The Cure

this book is amazing! it follows a boy named gemm 16884. gemm 16884 lives in a futuristic, perfect society. in this society everyone is perfect and doesnt know love or pain or practically and emotion. they live by conformity and see diversity as a horrible, troubling, bad thing. gemm 16884 is different though...he hears music. music is not known to anyone and therefore he is different. the elders of this society want to make him go through the cure to be cured of this monstrous thing he hears,music. gemm 16884 goes through this program where he becomes a jew named johannes living in germany in the year 1348. at this time jews weren't treated like regular people. they were treated badly and dehumanized. this book follows johannes and in a way gemm 16884 is living through him. after all the hardships johannes goes through in a year, gemm 16884 wakes up, only a day passing in his society. he saw all the things and emotions johannes went through. he experianced love, pain, hatred, and many things. the pain was so great he didnt want to hear music and be reminded of the horrible things johannes went through. he wanted to conform and be like everyone else. however, at the end of the book, gemm 16884 realizes how much there is out there, like love and music. this book is wonderful and just pulls you in. this is by far my favorite book.

I originally picked up this book because it reminded me of The Giver by Lois Lowry, an absolutely fabulous book that I recommend to anyone who enjoys The Cure. I originally thought I'd love reading about Gemm 16884 and tolerate reading about Johannes in order to understand Gemm better. I was pleasantly suprised to find myself enthralled by both of the main characters. I've read books on the holocaust in the past, including Number the Stars by Lois Lowry and The Devil's Arithmetic by Jane Yolen, and enjoyed seeing the differences and similarites between that period of Jewish history and the one portrayed in this wonderful book. The Cure also provides a look at ignorance and prejudice on two levels, again showing differences and similarities. The underlying message of freedom and acceptance is anything but corny and cliche. And it had just enough of a scifi twist to satisfy me, a die-hard science-fiction fanatic.

In the year of 2407, Gemm 16884 is a sixteen-year-old boy who lives in a world of tranquility. Passion, hate, violence, and diversity are considered deviant and forbidden. Gemm was a very special exception in that world and finds happiness through music by singing. He was given a choice of "recycling" (death), or The Cure. Doing anything to live, Gemm choose The Cure and was sent back to Strasbourg, Germany, in the year of 1348 as a Jewish moneylender’s son Johannes. Johannes was a cheerful young man who loved to make music on his flute. In Germany, because of the pestilence, Jews were blamed for the cause and was segregated from the gentiles.... Sonia Levitin used very detailed descriptions on the everyday lives of people in the medieval times and portrayed what really had happened. Her book shows that we cannot live without pain and it is an experience to teach human lessons. We cannot just banish negative emotions and live in a world where everything is the same.

(this is Candice's daughter, Elizabeth) when i first got this from my school's bookfair, i figured it would all be set in the future. i was glad that i did get a little history lesson out of it. i happen to be jewish and i identified with the ridicule a bit. at the second to last chapter i almost lost hope, seeing Gemm as a hypocrite. thank goodness i read the last chapter. Gemm has great hope and is a very interesting character. i have read very few books that were this great. some have said this was like the Giver, but it's better than that. it's the fight for love and happiness!

Don't be fooled! This book isn't just about the future, where everyone wears a mask and things like music and love are forbidden. Deep within is a tale set in 1348 during the coming of the Black Death. In "The Cure", Gemm 16884 is sent back in time in hopes that he can forget his interest for music and individuality. What follows is an amazing tale of survival, passion, togetherness, and courage when sixteen-year-old Johannes and his Jewish family work hard to keep their traditions alive whilst millions of Christians plot against the Jews because they believe that the Jews are responsible for the pestilence which has raged their land.I was interested in this book because of the science fiction aspect, but now I see that "The Cure" is so much more than that.This book is recommended for students in grades 7 and up.