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Sep 07, 2008

Alisa rated it:

As someone who wasn't IN LOVE with Cormier's book The Chocolate War as many others, I was simply blown away by FADE. A perfect example of magical realism - the real world here is painstakingly detailed, rendered so beautifully and realistically that when the magic is sprinkled in it, too, seems completely and utterly real. Plus, this is the type of book with writing that was so beautiful, a narrative voice so striking that I would find myself going back and reading passages over and over again, More...

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Jan 20, 2012

Kyle rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

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May 23, 2011

Michelle rated it:

I have to say this first...some parts of this book were very weird. But, after reading the whole thing, I think it was weird in a very good way. I loved this book. I had read another one of Robert Cormier's books in middle school, I am the Cheese, and I remember thinking that book was strange too. I also remember enjoying it. It is a very interesting mix of crazy and innovative, and strange and brilliant. They way everything comes together is just so nice!

The main character, Paul, does More...

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Feb 23, 2011

Morgan rated it:

Cormier did something very rare, at least for me: surprised me. Call me dense, but I never expected some of the things that happened in the novel to happen. I don't want to give anything away to ones who have yet to read this, but the new characters towards the end were just not not expected for me--though I'm assuming that was the point. I found the "book within a book" aspect really interesting, but found it rather difficult to connect with the younger narrator (in the beginning of t More...

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Jan 10, 2011

John rated it:

Robert Cormier is my favorite author.

Paul Moreaux has a special power: he can become invisible. He inherited this power from his uncle, who calls the power the fade. However, the fade is more curse than blessing, as it shows Paul things about himself and others that he never wanted to know, and begins to isolate him from everyone around him. Years later, a publishing editor tries to uncover the truth; is the manuscript another of Paul's novels...or an autobiography?

This is my More...

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May 05, 2010

Danielle rated it:

Paul can Fade.

One second, he's there, the next he isn't. Just like that.

At first, he's thrilled: we've all wished we had the ability to vanish from sight, spy on our friends and family (if you say you don't, your a liar). He now has the opprotunity to observe his Aunt Rosanna, attractive and proud of it. He can watch the people in his town behind closed doors, discover who they really are without risking being caught. Every teenage boy's dream, right?

But then, More...

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Apr 10, 2010

Anna rated it:

If you have read Robert Cormier, then you might be prepared for anything that you come across in this book. Those familiar with his work will know that he is not your typical young adult author--frankly, I'm a bit shocked that he gets away with publishing some of the stuff that he does, given his target audience. Not saying that it should be banned or edited or anything, just commenting.

A typical Cormier novel will feature sedate prose, even pacing, and a nice creepy shot of the More...

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Mar 09, 2011

Sarah rated it:

This was brilliantly written and had an interesting premise but I found it quite disturbing in parts and can't understand why it's supposed to be a YA book. It was very violent and sexually explicit and the themes were very adult.

I thought the whole section with Susan and Marianne or whatever her name was should've been left out, it added nothing to the story and really disrupted the flow of the plot. It was weird, like Cormier was using two new unrelated characters to try and co More...

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Dec 12, 2009

Levina rated it:

For someone as young as me and with so little experience of authors and novelism (compared to other people on this site) FADE was amazing and freaky, freaky scary, but not as in walking corpses and murderers scary, but more like What if World War 3 happened? scary. It is a perfect example of fantasy and realism blended together in a very familiar world. I found it funny that everyone mentioned Canada so many times but the author never visited it in the book.
Paul Moreaux is living in a smal More...

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Jan 15, 2008

Michael rated it:

Knowing nothing about it, somehow I ended up with this book to report on for a high school English class. Needless to say, I didn't report on all of it, as there are some pretty adult themes. I found the concept (boy that can turn invisible but must deal with the consequences of his gift) interesting and would like to reread this one sometime with a more mature perspective.

