The Raven King (The Raven Cycle #4) Maggie Stiefvater April 26th 2016 Scholastic ******Will probably contain spoilers for this book and the whole series just as a heads up****** I'm not going to try and write a normal review for The Raven King, because quite frankly I don't even know if I'm capable of doing proper reviews any more, and this is not the book or the series where I want to figure that out. That, and my love for this series transcends that of something which I can properly review, as I am completely biased and I *will* fight people about these books. On that note, this is also won't even entirely be about The Raven King on its own. Rather, it's a chance for me to go on and on and on and on and on about how much I love these books and Blue and those darn boys. My biggest fear about The Raven King, as is always the case with final books in a beloved series, was that it wouldn't be a good or fitting ending. I did not need to be worried. Rather than reac...
Some of you may have recently read an article on Slate.com titled "Against YA" by Ruth Graham. It was certainly an interesting read, but I can't get on board with it.
The overall message of the article is that if you're an adult who still reads YA, there is something wrong. As an adult, we should eschew anything that isn't written for the intelligent adult (and, if I'm guessing based on tone, there is a subset of fiction that is still less-than). I'm an adult, I have a full-time job, and I read a variety of literature. That includes a love of YA books. Why is it that I have to be judged for enjoying what I read? Why does this author feel the need to force emotions upon me. How does it benefit anyone to shame me into giving up a genre I connect with, and enjoy?
The author asserts that the reason I, as a twenty-something, read YA falls into three categories. The author believes that it's either nostalgia, escapism (isn't all reading some form of escapism?), or instant gratification. Yes, I have 90's nostalgia, but the books that I read rarely create that yearning in me. The author seems to believe that because these books depict and cater to teens, they are, by nature, unsatisfying and unworthy. That she didn't cry while reading The Fault in Our Stars because it just wasn't good enough. Couldn't we chalk that up to individual preference?
Why should we shame those who read? Why not embrace YA and read more than a handful of books before stereotyping an entire genre? If being an adult means that I pass judgement on others, and embrace an air of superiority in any aspect of my life, then we are no better than the way some teens view us. We pass judgement on them, tell them their emotions are less valid because they are still young, and that their literature is less than. Not I!
For some fabulous reading by my local indie owner, check out her response from Publisher's Weekly. She's created a fabulous anti-anti-YA list that everyone can enjoy. View it here.
The overall message of the article is that if you're an adult who still reads YA, there is something wrong. As an adult, we should eschew anything that isn't written for the intelligent adult (and, if I'm guessing based on tone, there is a subset of fiction that is still less-than). I'm an adult, I have a full-time job, and I read a variety of literature. That includes a love of YA books. Why is it that I have to be judged for enjoying what I read? Why does this author feel the need to force emotions upon me. How does it benefit anyone to shame me into giving up a genre I connect with, and enjoy?
The author asserts that the reason I, as a twenty-something, read YA falls into three categories. The author believes that it's either nostalgia, escapism (isn't all reading some form of escapism?), or instant gratification. Yes, I have 90's nostalgia, but the books that I read rarely create that yearning in me. The author seems to believe that because these books depict and cater to teens, they are, by nature, unsatisfying and unworthy. That she didn't cry while reading The Fault in Our Stars because it just wasn't good enough. Couldn't we chalk that up to individual preference?
Why should we shame those who read? Why not embrace YA and read more than a handful of books before stereotyping an entire genre? If being an adult means that I pass judgement on others, and embrace an air of superiority in any aspect of my life, then we are no better than the way some teens view us. We pass judgement on them, tell them their emotions are less valid because they are still young, and that their literature is less than. Not I!
For some fabulous reading by my local indie owner, check out her response from Publisher's Weekly. She's created a fabulous anti-anti-YA list that everyone can enjoy. View it here.
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