people feel that way about "The Giving Tree". I gave that book to my mother as an adult so she could get a clue (dealing with my sisters, not me). I think there are a lot of mother's out there like that tree. But some people get upset about it.
I agree. It starts out with a nice sentiment...but turns creepy with a capital CREEP!
ReplyDeleteYou know what else I don't like--I Love You More.
Okay, maybe that's not the title, but I think it is.
What I really dislike about that book is that every time the child initiates an example of "big love" and the parent tops it. I think it's belittling to the child.
I like "You Are My I Love You" more. And I've got a GREAT book that I wrote years ago that's good. Hmm...really need a genie to drop a publisher in my lap. Would become a famous children's author and could be SAHM...
Thank you! Hahaha... yes, it is quite creepy. I am glad you said so. Seriously you make me laugh out loud every time I visit your blog.
ReplyDeleteIt's totally creepy, especially the way she totes her ladder across town in the dark of night so she can climb through her son's window in order to haul him out of bed. But my sons LOVE it. They do not find it the least bit creepy. I think they get the overall point of the mother's devotion being reflected back to her by her son and also being passed along by her son to his new baby. But I get creeped out every time our kids ask me to read it to them. (My brother and his wife also find it creepy and they are birth parents.)
ReplyDeletethe book is very very disturbing, and why anyone would hope that this would happen to them i don't know! Who reads this and thinks oh thats a lovely little story....err no it's not its not normal to do that seriously!
ReplyDeleteoh yeah. gross, sick book. a book not about teaching your child to stand on his/her own and be a productive member of society who loves and respects his/her parents from the distance of their own lives. no. mom still coming over to wake the guy up?? um. THAT is not in my job description. :-) i love...LOVE your posts by the way (and just so you know...i will NOT come to your house and sing to you to prove it! ;-) )
ReplyDeleteOMG I thought that I was the only one who was freaked out by that book. The mere thought of the illustration of that man laying on his old mother's lap gives me the willies and I haven't looked at that book in probably 8 years.
ReplyDelete