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Just wanted to point out a couple of recent articles about YA literature:

J A very interesting article from the March/April edition of Horn Book about the more "literary" direction that YA lit is taking -- "Redefining the Young Adult Novel". Hunt, the author of the piece, discusses The Book Thief, Octavian Nothing, and This is All as examples of what he refers to as "crossover novels" or novels that bridge the YA/Adult gap.

"These authors make no concessions and no compromises. They do not condescend to their readers, speaking to them as people rather than as teenagers.... These novels read not as history lessons on the Revolutionary War or Nazi Germany, nor as snapshots of the stormy seas of adolescence, but as lessons on humanity, mediations on human nature. They are literature in every sense of the word."

I seriously wanted to stand up and cheer.

L On the other hand -- a recent article from the WSJ seems a little more pessamistic (to say the least): Teen Books are Hot Sellers but the Formula isn't Simple.

I'm still mulling this over, but there's an really interesting discussion going on over at A Chair, A Fireplace, and a Tea Cozy (which is actually where I got both of these articles from), so if you're interested, head on over there.

L And completely unrelated note, I don't generally review adult fiction here, but I spent the entire weekend listening to My Sister's Keeper, and I haven't been so angry with an author in a very long time. I feel completely betrayed by the ending. As an author, how can you do that to readers who have invested that much time and energy and emotion into your book?? Thoughts, anyone?

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I liked My Sister's Keeper. The ending was shocking and sad, but I thought that it was ... I don't know ... fitting in some way. The conflict was resolved, albeit in an unexpected way.

Abby said...

I loved the ending of My Sister's Keeper. It took me completely by surprise and that's one of the things I loved about it. It also wrapped everything up in a way you'd never expect.

Sara said...

Okay, I take it I'm outnumbered here...

And I guess, yes, the ending was "fitting." It just seemed to me to be too much of a coincidence to be plausible -- and since I could tell that Anna was going to give Kate the kidney anyway, it seemed gratuitous.

But then, it took me ten years to get over Bridge to Terabitha.

Now the question is, if you've read anything else by Jodi Picoult, do any of her other novels end as shockingly? I really enjoyed this one, up until that last chapter or so, and so I want to try some of her other novels. Should I risk it? Which ones should I try?

Little Willow said...

I liked the book but I thought the timing of it - in the car ON THE WAY from the COURTHOUSE?! - was WAY too soon. How difficult would it have been to make it a few weeks, a few months, a year later? Not difficult at ALL.

I have yet to read another Picoult.

Please read THE ALISON RULES by Catherine Clark if you haven't already. It's amazing and it deserves far more attention.

Sara said...

LW, You're so right. That's what made it seem so implausible to me. And I'll add THE ALISON RULES to my "list"

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