Life is Dark

Most YA novels look a lot like this

Meghan Cox Gurdon has been at it again with a response to the criticism against her article “Darkness Too Visible,” which I commented on in an earlier post.

Clearly, YA novels are out to get us and out to eat your children.

Gurdon still just doesn’t seem to get it.  Adolescents have to deal with a lot of tough issues.  I’m just going to point out a few things…

According to the Rape, Abuse, & Incest National Network, approximately 44% of rape victims are under the age of 18.  Shouldn’t there be access to material that might help these young victims cope, especially when they feel as if they can’t talk to adults about it, or simply aren’t believed?  Stop pretending that American teenagers live perfect happy little lives.  More of them don’t than you’d like to believe.

And what’s with the whole attitude that the classics are okay but YA lit isn’t?  Have you actually read the classics?  Last time I checked, Romeo and Juliet were two horny teenagers who killed themselves because their parents wouldn’t let them get married AT THE AGE OF 13.  How is that okay in your view, but Sherman Alexie is oh so scandalous?  What about “Lord of the Flies,” where teens stranded on an island club each other to death?  That’s okay, and Hunger Games isn’t?  What about Paradise Lost, with the whole Satan-Sin-Death incest rape with hell hounds crawling in and out of a vagina?  That’s okay, but YA lit is not?  Or the ancient Greeks, where we find Oedipus, the original motherfucker, and Medea giving gifts of poisoned robes that eat away the skin when worn by her victims?  Remember Medea also killed her own kids as revenge.  Classic literature is a lot darker than you think.

I read a book about anorexia when I was an adolescent, and guess what happened? It scared me shitless, and I made sure to always eat my vegetables. It also was a good preparation for when I later met people who were actually struggling with it.

I think that Gurdon doesn’t give adolescents enough credit when she assumes that everything in a book is condoned.  As this article from CNN states, the teen pregnancy rate is at a historic low, the suicide rate is going down, drunk driving among teens is going down, and fewer teens smoke.  Have a little faith in the youth.

Darkness Too Visible

By now, you’ve probably read Meghan Cox Gurdon’s Wall Street Journal article “Darkness Too Visible,” which criticizes the availability of dark-themed YA novels.  Needless to say, this has created quite a buzz in the book blog world, with a great deal of debate on both sides.

My own opinion is that Megan Cox Gurdon is doing exactly what she is supposed to do as a reviewer–she’s giving her personal opinions of books.  If reviewers don’t give their opinions, there is absolutely no point in reading book reviews.

On the other hand, censorship is bullshit.  Part of the reason why kids are seeking dark YA novels is to contextualize issues that they are already dealing with in their own lives.  While criticizing the availability of dark novels, we are doing nothing to create a real dialogue with kids about the very dark issues that they face on a daily basis.  If kids can’t have that kind of discussion with adults, they’re going to get it from books.  It’s kind of like how a lot of young GLBT teens seek out novels about others in their position to help them deal with the hardships that they face.

I found it interesting that Sherman Alexie was one of the authors quoted in the article.  His novels deal with the problems of life on modern Indian reservations–problems such as alcoholism, rape, and rampant crime.  His novels aren’t an exaggeration; they both draw attention to and mirror some very real problems.

Parents’ concern over what their children are reading should be listened to, but should be used to create a dialogue, not to censor children.  I think that when we look at the popularity of YA novels, we’re forgetting a few things, first and foremost being that kids are actually reading.  Yay!  Secondly, a lot of the responses that I’ve read to this article seem to be lumping all YA novels into a giant pot and saying that all YA novels are trash.  It’s not like that, and there is a huge variety of YA available.  For people looking for YA fantasy that is well-written and not about weird sparkly vampires, check out anything by Robin McKinley, or the Abhorsen trilogy by Garth Nix, or “Crown Duel” by Sherwood Smith, or anything by Phillip Pullman.  There are so many good YA books out there.  Everyone has different tastes, and not all teenagers are reading about people cutting themselves.  Many of them would make fun of such books for being too emo anyway.

Nobody’s pushing these books on kids; kids are choosing to read them.  I remember when teachers tried to censor Anne Rice novels when I was in high school.  Something about “The gay vampire knelt before Jesus” wasn’t considered appropriate for Catholic high school students in their formative years.  I can attest that because the novels weren’t technically permitted, even more people read them.  When I studied abroad in Russia, my host mom told me how Oscar Wilde used to be banned in the Soviet Union, so of course everyone who was anyone read it.  Declaring certain types of books to be evil isn’t going to preserve the innocence of the youth; that’s already long gone.  Instead, talk to the kids.  You’d be surprised how much they know and are capable of understanding.

Edit:  Here’s a link to another blogger’s excellent take on why kids should be reading dark novels.  This is our revolution, baby #YASaves by Erin Brambilla.  It was quite refreshing.