You might have noticed I am of late reading a it more of Young Adult literature than other genres. Even though I am trying to keep a balance among all the type of books in my blog, the truth is I have read more YA in the past one year than ever.
I never was into young adult fiction before that and to be honest, I used to avoid them like plague, But then these books happened and the rest as they say is history.
As a result of the surge in the number of reviews I have posted on my blog, the number of unsolicited review requests for YA books have sky rocketed. Not that I complain. But I can’t help but notice some lots of similarities among those novels that I can’t take it anymore.
How many time do you ask yourself these questions when you read these Young Adult novels?
7) Why do you need a public confrontation?
What is with you, kids and the crowd? In real life, most of us would run away from a confrontation like a plague (at least I do). But if there is a problem in your Young Adult drama filled life, every accusation / confrontation / break up has to be in front of your peers and their mothers.
6) Who are you, really?
I am yet to meet someone in real life who is so clumsy and yet so graceful when the tide turns. You drop everything, fall down the stairs and even get lost in your own city, but you are independent and gonna fight the dragons. What am I missing here? How many books have you read about the self proclaimed plain lead who finally realizes that she is beautiful after a make over and the hot guy asking her out? Why do the ‘unpopular’ guy have to fall for the popular, mean girl only to realize the awkward plain girl best friend is all he needs? He has to wait for her to get a make over too, I guess.
I know this is a problem even in adult / contemporary books, but its effect is more jarring in the young adult literature. But I am so done with the dark, brooding bad boy and the popular hot girls as love interests for the protagonists.
3) Where are the parents, teachers – AKA adults?
When I was a young adult myself (not too far past) there is no way that I could get away from the eyes of the adults for even two hours. Befriending rando strangers from the street was a strict no no. And here are kids whose lives are entirely dependent on a random stranger, with no prior qualifications. Seriously if there were one responsible adult around these kids most YA plots won’t even exist.
2) Why are the adults the bad ones always?
If you did have some adults, they are pretty useless or worse -the bad ones. Your Chemistry teacher is probably producing Meth in your school lab. Or they are killing innocent puppies (which I hope is not true.)
Or at the least, they are hiding a big fat secret from you. Like you are a vampire or a princess to some small country. Or that you were adopted. How.could.they?
1) Why are you the only one who has to break the rules?
Out of the entire population in your fictitious world, you are the only one who wants to question the authority. And / or open the damn door. And you do not listen to your friends who repeatedly beg you not to do that.
It doesn’t matter what is lurking in the darkness, you want a part of it, don’t you? Is it because someone said you are the only one who is special? Why are you So.Damn.Nosey?
What are your peeves about the mainstream Young adult books? Do you agree that these problems are irritable or not? Do you have an answers for any of these questions? Leave a comment, let us talk.
I read The Vegetarian a while ago as a part of the A-Z challenge 2018 and yet I couldn’t post a review as soon as I would usually. I can blame my erratic blogging schedule but the truth is The Vegetarian by Han Kang left me so confused and perplexed that I had to step back and mull over what to say.
Watch out for my 100th review!
Yet I can’t think of a better fitting book that I have read in the recent times than The Vegetarian to be my 100th review on my blog. Yes, you heard it right. This would be my ONE HUNDREDTH review on this blog.
The Vegetarian talks of how cultural and societal norms make or break a person’s individuality and define one’s perspective. The Vegetarian consists of three parts Yeong-Hye’s past, present and future, from the perspectives of her husband, her brother in law and her sister Kim In-Hye.
In a country where meat is a staple food, Yeong-Hye stops eating meat, a reaction to the bloody nightmares that she had been facing every night. Until then a passive and unassuming wife, Yeong’s decision is criticized by everyone in the family including her father who even tries to force feed her some meat.
My initial thoughts
The more I read, the more intriguing (bizarre, even?) the book became. And given that it is such a short book, I finished it fairly fast, even when I had to re-read some parts to make sure ‘that’ really happened. Let us get on with the review, shall we?
The Vegetarian is the winner of the Man Booker Prize in 2016 among many other awards. If this had gone by my usual luck with award books, I would have been bored by about 20% of the book and still be compelling myself to continue to struggle to the end. WELL, THAT DID NOT HAPPEN.
Just like that Yeong turns from ordinary, according to her abusive and shallow husband Mr. Cheong, to aberrant. What follows is the aftermath of her decision (to be become a The Vegetarian, rather a vegan) and how her family reacts to it. Watch out, The Vegetarian is not an easy read. It will make you question your fundamental assumptions.
The Vegetarian is on the surface a parable on how far can one go to stay put on one’s belief.
But it talks more about the sexism and status of women in a patriarchal society like Korea and other South Asian countries in a pliable and compliant role. The men in Yeong’s life, and thus the novel, are all disgusting in one form or the other and maybe that played a part in her decision to change her life into a ‘plant like’ being.
