How "adult" is your teen's young adult lit?
Noticing the recent success of books like The Hunger Games and Wintergirls, the Wall Street Journal ran an article about trends in teen literature and hypothesized that teens “like a little madness, sadism and disease in the books they curl up with at night.” The article goes on to say that these tough “issue” books relate to the real difficulties teens face, ultimately bringing hope with a “happyish ending.” But it’s not just teens buying The Hunger Games, Wintergirls, and If I Stay – adults are also drawn into the dark plots and troubled characters, much the same way they relish vampire slayings and murder mysteries. Connecting to these books doesn’t mean that readers are death-obsessed, anorexic, or blood thirsty – they just like a good story. So before writing off these novels as strictly for “angsty teens,” check out what (adult) reviewers are saying.
THE HUNGER GAMES by Suzanne Collins
Familiar with horror and battles to the death, Stephen King reviewed The Hunger Games for Entertaiment Weekly. Though he did attribute some gaps in the narrative to “authorial laziness that kids will accept more readily than adults,” he calls the heroine, Katniss, a “cool kid” and Suzanne Collins a “no-nonsense prose stylist with a pleasantly dry sense of humor.”
“Reading The Hunger Games is as addictive (and as violently simple) as playing one of those shoot-it-if-it-moves videogames in the lobby of the local eightplex; you know it’s not real, but you keep plugging in quarters anyway.” – Stephen King, EW review
WINTERGIRLS by Laurie Halse Anderson
In the latest from YA-master Laurie Halse Anderson, 18-year-old Lia learns of her former best friend’s death, confronts her guilt for failing to help, and spirals deeper into her own battle with anorexia. The New York Times book review calls Wintergirls “a fearless, riveting account of a young woman in the grip of a deadly illness,” though at times “Lia can feel more like a concatenation of symptoms than a distinct person.” Despite this flaw, “the book deepens,” diving into Lia’s complex family life and eventually offering a glimmer of hope. Adults will relate to Lia’s parents, struggling to help their resistant daughter, while remembering what it can be like to be a teen.
“I cannot think of a person, adult or teen, who will not be affected in some way by reading Wintergirls.” – YA Books Central review
IF I STAY by Gayle Forman
If I Stay is another teen book that, like Wintergirls, is hard to read but even harder to put down. After watching her own body being rushed to the hospital after a car accident that kills both of her parents, Mia reflects on her life and must choose to follow her family to the afterlife or stay alive. While Mia is a teenager, the decision she has to make speaks to audiences of all ages. In an Amazon interview, author Gayle Forman said, “I think If I Stay is for adults, too.” We agree.
“Intensely moving, the novel will force readers to take stock of their lives and the people and things that make them worth living.” – Publishers Weekly (starred review)
*************
Want to know more about us? Check out “What is Books & Authors and Why Should You Care?”
