1. This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies. Learn More.
  2. We've had very few donations over the year. I'm going to be short soon as some personal things are keeping me from putting up the money. If you have something small to contribute it's greatly appreciated. Please put your screen name as well so that I can give you credit. Click here: Donations
    Dismiss Notice

The YA Lit Shame

Discussion in 'Tilted Entertainment' started by GeneticShift, Jun 8, 2014.

  1. GeneticShift

    GeneticShift Show me your everything is okay face.

    The other day, this article was posted on The Slate:
    Against YA: Adults should be embarrassed to read children’s books.

    Basically, the author of the piece was stating that any adults reading young adult literature should be embarrassed by their choices. Adults should be "better than" YA novels which are complete stories that are easy to read with finite endings. She uses The Fault in Our Stars as the current example of YA literature being taken over by adults. In her eyes, adults are "substituting maudlin teen drama forthe complexity of great adult literature".

    At the risk of mudslinging, this woman sounds like a bitch. There is no reason to make adults feel bad for their reading choices. I work at a bookstore. I read. A lot. I read adult fiction and YA fiction of all flavors. Lately, I've found that a large amount of recent YA lit has been more enjoyable and engaging than adult fiction.

    Do you think there's an issue with adults reading YA lit? Is there a "dumbing down" of the general population because adults are reading more YA fiction?

    In addition, a response article with an "anti-shaming" viewpoint:
    Really? Are We Still Genre Shaming People For The Books They Like?
     
    • Like Like x 2
  2. Japchae

    Japchae Very Tilted

    As long as people are actually reading, why are we shaming them? How many don't even bother to pick up anything more than People Magazine?
    I think that YA books are a gateway drug... geez, leave 'em alone.
     
    • Like Like x 1
  3. Chris Noyb

    Chris Noyb Get in, buckle up, hang on, & be quiet.

    Location:
    Large City, TX
    I read a lot of YA books when I was very young.

    Look at how I turned out :eek:. :p

    People should read what they want to read. I look forward to reading the other two books in the Hunger Games triology; I look forward to reading The Rise And Fall Of The Third Reich. Go figure.
     
  4. Speed_Gibson

    Speed_Gibson Hacking the Gibson

    Location:
    Wolf 359
    My favourite YA book is Phantom Tollbooth. The 1970 film was good but the story does need to be read to be truly appreciated.
     
    • Like Like x 1
  5. Bodkin van Horn

    Bodkin van Horn One of the Four Horsewomyn of the Fempocalypse

    The article is elaborately-dressed snobbery. It completely ignores the fact that different readers read for different reasons. It plays a sort of dance-y bullshit game where the author's personal aesthetic values are presented as though they should belong to everyone. It reminds me of every interview of Alan Moore I've read in the past 14,000 years. All he does is shit on the present state of comics, because people enjoy super hero stories. Sure, super hero stories can be lame and formulaic, but when have humans ever felt the need to stray too far from lame and formulaic in the types of entertainment they consume?

    People read YA because they enjoy it. They are allowed to do that without an obligation to feel shame.
     
    • Like Like x 5
  6. Street Pattern

    Street Pattern Very Tilted

    I'm a little surprised that neither article mentioned J. K. Rowling's series of YA novels.
     
  7. snowy

    snowy so kawaii Staff Member

    People should read what they like. I'm a fan of anything that gets people to read.
     
    • Like Like x 3
  8. DamnitAll

    DamnitAll Wait... what?

    Location:
    Central MD
    Turning things 180° to view from the writer's perspective:

    I'm pretty sure I've already shared this story with @GeneticShift, but I still remember this moment clearly from an afternoon session of a fiction writing class I took in college. We were workshopping each other's latest pieces, and one girl in the class—and I can still remember her full name—said to the writer of the most recently read story, in a patronizing tone she was clearly yet ineffectively trying to mask behind the guise of constructive criticism and praise,

    "You'd make a great YA author."

    Funny thing is, the piece being workshopped was far better than anything she herself ever produced for the class.
     
  9. Levite

    Levite Levitical Yet Funky

    Location:
    The Windy City
    Yeah, I have to add my vote to the "this is bullshit" side.

    YA lit is like any other genre of literature: there's a lot of crap and halfassery, and a fair amount of decent to good stuff, and some brilliant works and absolute classics. Are we going to trash the whole genre because Twilight was abysmal in so many ways, or for fear of kids wasting their time on Sweet Valley High or The Hardy Boys? Why, when there is Susan Cooper's The Dark Is Rising quintet, Ursula K. LeGuin's Earthsea trilogy, Lloyd Alexander's Prydain Chronicles quintet, The Hobbit, The Hunger Games trilogy, To Kill A Mockingbird, Call of the Wild, the Wrinkle In Time quintet, Robin McKinley's The Blue Sword and The Hero And The Crown, Patricia McKillip's Riddle-Master trilogy, and all the other innumerable truly excellent YA books and series?

