Ooo! Ooo! Look!

Salon lurrrves Hannah Friedman's Everything Sucks!

Want to know how to tell that they really, really love it?  That it's really super fantastic?

Because it's not like THAT OTHER YA:

Not only is Friedman's writing striking for its blunt, unromantic realism; her prose also displays a self-aware wit that is all too rare in the genre.

Her refusal to moralize or provide an easy resolution sets "Everything Sucks" apart from YA literature's preponderance of breezy, formulaic narratives.

Because a memoir marketed to YAs is exactly the same thing as a series novel marketed to YAs, or a SF novel marketed to YAs, or a historical fiction novel marketed to YAs, or a thriller marketed to YAs, or a romance marketed to YAs, or literary fiction marketed to YAs. 

I mean, heck, that's how we look at books marketed to adults, right?  When talking about whatever new memoir is taking the adult literary world by storm, it would be totally acceptable to say it was better than the majority of adult literature by comparing it to books by James Patterson, right?  Because not only does it make sense to compare a memoir to series fiction, it totally makes sense to take potshots at popular fiction while we're at it?

I am so over this garbage. 

(link via LizB who got it via Omnivoracious)

Comments

[Jeanne]

heehee--your sarcasm got me off to a good start this morning

[anonymous]

Quote from article: "... but here I am, naked and wasted and puking up brown Jagermeister juice, waiting for the last acrid drop to come out so I can wipe off my nose and do another line..."

"... her prose also displays a self-aware wit that is all too rare in the genre. Amid a raft of fluffy, dizzyingly popular YA series and teen television shows about posh boarding schools and Manhattan's teenage elite, "Everything Sucks" provides a jolt of reality..."

Mmm... yes, reality. Because everyone's reality in high school is being too rich and beautiful, naked and wasted and waiting to vomit up the alcohol you just drank so you can do another line. Yeah, that's how I spent my teen years too, not.

So, I'm not a huge fan of the listed books -- GG and the like. But you know, to paint the author's memoir as some breaking new ground revelation is hilarious. Since when is a self-important I'm-the-center-of-the-universe attitude NEW in YA books?

You know what I like to read? A YA where the MC doesn't blame outside forces, like being rich, on that fact that they have zero self-control or accountablility. If realizing you are a fuck up spoiled brat alcoholic following the herd like a sheep and changing your ways is "moralizing" then I'm all for it. YA shelves are filled with books that have quite a lot of ephiphanines that require character growth, yea for us!

[Laura]

I don't know anything about Hannah Friedman or her book, but I do wonder how she feels about that kind of praise. Is she pleased or does she think: Hey, I like YA! The above comment by anonymous, however, makes the Salon review even more offensive to YA readers, in my opinion, if the book is really about a rich, drunk teen. I think Bret Easton Ellis, Elizabeth Wurtzel and many others covered that ages ago. Only difference is publishers didn't see the YA market as profitable as it does today. Maybe if Everything Sucks was published 10 years ago it would have been an adult memoir? Anyway, I'm glad I don't read Salon.

[Becky]

Helloooo! I can see how this portrayal would turn people off to the book. I don't think it's "better" than all other YA, but I do think there's a lot of fluffy condescending stuff marketed in YA, and I have to tell you that this book surprised the hell out of me.

My friend picked it up at Book Expo in NY, and she told me I had to read it. It was really funny, really well written, and extremely enjoyable. I don't know what Salon was thinking, but they didn't do it justice. Everything Sucks is going to be a huge hit, mark my words. I encourage everyone to check it out- totally one of my favorites in all of YA, memoir or no.

love
BBeck

[Liz B]

I like how Salon used "boarding school" and "prep school" interchangeably. And did so without once mentioning the Printz Award winner, Jellicoe Road, set at a boarding school (but, arguably, not a prep school; I would need an Australian to clarify that point.) While I will probably read this, overall, I'm not a fan of "I use drugs/don't eat because of other people" thesis.

Note to all authors: PLEASE, even if you truly believe it, don't go with the PR of: "all other books in this genre aren't very good and mine is!"

[annie]

How is it that every major book reviewing group doesn't have one person on staff who knows a single thing about YA?