A few of my readers may know Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card. It is one of the most popular and honored science fiction books ever. I loved it when I first read it. Rrereading it as an adult left me feeling disoriented, and I’ve found his other books surprisingly childish. I recently came across a pair of revealing essays about the book.

The first one draws explicit links between Ender and Hitler, claiming that Card deliberately wrote the story as an apology for Hitler. (One of her friends goes further, claiming that Card didn’t even write the book.) Card wrote a rebuttal, but it isn’t available online.

A more tempered and ultimately convincing essay from John Kessel is worth reading in full. His last section (“Why is Ender’s Game popular?”) gets at the heart of my difficulties reading Card’s fiction as an adult.

By the way, Enders Game is currently being made into a movie.