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May 14, 2011

Tom rated it:

Fade is my favorite book by Cormier. It captures the story through deep vividness and extends one's imagination beyond just what we can see and hear and feel, but something that we'll never reach. I love how the story was left with not everything explained, because when it comes down to it, that's what life really is. Too often readers assume absolute power and claims the right of knowing the answer to every question by the time the last page is reached, but Fade makes me ponder the possibilitie More...

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Jul 22, 2010

Josiah rated it:

Expect the unexpected when it comes to the stories of Robert Cormier. No one knows how to rip the cover off the traditional novel any better than he does, and it always seems that at least one or two major bombshells await in each of his books.

Fade is the longest Cormier book I've read (three hundred ten pages in hardcover), which seems to suit the story's style well. The plot isn't dotted with lit sticks of literary dynamite that threaten to blow the reader away with the raw inten More...

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Jun 19, 2009

Ronya rated it:

Fade is to Robert Cormier as Farnham's Freehold is to Robert Heinlein... This is to say, it's a very weird book. Fade is the story of an unusual power passed down from uncle to nephew in a single family--the power to render the self invisible. What happens with this power and what the power does to its owner make the story.

That said, usually writers employ framing devices at the beginning and end and/or peppered throughout (think Fred Savage & the Princess Bride). However, half More...

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Jun 15, 2011

Lindsay (The Geeky Beach Babe) rated it:

This is one of my absolute favorite books of all time. I've read it a few times but just re-read it recently because I remember the slight drama surrounding it. About fifteen years ago (the book was originally published in 1988, though that is far before I read it the first time), I just lived for this book. I remember I was on vacation and was supposed to be out enjoying my time and playing with relatives but instead I was laying on my bed reading this book every chance I could get.

More...

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Feb 06, 2011

Simplenothing rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

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Dec 17, 2009

Cinco rated it:

Although this book is definitely not for children (I'd say 13+, for incest, sex, and a whole lot of alienation), it's really excellent and interesting and made me think. I'd say Cormier's best book is I Am the Cheese, but this one comes in a close second.

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Sep 18, 2009

Kris rated it:

I'd never heard of this book, and the copy I picked up from the library didn't have any information about what it was about so I didn't know what I was getting into. It was an all right story, interesting and engaging enough. However, I cannot believe how sexually explicit this novel was. Regardless of whether or not stuff like this actually happened in the 30s, I can see no reason it should have been included in the story, except for perhaps the parts dealing with Rosanna. Maybe. The first More...

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May 03, 2010

Sharon rated it:

To date, my favorite book by Robert Cormier is After the First Death. I'd read good things about this book in Richard Peck's Invitations to the World: Teaching and Writing for the Young.

It is a dark story, and in true Cormier fashion, doesn't have a happy ending. If you could become invisible, what would you do? How would you use this ability? Is it a gift or a burden? How would it change you?

Interesting story about French-Canadian immigrants living in New England More...

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Jan 28, 2010

Dave rated it:

I remember finding this book in my high school library and being thoroughly scandalized by how much graphic, kinky sex there was in it. Scandalized and titillated, naturally- I was a teenager after all. If I recall correctly, I took it without checking it out, with the halfassed justification that they would never keep it there if they knew what was in it. I... don't remember if I ever put it back. I might have. Unlike the copy of Nobody, Nowhere that I still have 20 years later. Ditto for Dream More...

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Sep 27, 2011

Brent rated it:

What 13 year old boy wouldn't want to be able to disappear and be invisible whenever he wanted? Paul finds out he has the ability to do just that and he takes advantage of that ability to spy on people. He finds out it isn't nearly as cool as he thought it would be. Quite frankly he sees some things that disgust him. He also does some things he would never have done.

This "ability" is passed on to the next generation from an uncle to a nephew. As it is passed down to More...

