Julia

 __Candyfreak:__ By Steve Almond 

 **Summary:** One man, Steve Almond, tracks across the nation, determined to find the answers to his pathetic and heartfelt prayers about knowing everything there is too know about candy. He is the type of man that lists "candy" as his hobby, that has to have at least one candy a day for his entire life, and who only recalls childhood memories as eating candy. Speaking to numerous and generous persons in or obsessed with the candy buisness and failing to fill up the hole that he feels in his chocolate-covered heart, he sets out again and again on "a journey through the chocolate underbelly of America". Both Almond and the reader learn many fun, interesting, and sometimes a little disturbing things about candy on his quest. The big candy companies that dominate the world and force the little guys to go out of buisness are exposed as liars, cheaters, spies, and threateners. Then he meets men like Dave, the owner of The Idaho Candy Company, who have incredible stories and enthusiastic attitudes. These people influence him in a great way and make him a different person altogether. These men give him hope that the little guys will gain strength and defeat the big guys. But something is troubling Almond. A sadness, a depression has come over him and he decides he has cancer. He thinks and hopes that candy will help him and make his joy return. He puts his whole faith in candy, trusting it will save him from his hurt. After a long journey, a peek into the  views of a child, and a bag of jelly beans, Almond finds his shadow of doubt lifting, not because of candy, but because of faith, of hope in America, that the little guys will cease their struggle, and all will be well.

The novel __Candyfreak__ has multiple themes which, in my opinion, add some meaning to the story. One main theme that takes place in this book is that life is hard and competitive. Life isn't fair. Almond expresses this theme in many ways including the candy industry. He states that this is where the giants of the candy world overtakes the little guys, where trashing other companies, lying, spying, etc. takes place. Another theme is that we should always appreciate what we have when we have it and not take it for granted. The author shows this theme by exampling a situation where if your favorite candy bar is discontinued, people were just not buying enough. You wish you could have boughten millions, and saved the loved candy from discontinuing. You wish you would have savored every chocolately bite instead of gobbling it up in the front seat of your car on the way to soccer practice. You appreciate the bar more now, because it's gone. These are a couple of the themes in __Candyfreak__.  I liked the book because of several reasons. It was funny when Almond would just throw in some random thought that only sometimes had to do with what he was talking about. I also found it entertaining when he would be very descriptive about a candy he was tasting. He would literally make my mouth water and I would sometimes have to put the book down and go get a peice of chocolate. And when he described how a candy was made, I would go to the local candy store and buy that candy bar, munch down, and be able to taste the different layers of candy, the different ingrediants that were listed, and the overall goodness that Almond had said about the bar. The novel had a very challenging vocabulary, and I was forced to either look it up, or use context clues several times. However, I did not like this book because it didn't seem to have an actual plot. It just talked about where he went, what he learned. It was interesting, don't get me wrong, but it lacked a certain storyline. Because of this, the novel could at times get a little boring. It was hard for me to stay completely interested for very long and it wasn't very entregging. Overall, I would say it was a informational and slightly entertaining book, but I wouldn't name it as a stay-up-all-night-with-a-flashlight-reading-under-your-covers type of book. All together though, I did really enjoy __Candyfreak__.    <span style="color: rgb(43,110,50);">
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