Book Report 3: Speaker for the Dead

I recently read Speaker of the Dead, by Orson Scott Card, the sequel to Ender's Game. This was a book i have been wanting to read since i was in high school (After having reading Ender's Game for the first time). When the book first began, I wasn't too interested in it honestly. The story was all over the place, with too many main characters to keep track of. However, the more I read, the more I realized how well the author had begun to integrate all of these various characters into the story. The story took interesting turns that I never would've imagined or guessed, and it kept me craving to read more to figure out how things would progress and develop.

The author is very good at understanding the human psyche, and how emotions can be interpreted, and helping you connect with the characters. He really helps show that, as humans, something that causes our greatest sorrow and pain is usually due to either miscommunication, or no proper communication. This proves that proper communication can help promote not only understanding, but happiness as well. One of the main characters felt responsible for the death of another, but, in reality, it was never her fault to begin with. But she believed it with all her might that she turned her life, which could have been one of happiness, into one of sorrow, not only for her, but her children as well. Her children lived miserable lives with an abusive father because the mother decided to withhold information, and blame herself for the death of someone she in reality, did not cause the death of.

It was because Ender, the Speaker of the Dead, arrived, that the kids finally began to smile and laugh again. They were able to finally be kids, as they had someone who was caring and understanding. It was Ender who helped begin to unravel the knots and issues the family had been intertwined in.

Ender showed that his brilliance supersedes simply battle, and he is able to understand human emotions briliantly as well. He made me hope to one day be able to understand human emotions better so that I can relate to them better and become a better communicator.

The fact that Ender would leave his beloved sister to go handle the matters at the new world, showed that his dedication to his work was unquestioned. The guilt he felt for the war is strong. This shows to me that people can change. He realized that what he did was wrong during that period, and he has worked to repent and better the world. I hope too, to be able to make a great difference in the world, and help others in anyway that I can to do better in the world. Ender working so diligently to change the world, and provide assistance to the Hundred Worlds, inspired me to want to make atonement for what I have done. It makes me realize that mistakes happen, we have to accept them and we cannot avoid them. Once we have truly accepted them, as I feel i have mine, we can then move forward and repent, by working hard to make the world a better place, just as Ender did.

I highly recommend this book.