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Sep 25, 2011

Karyn rated it:

Definitely the greatest of Cormier’s novels that I have read to date. Not only is the plot interesting, successfully incorporating fantasy into a dark social realism of life for French immigrant mill workers in the late 1930s Massachusetts (again, the community of Monument), but also in carrying the reader along through skillful manipulation of narrative perspective. I won’t give away the plot, nor anticipate the joy the reader gains in following Cormier’s skillful narrative lead. I can only More...

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Oct 25, 2011

Kate rated it:

It took me a great deal of time to get through the beginning of this book, maybe because I was busy or maybe I just wasn't interested, but boy does it pick up as the book continues on. The ending was the final piece to the puzzle the book had been putting together the entire time, and I really finally realized the brilliance of the book at that time. One thing I loved so much about this book was the switching perspectives, which created an captivating plot line that really helps tie the book tog More...

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Sep 19, 2011

Grace rated it:

I picked this book up not because I thought the cover was cool(even though it really is) not because I was to lazy to walk 5 feet to the next shelf at the library, none of those boring reasons. I read this book on accident. My friend had been reading this book that she said was UH MAZ ING(thats exactly how she said it) and I thought that she had said that THIS was that book. When I went to cello camp the next day, I was already 200 pages into it and thats when she said "Uh Grace? Thats not More...

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Oct 30, 2009

Michelle rated it:

I was really disappointed in this book. The beginning/first half was so incredible, I was expecting the rest of it to record Paul's downward spiral into madness, and maybe he would end up raping his aunt or something!!! But then there was the completely unnecessary interlude with "Susan", and the book went downhill from there. I really disliked Robert Cormier's use of the character Ozzie, he felt like some sort of scapegoat for Paul, like "Oh, Paul isn't that bad when you compare More...

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May 21, 2011

Robert rated it:

Starts out intriguingly, being the coming of age story of a boy who, as puberty strikes, suddenly has spells of becoming invisible (first without realising), as well as the story of a mystery, and a period piece about the Great Depression in an industrial town (and trade unions)...

Then the novel becomes all postmodern, and it becomes a novel about writers, writing, creative writing classes and students, agents, and the process. Then it's back into the story of fading...

It's a More...

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Jan 25, 2009

Donna rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

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Jul 02, 2010

Arlie rated it:

I wasn't sure about this book when I first started - it's quite edgy with some sexual content. It was hard to tell where the book was headed. However, Cormier really caught my interest when he started changing narrators and really layering the levels of story. Like his other books, Fade is an original and interesting read. The plot concerns a family in which one boy in every generation is a 'fader' - someone who has the ability to disappear and become invisible. But fading is not without cost, s More...

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Aug 12, 2011

Dardenitaaa rated it:

I think I just found my next Salinger. No kidding–Reading the haunting account of Paul Moreaux, the main protagonist of Robert Cormier’s 1988 novel, Fade, feels like bumping into Holden Caulfield again in another place and time. Think Catcher in the Rye with superpowers. Served with a playful dash of fantasy, the book ironically brings dark realities to life with its stunning pace and twists. This book is utter brilliance from cover to cover. Trust me, even Stephen King says so.

I devou More...

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Mar 08, 2011

Natalie rated it:

Paul Moreaux, a thirteen year old boy living in Frenchtown, has an exciting summer in 1938. His Aunt Rosanna returns for a visit, his Uncle Adelard shows up, unannounced as always. These two were always the topic of interest in their family, never staying long and afterwards Rosanna would lose all touch with the family and he would never see her graceful figure or smell her enticing perfume again. During such a difficult time, Paul struggles with the events of bullying, financial hardships in hi More...

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Feb 11, 2008

Robert rated it:

First, the prurience issue...it's SEXUALLY EXPLICIT... A sexually explicit coming-of-age novel from the eighties. Who'd'a thunk it? And when it comes right down to it, if you really think high school kids haven't already thought about this stuff without having read this book... well, let's put it more simply-- if you're the parent of a high school student who HASN'T thought about all this stuff, you may want to consider getting him this one for Christmas. Sheesh.

Because, when it comes More...

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