BisexualWhat do you think of Becky Albertalli's 'coming out'?

submitted by artetolife from self.LGBDropTheT

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[–]julesburm1891 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

To be fair, I’m not a huge fan of YA books either. (I prefer nonfiction or mysteries.) I just have a job where I have to read a fair amount of YA books. However, my criteria for judging YA books is different than most readers’.

Teens are a mess. They’re experiencing everything for the first time, so everything is big and dramatic all the time. They don’t really understand all their feelings yet and don’t know how to control them. Their brains literally can’t process risk or permanence until they’re older. So, teens do and say dumb things pretty much constantly.

Because of this, I actually like when YA authors write teens realistically and allow their characters to live through their boneheadedness and grow. Yes, Leah was totally ridiculous and obnoxious. But she also realized what an idiot she was and was able to be better.

Nah, I totally get what you’re saying. There’s definitely a line between being an empathetic writer and being a fetishizing writer. Some people are walking up to that line (or crossing it) and pretending to be fully on the empathetic side. We need to find a way to call people out for actual bad behavior while not dragging down decent people.

But, I do see how people could read Albertalli as walking up to that line and it’s fair criticism.

[–]haveanicedaytoo💗💜💙 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Yeah, that's a great point. After I wrote you my comment yesterday, I decided to re-read the book again to try and figure out why I'd hated it so much the first time. I read about one hour's worth, and in that time she mentions anime, manga, and cute manga boys several times, and talks about how she needs to go to her room and be in private so she can read Draco x Harry slashfic. I'd been feeling kind of guilty like 'I shouldn't be accusing everyone who wants to write gay male content of fetishizing' but after I re-read those scenes, I was like 'Ohhhhhhhhhh that's why! Yeah, I remember now!'

I'm still chugging through it, I'm about 1/6th of the way through.

Edit - oh, I almost forgot, she is Simon's 'best friend' but she keeps squeee-ing about how cute and adorable he and his boyfriend are together and how she used to have a crush on him. It's so uncomfortable to read about.

Haha, I don't mean to dump all my complaints about this book on you. It's just that I have no one else IRL to whine to. Anyone else would be like WTF are you re-reading something you already know you hate??