A different sort of review

[peggy-2.livejournal.com]

Another one from Blogspot.  I thought it quite interesting, and well done.  And the plot summary has no spoilers!  w00t!

Gen, a filthy charmer, complains and carries on throughout the trip, alternately annoying and surprising his companions. He is funny, witty, whining, egoistical, clever, and clear-sighted-- immediately sizing up his fellow travelers.

and

As with all good YA fiction, this book appeals to adults as well. It was a Newberry Honor Book in 1997 and deservedly so, as Turner does such a marvelous job with the characters and the plot. There is a section called Extras at the end of the book that includes a wonderful section about Turner's inspiration and her favorite books and authors.

I'm looking forward to seeing her reviews of QoA and KoA.

http://bookgarden.blogspot.com/2009/04/turner-megan-whalen.html

~~~

I wonder about this however -

As with all good YA fiction, this book appeals to adults as well.

why?  because it is adults who decide if a YA book is "Good" or not?

Comments

[zumie-ashlen.livejournal.com]

"why? because it is adults who decide if a YA book is "Good" or not?"

Mm, I wouldn't say that. I think she meant that a well-written book in any genre will appeal to readers outside its target audience. :)

[elvenjaneite.livejournal.com]

That annoys me a bit as well. Why not say that all good adult fiction appeals to YAs? I think it would be just as true.

[pigrescuer.livejournal.com]

A tad pointless, that. A young adult book appealing to adults? Well I never!

[peggy-2.livejournal.com]

: D

[pigrescuer.livejournal.com]

Icon love!

[pico-the-great.livejournal.com]

why? because it is adults who decide if a YA book is "Good" or not?

Mm, I think this is a couple things. One, that when any genre work takes its genre-characteristics to an extreme, then people who read outside that genre will not be able to identify (and, in the worse case, will become dismissive). So with YA - if a YA overdetermines its tropes (troubled!teenagers, etc), then people who don't read YA will be less likely to read it.

The second is that people who don't read genre work sometimes feel the need to excuse the fact that they like this book but it is not their usual reading. It's good, so it couldn't possibly be genre. (This is the kind of thinking that leads to the review on the back of my copy of Wrinkle in Time: "It has the general appearance of being science fiction, but it is not...")

1 1/2 points of agreement out of 2

[thnidu.livejournal.com]

I definitely agree with your second point. On the first one, while I agree with what you said, I don't think it's relevant here. IMO any genre work, in any genre, that overdoes its genre characteristics is probably leaving the bounds of good literature.

[keestone.livejournal.com]

I just assumed it was a somewhat clunky sidestepping of the stupid idea/accusation that "children's books are just for kids, and you shouldn't be wasting your time reading stuff below your age level." You don't need to say that "all good adult fiction appeals to YAs," because while it is as true, it's not considered a "lower status" category that needs defending.

[kaijuu-chan.livejournal.com]

Good authors should treat their readership as people - not as an age group. Good YA books appeal to adult readers as well because they are not patronizing or condescending.

A class I took on Children's Literature defined children's stories as stories in which the main characters are children. Young adult stories are stories in which the main characters are young adults. BUT, people are more likely to read about characters that are older than them, rather than characters that are younger than them. Gen is quite young, as are Eddis and Attolia. In order to bring in an older audience, MWT's writing needs to bridge that gap... and does.