I was reading a review of Chuck Palahniuk's new book, Damned, when I came across something rather disconcerting. It said, "As a young adult novel, it's surprisingly sweet, hopeful and empowering; as a satire, it's funny, irreverent and hugely entertaining."
Now, if you've ever read Palahniuk, you know the words "sweet" and "hopeful" rarely describe his books. "Grotesque" is more like it. That's not to say I dislike his books - I really enjoyed Fight Club and Survivor, but I wouldn't say any of his self-proclaimed over-the-top, gone-too-far writing as sweet. That said, those adjectives describing the book aren't what disturbed me about the sentence - it's that the book, according to the review's author, is a "young adult novel."
The writer makes this claim because the protagonist of Damned is a 13-year-old girl. To his credit, he does note that it's not the book to give to every young adult, as it is quite graphic and nasty at times. But still, it's not a young adult novel. Palahnuik does not write young adult novels. Just because a main character is 13 does not automatically classify it as a book for teenagers. I'm all for the freedom to read, but even I wouldn't give this book to a 13 year old. (Late high school student, sure, but younger, no.)
There's a big difference between young adult novels and novels with young adult characters - one is written for young adults, while the other is written for adults. With young adult novels, the content is age-appropriate. Sure, many tackle advanced subjects (sex, drugs, etc.), but they do so in a tactile manner. Adult books may do so as well, but they're not aimed at young adults. So they can be more frank, they can be more descriptive. That's not to say young adults don't often read adult books - I know I did at that time - but to market a book as young adult, it should be young adult friendly.
Now, the book is not a young adult book. The publisher didn't publish it saying it was, Palahnuik doesn't make the claim either. However I've seen quite a few reviewers referring to it as this. Admittedly, I haven't read it yet, but I pretty much know what to expect (as reviews have spoiled quite a bit).
So here's my message to reviewers and bloggers - young adult literature is constantly under attack. Many of the books are constantly challenged. Yet, they're not bad. They only approach topics young adults already know about, and want to read about. Keep adult books separate. Damned may be a great book for adults, but it'll just be another battle for librarians and teachers if it's suddenly thought to be young adult.
1 comments:
from cassandra clare's tumblr:
“To my mind, YA is a subset of adult fiction, not of children’s fiction, and should be considered as having an entry reading age rather than an age *range*. The entry level is probably 13 or 14, but there is no upper level because the books are also for adults. Saying YA is 13-21, or 13-18 or whatever misses the point, because it suggests that the books are not for older adults, whereas I would say that in fact the core audience of people reading YA (and YA SFF in particular) are in fact 16-35. But this is only the core and the readership extends more broadly upward in age and down as well.” [From Podcast Coode Street Episode 20, second comment]
— Definition by Garth Nix
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