Bottom-line
If you want to read something that has a simple yet lyrical writing, yet will make you think about your judgmental self you should pick The Vegetarian by Han Kang. But be wary of triggering content – like sexual and physical assaults, extra marital affairs and mental illness. You won’t be disappointed.
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Let us talk
Have you read this book earlier? Does this book depict life in South Korea? Are there any other books set in South Korea that you have read? What books have you read this week?
Hey people. Now don’t act too surprised. I know I have not been regular on my blog but do not discount me already. I am here and I am planning to be here for a while, at least. So let us get on with it, shall we?
I rarely read during the week with all the travel preparation and the travel itself. Time did really fly and I have no clue how it did. But I am hoping to catch up over the week for sure.
I caught up a few episodes of Young Sheldon during my flight back to India this week. And I am not sure how I felt about it. I didnt love it as much TBBT, to be honest. It did invoke an occasional chuckle but that is it.
Have you watched it and how does it compare to TBBT? Which one do you like better?
Around the blogosphere
I finally jumped back into blogging and did a lot (I mean a lot) of blog hopping this week. What are my favorite posts from the blog world this week? Let us take a look.
When was the last time you visited your local library? I confess, I haven’t been to one in a long time. Here are some reasons to kindle your love towards public library from Clairefy.
Are you one of those who love punny things in life? If you do you will love this post on punny book titles from Books Rock My World. Y’all know about those dreaded reading slumps. The cursed books takes it upon themselves to help us get over those slumps. You can read the post here.
What would do if you get to know you have about 24 hours before you die? Would you make your peace with it and get on with it? Would you amend your ways and be the best version of yourself? Read ahead to see how They Both Die at the End turned out to be in my book review.
Mateo is an introvert and is worried about everything he never got to do in this life. Mateo decides that he will stay inside his house after saying his final good bye to his comatosed father. Rufus Emeterio is reckless and a survivor. He has a long list of people to say goodbye to but these things are never easy.
Mateo Torrez and Rufus Emeterio have almost nothing common between them except that they both are going to die sometime during the following day. They have received the calls from the dreaded Deckers informing him of their imminent deaths, thanks to the Deathcasters.
They meet each other through an app called “Last Friend”, designed especially to help meeting of people who have received their ‘End Day’ calls from the Deckers. Together they seek their respective closures and bare their souls before they could say the final good bye. Yes, they both die at the end (at this point, it is not a spoiler, it is the freaking title!).
Book review of They Both Die at the End
Adam Silvera’s writing style is full of witty dialogues and more than everything, his YA characters talk like one. They don’t launch into lengthy monologues about nerdy things (I am looking at John Green’s teens). I loved the linear story arc and the alternate POVs worked so well.
Set in the near dystopian future, a company is capable of forecasting one’s death. I know the whole thought of learning about death beforehand is creepy and too much for me.
They are fun, hardly depressing (even though it talks about death – a lot), and has the right amount of heart break (dude, They Both Die at the End).
Bottom-line
They Both Die at the End is the first book of Adam Silvera I have read and I should say everything I have heard about his books is true. And I will definitely not shy away from reading his books hereon.
Have you read They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera? Which other books of Silvera should I tackle next? Do spoilers in reviews bother you? Let us chat.
Are you one of those summer people? I am definitely not and that may or may not something to do with the fact that I am from a hot tropical country and am currently living in the middle of a desert.
Anyway, I am already hyped that the last leg of summer is already here, not that the humidity is any indication of that. And I just realized all I do in the weekend posts is complain about the climate. So moving on to other news.
I have had a very productive week in terms of binge watching Netflix. Yes I am on Marvel phase and I went through Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, Daredevil and Iron Fist all in the past two weeks. And Oh my, Mike Colter as Luke Cage is damn freaking hot! RIGHT?
Also I watched the new Ant Man and the wasp, Fallout- Mission Impossible and a Tamil movie in the theaters. It goes without saying that I have not got much of reading done.
All is not lost because I am currently reading ‘The Forty rules of Love‘ and am liking it. I have been recommended the book by at least three different sources and yet it took me so long to get to it.
I have been to ask you WordPress users, whats with this new editor Gutenberg? Did any one else get the hang of it yet? I agree I have only tried it once before and I didn’t like it. I would give it a try again, but any pointers and why does it have to be so complicated?
Around the blogosphere
I know it has been a while since I shared nuggets from around the internet web that I liked but here are a few that I found last week.
This interesting post on if reading makes us smarter will help you out the next time you run out of smarter things to say.
I have been meaning to read The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck, but lets face it, I have got too many books on my TBR that we will never know when I will reach for this one. But I liked this post of his on stop trying to change yourself.