    I have very little patience for the attempt to dismiss a whole genre of literature as too simple, or too limited, or too trite, or too anything, whether just too much so for adults or for everyone. It smacks of closed-mindedness, literary snobbery, and pedantic narcissism.
     
    • Like Like x 1
  10. Baraka_Guru

    Baraka_Guru Möderätor Staff Member

    Location:
    Toronto
    YA isn't a genre; it's an age category. The books written as YA are just as "fictiony" as "adult" fiction except it has a few other considerations: the protagonists tend to be young, and the elements tend to be crafted in such a way to make them more readable to younger audiences. In other words, YA tends to be more "digestible" or "straight-ahead" than a lot of adult fiction. This is not to say that there are no complex YA novels, but you will tend to find YA books more readable on average, and you won't find much in the way of experimental or avant-garde like you do with adult literature.

    I think what the author of the article may be getting at (if she were a better writer, perhaps) is that those who prefer to read YA at the cost of adult literature may have an issue. This isn't something I necessarily agree with. I'm sure many YA novels are just fine in terms of experiencing fiction for all it has to offer. However, limiting oneself to YA leaves off a whole realm of fiction. Beyond the "difficult" or "challenging" works (I'm just throwing those in quotes because it's a whole other discussion) of experimental or avant-garde novels, you have entire thematic categories that are either untouched by YA novels or are underrepresented.

    I edit a lot of fiction by twenty- and thirty-something writers. It deals with a lot of "I'm not in school anymore; I need to be an adult now, which sucks." I'm sure some YA may deal with that kind of stuff, but I wouldn't think it does in the same way within fiction focussed on somewhat older protagonists with somewhat older issues.

    And I think this is what I would get at if one limits one's reading to YA: You don't explore the gambit of age-related issues. Sure, young protagonists can teach us older folks a lot, and older characters within these books can teach a lot as well. I think one reason why I don't read much YA is because I don't relate to the characters as much as older protagonists. Even when I was a teenager, I didn't get along with a lot of teenagers. I tend to like books with thirtysomething and fortysomething characters. I guess it's because I relate to them more, for whatever reason. I always have, even when I was in my teens and twenties.

    I could also outline why I prefer challenging and experimental fiction, but it's not really the point of this thread.

    I guess overall I'd say "read what you want" or "read what you enjoy," but I'd also suggest "read something that challenges and stretches you now and again." Sure, it's good to have people read, but it's even better to get them to read to grow, not just to relax or escape all the time.
     
    Last edited: Jun 9, 2014
    • Like Like x 1
  11. snowy

    snowy so kawaii Staff Member

    And there's no reason why that can't be YA.
     
  12. Baraka_Guru

    Baraka_Guru Möderätor Staff Member

    Location:
    Toronto
    It could also be a children's book, but then there is the issue of degrees and likelihood.

    I think there are great reasons to read YA, but I think a big part of the appeal is that it's more accessible.
     
  13. Charlatan

    Charlatan sous les pavés, la plage

    Location:
    Temasek
    I like a variety in my selections. I will read YA, ChickLit, non-fiction, whatever.

    All I care about (all I ever care about) is that it's a good story.
     
    • Like Like x 1
  14. Baraka_Guru

    Baraka_Guru Möderätor Staff Member

    Location:
    Toronto
    I often wish this were the case for me.
     
  15. Charlatan

    Charlatan sous les pavés, la plage

    Location:
    Temasek
    In the course of my work I am constantly assessing content (mostly TV shows) and my rule of thumb is:

    If you have a good cast and a good narrative, just about anything else can be forgiven.

    That said, when things are bad, I don't have to sludge my way through them. I can switch them off. It's not my job to make it better.
     
  16. Stan

    Stan Resident Dumbass

    Location:
    Colorado
    I read god-awful technical manuals and papers daily for work. When I read for pleasure, I read complete and utter crap that doesn't require thought or effort. Deal with it.
     
    • Like Like x 1
  17. snowy

    snowy so kawaii Staff Member

    This was my tactic as an English major. I was reading 1-2 "serious" novels a week, so when I read for fun, I went straight for the bodice rippers.
     
  18. Bodkin van Horn

    Bodkin van Horn One of the Four Horsewomyn of the Fempocalypse

    Holy shit this:
    A Young Adult Author’s Fantastic Crusade to Defend Literature’s Most Maligned Genre | Nerve

     
    • Like Like x 3
  19. snowy

    snowy so kawaii Staff Member

  20. redravin

    redravin Cynical Optimist Donor

    Location:
    North

    Jadzia loved that book and so did I, each of us for completely different reasons.
    She was intrigued by the numbers and said it was part of the reason she became a mathematician.
    I loved the story and the characters. It made me want to be a writer.
    But there were adult concepts in the book that I didn't really come to understand till later like The Demon of Useless Tasks who I have come to think of as the spirit of retail.
    If a YA book can have that much influence and that much wonder inside I'm not going to limit myself to the great works.
     
    • Like Like x 2