Type of bind: Audio Cassette
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN num: 9780743518048
Format: Abridged, Audiobook
ISBN number: 0671784706
Label: Audioworks
Manufacturer: Audioworks
Quantity: 3
Printing Date: February 01, 2000
Publishing house: Audioworks
Sale Popularity Level: 2682059
Studio: Audioworks
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Editor's Notes and Comments:
Product Description:
Pay It Forward is a wondrous and moving story about Trevor McKinney, a twelve-year-old boy in a small California town who accepts the challenge that his teacher gives his class, a chance to earn extra credit by coming up with a plan to change the world for the better -- and to put that plan into action.
The plan that Trevor comes up with is so simple -- and so naïve -- that when others learn of it they are dismissive. Even Trevor himself begins to doubt when his 'pay it forward' plan seems to founder on a combination of bad luck and the worst of human nature.
What is his idea? Trevor chooses three people for whom he will do a favor, and then when those people thank him and ask how they might pay him back, he will tell them that instead of paying him back they should each 'pay it forward' by choosing three people for whom they can do favors, and in turn telling those people to pay it forward. It's nothing less than a human chain letter of kindness and good will. But will it work?
In the end, Pay It Forward is the story of seemingly ordinary people made extraordinary by the simple faith of a child. In the tradition of the successful and inspirational television show Touched by an Angel, and the phenomenally successful novel and film Forrest Gump, Pay It Forward is a work of charm, wit, and remarkable inspiration, a story of hope for yesterday and for many tomorrows to come.
Amazon.com Review:
Catherine Ryan Hyde's Pay It Forward takes as its premise the bumper-sticker phrase 'Think Globally, Act Locally' and builds a novel around it. The hero of her story is young Trevor McKinney, a 12-year-old whose imagination is sparked by an extra-credit assignment in Social Studies: 'Think of an idea for world change, and put it into action.' Trevor's idea is deceptively simple: do a good deed for three people, and in exchange, ask each of them to 'pay it forward' to three more. 'So nine people get helped. Then those people have to do twenty-seven.... Then it sort of spreads out.' Trevor's early attempts to get his project off the ground seem to end in failure: a junkie he befriends ends up back in jail; an elderly woman whose garden he tends dies unexpectedly. But even after the boy has given up on his plan, his acts of kindness bear unexpected fruit, and soon an entire movement is underway and spreading across America.
Trevor, meanwhile, could use a little help himself. His father walked out on the family, and his mother, Arlene, is fighting an uphill battle with alcoholism, poor judgment in men, and despair. When the boy's new Social Studies teacher, Reuben St. Clair, arrives on the scene, Trevor sees in him not only a source of inspiration for how to change the world, but also the means of altering his mother's life. Yet Reuben has his own set of problems. Horribly scarred in Vietnam, he is reluctant to open himself up to the possibility of rejection--or love. Indeed, the relationship between Arlene and Reuben is central to the novel as these two damaged people learn to 'pay forward' the trust and affection Trevor has given them.
Hyde tells her tale from many different perspectives, using letters, diary entries, and first- and third-person narratives from the various people whose lives Trevor's project touches. Jerry Busconi, for example, the addict Trevor tried to help, one night finds himself talking a young woman out of jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge: I'm a junkie, Charlotte. I'm always gonna be a junkie. I ain't never gonna be no fine, upstanding citizen. But then I thought, hell. Just pay it forward anyway. Kid tried to help me. Okay, it didn't work. Still, I'm trying to help you. Maybe you'll jump. I don't know. But I tried, right? But let me tell you one thing. I woke up one morning and somebody gave me a chance. Just outta nowhere. It was like a miracle. Now, how do you know that won't happen to you tomorrow?
Pay It Forward is reminiscent of Frank Capra's classic It's a Wonderful Life. Like the film, this novel has a steely core of gritty reality beneath its optimism: yes, one person can make a difference, can help to make the world a better place, but sickness, pain, heartache, and tragedy will still always be a part of the human condition. If at times Hyde stumbles a bit while negotiating the razor-thin line between honest feeling and sentimentality, it's generally not for long. And the occasional lapse into artificially colored emotion can be forgiven when weighed against the courage it takes to write so unabashedly hopeful a story in such cynical times. --Sheila Bright
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Rated by buyers 
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I saw this movie years ago, probably right about when everyone else saw it. I think I may have liked the movie better. Of course, it had Kevin Spacey in it. I love him...
Anyway, back to the book... I got lost several times in it and had to figure out who was who. Too many characters with too many things going on.
Having said that, it was very touching and it makes me want to go out and do random things for people. The big question is... will I?
... and therein lies the problem.
:)
Rated by buyers -
'Pay It Forward' is one of my favorite novels. Author Catherine Ryan Hyde does an excellent job of establishing the locale and the desolation surrounding the city of Atascadero, and the characters react to their environment in a way that I would consider authentic.
Arlene, Trevor's mother, is a little bit rough around the edges, and wonderfully written. Without spoiling the plot, let me just say that this is an exquisite story with a deeper meaning than one would find in most popular fiction.
Rated by buyers 
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This book is just awsome, I watched the movie several times and the book is just as good. I would recommand this book to anyone.It is not hard to read, but at certain times the author does jump a bit from one character to another.
Rated by buyers -
The best book I have ever read- puts movie to shame (and very different from movie). I gave to all my family- it is life changing!
Rated by buyers -
Book review Author name: Rahul Borkar
Pay it Forward Author name: Catherine Ryan Hyde is probably one of the best books I have ever read. It is a realistic fiction book. It is about a kid named Trevor who was given an assignment to do something that would change the whole world. Usually the teacher that gave this project his new and most favorite teacher Mr. St. Clair or Reuben not expecting whole world changing results. But Reuben soon saw Trevor really is going to change the world. Reuben was in the Vietnam War and had half of his face ruined and scared same with the rest of his body but not as badly. Later Arlene became very good friends with Reuben and they really got to know each other. Trevor was really glad because he really liked Reuben as a father although his father Ricky had been gone for a year.
Trevor's idea was very smart and considerate that it would change the WHOLE world. His idea (Pay it Forward) started as him helping three people. And after he helped those three people they helped three people and they help three and so forth. But bad things happened after Trevor helped his three people. One of them went to jail and one had died. Was there still hope left?
This could relate to anybody any day by doing small deeds. I really enjoyed Catherine Ryan Hyde's style of writing. She would build up a lot of suspense and let it out in a big event and start over. Her writing is not too descriptive and not too vague.
I really enjoyed this book because of the style of writing and because I found the story amazing. Many people have told me "That book is great, the book is too!" I took their advice and I am glad I did.
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